User powered games for research

This paper describes how user-generated content can be harnessed to create compelling games for research purposes. We show that by entrusting the complicated processes of asset creation and management to the players themselves, research based games can still allow for rich, deep and unique experiences - experiences that would be impossible to create manually under the typical time and resource constraints found in research projects. It is contended that “user power” as a game design element is especially powerful for use by researchers who are most likely working on their own or in small groups with limited budgets, and for whom the research objectives may be more important than the design of the game itself. The paper explores the recent history of applications that take advantage of user-generated content and discusses how these principles have been used to develop two user-powered games: Gophers and Familiars. The worlds created by the users of these games are explored and the strengths and weaknesses of using user-generated content to power games are discussed

Prolonged Dyspnea after Interscalene Block: Attributed to Undiagnosed Addison's Disease and Myasthenia Gravis

This report describes a patient who had a series of daily interscalene nerve blocks to treat pain following a shoulder manipulation for postsurgical stiffness. She experienced acute respiratory compromise that persisted for many weeks. All typical and unusual causes of these symptoms were ruled out. Her treating pulmonologist theorized that the ipsilateral carotid body had been injured. However, it was subsequently determined that the constellation of symptoms and their prolonged duration were best explained by a poor stress response from Addison's disease coupled with exacerbation of early onset myasthenia gravis. This patient's case is not a typical reaction to interscalene nerve blocks, and thus preoperative testing would not be recommended for myasthenia gravis or Addison's disease without underlying suspicion. We describe this report to inform physicians to consider a workup for these diagnoses if a typical workup rules out all usual causes of complications from an interscalene block

Serum proteomic profiling and haptoglobin polymorphisms in patients with GVHD after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

We studied serum proteomic profiling in patients with graft versus host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry analysis. The expression of a group of proteins, haptoglobin (Hp), alpha-1-antitrypsin, apolipoprotein A-IV, serum paraoxonase and Zn-alpha-glycoprotein were increased and the proteins, clusterin precursor, alpha-2-macroglobulin, serum amyloid protein precursor, sex hormone-binding globulin, serotransferrin and complement C4 were decreased in patients with extensive chronic GVHD (cGVHD). Serum haptoglobin (Hp) levels in patients with cGVHD were demonstrated to be statistically higher than in patients without cGVHD and normal controls (p < 0.01). We used immunoblotting and PCR in combination with 2-DE gel image analysis to determine Hp polymorphisms in 25 allo-HCT patients and 16 normal donors. The results demonstrate that patients with cGVHD had a higher incidence of HP 2-2 phenotype (43.8%), in comparison to the patients without cGVHD (0%) and normal donors (18.7%), suggesting the possibility that specific Hp polymorphism may play a role in the development of cGVHD after allo-HCT. In this study, quantitative serum Hp levels were shown to be related to cGVHD development. Further, the data suggest the possibility that specific Hp polymorphisms may be associated with cGVHD development and warrant further investigation

Effective induction of protective systemic immunity with nasally administered vaccines adjuvanted with IL-1

IL-1α and IL-1β were evaluated for their ability to provide adjuvant activity for the induction of serum antibody responses when nasally-administered with protein antigens in mice and rabbits. In mice, intranasal (i.n.) immunization with pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) or tetanus toxoid (TT) combined with IL-1β induced protective immunity that was equivalent to that induced by parenteral immunization. Nasal immunization of awake (i.e., not anesthetized) rabbits with IL-1-adjuvanted vaccines induced highly variable serum antibody responses and was not as effective as parenteral immunization for the induction of antigen-specific serum IgG. However, i.n. immunization of deeply anesthetized rabbits with rPA + IL-1α consistently induced rPA-specific serum IgG ELISA titers that were not significantly different than those induced by intramuscular (IM) immunization with rPA + alum although lethal toxin neutralizing titers induced by nasal immunization were lower than those induced by IM immunization. Gamma scintigraphy demonstrated that the enhanced immunogenicity of nasal immunization in anesthetized rabbits correlated with an increased nasal retention of i.n. delivered non-permeable radio-labeled colloidal particles. Our results demonstrate that, in mice, IL-1 is an effective adjuvant for nasally-administered vaccines for the induction of protective systemic immunity and that in non-rodent species, effective induction of systemic immunity with nasally-administered vaccines may require formulations that ensure adequate retention of the vaccine within the nasal cavity

Serum proteomic profiling and haptoglobin polymorphisms in patients with GVHD after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

Abstract We studied serum proteomic profiling in patients with graft versus host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry analysis. The expression of a group of proteins, haptoglobin (Hp), alpha-1-antitrypsin, apolipoprotein A-IV, serum paraoxonase and Zn-alpha-glycoprotein were increased and the proteins, clusterin precursor, alpha-2-macroglobulin, serum amyloid protein precursor, sex hormone-binding globulin, serotransferrin and complement C4 were decreased in patients with extensive chronic GVHD (cGVHD). Serum haptoglobin (Hp) levels in patients with cGVHD were demonstrated to be statistically higher than in patients without cGVHD and normal controls (p &lt; 0.01). We used immunoblotting and PCR in combination with 2-DE gel image analysis to determine Hp polymorphisms in 25 allo-HCT patients and 16 normal donors. The results demonstrate that patients with cGVHD had a higher incidence of HP 2-2 phenotype (43.8%), in comparison to the patients without cGVHD (0%) and normal donors (18.7%), suggesting the possibility that specific Hp polymorphism may play a role in the development of cGVHD after allo-HCT. In this study, quantitative serum Hp levels were shown to be related to cGVHD development. Further, the data suggest the possibility that specific Hp polymorphisms may be associated with cGVHD development and warrant further investigation.Peer Reviewe