Bulletin of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (BCSEE)
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Nativity, Acculturation, and Syndemics Among Latino Sexual Minority Men in South Florida
No full textBackground: While HIV incidence has decreased in White sexual minority men (SMM) during 2014-2018, infection rates have remained stable amongst Latino SMM. Although multiple, interacting psychosocial conditions (i.e., Syndemics) have been shown to amplify HIV risk in SMM, relatively little is known about the influence of immigration and acculturation in Latino SMM. This cross-sectional study examined the associations of immigration and acculturation with syndemic conditions in Latino SMM residing in South Florida.Methods: Latino SMM completed measures examining post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, suicidal ideation, use of stimulants (i.e., powder cocaine, crack-cocaine, and methamphetamine), HIV status. Part of the study inclusion criteria was to identify as having sex with men and being of Latino ethnicity. A syndemic composite score was created by adding the conditions where patients were deemed positive or presenting the condition. Substance use, suicidal ideation, and PTSD was used for the composite score. The range for the compositive score was 0-3.Results: Among the 150 participants, 79.1% (n=118) of the sample was Latino foreign-born, the mean age being 38.4. Over a third of the sample had a Spanish language preference. Although there was no significance with Syndemic composite score and nativity, Cuban-born men (n=71) demonstrated a significantly lower HIV prevalence (17% vs 26% US born, 47% Other Latin Born p=.003) and stimulant use (8% vs28% US born ,25% Other Latin Born p=.017).Discussion: As South Florida is a cultural hub with a prominent Cuban population, these results may serve as a steppingstone to further explore the role that community support may have on foreign-born SMM, stimulant use, and HIV risk</p
Modular Musical Memes
No full textThe concept of universal Darwinism extends the tenets of Darwinian evolution to spheres beyond the purely biological. One such sphere is culture, itself composed of evolving agencies called memes, as studied by the field of memetics. Their evolution comes by virtue of iterating heredity, variation, and selection, known together as the evolutionary algorithm. As a subset of culture, music exemplifies memetic behavior, and can be studied under memetics via the concept of the museme, or musical meme. Memes exist in the brains of individuals, wherein they participate in neural ecologies that shape up cognition. These ecologies are themselves embedded within more historically stable tiers entailing different scales of magnitude and rates of change, a system of which constitutes the collective musical enterprise. Musical notation, the bulk of which was developed during the Middle Ages, is pivotal among these tiers, as it facilitated musical evolvability: an evolved capacity for evolving. Along similar preoccupations, this investigation is part of a two-part project that also includes a composition for orchestra by myself called Terrarium, created from the genetic data of agents in a virtual ecosystem, as well as data from other elements in their environment, which I programmed using C# and the Unity platform.</p
The Egg Freezing Trifecta
No full textIn 1978, Louise Brown, the world's first “test‐tube baby,” was born in England, allowing her infertile parents to overcome nine years of involuntary childlessness. Forty years later, more than 8 million in vitro fertilization babies had been born, representing at least 4% of all children in Western societies. The most recently conceived assisted reproductive technology is oocyte cryopreservation, more commonly known as egg freezing. From its inception, egg freezing has been hotly contested. Through in‐depth ethnographic interviews carried out with nearly 200 individuals who froze their eggs in either the United States or Israel, the authors demonstrate the existence of an egg freezing trifecta involving three major forms: medical egg freezing for cancer patients facing fertility emergencies; elective egg freezing for single women without stable reproductive partnerships; and transgender egg freezing for transmen wishing to preserve their biogenetic parenthood potential prior to transitioning
Risk Classification and Management of Corneal Grafts, Human Leukocyte Antigen Matching, and Options for Immunosuppression Therapy - 3
