Lessons of Community Partnership in International Development

When it comes to international development, and more specifically rural development, effective partnership is of the utmost importance. The procedure for effective partnership should be streamlined, and should be aimed at involving and engaging the community partnership regardless of what service is being provided. From recent projects in various countries in Engineers Without Borders, I have compiled a series of vital lessons relating to developing and maintaining effective partnership with our most important stakeholders - the community in question. First, the community must have trust and a direct stake in the project’s success to ensure longevity. Second, the scope ought to be carefully set via a rigorous baseline study and managed through effective communication. Finally, an effective communication strategy must be constructed that adequately manages the community’s technological limitations, and cultural and language barriers

Characteristic Spike-and-Wave Discharges Link Dystonic Attack Progression and Absence Seizures in EA2 Mouse Model Tottering

Faculty advisor: Dr. Timothy EbnerThis research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Garlic ameliorates long-term pre-diabetes induced retinal abnormalities in high fructose fed rat model

452-460Retinopathy is one of the micro vascular complications of diabetes and can also be observed in pre-diabetic state. However, there are only limited studies available on the pathophysiology of retinopathy in pre-diabetic state and its preventive strategies. In this study, we investigated the retinal functional, structural and molecular alterations using high fructose (HF) induced pre-diabetic rat model and also the protective role of garlic. Feeding of HF to Wistar NIN (WNIN) rats had developed insulin resistance (IR) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) by three months, while retinal functional abnormalities by ten months as evidenced by decrease of Electroretinogram (ERG) scotopic, photopic b-wave amplitudes, oscillatory potentials (OPs) when compared to controls. Supplementation of garlic (3%) to HF+G group rats had marginally protected these changes. Elevated expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), aldose reductase (AR) and decreased rhodopsin (Rho) in HF group rats as evidenced by immunehistochemistry, immunoblot methods, which were further supported by gene expression studies, indicate the initiation of retinal abnormalities. Increased immune-fluorescence signal of carboxymethyl lysine (CML-KLH) and 4-hydroxynanoenol (4-HNE) in retina of HF group rats indicate the association of glycation and oxidative stress, respectively. Early intervention of garlic to HF+G group rats attenuated retinal functional, structural, and molecular abnormalities

Acute reversible mitral regurgitation: a rare complication of TAVR.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is becoming the standard of care in the management of severe aortic stenosis for patients in all risk stratifications. Many causes have been identified for acute drop in blood pressure during TAVR. Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a rare, but important acute intraprocedural complication that requires rapid assessment and treatment. Two important reasons for acute MR during TAVR include entanglement of the guide wire in papillary muscles and extension of the guidewire into the left atrium. Here, we report a case of acute reversible MR which was assessed using an echocardiogram and rapidly reversed by removing the stiff preshaped Safar

Gland Segmentation and Computerized Gleason Grading of Prostate Histology by Integrating Low-, High-level and Domain Specific Information

Abstract — In this paper we present a method of automatically detecting and segmenting glands in digitized images of prostate histology and to use features derived from gland morphology to distinguish between intermediate Gleason grades. Gleason grading is a method of describing prostate cancer malignancy on a numerical scale from grade 1 (early stage cancer) through grade 5 (highly infiltrative cancer). Studies have shown that gland morphology plays a significant role in discriminating Gleason grades. We present a method of automated detection and segmentation of prostate gland regions. A Bayesian classifier is used to detect candidate gland regions by utilizing low-level image features to find the lumen, epithelial cell cytoplasm, and epithelial nuclei of the tissue. False positive regions identified as glands are eliminated via use of domain-specific knowledge constraints. Following candidate region detection via low-leve

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Not AvailableAmong all the abiotic stresses to which plants may be exposed, drought-stress is probably the most limiting on plant distribution and productivity, both in low and high rainfall areas. Understanding the physiological and biochemical responses to drought is essential for a holistic perception of plant resistance mechanisms to water-limited conditions and also to design screening techniques for drought tolerance that may be employed in crop breeding. Plants can respond and adapt to water deficit situation by altering their cellular metabolism and invoking various defence mechanisms. Survival under this stressful condition depends on the plant’s ability to perceive the stimulus, generate and transmit the signals, and initiate various physiological and biochemical changes. Responses of different genotypes to water deficit condition have been studied for a long time, and several morphological, physiological and biochemical characters have been suggested to be responsible for drought tolerance in vegetables. In this paper, an endeavour has been made to review the important physiological and biochemical traits that are influenced by drought stress, and may be important indices for identification/screening of drought tolerant genotypes in vegetable crops.Not Availabl

Single-Shot Terahertz Time Profiling Using Curved Wavefront

We report an improved single-shot electro-optic sampling (EOS) based detection scheme to measure the time profile of a terahertz (THz) pulse using inherent curvature of a converging wavefront. A simple addition to conventional multishot EOS technique enables single-shot recording of THz time profile. While the temporal resolution of the proposed method is limited only by the duration of the probe laser pulse, the spatial resolution can be externally controlled with ease. Our method is easy to implement and has the potential to provide better signal-to-noise ratio compared to other single-shot methods. An interesting spin-off of the proposed technique is that the quintessential space-to-time calibration process itself reveals the spatial profile of the THz radiation. The technique is simple yet versatile and capable of characterizing THz radiation emitted by high-power THz sources employing ultrashort intense lasers and modern-day particle accelerators. As a proof of principle demonstration, we provide measurement and characterization of the THz pulse emitted by two-color laser-produced plasma in ambient atmosphere using 45 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses. Our method faithfully reproduces the THz waveform measured by conventional scanning EOS technique. © 2018 IEEE