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Benchmarks 2013, July 26, The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks 2013

BenchMarks. Friday, July 26, 2013

The community newsletter of The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks is published monthly and is distributed on the campus of The Rockefeller University. It produced by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs

Hiv Dna Reservoir Increases Risk For Cognitive Disorders In Cart-Nave Patients, Robert H. Paul, Victor G. Valcour, Jintanat Ananworanich, Melissa Agsalda

Psychology Faculty Works

Objectives Cognitive impairment remains frequent in HIV, despite combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Leading theories implicate peripheral monocyte HIV DNA reservoirs as a mechanism for spread of the virus to the brain. These reservoirs remain present despite cART. The objective of this study was to determine if the level of HIV DNA in CD14+ enriched monocytes predicted cognitive impairment and brain injury. Methods We enrolled 61 cART-naïve HIV-infected Thais in a prospective study and measured HIV DNA in CD14+ enriched monocyte samples in a blinded fashion. We determined HAND diagnoses by consensus panel and all participants underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) …

Animal Time, Carol V. Davis

Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal

Page 27

A Mathematical Model And Numerical Method For Thermoelectric Dna Sequencing, Liwei Shi

Doctoral Dissertations

DNA sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotide bases, adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine within a DNA molecule. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases in a strand of DNA. The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery. Thermoelectric DNA sequencing is a novel method to sequence DNA by measuring the heat that is released when DNA polymerase inserts a deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate into a growing DNA strand. The thermoelectric device for this project is composed of four parts: …

Putting Regulatory Data To Work At The Service Of Public Health: Utilizing Data Collected Under The Clean Water Act, Jyotsna S. Jagai, Barbara J. Rosenbaum, Suzanne M. Pierson, Lynne C. Messer, Kristen M. Rappazzo, Elena N. Naumova, Danelle T. Lobdell

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Under the Clean Water Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collects information from states on intended use and impairment of each water body. We explore the feasibility of using these data, collected for regulatory purposes, for public health analyses. Combining EPA impairment data and stream hydrology information we estimated the percent of stream length impaired for any use, recreational use, or drinking water use per county in the US as exposure variables. For health outcomes we abstracted county-level hospitalization rates of gastrointestinal infections, GI (ICD-9CM 001-009 excluding 008.45) and gastrointestinal symptoms, GS (ICD-9CM 558.9, 787) among US adults aged …

Starvation-Associated Genome Restructuring Can Lead To Reproductive Isolation In Yeast, Evgueny Kroll, Scott Coyle, Barbara Dunn, Gregory Koniges, Anthony Aragon, Jeremy Edwards, Frank Rosenzweig

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Knowledge of the mechanisms that lead to reproductive isolation is essential for understanding population structure and speciation. While several models have been advanced to explain post-mating reproductive isolation, experimental data supporting most are indirect. Laboratory investigations of this phenomenon are typically carried out under benign conditions, which result in low rates of genetic change unlikely to initiate reproductive isolation. Previously, we described an experimental system using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae where starvation served as a proxy to any stress that decreases reproduction and/or survivorship. We showed that novel lineages with restructured genomes quickly emerged in starved populations, and that these …

“Religious Freedom,” The Individual Mandate, And Gifts: On Why The Church Is Not A Bomb Shelter, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

The Health and Human Services' regulatory requirement that all but a narrow set of "religious" employers provide contraceptives to employees is an example of what Robert Post and Nancy Rosenblum refer to as a growing "congruence" between civil society's values and the state's legally enacted policy. Catholics and many others have resisted the HHS requirement on the ground that it violates "religious freedom." They ask (in the words of Cardinal Dolan) to be "left alone" by the state. But the argument to be "left alone" overlooks or suppresses the fact that the Catholic Church understands that it is its role …

“The Pursuit Of Happiness” Comes Home To Roost? Same-Sex Union, The Summum Bonum, And Equality, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

