485 research outputs found
A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.
No full textWe conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis
Code canonicalization and clustering applied to grading
No full textThesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 51).Teachers of MOOCs need to analyze large quantities of student submissions. There are a few systems designed to provide feedback at scale. Adapting these systems for residential courses would provide a substantial benefit for instructors, as a large residential course might still have several hundred students. OverCode, one such system, clusters and canonicalizes student submissions that have been marked correct by an autograder. We present GroverCode, an expanded version of OverCode that canonicalizes incorrect student submissions as well, and includes interface features for assigning grades to submissions. GroverCode was deployed in 6.0001, an introductory Python programming course, to assist teaching staff in grading exams. Overall reactions to the system were very positive.by Stacey Terman.M. Eng
This (traumatized, kinky, queer) body holds a story
No full textThe chapter, "This (traumatized, kinky, queer) body holds a story" was written by Amber Dawn (Douglas College Faculty). Personal stories of surviving after the trauma of sexual assault. In the era of #MeToo, we’ve become better at talking about sexual assault. But sexual assault isn’t limited to a single, terrible moment of violence: it stays with survivors, following them wherever they go. Through the voices of twelve diverse writers, Whatever Gets You Through offers a powerful look at the narrative of sexual assault not covered by the headlines—the weeks, months, and years of survival and adaptation that people live through in its aftermath. With a foreword by Jessica Valenti, an extensive introduction by editors Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee, and contributions from acclaimed literary voices such as Alicia Elliott, Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Heather O’Neill, and Juliane Okot Bitek, the collection explores some of the many different forms that survival can take. From ice hockey to kink, boxing to tapestry-making, these striking personal essays address experiences as varied as the writers who have lived them. With candor and insight, each writer shares their own unique account of enduring: the everyday emotional pain and trauma, but also the incredible resilience and strength that can emerge in the aftermath of sexual assault. --From publisher description.Published
Efficient preservation of young terrestrial organic carbon in sandy turbidity-current deposits
No full text© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Hage, S., Galy, V. V., Cartigny, M. J. B., Acikalin, S., Clare, M. A., Grocke, D. R., Hilton, R. G., Hunt, J. E., Lintern, D. G., McGhee, C. A., Parsons, D. R., Stacey, C. D., Sumner, E. J., & Talling, P. J. Efficient preservation of young terrestrial organic carbon in sandy turbidity-current deposits. Geology, 48(9), (2020): 882-887, doi:10.1130/G47320.1.Burial of terrestrial biospheric particulate organic carbon in marine sediments removes CO2 from the atmosphere, regulating climate over geologic time scales. Rivers deliver terrestrial organic carbon to the sea, while turbidity currents transport river sediment further offshore. Previous studies have suggested that most organic carbon resides in muddy marine sediment. However, turbidity currents can carry a significant component of coarser sediment, which is commonly assumed to be organic carbon poor. Here, using data from a Canadian fjord, we show that young woody debris can be rapidly buried in sandy layers of turbidity current deposits (turbidites). These layers have organic carbon contents 10× higher than the overlying mud layer, and overall, woody debris makes up >70% of the organic carbon preserved in the deposits. Burial of woody debris in sands overlain by mud caps reduces their exposure to oxygen, increasing organic carbon burial efficiency. Sandy turbidity current channels are common in fjords and the deep sea; hence we suggest that previous global organic carbon burial budgets may have been underestimated.We thank C. Johnson, M. Lardie, A. Gagnon, A. McNichol, and the NOSAMS (National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) team (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [WHOI], Massachusetts, USA) for their help with ramped oxidation system and isotopes. We thank the captain and crew of CCGS Vector. Support was provided by UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants NE/M007138/1 (to Cartigny) and NE/L013142/1 (to Talling), NE/P005780/1 and NE/P009190/1 (to Clare); a Royal Society Research Fellowship (to Cartigny); an International Association of Sedimentologists Postgraduate Grant and National Oceanography Centre Southampton–WHOI exchange program funds (to Hage); an independent study award from WHOI (to Galy); the Climate Linked Atlantic Sector Science (CLASS) program (NERC grant NE/R015953/1); and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant 725955, to Parsons). We thank François Baudin, Xingqian Cui, editor James Schmitt, and three anonymous reviewers
Links among age, perceived health, physical functionality, experienced stigma and body image in the context of chronic pain
