Bunny

Pages 132-13

Opposing Crosstalk between Rho1 and Cdc42 in Epithelial Morphogenesis

Epithelial cells line all surfaces of the body exposed to external environments where they perform critical roles for maintaining homeostasis. In addition, epithelial cells are implicated in several disease processes and are the most common cell type implicated in cancer. Therefore, understanding the regulation of epithelial cell development and function has important implications for adult homeostasis and disease states. The Rho family of small GTPases functions in a wide array of cellular processes in epithelial cells. However, in mammals Rho subfamilies have multiple members, often with overlapping roles, complicating the precise determination of Rho protein function in epithelial cells, especially in vivo. In Drosophila, two Rho subfamilies have only one member, Rho1 and Cdc42, which allows for straightforward loss-of-function analysis, in vivo. To determine the role of Rho1 and Cdc42 in Drosophila epithelia, we used mosaic clonal analysis and targeted RNA interference expression to perform loss-of-function studies with Rho1 and Cdc42 during pupal eye and larval imaginal disc morphogenesis. First, clonal analysis in the post-mitotic Drosophila pupal eye epithelium demonstrated that Rho1 was required to maintain AJ integrity independent of its role in sustaining apical cell tension. Rho1 depletion disrupted adherens junctions only when depleted in adjacent cells. Rho1 maintained AJs by inhibiting DE-cadherin endocytosis in a Cdc42/Par6-dependent manner. In contrast, depletion of Rho1 in single cells decreased apical tension, and Rok and Myosin were necessary downstream of Rho1 to sustain apical cell tension. Second, clonal analysis in the pupal eye epithelium further demonstrated that Cdc42 was also critical in limiting apical cell tension. It did so by localizing Par6/aPKC to AJs, where this complex limited Rho1 activity, and thus, acto-myosin contractility. Lastly, studies in larval imaginal discs identified Cdc42 and the Par polarity complex as novel regulators of apoptosis-induced compensatory proliferation. Depletion or disruption of this complex from AJs induced JNK-dependent apoptosis and compensatory proliferation. This was mediated by increased Rho1-Rok activation downstream of Cdc42 depletion, and Rok\u27s regulation of Myosin activity but not F-actin activated JNK. Therefore, opposing crosstalk between Rho1 and Cdc42 dictates epithelial cell shape, junctions, and compensatory proliferation during morphogenesis

Evaluating educational initiatives to improve palliative care for people with dementia: A narrative review.

Dementia accounts for one in three deaths among people aged 65 and over, but end-of-life care for people with dementia is often sub-optimal. Palliative care for people with dementia poses particular challenges to those providing services, and current policy initiatives recommend education and training in palliative care for those working with patients with dementia. However, there are few evaluations of the effectiveness of dementia education and training. This paper presents a narrative review undertaken in 2011-2012 of evaluations of palliative care education for those working with people with dementia at the end of life. A total of eight papers were identified that described and evaluated such palliative care education; none reported benefits for people with dementia. There is a clear need to develop and evaluate educational interventions designed to improve palliative and end-of-life care for people with dementia. Some suggestions for educationally sound approaches are discussed

Reflection of a Horizon Image on the Surface of Water

We have created a piece of software that renders the reflection of a ”landscape” texture on a wavy fluid surface. The fluid is represented by a height field and a quad mesh. Waves are created by using wave particles, non-physical entities that determine the influence a wave has on the fluid around it. The scene is ray traced by sending a ray through each pixel, bouncing it off the water and against the texture backdrop. The color of the texture is quieried and influences the color of the water surface. Surface normals are calulated by interpolating vertex normals across each face. The ray tracing is also parallelized, and speeds up to an aymptotic point, leveling off at the number of cores of the machine being used. We produce very attractive non-photo-realistic renderings of landscapes reflecting off a liquid surface

Fisheries Law Enforcement: Assessment of Deterrence

This study was sponsored by U.S. Coast Guard with the initial phase completed in 1999. The objective was to examine the deterrence effects of Coast Guard fisheries-related enforcement activities. The presentation covers a model of deterrence around drug smuggling and counterdrug operations, deterrence in fisheries law enforcement, the correlation between Coast Guard activities and observed violation rates