John Locke understood human happiness to amount to the removal of "uneasiness." This paper argues that,to the extent that the United States is a nation dedicated to "the pursuit of happiness" understood as the removal of "uneasiness," same-sex unions or marriages should be given legal recognition. While Locke defended a variation on traditional marriage on the grounds of progenitiveness and care for dependent offspring, his more foundational commitment to the importance of the removal of uneasiness precludes, on pain of inconsistency, limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. This paper argues, furthermore, that conservatives and neo-conservatives who celebrate this nation's being …

Research View, Summer 2013

Research View

Contents of this issue include:

The Air We Breathe: UM researcher finds young brains harmed by urban air pollution

Quick Looks: Study of Mealybug Bacteria Reveals Secrets of Symbiosis -- Award to Study Hospital Discharge Process in Rural Areas -- Autism Waiver Program Shows Promising Results -- Paper Details Stressors Faced by Sexual Minority Vets -- Innovation and Imagination: Events Highlight Research and Scholarship

There's an App for That: Researchers develop modern tool to measure heat stress in humans

Warring With Words: Religion scholar chases text destruction in the ancient world

Intertextuality And The Portrayal Of Jeremiah The Prophet, Gary E. Yates

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-2015)

No abstract provided.

Chikuni Parish Taonga Agro-Forestry Programme Content Guide, Jack Bird

Miller Center Fellowship

This guide was produced for the purpose of compiling and organizing the information and techniques from Taonga Agro-Forestry Programme developed by Bornface Hangala at Chikuni Parish. This guide is meant to aid with the future development of a full agro-forestry curriculum by providing a comprehensive list of important topics and methods that can be formed into lessons. The guide can also serve as useful resource for mentors and students who may need additional information about the concepts presented by the future curriculum. Although this guide was created specifically for the Chikuni Parish Taonga programme, the concepts within can, and should, …

Savvy Seed Sorter Gains New Fans, Thomas C. Pearson, Marcia Wood

Agricultural Research Magazine

Simple, swift, and comparatively inexpensive, a color-image-based seed sorter is helping plant breeders and others separate the seeds they want from those they don’t—with an impressive degree of accuracy.

Agricultural Research Service agricultural engineer Thomas C. Pearson, based at the agency’s Center for Grain and Animal Health Research in Manhattan, Kansas, developed the sorter in collaboration with National Manufacturing in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company has marketed the device to customers in the United States and abroad since 2010.

In tests, the compact, portable sorter— a simpler and faster version of other machine-vision equipment that Pearson developed in 2009—speedily differentiated kernels …

¿Qué Es Agroforestería?

Working Trees (USDA-NAC)

¿Qué es agroforestería?

Agroforestación es mezclar intencionalmente árboles y arbustos con cultivos o sistemas de producción animal para obtener beneficios ambientales, económicos y sociales de forma ecológicamente sustentable.

Student Interaction With Content In Online And Hybrid Courses: Leading Horses To The Proverbial Water, Meg Murray, Jorge Perez, Debra Geist, Alison Hedrick

Faculty Articles

Permutations of traditional and online learning are rapidly advancing along a blended continuum, prompting conjecture that learning and e-learning will soon be indistinguishable. As variations of blended learning evolve, educators worldwide must develop better understanding of how effective interaction with course content impacts engagement and learning. This study compares patterns of access to instructional content in online and hybrid courses offered at a regional university in the United States. Frequency counts and access rates were examined for course content in four categories: core materials, direct support, indirect support, and ancillary materials. Observed results were echoed in responses to a survey …

A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Plant-Based Nutrition Program To Reduce Body Weight And Cardiovascular Risk In The Corporate Setting: The Geico Study, S. Mishra, J. Xu, U. Agarwal, J. Gonzales, S. Levin, Neal D. Barnard

Medicine Faculty Publications

Background/objectives:

To determine the effects of a low-fat plant-based diet program on anthropometric and biochemical measures in a multicenter corporate setting.

Subjects/methods:

Employees from 10 sites of a major US company with body mass index 25 kg/m² and/or previous diagnosis of type 2 diabetes were randomized to either follow a low-fat vegan diet, with weekly group support and work cafeteria options available, or make no diet changes for 18 weeks. Dietary intake, body weight, plasma lipid concentrations, blood pressure and glycated hemoglobin (HbA_1C) were determined at baseline and 18 weeks.

