Further study of aquifer performance

This termination report refers to Project 65-02G as sponsored by the U.S. Department of Interior, Office of Water Resources Research, and by the Water Resources Center, University of Illinois, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964, Public Law 88-379. The project title was "Further Study of Aquifer Performance," and had the objective of developing a generalized treatment of reservoir engineering principles as underlie, describe and control the performance of aquifers used for sources, storage and conduits of water (cf. page 21 of the University of Illinois' "Request for an initial allotment of funds authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1964," under date December 1, 1964).U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Surve

Biological Implications of Glycation in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that affects close to two million women each year. Of these women, seventy percent express estrogen receptor alpha, a member of the nuclear receptor subfamily that is activated in response to estrogen. Our research has shown an alternate mechanism by which estrogen receptor alpha is activated and subsequently elicits its cancer promoting effects. The process of glycation involves the non-enzymatic addition of sugar moieties to biological macromolecules which produce reactive metabolites known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These metabolites have been shown to be responsible for many of the complications associated with diabetes because of their ability to interact with the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE) and produce a chronic inflammatory phenotype. Similarly, this same effect has been shown in several different cancers including prostate, melanoma, and colorectal. Like other cancers, we observed greater levels of AGEs and RAGE within breast cancer tumor and serum samples and showed a correlation between tumor progression and intratumoral AGE concentration. Utilizing two ER positive breast cancer cell lines, T47D and MCF7, we have also identified a role for AGEs in the phosphorylation of the estrogen receptor at two different residues within the ligand independent activation domain: serine 118 and serine 167. By utilizing exogenous AGE treatment and inhibition with molecular inhibitors, we showed that, following exposure to AGEs, a signaling cascade occurs through Akt and ERK to phosphorylate these two residues. Additionally, this signaling pathway produced a more proliferative phenotype in our cell lines. We were able to verify that AGE treatment was inducing this increase in proliferation through interaction with RAGE by using shRNA technology. Activation of the estrogen receptor at these particular residues has been shown to be indicative of tamoxifen resistance. We identified a role for AGEs in tamoxifen resistance by performing a cell viability assay and found that AGE treated cells were indeed less sensitive to drug treatment. Elucidating a role for AGE-RAGE signaling in breast cancer creates potential for improved therapies and preventative interventions for patients with the disease

Gait-Based Identification Using Wearables in the Personal Fog

Wearables are becoming more computationally powerful, with increased sensing and control capabilities, creating a need for accurate user authentication. Greater control and power allow wearables to become part of a personal fog system, but introduces new attack vectors. An attacker that steals a wearable can gain access to stored personal data on the wearable. However, the new computational power can also be employed to safeguard use through more secure authentication. The wearables themselves can now perform authentication. In this paper, we use gait identification for increased authentication when potentially harmful commands are requested. We show how the relying on the processing and storage inherent in the personal fog allows distributed storage of information about the gait of the wearer and the ability to fully process this data for user authentication locally at the edge. While gait-based authentication has been examined before, we show an additional, low-power method of verification for wearables

Deed I Do

With Ukulele arrangement. Contains advertisements and/or short musical examples of pieces being sold by publisher.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/7068/thumbnail.jp

Electric Polarizability of Hadrons

The electric polarizability of a hadron allows an external electric field to shift the hadron mass. We try to calculate the electric polarizability for several hadrons from their quadratic response to the field at a=0.17fm using an improved gauge field and the clover quark action. Results are compared to experiment where available.Comment: 3 pgs, 5 figs, LATTICE2002(spectrum

Securing Wearables through the Creation of a Personal Fog

Increased reliance on wearables using Bluetooth requires additional security and privacy measures to protect these devices and personal data, regardless of device vendor. Most wearables lack the ability to monitor their communication connections and protect personal data without assistance. Attackers can force wearables to disconnect from base stations. When a wearable loses its connection to its base station, an attacker can connect to the wearable to steal stored personal data or await reconnection to the base station to eavesdrop on communications. If the base station inadvertently disconnects from the cloud serving a security-aware app, it would be unable to respond to a rapid change in the security of its current environment. We design a personal fog incorporating wearables, a base station, and the cloud that allows the wearable to be situationally aware and manage inter- and intra-fog communications, given local personal fogs with the same app

Swanee Butterfly

With Ukulele arrangement. Contains advertisements and/or short musical examples of pieces being sold by publisher.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/6953/thumbnail.jp

Holobiont nutrition: Considering the role of the gastrointestinal microbiota in the health benefits of whole grains

Intake of whole grains and other food products high in dietary fiber have long been linked to the prevention of chronic diseases associated with inflammation. A contribution of the gastrointestinal microbiota to these effects has been suggested, but little is known on how whole grains interact with gut bacteria. We have recently published the first human trial that made use of next-generation sequencing to determine the effect of whole grains (whole grain barley, brown rice or a mixture of the two) on fecal microbiota structure and tested for associations between the gut microbiota and blood markers of inflammation, glucose and lipid metabolism. Our study revealed that whole grains impacted gut microbial ecology by increasing microbial diversity and inducing compositional alterations, some of which are considered to have beneficial effects on the host. Interestingly, whole grains, and in particular the combination of whole grain barley and brown rice, caused a reduction in plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), which was linked to compositional features of the gut microbiota. Therefore, the study provided evidence that a short-term increased intake of whole grains led to compositional alterations of the gut microbiota that coincided with improvements in systemic inflammation. In this addendum, we summarize the findings of the study and provide a perspective on the importance of regarding humans as holobionts when considering the health effects of dietary strategies

