Extraction and Quantification of Atrazine

Undergraduate Basi

Current Advances in Immune Checkpoint Therapy

Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have shown survival benefits for patients with metastatic cancers, some challenges have been under intense study in recent years. The most critical challenges include the side effects and the emergence of resistance. Potential opportunities exist to develop personalized immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy based on biomarker discovery. Combinational therapy involving immune checkpoint inhibitors and other forms of anticancer therapies has varied success. This chapter reviews drugs currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials and others that are FDA-approved. We take a critical look at the combinational strategies and address the ever-present challenge of resistance. Moreover, we review and evaluate the discovery of biomarkers and assess prospects for personalized immune checkpoint therapy

Improving the normalization of complex interventions: measure development based on normalization process theory (NoMAD): study protocol

<b>Background</b> Understanding implementation processes is key to ensuring that complex interventions in healthcare are taken up in practice and thus maximize intended benefits for service provision and (ultimately) care to patients. Normalization Process Theory (NPT) provides a framework for understanding how a new intervention becomes part of normal practice. This study aims to develop and validate simple generic tools derived from NPT, to be used to improve the implementation of complex healthcare interventions.<p></p> <b>Objectives</b> The objectives of this study are to: develop a set of NPT-based measures and formatively evaluate their use for identifying implementation problems and monitoring progress; conduct preliminary evaluation of these measures across a range of interventions and contexts, and identify factors that affect this process; explore the utility of these measures for predicting outcomes; and develop an online users’ manual for the measures.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> A combination of qualitative (workshops, item development, user feedback, cognitive interviews) and quantitative (survey) methods will be used to develop NPT measures, and test the utility of the measures in six healthcare intervention settings.<p></p> <b>Discussion</b> The measures developed in the study will be available for use by those involved in planning, implementing, and evaluating complex interventions in healthcare and have the potential to enhance the chances of their implementation, leading to sustained changes in working practices

India and its diaspora: making sense of Hindu identity in South Africa.

Indian immigrants to South Africa in the late nineteenth century differed in terms of their origins, motivations, belief systems, customs, and practices from the indigenous African population as well as from the ruling white settler elite. It is within this context that this paper interrogates some of the ways in which several generations of (Indian) Hindus constructed and continue to (re)construct their religious identities in South Africa. Data for this study were achieved by administering face-to-face questionnaires to 66 individuals in the Metropolitan Area of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The sample (selected through snowball sampling) comprised third to fifth generation Indians belonging to the four major language groups (Tamil, Telegu, Gujarati, and Hindi) residing in South Africa. Following the questionnaire responses, interviews were conducted with a selected number of respondents from the same sample. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS while analysis of qualitative data followed a thematic model

Lipid tethering of breast tumor cells enables real-time imaging of free-floating cell dynamics and drug response

Funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund.Free-floating tumor cells located in the blood of cancer patients, known as circulating tumor cells (CTCs), have become key targets for studying metastasis. However, effective strategies to study the free-floating behavior of tumor cells in vitro have been a major barrier limiting the understanding of the functional properties of CTCs. Upon extracellular-matrix (ECM) detachment, breast tumor cells form tubulin-based protrusions known as microtentacles (McTNs) that play a role in the aggregation and re-attachment of tumor cells to increase their metastatic efficiency. In this study, we have designed a strategy to spatially immobilize ECM-detached tumor cells while maintaining their free-floating character. We use polyelectrolyte multilayers deposited on microfluidic substrates to prevent tumor cell adhesion and the addition of lipid moieties to tether tumor cells to these surfaces through interactions with the cell membranes. This coating remains optically clear, allowing capture of high-resolution images and videos of McTNs on viable free-floating cells. In addition, we show that tethering allows for the real-time analysis of McTN dynamics on individual tumor cells and in response to tubulin-targeting drugs. The ability to image detached tumor cells can vastly enhance our understanding of CTCs under conditions that better recapitulate the microenvironments they encounter during metastasis

THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON DISPERSION OF PARTICLES ON LIQUID SURFACES

It was shown recently that small particles and powders spontaneously disperse on liquid surfaces when they come in contact with the interface for the first time (Figure 2). This happens due to the combined effect of the capillary force, buoyant weight of the particle and the viscous drag that the particles experience when they encounter the liquid surface. The particles undergo oscillations normal to the interface before they come to the equilibrium position on the interface. These oscillations, in turn, induce a flow on the interface which disperses the particles radially outward. This phenomenon has a significant role in the pollination of sea plants such as “Ruppia” in which the formation of “pollen rafts” is the first step which results from the spontaneous dispersion of their pollens on the water surface. This work investigates, experimentally, the influence of temperature of the liquid on which this dispersion occurs. It was observed that the frequency of oscillations of the particles decreased with the increase in the temperature of the liquid. It is because the magnitude of capillary force that the particle experiences also decreased when the temperature of the liquid increased

A New Promise for an Old Place: The Revitalization and re-Visioning of a Rural Small Town

As part of the Appalachian Teaching Project, this presentation by Emory & Henry students focuses on efforts for community and economic development in Glade Spring, Virginia and the first stages of a multi-year, multi-pronged effort to offer logistical, technical, and strategic support for efforts to rebuild and revitalize this small rural community located three miles from Emory & Henry College. Students will have worked collaboratively with members of the Glade Spring community to develop a marketing plan that will be used to recruit businesses and social entrepreneurial initiatives to the Glade Town Square. Also involved in this is research and data gathering to support the community’s application for economic development grants. Glade Spring was partially destroyed by a tornado in April 2011. At the time, it was on the cusp of major redevelopment projects, initiated from a new cadre of community leaders. Like most rural communities, Glade Spring has witnessed the demise of its vital local economy, the removal of its people to places offering more economic opportunities and the decline in its quality of life for those who remain. Many thought that the destruction wrought in the tornado was the death knell for the place. Since April 2011, however, the town has regained and redoubled its stride. This project highlights lessons learned in the rebuilding effort, extending those lessons for positive and proactive growth