The industrial relations implications of automation

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Comparative genomic analysis of Leishmania (Viannia) peruviana and Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis

BACKGROUND: The Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis complex is responsible for most cases of New World tegumentary leishmaniasis. This complex includes two closely related species but with different geographic distribution and disease phenotypes, L. (V.) peruviana and L. (V.) braziliensis. However, the genetic basis of these differences is not well understood and the status of L. (V.) peruviana as distinct species has been questioned by some. Here we sequenced the genomes of two L. (V.) peruviana isolates (LEM1537 and PAB-4377) using Illumina high throughput sequencing and performed comparative analyses against the L. (V.) braziliensis M2904 reference genome. Comparisons were focused on the detection of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), insertions and deletions (INDELs), aneuploidy and gene copy number variations. RESULTS: We found 94,070 variants shared by both L. (V.) peruviana isolates (144,079 in PAB-4377 and 136,946 in LEM1537) against the L. (V.) braziliensis M2904 reference genome while only 26,853 variants separated both L. (V.) peruviana genomes. Analysis in coding sequences detected 26,750 SNPs and 1,513 indels shared by both L. (V.) peruviana isolates against L. (V.) braziliensis M2904 and revealed two L. (V.) braziliensis pseudogenes that are likely to have coding potential in L. (V.) peruviana. Chromosomal read density and allele frequency profiling showed a heterogeneous pattern of aneuploidy with an overall disomic tendency in both L. (V.) peruviana isolates, in contrast with a trisomic pattern in the L. (V.) braziliensis M2904 reference. Read depth analysis allowed us to detect more than 368 gene expansions and 14 expanded gene arrays in L. (V.) peruviana, and the likely absence of expanded amastin gene arrays. CONCLUSIONS: The greater numbers of interspecific SNP/indel differences between L. (V.) peruviana and L. (V.) braziliensis and the presence of different gene and chromosome copy number variations support the classification of both organisms as closely related but distinct species. The extensive nucleotide polymorphisms and differences in gene and chromosome copy numbers in L. (V.) peruviana suggests the possibility that these may contribute to some of the unique features of its biology, including a lower pathology and lack of mucosal development. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1928-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Assessment of personal care and medical robots from older adults' perspective

Demographic reports indicate that population of older adults is growing significantly over the world and in particular in developed nations. Consequently, there are a noticeable number of demands for certain services such as health-care systems and assistive medical robots and devices. In today's world, different types of robots play substantial roles specifically in medical sector to facilitate human life, especially older adults. Assistive medical robots and devices are created in various designs to fulfill specific needs of older adults. Though medical robots are utilized widely by senior citizens, it is dramatic to find out into what extent assistive robots satisfy their needs and expectations. This paper reviews various assessments of assistive medical robots from older adults' perspectives with the purpose of identifying senior citizen's needs, expectations, and preferences. On the other hand, these kinds of assessments inform robot designers, developers, and programmers to come up with robots fulfilling elderly's needs while improving their life quality

How Organizational Network Analysis Facilitated Transition from a Regional to a Global IT Function

IT executives in most large enterprises must build organizations that can adapt and thrive in a global economy while operating with fewer resources. Yet despite implementing sophisticated organizational redesigns and collaboration technologies, improvements in performance are frequently disappointing. All too often, the problem can be traced to patterns of intra-firm collaboration that do not adapt to support strategic objectives and new organizational designs.This article describes one organization’s five-year journey in applying organizational network analysis (ONA) to help it transform from a regional to a global IT function by selectively investing in and tracking the improvement of its collaboration and social networks. It shows how performance transformation can be achieved through targeted efforts to align an organization’s informal collaboration networks with strategic objectives. Based on the experience of this organization, the article concludes with three lessons that can be applied by IT leaders as they seek to improve performance in a global environment

Deeper Protein Identification by Using FAIMS in Top-down Proteomics

Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS), when used in proteomics studies, provides superior selectivity, and enables more proteins to be identified by providing additional gas phase separation. Here, we tested the performance of cylindrical FAIMS for the identification and characterization of proteoforms by top-down mass spectrometry of heterogeneous protein mixtures. Combining FAIMS with chromatographic separation resulted in a 62% increase in protein identifications and an 8% increase in proteoform identifications as compared to samples analyzed without FAIMS. This increase was attributable, in part, to improved signal-to-noise for proteoforms with similar retention times. Additionally, our results show that the optimal compensation voltage of any given proteoform was correlated with the molecular weight of the analyte. Collectively these results suggest that the addition of FAIMS can enhance top-down proteomics in both discovery and targeted applications. </div

Correlation between PD-L1 Expression of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Data from IVIM-DWI Acquired during Magnetic Resonance of the Thorax: Preliminary Results

This study aims to investigate the correlation between intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) parameters in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Twenty-one patients diagnosed with stage III NSCLC from April 2021 to April 2022 were included. The tumors were distinguished into two groups: no PD-L1 expression (4 in no PD-L1 expression vs. 122.0 ± 31.306 µm²/s × 104 in positive PD-L1 expression, p = 0.008). The values obtained with algorithms 1, 2, and 3 were not significantly different between the groups. The IVIM-DWI MRI parameter D* can reflect PD-L1 expression in NSCLC

Comparative genomic analysis of Leishmania (Viannia) peruviana and Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis

Abstract Background: The Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis complex is responsible for most cases of New World tegumentary leishmaniasis. This complex includes two closely related species but with different geographic distribution and disease phenotypes, L. (V.) peruviana and L. (V.) braziliensis. However, the genetic basis of these differences is not well understood and the status of L. (V.) peruviana as distinct species has been questioned by some