The effect of exercise on behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia: the EVIDEM-E randomised controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a simple dyadic (person with dementia and their main carer) exercise regimen as a therapy for the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. METHOD: A two arm, pragmatic, randomised, controlled, single-blind, parallel-group trial of a dyadic exercise regimen (individually tailored walking regimen designed to become progressively intensive and last between 20-30 min, at least five times per week).Community-dwelling individuals with ICD-10 confirmed dementia with the following: clinically significant behavioural and psychological symptoms, a carer willing and able to co-participate in the exercise regimen, and no physical conditions or symptoms that would preclude exercise participation were invited by mental health or primary care services into the study. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-one dyads were recruited to this study. There was no significant difference in Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms as measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory at week 12 between the group receiving the dyadic exercise regimen and those that did not (adjusted difference in means (intervention minus control) = -1.53, p = 0.6, 95% CI [-7.37, 4.32]). There was a significant between-group difference in caregiver's burden as measured by the Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory at week 12 (OR = 0.18, p = 0.01, CI [0.05, 0.69]) favouring the exercise group. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that regular simple exercise does not appear to improve the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, but did seem to attenuate caregiver burden. Further study to improve exercise uptake are needed

EVALUATION PLAN FOR COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATION OF SOURCE TERM ESTIMATION ALGORITHMS USING FUSION FIELD TRIAL 2007 DATA

Given a warning based on detection of hazardous materials at just a few sensors, it could be useful to rapidly (minutes) provide an estimate of the source location, time of release, and amount of material released. Such an estimate can lead to refined predictions of the area impacted by the hazardous release, and can support near-term follow-on actions to investigate the cause and nature of the hazardous release. In September 2007, a short-range, highly-instrumented test was conducted at the U. S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground. This test, referred to as Fusing Sensor Information from Observing Networks (FUSION) Field Trial 2007, or simply FFT 07, was designed to collect data to support the further development of source term estimation algorithms. This presentation describes how the field trial data collected during FFT 07 is being used for investigating several prototype algorithms including the goals of the comparisons, the comparison protocol, and the design of the comparative evaluation matrix

DISCUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ON USING DIFFERENT POINT-TO-POINT PROTOCOLS FOR TRANSPORT AND DISPERSION MODEL EVALUATIONS

Historically, assessments of T&D models have involved comparisons to field trial data using quantities derived from observations – maximum concentrations, plume widths, or integrated concentrations over arcs at various downwind ranges. Recently several methodologies that compare observations and predictions paired in space and time have been developed. Two different protocols designed to deal with low observed or predicted values have emerged. One of these protocols requires that both the observation and the prediction must exceed a specified threshold before being considered in the comparison. The other protocol requires that either the observation or the prediction must exceed a specified threshold before being considered in the comparison. This presentation compares the potential effects of applying these two protocols to T&D model assessments

Rip currents and alongshore flows in single channels dredged in the surf zone

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 122 (2017): 3799–3816, doi:10.1002/2016JC012222.To investigate the dynamics of flows near nonuniform bathymetry, single channels (on average 30 m wide and 1.5 m deep) were dredged across the surf zone at five different times, and the subsequent evolution of currents and morphology was observed for a range of wave and tidal conditions. In addition, circulation was simulated with the numerical modeling system COAWST, initialized with the observed incident waves and channel bathymetry, and with an extended set of wave conditions and channel geometries. The simulated flows are consistent with alongshore flows and rip-current circulation patterns observed in the surf zone. Near the offshore-directed flows that develop in the channel, the dominant terms in modeled momentum balances are wave-breaking accelerations, pressure gradients, advection, and the vortex force. The balances vary spatially, and are sensitive to wave conditions and the channel geometry. The observed and modeled maximum offshore-directed flow speeds are correlated with a parameter based on the alongshore gradient in breaking-wave-driven-setup across the nonuniform bathymetry (a function of wave height and angle, water depths in the channel and on the sandbar, and a breaking threshold) and the breaking-wave-driven alongshore flow speed. The offshore-directed flow speed increases with dissipation on the bar and reaches a maximum (when the surf zone is saturated) set by the vertical scale of the bathymetric variability.National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship; Vannevar Bush Fellowship; Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; NDSEG; ONR; NSF2017-11-0