Filomicelle Functionalization and Stability Studies with Applications for Malaria Treatments

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium that is transmitted by mosquitoes. It is estimated that malaria causes 1.1 million deaths per year globally. While anti-malarial drugs have been effective in treating infected individuals, new methodologies are needed. Treatments may benefit from approaches that encapsulate drugs in vehicles allowing for more effective delivery. To this end, the use of targeted drug delivery vehicles called filomicelles to treat malaria is proposed. Certain amphiphilic diblock copolymers self-assemble into filomicelles (long and stable cylindrical micelles), which are capable of carrying hydrophobic drugs in the bodies of rodents. It is shown in this dissertation that the surface of these filomicelles can be covalently modified with peptides. The peptides have been found by other research groups to bind apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) of malaria parasites. AMA1 is part of the machinery that allows Plasmodium to infect red blood cells

Gender and school-level differences in students' moderate and vigorous physical activity levels when taught basketball through the tactical games model

The Tactical Games Model (TGM) prefaces the cognitive components of physical education (PE), which has implications for physical activity (PA) accumulation. PA recommendations suggest students reach 50% moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). However, this criterion does not indicate the contribution from vigorous physical activity (VPA). Consequently, this study investigated: a) the effects of TGM delivery on MVPA/VPA and, b) gender/school level differences. Participants were 78 seventh and 96 fourth/fifth grade coeducational PE students from two different schools. Two teachers taught 24 (middle) and 30 (elementary) level one TGM basketball lessons. Students wore Actigraph GT3× triaxial accelerometers. Data were analyzed using four one-way ANOVAs. Middle school boys had significantly higher MVPA/VPA (34.04/22.37%) than girls (25.14/15.47%). Elementary school boys had significantly higher MVPA/VPA (29.73/18.33%) than girls (23.03/14.33%). While TGM lessons provide a context where students can accumulate VPA consistent with national PA recommendations, teachers need to modify lesson activities to enable equitable PA participation

IceSat 2 ATLAS Photon-Counting Receiver - Initial On-Orbit Performance

Photon-counting receivers are deployed on the NASA Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat2) Advance Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). The ATLAS laser altimeter design has total six ground tracks with three strong and three weak tracks. The strong track has nominally 4 times more laser power than the weak track. The receiver is operated in photon counting mode. There are 16 photon-counting channels for each strong track and 4 photon-counting channels for each weak track. Hamamatsu photomultiplier with a 4x4-array anode was used as photon counting detector. This receiver design has high counting efficiency (>15%) at 532 nm, low dark count rate (<400 counts per second), low jitter (less than 285ps), short dead time (<3 ns), long lifetime under large solar background radiation, radiation harden for space operation, and ruggedized for survives the harsh vibration during the launch. In this paper, we will present the initial on-orbit performance of this photon-counting receiver

Donor Bone Marrow-Derived T Cells Inhibit GVHD Induced by Donor Lymphocyte Infusion in Established Mixed Allogeneic Hematopoietic Chimeras

Delayed administration of donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) to established mixed chimeras has been shown to achieve anti-tumor responses without graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD). Herein we show that de novo donor BM-derived T cells that are tolerant of the recipients are important in preventing GVHD in mixed chimeras receiving delayed DLI. Mixed chimeras lacking donor BM-derived T cells developed significantly more severe GVHD than those with donor BM-derived T cells after DLI, even though both groups had comparable levels of total T cells at the time of DLI. Post-DLI depletion of donor BM-derived T cells in mixed chimeras, as late as 20 days after DLI, also provoked severe GVHD. Although both CD4 and CD8 T cells contributed to the protection, the latter were significantly more effective, suggesting that inhibition of GVHD was not mainly mediated by CD4 regulatory T cells. The lack of donor BM-derived T cells was associated with markedly increased accumulation of DLI-derived alloreactive T cells in parenchymal GVHD target tissues. Thus, donor BM-derived T cells are an important factor in determining the risk of GVHD and therefore, offer a potential therapeutic target for preventing and ameliorating GVHD in the setting of delayed DLI in established mixed chimeras

Factors influencing the choice of shared bicycles and shared electric bikes in Beijing

AbstractChina leads the world in both public bikeshare and private electric bike (e-bike) growth. Current trajectories indicate the viability of deploying large-scale shared e-bike (e-bikeshare) systems in China. We employ a stated preference survey and multinomial logit to model the factors influencing the choice to switch from an existing transportation mode to bikeshare or e-bikeshare in Beijing. Demand is influenced by distinct sets of factors: the bikeshare choice is most sensitive to measures of effort and comfort while the e-bikeshare choice is more sensitive to user heterogeneities. Bikeshare demand is strongly negatively impacted by trip distance, temperature, precipitation, and poor air quality. User demographics however do not factor strongly on the bikeshare choice, indicating the mode will draw users from across the social spectrum. The e-bikeshare choice is much more tolerant of trip distance, high temperatures and poor air quality, though precipitation is also a highly negative factor. User demographics do play a significant role in e-bikeshare demand. Analysis of impact to the existing transportation system finds that both bikeshare and e-bikeshare will tend to draw users away from the “unsheltered modes”, walk, bike, and e-bike. Although it is unclear if shared bikes are an attractive “first-and-last-mile solution”, it is clear that e-bikeshare is attractive as a bus replacement

Poster 285 High Prevalence of Cranial Asymmetry May Exist in Infants with Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy (NBPP)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147206/1/pmr2s184b.pd

Poster 285 High Prevalence of Cranial Asymmetry May Exist in Infants with Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy (NBPP)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147206/1/pmr2s184b.pd