Results:

Mean body weight fell 2.9 kg …

A Computational Model Of Nanoparticle Transport And Delivery In Tumor Tissue, Vishwa Priya Podduturi

Doctoral Dissertations

Determining the factors that influence the delivery of nanoparticles to tumors and understanding the relative importance of each of these factors is fundamental to optimize the drug delivery process. In this research, a model that combines random walk with the pressure driven flow of nanoparticles in a tumor vasculature is modeled. Nanoparticle movement in a cylindrical tube with dimensions similar to the tumor's blood capillary with a single pore is simulated. Nanoparticle velocities are calculated as a pressure driven flow over imposed to Brownian motion. During the study, the effect of red blood cells (RBC) is also studied by comparing …

Plains Co2 Reduction (Pcor) Partnership Atlas, Wesley D. Peck, Tera D. Buckley, Earl P. Battle, Megan M. Grove, Joyce M. Riske, Charles D. Gorecki, Edward N. Steadman, John A. Harju

EERC Maps and Infographics

The Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Atlas provides a regional profile of CO₂ sources and potential CO₂ storage locations across the PCOR Partnership region. The revised fourth edition provides an update-to-date look at PCOR Partnership activities, including regional characterization and full-scale demonstration activities. Additional background information on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is included to give a better understanding of how CCUS addresses concerns about climate change while allowing future energy needs to be met.

The Search, The Jackson Laboratory

Search Magazine

No abstract provided.

Cardiovascular Outcome Trials In Type 2 Diabetes And The Sulphonylurea Controversy: Rationale For The Active-Comparator Carolina Trial, Julio Rosenstock, Nikolaus Marx, Steven E. Kahn, Bernard Zinman, John J. Kastelein, John M. Lachin, Erich Bluhmki, Sanjay Patel, Odd-Erik Johansen, Hans-Jurgen Woerle

Epidemiology Faculty Publications

Sulphonylureas (SUs) are widely used glucose-lowering agents in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with apparent declining efficacy over time. Concerns have been raised from observational retrospective studies on the cardiovascular (CV) safety of SUs but there are few long-term data on CV outcomes from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving the use of this class of agents. Most of the observational studies and registry data are conflicting and vary with study population and methodology used for analyses. To address the SU controversy, we reviewed the recently published literature (until end of the year 2011) to evaluate the impact of SUs on …

Process Of Definition And Development Of The Haitian-Dominican Borderland, Carolina Bonilla Elvira

Latin American Studies ETDs

The borderline that currently divides the island of Hispaniola has undergone a complicated process of definition. Since colonial times, central authorities have claimed the area while contradictorily ignoring the societies that developed in the region. It was not until the first decades of the twentieth century that the two countries were officially divided and a borderline was enforced. The massacre of approximately 15,000 Haitians ordered by the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1937 is the event that brought attention to the border nationalization process. In my research I argue that the conflict between the two countries had both an economic …

Wooster Magazine: Summer 2013, Karol Crosbie

Wooster Magazine: 2011-2020

This edition of the Wooster Magazine was published in the summer of 2013. The edition begins with an article by alum David Gilliss '80 reflecting on the Wooster Network and Independent Study. Page four features an article by President Grant Cornwell about Wooster's slogan, "America's premier college for mentored undergraduate research." A section by Karol Crosbie looks at the Scot Center and its fitness program. Both the women's and men's Ultimate Frisbee teams are highlighted in a story regarding their history and present. An advertisement for Alumni Weekend is on page six and seven. Some seniors have their independent studies …

How Effective Is The Local Anesthetic Infiltration Of Pin Sites Prior To Application Of Head Clamps: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study Of Hemodynamic Response In Patients Undergoing Elective Craniotomy, Ayesha Arshad, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim, Muhammad Waqas, Hina Enam, Syed Ather Enam

