Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment

Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notablesuccesses in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targetedtherapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a fewdisease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistantimmortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are notreliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, aninternational task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broad-spectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspectsof relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a widerange of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For thesetargets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which werephytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed forknown effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procar-cinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixedevidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of therelationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. Thisnovel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types ofcancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for futureresearch is offered

Eliminate Final Exams in Intro to Flight Through the Use of Portfolios?

A portfolio can be an extremely powerful tool to determine the degree of learning experienced by a student throughout the semester, and to force the student into a higher level of reflective learning and meta-cognition not generally possible for the student by studying for and taking the traditional in-class, timed final exam. Portfolios have been common in art, photography, journalism, business, architecture and other professions for quite some time. Strong justification can be found in learning theory for using Portfolios in engineering. Some of the numerous different types of portfolios will be briefly introduced in this paper. Portfolios have not, however, found widespread use within engineering. Even though engineering design provides the most immediately obvious application of portfolios within engineering, different kinds of portfolios can be implemented across the engineering curriculum. This paper will review the existing body of literature and specifically address the results of using portfolios in an Introduction to Flight course given to Sophomore year students in the Fall of 2004 at the University of Dayton. Feedback was solicited from the students throughout the semester to ensure open and clear communication and understanding. It was found to be important to address student fears immediately and answer their questions about the entire process and the instructor\u27s expectations. This communication eased the initial discomfort with the concept of using portfolios. By the time the students had submitted their portfolios, all of the students were extremely positive about the entire portfolio experience. Most importantly, the portfolios submitted made clear to both the student and instructor, the level of understanding and comprehension of the breadth and depth of the subject being examined in a manner not possible through the use of a traditional in-class timed final exam

Equivalent diffusion coefficient and equivalent diffusion accessible porosity of a stratified porous medium

Diffusion is an important transport process in low permeability media, which play an important role in contamination and remediation of natural environments. The calculation of equivalent diffusion parameters has however not been extensively explored. In this paper, expressions of the equivalent diffusion coefficient and the equivalent diffusion accessible porosity normal to the layering in a layered porous medium are derived based on analytical solutions of the diffusion equation. The expressions show that the equivalent diffusion coefficient changes with time. It is equal to the power average with p = -0.5 for small times and converges to the harmonic average for large times. The equivalent diffusion accessible porosity is the harmonic average of the porosities of the individual layers for all times. The expressions are verified numerically for several test cases