F.I.T. Our Challenge, Our Purpose, and What We Can Do For You

Our group was given the task of creating a wellness program for Biss Enterprises. The launch of the FIT program for Biss Enterprises will be a great benefit to the company as well as its employees. These types of programs have been shown to reduce health care costs and employee absenteeism while increasing employee productivity. Not only is wellness meant to improve the employee\u27s physical health, but also their mental health and social health outside of work

Platelet-derived growth factor stimulates Src-dependent mRNA stabilization of specific early genes in fibroblasts.

The Src family of protein-tyrosine kinases (SFKs) participates in a variety of signal transduction pathways, including promotion of cell growth, prevention of apoptosis, and regulation of cell interactions and motility. In particular, SFKs are required for the mitogenic response to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). However, it is not clear whether there is a discrete SFK-specific pathway leading to enhanced gene expression or whether SFKs act to generally enhance PDGF-stimulated gene expression. To examine this, we treated quiescent NIH3T3 cells with PDGF in the presence or absence of small molecule inhibitors of SFKs, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), and MEK1/2. Global patterns of gene expression were analyzed by using Affymetrix Gene-Chip arrays, and data were validated by using reverse transcription-PCR and ribonuclease protection assay. We identified a discrete set of immediate early genes induced by PDGF and inhibited in the presence of the SFK-selective inhibitor SU6656. A subset of these SFK-dependent genes was induced by PDGF even in the presence of the MEK1/2 inhibitor U0126 or the PI3K inhibitor LY294002. By using ribonuclease protection assays and nuclear run-off assays, we further determined that PDGF did not stimulate the rate of transcription of these SFK-dependent immediate early genes but rather promoted mRNA stabilization. Our data suggest that PDGF regulates gene expression through an SFK-specific pathway that is distinct from the Ras-MAPK and PI3K pathways, and that SFKs signal gene expression by enhancing mRNA stability.Peer reviewe

Cardiovascular disease biomarkers are associated with declining renal function in type 2 diabetes

Aims/hypothesis: We investigated whether biochemical cardiovascular risk factors and/or markers of subclinical cardiovascular disease were associated with the development of reduced renal function in people with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A cohort of 1066 Scottish men and women aged 60–74 years with type 2 diabetes from the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study were followed up for a median of 6.7 years. New-onset reduced renal function was defined as two eGFRs <60 ml−1 min−1 (1.73 m)−2 at least 3 months apart with a > 25% decline from baseline eGFR. Ankle brachial pressure index (ABI), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) were measured at baseline. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and carotid intima media thickness were measured 1 year into follow-up. Data were analysed using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: A total of 119 participants developed reduced renal function during follow-up. ABI, PWV, NT-proBNP and hsTnT were all associated with onset of decline in renal function following adjustment for age and sex. These associations were attenuated after adjustment for additional diabetes renal disease risk factors (systolic BP, baseline eGFR, albumin:creatinine ratio and smoking pack-years), with the exception of hsTnT which remained independently associated (HR 1.51 [95% CI 1.22, 1.87]). Inclusion of hsTnT in a predictive model improved the continuous net reclassification index by 0.165 (0.008, 0.286). Conclusions/interpretation: Our findings demonstrate an association between hsTnT, a marker of subclinical cardiac ischaemia, and subsequent renal function decline. Further research is required to establish the predictive value of hsTnT and response to intervention

Abdominal palpation to determine fetal position at the onset of labour: an accuracy study

Since the late 19th Century, abdominal palpation of the gravid uterus has been routine, worldwide obstetric practice to determine fetal position. A systematic review showed a dearth of research on the accuracy of this ubiquitous test. A test accuracy study was carried out prospectively to assess accuracy of abdominal palpation (index test) to identify the Left-Occipito-Anterior (LOA) fetal position at the onset of labour, in nulliparous women over 37 weeks’ gestation, with ultrasound as the reference standard. Trained observers blind to the index test results performed the ultrasound independently. Midwives palpation data on the position of 629 women were obtained and 61 (9%) fetuses were verified as LOA by ultrasound. The sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratio of abdominal palpation to detect LOA position were 34% (23-46), 71% (67-74) and 1.2 (0.83-1.74) respectively. Higher accuracy was achieved by midwives with experience > 5 years (OR 4.02; 1.2-12.9) and those who worked in the community (OR 0.15; 0.03-0.9). Accuracy of abdominal palpation to determine LOA fetal position at the onset of labour is poor. If future research demonstrates that the optimal fetal position of LOA exists, midwives will need to confirm fetal position at the onset of labour by ultrasound to prognosticate

A Family Affair: Competing Sponsors of Literacy in Appalachian Students’ Lives

This article explores the literacy lives of students enrolled in English Composition courses at two open-admission universities in Central Appalachia and the complex role of immediate and extended family members as sponsors of literacy. Some relatives emerge as both sponsors and inhibitors—or perhaps more accurately, sponsors of competing meanings of literacy—and illustrate the larger social forces surrounding literacy in students’ lives