Treatment for inclusion body myositis

Background Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is a late-onset inflammatory muscle disease (myopathy) associated with progressive proximal and distal limb muscle atrophy and weakness. Treatment options have attempted to target inflammatory and atrophic features of this condition (for example with immunosuppressive and immunomodulating drugs, anabolic steroids, and antioxidant treatments), although as yet there is no known effective treatment for reversing or minimising the progression of inclusion body myositis. In this review we have considered the benefits, adverse effects, and costs of treatment in targeting cardinal effects of the condition, namely muscle atrophy, weakness, and functional impairment. Objectives To assess the effects of treatment for IBM. Search methods On 7 October 2014 we search ed the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group Specialized Register, the Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, and EMBASE. Additionally in November 2014 we searched clinical trials registries for ongoing or completed but unpublished trials. Selection criteria We considered randomised or quasi-randomised trials, including cross-over trials, of treatment for IBM in adults compared to placebo or any other treatment for inclusion in the review. We specifically excluded people with familial IBM and hereditary inclusion body myopathy, but we included people who had connective tissue and autoimmune diseases associated with IBM, which may or may not be identified in trials. We did not include studies of exercise therapy or dysphagia management, which are topics of other Cochrane systematic reviews. Data collection and analysis We used standard Cochrane methodological procedures. Main results The review included 10 trials (249 participants) using different treatment regimens. Seven of the 10 trials assessed single agents, and 3 assessed combined agents. Many of the studies did not present adequate data for the reporting of the primary outcome of the review, which was the percentage change in muscle strength score at six months. Pooled data from two trials of interferon beta-1a (n = 58) identified no important difference in normalised manual muscle strength sum scores from baseline to six months (mean difference (MD) -0.06, 95% CI -0.15 to 0.03) between IFN beta-1a and placebo (moderate-quality evidence). A single trial of methotrexate (MTX) (n = 44) provided moderate-quality evidence that MTX did not arrest or slow disease progression, based on reported percentage change in manual muscle strength sum scores at 12 months. None of the fully published trials were adequately powered to detect a treatment effect. We assessed six of the nine fully published trials as providing very low-quality evidence in relation to the primary outcome measure. Three trials (n = 78) compared intravenous immunoglobulin (combined in one trial with prednisone) to a placebo, but we were unable to perform meta-analysis because of variations in study analysis and presentation of trial data, with no access to the primary data for re-analysis. Other comparisons were also reported in single trials. An open trial of anti-T lymphocyte immunoglobulin (ATG) combined with MTX versus MTX provided very low-quality evidence in favour of the combined therapy, based on percentage change in quantitative muscle strength sum scores at 12 months (MD 12.50%, 95% CI 2.43 to 22.57). Data from trials of oxandrolone versus placebo, azathioprine (AZA) combined with MTX versus MTX, and arimoclomol versus placebo did not allow us to report either normalised or percentage change in muscle strength sum scores. A complete analysis of the effects of arimoclomol is pending data publication. Studies of simvastatin and bimagrumab (BYM338) are ongoing. All analysed trials reported adverse events. Only 1 of the 10 trials interpreted these for statistical significance. None of the trials included prespecified criteria for significant adverse events. Authors\u27 conclusions Trials of interferon beta-1a and MTX provided moderate-quality evidence of having no effect on the progression of IBM. Overall trial design limitations including risk of bias, low numbers of participants, and short duration make it difficult to say whether or not any of the drug treatments included in this review were effective. An open trial of ATG combined with MTX versus MTX provided very low-quality evidence in favour of the combined therapy based on the percentage change data given. We were unable to draw conclusions from trials of IVIg, oxandrolone, and AZA plus MTX versus MTX. We need more randomised controlled trials that are larger, of longer duration, and that use fully validated, standardised, and responsive outcome measures

Livestock Feeds Assessment in Southern Highlands in Tanzania

Importance of livestock in smallholder farms in Africa continue to be significant in households’ nutrition, incomes and for socio-cultural reasons. However, the sector faces various challenges including management, diseases and feeding among others. With the estimated doubling of demand for animal source foods especially in sub-Saharan Africa, due to rise in human population, efforts for improving livestock productivity are needed. Amongst the costs involved in cattle production, the feeding component takes 70% suggesting greater attention is required in feeding interventions for success to be realised. In an effort to contribute to improvement of livestock production in Southern Tanzania highlands, current feeding status was assessed in 3 districts (Mufindi, Njombe, Rugwe) following Feeds Assessment Tool protocol (FEAST https://www.ilri.org/feast). Information captured entailed; land size categories, livestock species reared, feed resources and seasonality, contribution of livestock to household incomes and most suited interventions were elucidated. In the three districts, dairy remains most prevalent amongst livestock species kept, and livestock in general is important for household incomes. Analysis suggest interventions on feeds and forages addressing protein and energy supply would be crucial, including forages suitable under cut and carry context, prevalent under smallholder farmers settings. Dry seasons are Characterized by inadequate feed resources. The information will guide selection of forage options to be tested through farmer participation, under Climate Smart Dairy Project (2019-2021) in the three districts. Identified farmer acceptable and productive forages will be recommended for the areas other similar ecologies, and by extension support forage development in Tanzania