Characterizing the Cellular Nature of the Physical Interactions Necessary for Collective Neuron Migration

Neuronal migration is an essential process in the development of the nervous system. Neurons are born in one location and migrate sizable distances to their final location. In many other developmental processes, cells migrate as collectives, where the migration of one cell influences the migration of another cell; this process has yet to be shown in the developing central nervous system. Using the conserved tangential migration of facial branchiomotor neurons (FBMNs), I aim to determine the nature of the collective migration in the developing nervous system. Here, two models of FBMN collective migration are tested: the “Pioneer” model, where following FBMNs migrate intimately on the axon of the first neuron to migrate and the “Contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL)” model, where transient cell-cell contacts are the driving influence of the proper caudal migration of FBMNs. Using fixed tissue imaging, it was found that early born FBMNs do not contact the axon. In contrast, they are more likely to make soma-soma contact and display morphology typical of CIL. FBMNs that do contact the axon do not display an elongated morphology that is predicted of a cell using the leader axon as a substrate for migration. Further, wild-type FBMNs are able to rescue PCP-deficient FBMNs. Therefore, blastula-stage transplantation of PCP-deficient neurons into wild-type hosts allows us to live image the method of collective migration. CIL events were observed between PCP-deficient neurons and wild-type neurons, indicating that PCP is not required for CIL. In addition, PCP-deficient neurons making sustained contact with wildtype axons were not rescued, arguing against the Pioneer model. Taken together, these observations are more consistent with the “CIL” model of FBMN collective migration in which transient soma-soma interactions are required for the coordinated movement of neurons as they migrate in the developing nervous system

Offspring Sex Ratio in Double Brooding Prothonotary Warblers

Prothonotary warblers are bright, golden birds who, with their loud calls, make themselves known in wetland habitats in the spring after returning from their winter homes in the Neotropics to breed. This migratory species is important to study because of their need for these habitats and are declining in population due to the degradation of wetland environments across the western hemisphere. VCU started a project in 1987 to study prothonotary warblers including population genetics, breeding biology, and migration ecology. Since then, with the help of Richmond Audubon Society, the project has erected over 600 nesting boxes along the James River contributing to a database going back 30 years. This makes them an accessible bird to study and, with the collected information, help to better understand the causes of their declin

On‐Chip Lifetime Prediction for Dependable Many‐Processor SoCs based on Data Fusion

The developments in technology and complexity of many-processor Systems-on-Chips emerge at a very rapid pace as is their introduction in safety-critical applications, for instance the transport sector. The inherent decrease in dependability of these complex nanosystems must be compensated by counter measures. One promising approach is the usage of IJTAG-compatible embedded instruments in and around cores, monitoring the "health" of target processors. It has been anticipated that these instruments will be (primarily) used for reducing the cost of final testing. In case of degradation during life time, however, they can be reused and counteractions like run-time remapping can be carried out. In this paper, the on-line data of two types of embedded instruments will be used for the prognostics, a slack-delay monitor and an IDDX monitor. Their (correlated) data is being fused which enables a more accurate life-time prediction as compared to a single monitor approach. However, the computational requirements for the embedded dependability manager will increase to enable handling embedded instrument data fusion and/or multi-parameter life-time prediction

Temperature sensors in SOI CMOS for high temperature applications

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Pilot clinical study of the effects of ginger root extract on eicosanoids in colonic mucosa of subjects at increased risk for colorectal cancer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113130/1/mc22163.pd

Metabolomic Profiling Reveals a Role for Androgen in Activating Amino Acid Metabolism and Methylation in Prostate Cancer Cells

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related death in American men. Development and progression of clinically localized prostate cancer is highly dependent on androgen signaling. Metastatic tumors are initially responsive to anti-androgen therapy, however become resistant to this regimen upon progression. Genomic and proteomic studies have implicated a role for androgen in regulating metabolic processes in prostate cancer. However, there have been no metabolomic profiling studies conducted thus far that have examined androgen-regulated biochemical processes in prostate cancer. Here, we have used unbiased metabolomic profiling coupled with enrichment-based bioprocess mapping to obtain insights into the biochemical alterations mediated by androgen in prostate cancer cell lines. Our findings indicate that androgen exposure results in elevation of amino acid metabolism and alteration of methylation potential in prostate cancer cells. Further, metabolic phenotyping studies confirm higher flux through pathways associated with amino acid metabolism in prostate cancer cells treated with androgen. These findings provide insight into the potential biochemical processes regulated by androgen signaling in prostate cancer. Clinically, if validated, these pathways could be exploited to develop therapeutic strategies that supplement current androgen ablative treatments while the observed androgen-regulated metabolic signatures could be employed as biomarkers that presage the development of castrate-resistant prostate cancer

Metabolites of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) in Serum Have the Potential to Delineate Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the fourth highest cause of cancer related deaths in the United States, has the most aggressive presentation resulting in a very short median survival time for the affected patients. Early detection of PDAC is confounded by lack of specific markers that has motivated the use of high throughput molecular approaches to delineate potential biomarkers. To pursue identification of a distinct marker, this study profiled the secretory proteome in 16 PDAC, 2 carcinoma in situ (CIS) and 7 benign patients using label-free mass spectrometry coupled to 1D-SDS-PAGE and Strong Cation-Exchange Chromatography (SCX). A total of 431 proteins were detected of which 56 were found to be significantly elevated in PDAC. Included in this differential set were Parkinson disease autosomal recessive, early onset 7 (PARK 7) and Alpha Synuclein (aSyn), both of which are known to be pathognomonic to Parkinson's disease as well as metabolic enzymes like Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) which has been exploited as therapeutic target in cancers. Tissue Microarray analysis confirmed higher expression of aSyn and NP in ductal epithelia of pancreatic tumors compared to benign ducts. Furthermore, extent of both aSyn and NP staining positively correlated with tumor stage and perineural invasion while their intensity of staining correlated with the existence of metastatic lesions in the PDAC tissues. From the biomarker perspective, NP protein levels were higher in PDAC sera and furthermore serum levels of its downstream metabolites guanosine and adenosine were able to distinguish PDAC from benign in an unsupervised hierarchical classification model. Overall, this study for the first time describes elevated levels of aSyn in PDAC as well as highlights the potential of evaluating NP protein expression and levels of its downstream metabolites to develop a multiplex panel for non-invasive detection of PDAC

The level of religious motivation of aspirants, novices, and major seminarians/junior sisters of religious congregations in Metro Manila

This study investigates the level of religious motivation of aspirants, novices, and major seminarians/junior sisters of 13 religious congregations in Metro Manila. On random selection, 301 subjects were taken from the total available population of 527 of both male and female subjects. The instrument used to measure the level of motivation of the respondents was the Religious Motivation Questionnaire developed by Fr. Menguito, SVD. The study used the descriptive method of research for the analysis of religious motivation. Mean scores, standard deviations, percentiles, and percentages of the data were used to assess the level of motivation and ANOVA was used to determine the difference between male and female respondents in three stages of formation on the three factors. The results showed that the level of motivation decreased when the respondents reached the stage of major seminarians/junior sisters, but the difference was not significant. It was also found out that there is a significant difference between male and female respondents in the level of motivation, F (1,263) = 16.40, p .01, with the female religious expressing higher religious motivation. It was concluded that progressive stages of formation do not necessarily enhance religious motivation. It is recommended that special programs be conducted to help the novices to integrate and internalize what was gained during the period of novitiate for a long standing effect in their religious life