Socio-economics of Personalized Medicine in Asia

The second decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed a surging interest in personalized medicine with the concomitant promise to enable more precise diagnosis and treatment of disease and illness, based upon an individual’s unique genetic makeup. In this book, my goal is to contribute to a growing body of literature on personalized medicine by tracing and analyzing how this field has blossomed in Asia. In so doing, I aim to illustrate how various social and economic forces shape the co-production of science and social order in global contexts. This book shows that there are inextricable transnational linkages between developing and developed countries and also provides a theoretically guided and empirically grounded understanding of the formation and usage of particular racial and ethnic human taxonomies in local, national and transnational settings

Collaborative IT Outsourcing in the Public Sector: A Case Analysis of Standard Business Reporting in Australia

This study provides a case analysis of a successful collaborative information technology outsourcing arrangement in a public sector setting. An endogenous framework depicting four key factors (motivation, decision-making, outcomes, and relationship management) was developed and used to examine a collaboration between the Australian Government (Treasury and Taxation Office) and Fujitsu to develop Australia’s Standard Business Reporting infrastructure. Document analysis and interviews with business and technical executives of both parties provided insights that highlight a shift from cost-focused outsourcing initiatives toward more mutually beneficial partnerships focused on co-created value

Reconceptualizing platforms in information systems research through the lens of service-dominant logic

Platforms have gained significant attention in the field of information systems (IS) research. However, the concept of platforms remains fluid and complex due to the diverse phenomena associated with it. Research to date tends to cluster around two predominant perspectives: the economic network perspective and the architectural design perspective. To reconcile the divergent perspectives of platforms and establish a more cohesive foundation for IS theorizing, we undertake an interpretive literature review through the lens of service-dominant (S-D) logic. Drawing on an extensive analysis of the literature, we develop an S-D Platform Framework that provides a deep understanding of the multifaceted nature of platforms as a vital IS capability for value co-creation. This framework sheds light on the fundamental facets of relationality, ambidexterity, and cooperativity, which explain the deep structure of platforms in the realm of IS research. Building on our proposed framework, we put forth an agenda that aims to guide future studies towards a more theoretically compelling trajectory

Anti-Cancer and Bioavailabilty of Arachidin-1 and Arachidin-3 in Colon Cancer Cells

Cancer is a common cause of death in the United States and locally in the state of Arkansas. Modifiable factors such as tobacco use, physical activity, and diet lead to reduced incidence of colon cancer diagnosis. Plant-based foods may contain phytochemicals that confer health promoting properties. Specifically, peanuts contain phytochemicals known as resveratrol, arachidin-1, and arachidin-3 that have been linked to anticancer activities. However, few research studies have been done on arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 that could develop understanding of their health promoting properties or nutraceutical applications. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the most effective concentration of arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 for inhibiting cell proliferation and (2) assess the bioavailability of these compounds. Concentrations of 0, 5, 10, and 20 µM arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 were applied and cell viability was measured at 0, 24, and 48 hours. Significant reduction of cell proliferation occurred with treatments of 10 and 20 µM arachidin-1 and 10 and 20 µM arachidin-3 in comparison with the control. Due to the limitations of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) detection, no transport values were determined when arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 were applied in 50 and 100 µM concentrations. The findings suggest that arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 inhibit cell proliferation in human colon cancer cells. Further research is needed to understand the bioavailability of arachidin-1 and arachidin-3

Iron Effects on \u3cem\u3eClostridioides difficile\u3c/em\u3e Toxin Production and Antimicrobial Susceptibilities

Despite the benefits of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion therapy, it can render patients vulnerable to iron overload. The excess iron deposits in various body tissues cause severe complications and organ damage such as cardiotoxicity and mold infections. Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea among cancer patients and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Our study aims to determine the role of iron overload and the effects of iron chelators on CDI. Our results demonstrated that iron (Fe3+) stimulated the growth of C. difficile with increased colony formation units (CFU) in a dose-dependent manner. Exposure to excess iron also increased the gene expression levels of tcdA and tcdB. The production of C. difficile toxin A, necessary for the pathogenesis of C. difficile, was also elevated after iron treatment. In the presence of excess iron, C. difficile becomes less susceptible to metronidazole with significantly elevated minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) but remains susceptible to vancomycin. Iron-stimulated colony formation and production of C. difficile toxins were effectively diminished by iron chelator deferoxamine co-treatment. Incorporating iron overload status as a potential factor in developing a risk prediction model of CDI and antibiotic treatment response may aid clinical practitioners in optimizing CDI management in oncology patients