No full textCorneal transplantation is a commonly performed human transplant procedure. In low-risk settings, such as keratoconus and Fuch’s dystrophy, corneal transplantation has a high success rate due to the immune privilege of the cornea. However, immune privilege alone is insufficient to prevent transplant rejection, and failure rates increase in high-risk grafts. Major risk factors for corneal graft rejection include previous herpetic infection, infectious leukoma, chemical burn, trauma, prior transplantation, active inflammation, atopy, and corneal neovascularization, among other risk factors. Mitigation strategies for corneal graft rejection include anti-angiogenic and anti-lymphangiogenic therapies. Topical cyclosporine and tacrolimus are useful adjuncts to traditional therapy with topical steroids in reducing rejection rates and improving graft survival. Systemic cyclosporine, mycophenolate, and tacrolimus are beneficial to graft survival. Current clinical evidence is reviewed. Histocompatibility matching showed initial promise in earlier studies, but success likely varies on access to accurate modern techniques for histocompatibility typing. Earlier studies showed varied success, likely attributable to primitive methods of histocompatibility typing and variation in the quality of immunotyping among centers. Rejection risk factors, histocompatibility matching, and strategies for immunosuppression are reviewed. Mechanisms of corneal graft rejection, including lymphangiogenesis, are discussed
Intestinal Epithelial Inactivity of Dual Oxidase 2 Results in Microbiome-Mediated Metabolic Syndrome
No full textBACKGROUND AND AIMSMetabolic syndrome (MetS) is characterized by obesity, glucose intolerance, and hepatic steatosis. Alterations in the gut microbiome play important roles in the development of MetS. However, the mechanisms by which this occurs are poorly understood. Dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2) is an antimicrobial NADPH oxidase expressed in the gut epithelium. Here we posit that epithelial DUOX2 activity provides a mechanistic link between the gut microbiome and the development of MetS. METHODSMice carrying an intestinal epithelial-specific deletion of DUOXA1/2 (DA IEC-KO), and wild-type (WT) littermates were fed a standard diet and euthanized at 24 weeks. Metabolic alterations were determined by glucose tolerance, lipid tests, and body and organ weight measurements. DUOX2 activity was determined by Amplex Red. Intestinal permeability was determined by FITC-dextran, microbial translocation assessments, and portal vein (PV) lipopolysaccharides (LPS) measurements. Metagenomic analysis of the stool microbiome was performed. The role of the microbiome was assessed in antibiotic-treated mice. RESULTSDA IEC-KO males exhibited increased body and organ weights accompanied by glucose intolerance and elevated plasma lipids and liver enzymes, and increased adiposity in the liver and adipose tissue. Expression of F4/80, CD68, UCP1, ChREBP, leptin, and adiponectin was altered in the liver and adipose tissue of DA IEC-KO males. DA IEC-KO males produced less epithelial H2O2, had altered relative abundance of Akkermansiaceae and Lachnospiraceae in stool, and showed increased PV LPS and intestinal permeability. Females were protected from barrier defects and MetS, despite producing less H2O2. Antibiotic depletion abrogated all MetS phenotypes observed. CONCLUSIONIntestinal epithelial inactivity of DUOX2 promotes MetS in a microbiome-dependent manner
Justice-Centered STEM Education with Multilingual Learners: Conceptual Framework and Initial Inquiry into Pre-Service Teachers' Sense-Making
No full textWhen pressing societal challenges (e.g., COVID-19, access to clean water) are sidelined in science classrooms, science education fails to leverage the knowledge and experiences of minoritized students in school, thus reproducing injustices in society. Our conceptual framework for justice-centered STEM education engages all students in multiple STEM subjects, including data science and computer science, to explain and design solutions to pressing societal challenges and their disproportionate impact on minoritized groups. In the first part of this article, we extend our conceptual framework by articulating the affordances of justice-centered STEM education for one minoritized student group that has been traditionally denied meaningful STEM learning experiences: multilingual learners (MLs). Justice-centered STEM education with MLs leverages the assets that MLs bring to STEM learning, including their transnational knowledge and experiences as well as their rich repertoire of meaning-making resources, thus refuting deficit narratives of these students. To illustrate the affordances of justice-centered STEM education with MLs, we draw on examples from our instructional unit that engages students in the pressing societal challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second part of the article, we report on an initial inquiry into how 14 undergraduate pre-service teachers made sense of our conceptual framework after participating in lessons from our COVID-19 instructional unit. Findings indicated that pre-service teachers perceived both opportunities and obstacles of justice-centered STEM education with MLs. We close by discussing what it might take to prepare the next generation of teachers to disrupt systemic injustices in and out of school
Co-Targeting FASN and mTOR Suppresses Uveal Melanoma Growth
No full textUveal melanoma (UM) displays a high frequency of metastasis; however, effective therapies for metastatic UM are limited. Identifying unique metabolic features of UM may provide a potential targeting strategy. A lipid metabolism protein expression signature was induced in a normal choroidal melanocyte (NCM) line transduced with GNAQ (Q209L), a driver in UM growth and development. Consistently, UM cells expressed elevated levels of fatty acid synthase (FASN) compared to NCMs. FASN upregulation was associated with increased mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) levels. FASN and mTOR inhibitors alone significantly reduced UM cell growth. Concurrent inhibition of FASN and mTOR further reduced UM cell growth by promoting cell cycle arrest and inhibiting glucose utilization, TCA cycle metabolism, and de novo fatty acid biosynthesis. Our findings indicate that FASN is important for UM cell growth and co-inhibition of FASN and mTOR signaling may be considered for treatment of UM