Section of Neurosurgery

Background: Use of Mayfield clamps is associated with potentially hazardous hemodynamic effects. Use of local anesthetic infiltration has yielded varying results in blunting of this response. The authors' objective was to study the effect of lidocaine with adrenaline infiltration at Mayfield pin sites on hemodynamic response in comparison with no intervention.
Methods: This was a prospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary care center from January 2012 to July 2012. Patents undergoing elective craniotomies over the study period were included and divided in two groups, Group A received lidocaine infiltration of the pin sites prior to insertion, while Group B …

A New Birth Of Freedom, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The president of the United States had been more than usually agitated ever since the news of a major collision of the Union and Confederate armies around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, first flew along the telegraph wires to the War Department on July 1, 1863. For days, he was clouded with “sadness and despondency” until the message arrived, announcing a great victory for the Union. That was followed almost at once by news from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: another dispatch had come in, “communicating the fall of Vicksburg [Mississippi] on the fourth of July.” At once, Abraham Lincoln’s mood changed, …

Conformity In Confusion: Applying A Common Analysis To Wikipedia-Based Jury Misconduct, Matthew Fredrickson

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided United States v. Lawson, a case of first impression about a juror’s use of Wikipedia during deliberations. Had this case been decided in the 1950s, the juror’s contact with the extra-record material during deliberations would have given rise to a presumption of prejudice in favor of the party claiming he was denied a fair trial. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, the United States Supreme Court seemed to eliminate that presumption and place the burden of proving prejudice on the party seeking a new trial. As …

Glad To Be Sad, And Other Examples Of Benign Masochism, Paul Rozin, Lily Guillot, Katrina Fincher, Alexander Rozin, Eli Tsukayama

Music Theory, History & Composition Faculty Publications & Performances

No abstract provided.

Espeleo Informe Costa Rica, Volume 7, No. 13, July 2013, Gustavo Quesada, Carlos Goicoechea

KIP Articles

Contenidos: PÁGINA DEL EDITOR -- ¡LA MADUREZ ESPELEOLÓGICA DE ANTHROS! -- NOTICIAS ACONTECER NACIONAL -- NOTA LUCTUOSA: Recordando a don Guillermo Cortés Padilla (1927-2013) -- Museo Espeleológico en Barra Honda.-- NUESTRA SELECCIÓN FOTOGRÁFICA -- NOTICIAS DESDE CENTROAMÉRICA: "Desafío en el Abismo" (Deporte Extremo) -- Guatemala: Parque Nacional Grutas de Lanquín -- GEA: ACTIVIDADES REALIZADAS -- EXPLORACIONES DEL GEA.: Descubrimiento y exploración del Sistema La Trampa - Baquiano, Barra Honda de Nicoya -- Descubrimiento y exploración del Río Roncador -- CONGRESOS DE ESPELEOLOGÍA: XVI Congreso Internacional de Espeleología -- Registro Centroamericano de Cavernas (RCC) -- Reporte del Reconocimiento Geológico del Karst …

Next Gen Donors: Respecting Legacy, Revolutionizing Philanthropy, Sharna Goldseker, Michael Moody

Research, Reports, and Publications

No abstract provided.

Volume 20, No. 2 (Summer 2013), Office Of University Advancement, Bryant University

Bryant Magazine (1997-2019)(2024-present)

No abstract provided.

Benchmarks 2012, July 13, The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks 2012

BenchMarks. Friday, July 13, 2012

The community newsletter of The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks is published monthly and is distributed on the campus of The Rockefeller University. It produced by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs

Developing Predictive Systems Models To Address Complexity And Relevance For Ecological Risk Assessment, Valery E. Forbes, Peter Calow

Valery Forbes Publications

Ecological risk assessments (ERAs) are not used as well as they could be in risk management. Part of the problem is that they often lack ecological relevance; that is, they fail to grasp necessary ecological complexities. Adding realism and complexity can be difficult and costly. We argue that predictive systems models (PSMs) can provide a way of capturing complexity and ecological relevance cost-effectively. However, addressing complexity and ecological relevance is only part of the problem. Ecological risk assessments often fail to meet the needs of risk managers by not providing assessments that relate to protection goals and by expressing risk …