Dynamic Nuclear Polarization in Diamond

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) is a technique used to amplify the signal in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Magnetic resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when spins in a magnetic field are excited by a resonant electromagnetic field. In our experiment, we apply a radio-frequency (RF pulse) to the nucleus of a sample at the same frequency that the nuclear spin is precessing.https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/wetterhahn_2023/1001/thumbnail.jp

Timing matters: impact of anticonvulsant drug treatment and spikes on seizure risk in benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes

OBJECTIVE: Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is a common, self-limited epilepsy syndrome affecting school-age children. Classic interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) confirm diagnosis, and BECTS is presumed to be pharmacoresponsive. As seizure risk decreases in time with this disease, we hypothesize that the impact of IEDs and anticonvulsive drug (ACD) treatment on the risk of subsequent seizure will differ based on disease duration. METHODS: We calculate subsequent seizure risk following diagnosis in a large retrospective cohort of children with BECTS (n = 130), evaluating the impact of IEDs and ACD treatment in the first, second, third, and fourth years of disease. We use a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and logistic regression models. Patients were censored if they were lost to follow-up or if they changed group status. RESULTS: Two-thirds of children had a subsequent seizure within 2 years of diagnosis. The majority of children had a subsequent seizure within 3 years despite treatment. The presence of IEDs on electroencephalography (EEG) did not impact subsequent seizure risk early in the disease. By the fourth year of disease, all children without IEDs remained seizure free, whereas one-third of children with IEDs at this stage had a subsequent seizure. Conversely, ACD treatment corresponded with lower risk of seizure early in the disease but did not impact seizure risk in later years. SIGNIFICANCE: In this cohort, the majority of children with BECTS had a subsequent seizure despite treatment. In addition, ACD treatment and IEDs predicted seizure risk at specific points of disease duration. Future prospective studies are needed to validate these exploratory findings.Published versio

E-business and organisational change: A structurational analysis.

The focus of large-scale e-business development has shifted to the large 'blue-chip' corporations. However, large companies not only have to tackle a new technology that could permeate the entire organisation and along its supply chain, but they have to deal with new business models, revised processes, additional marketing channels, mounting cost pressures, and heightened service expectations from customers. This is particularly difficult for large multinationals that span the globe with their rigid bureaucratic structures, elaborate power networks, and ingrained cultural properties. Hence, the aim of this research is to investigate how the introduction of e-business interacts with the existing structures of a large established company. Structures are interpreted as rules and resources, which are the medium and outcome of human actions. It is argued that the introduction of e-business constitutes a significant technology-driven organisational change and a review of the literature reveals an absence of such studies in e-business. In order to capture a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of how organisations undergo such a change, this research applies structuration theory as a meta-theory to explore the relationship between agents and structure, using an interpretive qualitative paradigm. An extensive longitudinal case study examines the establishment, operation and termination of a special-purpose e-business unit, named ConsumerConnect-Europe (CCE), at the European corporate headquarters of the Ford Motor Company. This thesis provides a narrative of the entire life cycle of CCE, focusing on its business-to-consumer division. The narrative is analysed in detail using structuration theory with its concerns for the dimensions of signification, domination and legitimation. The discussion initially addresses the research sub-questions related directly to the case study and then turns to the main research question: how does the introduction of e-business interact with the existing structures of large established companies. In answering this, it examines the broader natures of e-business, human agency in organisational change, organisational structures, and the duality of organisational change. These natures form the content of contributions and are linked to the theoretical and practical contributions of the thesis. Methodological contributions are primarily in the operationalisation of structuration theory

Clobazam as an adjunctive therapy in treating seizures associated with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome

Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a devastating childhood epilepsy syndrome characterized by the occurrence of multiple types of seizures and cognitive decline. Most children suffer from frequent seizures that are refractory to current medical management. Recent clinical trials have suggested that addition of clobazam may improve the clinical outcome for some LGS patients. Although clobazam has been available for over five decades, it has only recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for this indication. As a 1,5-benzodiazepine, clobazam is structurally related to the widely used 1,4-benzodiazepines, which include diazepam. Clobazam has been shown to modulate GABAergic neurotransmission by positive allosteric modulation of GABAA receptors, and to increase expression of transporters for both GABA and glutamate. The active metabolite n-desmethylclobazam (norclobazam) also modulates GABAA receptors, and the relative importance of these two compounds in the clinical effectiveness of clobazam remains an open question. Clinical trials involving clobazam as an addon therapy in a variety of pediatric epilepsy populations have found a significant improvement in seizure control. In patients with LGS, clobazam may have greatest efficacy for drop seizures. Longstanding clinical experience suggests that clobazam is a safe and well tolerated antiepileptic drug with infrequent and mild adverse effects. These results suggest that adjunctive treatment with clobazam may be a reasonable option for LGS patients, particularly those who are treatment-resistant

OMMA enables population-scale analysis of complex genomic features and phylogenomic relationships from nanochannel-based optical maps.

BackgroundOptical mapping is an emerging technology that complements sequencing-based methods in genome analysis. It is widely used in improving genome assemblies and detecting structural variations by providing information over much longer (up to 1 Mb) reads. Current standards in optical mapping analysis involve assembling optical maps into contigs and aligning them to a reference, which is limited to pairwise comparison and becomes bias-prone when analyzing multiple samples.FindingsWe present a new method, OMMA, that extends optical mapping to the study of complex genomic features by simultaneously interrogating optical maps across many samples in a reference-independent manner. OMMA captures and characterizes complex genomic features, e.g., multiple haplotypes, copy number variations, and subtelomeric structures when applied to 154 human samples across the 26 populations sequenced in the 1000 Genomes Project. For small genomes such as pathogenic bacteria, OMMA accurately reconstructs the phylogenomic relationships and identifies functional elements across 21 Acinetobacter baumannii strains.ConclusionsWith the increasing data throughput of optical mapping system, the use of this technology in comparative genome analysis across many samples will become feasible. OMMA is a timely solution that can address such computational need. The OMMA software is available at https://github.com/TF-Chan-Lab/OMTools

Institutional Voids, Economic Adversity, and Inter-firm Cooperation in an Emerging Market : The Mediating Role of Government R&D Support

Peer reviewedPostprin

La traduction du spoken word : poétique performative et engagée

This dissertation essentially tries to present a 'new' poetic genre: the Spoken Word. We will explore and examine several translation challenges that occur within the translation in order to better redefine and analyze translation processes and strategies. We will rely on theories related with poetry (Henri Meschonnic and André Lefevere), theater (Susan Bassnett and George Wellwarth) and performance (Charles Bernstein) to support our analysis. Spoken word takes its source in oral literature. This genre is not so new, but is rather a more modern form, a more active sibling of the reading poetry and a reincarnation of fusion poetry. An exploration of performance features and its relations with poetry, theater, memorization, reception, text instability, as well as relations between the original and the translation, musicality and audio support, will allow developing a translation project. We will introduce a spoken word artist of Montreal: Catherine Kidd. The analysis of the original text, Sea Peach, will raise various problems and challenges. Will we translate a spoken word as a traditional poem? What are the translation strategies to be used? For whom do we translate? Will the translation affect the performance? Translation will be done beyond the text and will have an even more creative and performative extent