Starshade Rendezvous Probe

The Starshade Rendezvous Probe Mission (https://smd-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/science-red/s3fs-public/atoms/files/Starshade2.pdf ) [1] will be the first space-based, high-contrast imaging mission with the potential to detect and characterize Earth-like planets in the habitable zone (HZ) around sunlike stars while at the same time exploring entire planetary systems about our nearest neighbors. Over the last two decades, astronomers have discovered and cataloged thousands of planets around other stars. Nevertheless, we have yet to find a planetary system like our own or to characterize discovered small planets to determine if they are similar to Earth. The next step in exploration is to image full planetary systems, including their HZs, and to obtain planetary spectra with enough sensitivity to determine if a planet is Earth-like. A space-based direct imaging mission to ultimately find and characterize other Earth-like planets is a long-term priority for space astrophysics [2, 3]

The impact of the Netherlandish landscape tradition on poetry and painting in early modern England

Copyright © 2013 The University of Chicago Press.The relationship between poetry and painting has been one of the most debated issues in the history of criticism. The present article explores this problematic relationship in the context of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, taking into account theories of rhetoric, visual perception, and art. It analyzes a rare case in which a specific school of painting directly inspired poetry: in particular, the ways in which the Netherlandish landscape tradition influenced natural descriptions in the poem Poly-Olbion (1612, 1622) by Michael Drayton (1563–1631). Drayton — under the influence of the artistic principles of landscape depiction as explained in Henry Peacham’s art manuals, as well as of direct observation of Dutch and Flemish landscape prints and paintings — successfully managed to render pictorial landscapes into poetry. Through practical examples, this essay will thoroughly demonstrate that rhetoric is capable of emulating pictorial styles in a way that presupposes specialized art-historical knowledge, and that pictorialism can be the complex product as much of poetry and rhetoric as of painting and art-theoretical vocabulary

A Strategy for LSST to Unveil a Population of Kilonovae without Gravitational-wave Triggers

We present a cadence optimization strategy to unveil a large population of kilonovae using optical imaging alone. These transients are generated during binary neutron star and potentially neutron star–black hole mergers and are electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational-wave signals detectable in nearby events with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, and other interferometers that will be online in the near future. Discovering a large population of kilonovae will allow us to determine how heavy-element production varies with the intrinsic parameters of the merger and across cosmic time. The rate of binary neutron star mergers is still uncertain, but only few (≾ 15) events with associated kilonovae may be detectable per year within the horizon of next-generation ground-based interferometers. The rapid evolution (~days) at optical/infrared wavelengths, relatively low luminosity, and the low volumetric rate of kilonovae makes their discovery difficult, especially during blind surveys of the sky. We propose future large surveys to adopt a rolling cadence in which g-i observations are taken nightly for blocks of 10 consecutive nights. With the current baseline2018a cadence designed for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), l≾ 7.5 poorly sampled kilonovae are expected to be detected in both the Wide Fast Deep (WFD) and Deep Drilling Fields (DDF) surveys per year, under optimistic assumptions on their rate, duration, and luminosity. We estimate the proposed strategy to return up to ~272 GW170817-like kilonovae throughout the LSST WFD survey, discovered independently from gravitational-wave triggers

Probing the extragalactic fast transient sky at minute timescales with DECam

Searches for optical transients are usually performed with a cadence of days to weeks, optimised for supernova discovery. The optical fast transient sky is still largely unexplored, with only a few surveys to date having placed meaningful constraints on the detection of extragalactic transients evolving at sub-hour timescales. Here, we present the results of deep searches for dim, minute-timescale extragalactic fast transients using the Dark Energy Camera, a core facility of our all-wavelength and all-messenger Deeper, Wider, Faster programme. We used continuous 20s exposures to systematically probe timescales down to 1.17 minutes at magnitude limits $g > 23$ (AB), detecting hundreds of transient and variable sources. Nine candidates passed our strict criteria on duration and non-stellarity, all of which could be classified as flare stars based on deep multi-band imaging. Searches for fast radio burst and gamma-ray counterparts during simultaneous multi-facility observations yielded no counterparts to the optical transients. Also, no long-term variability was detected with pre-imaging and follow-up observations using the SkyMapper optical telescope. We place upper limits for minute-timescale fast optical transient rates for a range of depths and timescales. Finally, we demonstrate that optical $g$-band light curve behaviour alone cannot discriminate between confirmed extragalactic fast transients such as prompt GRB flashes and Galactic stellar flares.Comment: Published in MNRA

The Office

This newsletter was created by the Fall 2016 Honors English Class from Stephen F. Austin State University. Throughout the semester students were asked to define and interpret the terms work and labor. Through our individual research on different aspects of work and labor, we hope to expand the general spectrum of what encompasses these topics. Works and labor are two important aspects of our culture. They are umbrella terms that encompass many occupational fields and serve as a uniting factor in modern-day society. Aspects of work and labor are observable in an assortment of environments, whether it be through schoolwork as children or salary-paying jobs as adults. Because the global employment industry as a whole has such strong relations to work and labor ingrained in how duties are completed, there is a wide range of areas where they are applicable. Here, in this newsletter, many different aspects of these terms will be discussed. There are more elements to work and labor than many realize. Through the works included in our newsletter, we hope to expand the general understanding of work, labor, and the components that make them what they are