A transcription factor map as revealed by a genome-wide gene expression analysis of whole-blood mRNA transcriptome in multiple sclerosis

Background Several lines of evidence suggests that transcription factors are involved in the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) but a complete mapping the whole network has been elusive. One of the reasons is that there are several clinical subtypes of MS and transcription factors which may be involved in one subtype may not be in others. We investigated the possibility that this network could be mapped using microarray technologies and modern bioinformatics methods on a dataset from whole blood in 99 untreated MS patients (36 Relapse Remitting MS, 43 Primary Progressive MS, and 20 Secondary Progressive MS) and 45 age-matched healthy controls, Methodology/Principal Findings We have used two different analytical methodologies: a differential expression analysis and a differential co-expression analysis, which have converged on a significant number of regulatory motifs that seem to be statistically overrepresented in genes which are either differentially expressed (or differentially co-expressed) in cases and controls (e.g. V$KROX_Q6, p-value < 3.31E-6; V$CREBP1_Q2, p-value < 9.93E-6, V$YY1_02, p-value < 1.65E-5). Conclusions/significance: Our analysis uncovered a network of transcription factors that potentially dysregulate several genes in MS or one or more of its disease subtypes. Analysing the published literature we have found that these transcription factors are involved in the early T-lymphocyte specification and commitment as well as in oligodendrocytes dedifferentiation and development. The most significant transcription factors motifs were for the Early Growth response EGR/KROX family, ATF2, YY1 (Yin and Yang 1), E2F-1/DP-1 and E2F-4/DP-2 heterodimers, SOX5, and CREB and ATF families.

Combining ganglion cell topology and data of patients with glaucoma to determine a structure-function map

PURPOSE: To introduce techniques for deriving a map that relates visual field locations to optic nerve head (ONH) sectors and to use the techniques to derive a map relating Medmont perimetric data to data from the Heidelberg Retinal Tomograph. METHODS: Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated relating each visual field location (Medmont M700) to rim area and volume measures for 10 degrees ONH sectors (HRT III software) for 57 participants: 34 with glaucoma, 18 with suspected glaucoma, and 5 with ocular hypertension. Correlations were constrained to be anatomically plausible with a computational model of the axon growth of retinal ganglion cells (Algorithm GROW). GROW generated a map relating field locations to sectors of the ONH. The sector with the maximum statistically significant (P < 0.05) correlation coefficient within 40 degrees of the angle predicted by GROW for each location was computed. Before correlation, both functional and structural data were normalized by either normative data or the fellow eye in each participant. RESULTS: The model of axon growth produced a 24-2 map that is qualitatively similar to existing maps derived from empiric data. When GROW was used in conjunction with normative data, 31% of field locations exhibited a statistically significant relationship. This significance increased to 67% (z-test, z = 4.84; P < 0.001) when both field and rim area data were normalized with the fellow eye. CONCLUSIONS: A computational model of axon growth and normalizing data by the fellow eye can assist in constructing an anatomically plausible map connecting visual field data and sectoral ONH data.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Way of Coping Checklist-Revised (WCCL-R) in the Asian context

Industrial employment growth has been one of the most dynamic areas of expansion in Asia; however, current trends in industrialised working environments have resulted in greater employee stress. Despite research showing that cultural values affect the way people cope with stress, there is a dearth of psychometrically established tools for use in non-Western countries to measure these constructs. Studies of the "Way of Coping Checklist-Revised" (WCCL-R) in the West suggest that the WCCL-R has good psychometric properties, but its applicability in the East is still understudied. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to validate the WCCL-R constructs in an Asian population. This study used 1,314 participants from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Thailand. An initial exploratory factor analysis revealed that original structures were not confirmed; however, a subsequent EFA and CFA showed that a 38-item, five-factor structure model was confirmed. The revised WCCL-R in the Asian sample was also found to have good reliability and sound construct and concurrent validity. The 38-item structure of the WCCL-R has considerable potential in future occupational stress-related research in Asian countries.

Curvilinear relationships between the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, and work engagement : a police service case study

The current study aims to investigate the non-linear relationship between the JD-R model and work engagement. Previous research has identified linear relationships between these constructs; however there are strong theoretical arguments for testing curvilinear relationships (e.g., Warr, 1987). Data were collected via a self-report online survey from officers of one Australian police service (N = 2,626). Results demonstrated a curvilinear relationship between job demands and job resources and engagement. Gender (as a control variable) was also found to be a significant predictor of work engagement. The results indicated that male police officers experienced significantly higher job demands and colleague support than female officers. However, female police officers reported significantly higher levels of work engagement than male officers. This study emphasises the need to test curvilinear relationships, as well as simple linear associations, when measuring psychological health.