Cyber-Physical Codesign of Distributed Structural Health Monitoring with Wireless Sensor Networks

Our Deteriorating Civil Infrastructure Faces the Critical Challenge of Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring for Damage Detection and Localization. in Contrast to Existing Research that Often Separates the Designs of Wireless Sensor Networks and Structural Engineering Algorithms, This Paper Proposes a Cyber-Physical Codesign Approach to Structural Health Monitoring based on Wireless Sensor Networks. Our Approach Closely Integrates 1) Flexibility-Based Damage Localization Methods that Allow a Tradeoff between the Number of Sensors and the Resolution of Damage Localization, and 2) an Energy-Efficient, Multilevel Computing Architecture Specifically Designed to Leverage the Multiresolution Feature of the Flexibility-Based Approach. the Proposed Approach Has Been Implemented on the Intel Imote2 Platform. Experiments on a Simulated Truss Structure and a Real Full-Scale Truss Structure Demonstrate the System\u27s Efficacy in Damage Localization and Energy Efficiency

Hybrid Course Design: Leading a New Direction in Learning Programming Languages

“Introduction to Computing for Engineers” is a programming course emphasizing problem solving. The lack of practice time, in addition to the algorithm-centric nature of programming, results in an inadequate comprehension of course material. In the fall of 2010, three faculty members created and implemented online activities consisting of video lecture slides, and mini on-line quizzes at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to give students more “hands-on” learning (rather than expecting them to absorb content through lecture). Students do online lecture study by themselves, then come to the lab to practice on the following day with the instructor and teaching assistant. In the fall of 2010, four out of ten sections were delivered using hybrid instruction. Analysis of exam results at the end of the semester showed no significant distinction between hybrid learning and traditional study. Feedback received from the students indicates that the majority of students preferred the hybrid course over the traditional course. Students who took the hybrid course during this semester are happy with their hybrid experience. These positive results encouraged faculty members to increase the number of hybrid sections to four during the spring of 2011 and the fall of 2011 semesters. The hybrid course design and course-wide assessment continued. In this paper, improvement of the online video design is introduced, and assessment results are presented. It is believed that by switching from a traditional classroom environment to a hybrid learning, student comprehension of the course content will improve, in addition to their interest and subsequent retention in engineering

Squid giant axon contains neurofilament protein mRNA but does not synthesize neurofilament proteins

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 37 (2017): 475-486, doi:10.1007/s10571-016-0382-z.When isolated squid giant axons are incubated in radioactive amino acids, abundant newly synthesized proteins are found in the axoplasm. These proteins are translated in the adaxonal Schwann cells and subsequently transferred into the giant axon. The question as to whether any de novo protein synthesis occurs in the giant axon itself is difficult to resolve because the small contribution of the proteins possibly synthesized intra-axonally is not easily distinguished from the large amounts of the proteins being supplied from the Schwann cells. In this paper we reexamine this issue by studying the synthesis of endogenous neurofilament (NF) proteins in the axon. Our laboratory previously showed that NF mRNA and protein is present in the squid giant axon, but not in the surrounding adaxonal glia. Therefore, if the isolated squid axon could be shown to contain newly synthesized NF protein de novo, it could not arise from the adaxonal glia. The results of experiments in this paper show that abundant 3H-labeled NF protein is synthesized in the squid giant fiber lobe containing the giant axon’s neuronal cell bodies, but despite the presence of NF mRNA in the giant axon, no labeled NF protein is detected in the giant axon. This lends support to the Glia-Axon Protein Transfer Hypothesis which posits that the squid giant axon obtains newly synthesized protein by Schwann cell transfer and not through intra-axonal protein synthesis, and further suggests that the NF mRNA in the axon is in a translationally repressed state.This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH2017-05-2