No full textThe present study examines the associations among age, gender, perceived health, physical functionality, experienced stigma, and body image among a sample of adults with chronic pain. The participants in this study were individuals that self-reported having chronic pain conditions (N=278, Mage =36.75, SD=11.56). Participants completed assessments of health perceptions, degree of pain, body image and experience of stigma. It was hypothesized that older participants (sample age range = 18-69 years) would report lower levels of perceived health and physical functionality and more experiences of stigma. I also expected that body image would moderate the relationship between age, health, functionality, and stigma experience. The findings of this study suggest that general health and physical functionality are unique predictors of experiences of stigma and when people feel good about themselves their perceptions of general health and interactions with others as it pertains to their health tend to be more positive. These findings have implications for developing interventions that address the mental health, including body image, for chronic pain patients.This work was accepted to the annual Graduate Research and Creative Works Symposium while the author was a graduate student at Rutgers University-Camden
Statistical Modeling of Atrioventricular Nodal Function During Atrial Fibrillation Focusing on the Refractory Period Estimation
No full textWe have recently proposed a statistical AV node model defined by a set of parameters characterizing the arrival rate of atrial impulses, the probability of an impulse passing through the fast or the slow pathway, the refractory periods of the pathways, and the prolongation of refractory periods. All parameters are estimated from the RR interval series using maximum likelihood (ML) estimation, except for the mean arrival rate of atrial impulses which is estimated by the AF frequency derived from the f-waves. In this chapter, we compare four different methods, based either on the Poincare plot or ML estimation, for determining the refractory period of the slow pathway. Simulation results show better performance of the ML estimator, especially in the presence of artifacts due to premature ventricular beats or misdetected beats. The performance was also evaluated on ECG data acquired from 26 AF patients during rest and head-up tilt test. During tilt, the AF frequency increased (6.08 +/- 1.03 Hz vs. 6.20 +/- 0.99 Hz, p < 0.05, rest vs. tilt) and the refractory periods of both pathways decreased (slow pathway: 0.43 +/- 0.12 s vs. 0.38 +/- 0.12 s, p = 0.001, rest vs. tilt; fast pathway: 0.55 +/- 0.14 s vs. 0.47 +/- 0.11 s, p < 0.05, rest vs. tilt). These results show that AV node characteristics can be assessed non-invasively to quantify changes induced by autonomic stimulation
Identification of Athletes During Walking and Jogging Based on Gait and Electrocardiographic Patterns
No full textChrist P, Rückert U. Identification of Athletes During Walking and Jogging Based on Gait and Electrocardiographic Patterns. In: Fernandez-Chimeno M, Fernandes PL, Alvarez S, et al., eds. Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies. Communications in Computer and Information Science. Vol 452,. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2014: 240-257
IRBU Launch Presentation:
No full textThis presentation was given at the IRBU Launch event to demonstrate the full functionality of IRBU and to showcase the content uploaded to IRBU for the Launch. While the original presentation included a live demonstration, this set of slides continues past the "Live Demonstration" slide to include screenshots and explanations of features that were talked about during the presentation
The effect of probiotics and organic acids on Shiga-toxin 2 gene expression in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7
No full textProbiotics are known to have an inhibitory effect against the growth of various foodborne pathogens, however, the specific role of probiotics in Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) virulence gene expression has not been well defined. Shiga toxins are members of a family of highly potent bacterial toxins and are the main virulence marker for STEC. Shiga toxins inhibit protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells and play a role in hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. STEC possesses Shiga toxin 1 (Stx1) and Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2), both of which have A and B subunits. Although STEC containing both Stx1 and Stx2 has been isolated from patients with hemorrhagic colitis, Stx2 is more frequently associated with human disease complications. Thus, the effect of Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Bifidobacterium strains on stx2A expression levels in STEC was investigated. Lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria were isolated from farm animals, dairy, and human sources and included L. rhamnosus GG, L. curvatus, L. plantarum, L. jensenii, L. acidophilus, L. casei, L. reuteri, P. acidilactici, P. cerevisiae, P. pentosaceus, B. thermophilum, B. boum, B. suis and B. animalis. E. coli O157:H7 (EDL 933) was coincubated with sub-lethal concentrations of each probiotic strain. Following RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, relative stx2A mRNA levels were determined according to a comparative critical threshold (Ct) real-time PCR. Data were normalized to the endogenous control glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and the level of stx2A expression between treated and untreated STEC was compared. Observed for all probiotic strains tested, stx2A was down-regulated, when compared to the control culture. Probiotic production of organic acids, as demonstrated by a decrease in pH, influenced stx2A gene expression
Priorities, barriers and facilitators for remote support of cancer symptoms: A survey of Canadian oncology nurses
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