The response to dryness in Australia

The drought Australia now faces is leading to shifts in the perception of the continent, of Australians and the world. The ideals of lush green landscapes are making way for landscape designs in which dryness is a quality of the design. On a map of the world, Australia is enormous, and seems empty because development is concentrated around its edges. Its heart must be red, in the cultural projections of the world from images of Uluru, 'the rock', set in a flat desert with no relief. Of course the country is not really all desert - surely? - with low shrubs pretty much throughout. Inhabitation seems to cling to the edges where teh continent feels microclimatic effects from the adjacent oceans and edging mountain ranges, which screen the population from the real state of the environment - dry, harsh, amazing and unique. Australia is rightly proud of this harsh difference from its edges, but prefers the harshness to be 'out there'. At the moment however, the country is pretty much universally in drought, and the contrast between green and brown, that it has celebrated, even built its identity around, is disappearing to become brown throughout. Without the browning of Australia, some areas, such as tropical Queensland, are having their designed public landscapes and gardens revealed as an elaborate mythology, a landscape fraud.

Establishment of a preclinical ovine model for tibial segmental bone defect repair by applying bone tissue engineering strategies

Currently, well-established clinical therapeutic approaches for bone reconstruction are restricted to the transplantation of autografts and allografts, and the implantation of metal devices or ceramic-based implants to assist bone regeneration. Bone grafts possess osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties, however they are limited in access and availability and associated with donor site morbidity, haemorrhage, risk of infection, insufficient transplant integration, graft devitalisation, and subsequent resorption resulting in decreased mechanical stability. As a result, recent research focuses on the development of alternative therapeutic concepts. The field of tissue engineering has emerged as an important approach to bone regeneration. However, bench to bedside translations are still infrequent as the process towards approval by regulatory bodies is protracted and costly, requiring both comprehensive in vitro and in vivo studies. The subsequent gap between research and clinical translation, hence commercialization, is referred to as the ‘Valley of Death’ and describes a large number of projects and/or ventures that are ceased due to a lack of funding during the transition from product/technology development to regulatory approval and subsequently commercialization. One of the greatest difficulties in bridging the Valley of Death is to develop good manufacturing processes (GMP) and scalable designs and to apply these in pre-clinical studies. In this article, we describe part of the rationale and road map of how our multidisciplinary research team has approached the first steps to translate orthopaedic bone engineering from bench to bedside byestablishing a pre-clinical ovine critical-sized tibial segmental bone defect model and discuss our preliminary data relating to this decisive step.

Correlating eye gaze direction, depth and vehicle information on an interactive map for driver training

The over represented number of novice drivers involved in crashes is alarming. Driver training is one of the interventions aimed at mitigating the number of crashes that involve young drivers. Experienced drivers have better hazard perception ability compared to inexperienced drivers. Eye gaze patterns have been found to be an indicator of the driver's competency level. The aim of this paper is to develop an in-vehicle system which correlates information about the driver's gaze and vehicle dynamics, which is then used to assist driver trainers in assessing driving competency. This system allows visualization of the complete driving manoeuvre data on interactive maps. It uses an eye tracker and perspective projection algorithms to compute the depth of gaze and plots it on Google maps. This interactive map also features the trajectory of the vehicle and turn indicator usage. This system allows efficient and user friendly analysis of the driving task. It can be used by driver trainers and trainees to understand objectively the risks encountered during driving manoeuvres. This paper presents a prototype that plots the driver's eye gaze depth and direction on an interactive map along with the vehicle dynamics information. This prototype will be used in future to study the difference in gaze patterns in novice and experienced drivers prior to a certain manoeuvre.

The Brisbane media map : participatory design and authentic learning to link students and industry

The Brisbane Media Map is both an online resource and a tertiary-level authentic learning project. The Brisbane Media Map is an online database which provides a detailed overview of about 600 media industry organisations in Brisbane, Australia. In addition to providing contact details and synopses for each organisation’s profile, the Brisbane Media Map also includes supplementary information on current issues, trends, and individuals in the media and communication industry sectors. This resource is produced and updated annually by final-year undergraduate Media and Communication students. This article introduces the Brisbane Media Map, its functionality and systems design approach, as well as its alignment with key learning infrastructures. It examines authentic learning as the pedagogical framework underpinning the ongoing development work of the resource and highlights some synergies of this framework with participatory design principles. The Brisbane Media Map is a useful example of an authentic learning approach that successfully engages students of non-traditional and non-design areas of study in human-computer interaction, usability, and participatory design activities.

Innovation adoption and fit, linking R&D and industry

Significant sums of money are invested in developing technological innovations that have low levels and rates of adoption. Several approaches have been put forward in an effort to improve rates of adoption. This paper presents the results of study that examined the innovation fit of key technological innovations in the beef industry. Findings indicate that be assessing the innovation fit throughout the R&D process researchers and end users can collaborate to improve the innovation fit and the rate of adoption. The paper also put forward a model that demonstrates the linkages between R&D, adoption and innovation fit.

A distributed knowledge management infrastructure based on a Topic Map grid

Modern enterprise knowledge management systems typically require distributed approaches and the integration of numerous heterogeneous sources of information. A powerful foundation for these tasks can be Topic Maps, which not only provide a semantic net-like knowledge representation means and the possibility to use ontologies for modelling knowledge structures, but also offer concepts to link these knowledge structures with unstructured data stored in files, external documents etc. In this paper, we present the architecture and prototypical implementation of a Topic Map application infrastructure, the ‘Topic Grid’, which enables transparent, node-spanning access to different Topic Maps distributed in a network.