Early-Age Cracking Behavior of Concrete Slabs with GFRP Reinforcement
No full textThis paper reports on a combined experimental and numerical modeling investigation of cracking of concrete slabs with GFRP reinforcement. At this stage of the project, attention is given to early-age cracking driven by plastic shrinkage, preceding longer term considerations of cracking resistance over the service life of field applications. Of interest is the effectiveness of GFRP reinforcement in restricting plastic shrinkage cracking. Nine small-scale slab specimens were subjected to controlled evaporation rates. Images of crack development were acquired periodically, from which crack width estimations were made. Comparisons were made between slabs reinforced with conventional steel and those reinforced with GFRP, along with control specimens lacking reinforcement. During the period of plastic shrinkage, the time of crack initiation and subsequent crack openings do not appear to be influenced by the presence of the reinforcing bars. To understand this behavior, six early-age bond tests were conducted for both types of the bars after 1, 2, and 3 h exposure to the controlled evaporation rate. In addition, concrete strength development and time of settings were measured using penetration resistance tests on a representative mortar. The numerical modeling component of this research is based on a Voronoi cell lattice model; in this approach, the relative humidity, temperature, and displacement fields are discretized in three-dimensions, allowing for a comprehensive investigation of material behavior within the controlled environment. Based on the measured bond properties, our simulations confirm that the reinforcing bars restrict crack development, though they do not prevent it entirely
Most Common Ophthalmic Diagnoses in Eye Emergency Departments: A Multicenter Study
No full textTo characterize the most common ophthalmic conditions seen in the emergency department (ED) DESIGN: Cross-sectional study METHODS: Multicenter study of 64988 patients who visited the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Wills Eye Hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital/Wilmer Eye Institute from January 1
, 2019 until December 31
, 2019. Demographic and primary diagnosis data was extracted including gender, age, race, ethnicity, insurance type, and ophthalmology consult status. Descriptive statistics were performed on all data using STATA IC 14 (64-bit).
A total of 64988 patients with primary ocular diagnoses were seen across all four EDs. The majority of patients were White (63.1%), non-Hispanic/Latino (64.8%), and female (52.3%). The most frequently seen age group was 50-64 years (28.6%). The most common diagnoses across all institutions were conjunctivitides (7.91%), corneal abrasions (5.61%), dry eye (4.49%), posterior vitreous detachments (4.15%), chalazions (3.71%), corneal ulcers (3.01%), subconjunctival hemorrhages (2.96%), corneal foreign bodies (2.94%), retinal detachments (2.51%), and glaucoma (2.12%). Specifically, viral conjunctivitis (2283/5139, 44.4%) and primary open angle glaucoma (382/1379, 27.7%) were the most frequently seen subtypes of conjunctivitis and glaucoma.
The most regularly treated ophthalmic conditions in high volume EDs tend to be lower acuity diagnoses. To combat ED overcrowding and rising health care costs in the U.S., we suggest diverting eye-related ED visits to a specialized eye ED service or same-day eye clinic appointment in addition to expanding education for patients and primary care clinicians
Precision oncology using organoids of a secretory carcinoma of the salivary gland treated with TRK-inhibitors
No full text•We describe the first NTRK3 fusion positive organoid model for secretory carcinoma;•The model was used to in vitro predict the in vivo drug response to larotrectinib;•The importance of thorough characterization of organoids was illustrated;•Characterization is required prior to extrapolating in vitro findings to the clinic.
The use of anticancer drugs targeting specific molecular tumor characteristics is rapidly increasing in clinical practice, but selecting patients to benefit from these remains a challenge. It has been suggested that organoid cultures would be ideally suited to test drug responses in vitro. Here we describe and characterize in depth a case of ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion-positive secretory carcinoma of the salivary glands and corresponding organoid cultures that responded and subsequently acquired resistance to TRK targeting therapy with larotrectinib. This case-culture-characterization illustrates the advances made in precision oncology, but also exposes important caveats in using organoids to predict treatment response