Improving Transition Outcomes: Resource Mapping Workshop: Community Organizations Survey

Community organizations survey tool from the Improving Transition Outcomes Resource Mapping Workshops

Improving Transition Outcomes: Resource Mapping Workshop: Parents Survey

Parents survey tool from the Improving Transition Outcomes Resource Mapping Workshops

Improving Transition Outcomes: Resource Mapping Workshop: Community Members Survey

Community members survey tool from the Improving Transition Outcomes Resource Mapping Workshops

Improving Transition Outcomes: Resource Mapping Workshop: Interview Tips

Interview tips developed by Lois Smidt with Beyond Welfare in Ames, Iowa and shared at the Improving Transition Outcomes Resource Mapping Workshops

Improving Transition Outcomes: Resource Mapping Workshop: What is Resource Mapping?

Information shared at the Improving Transition Outcomes Resource Mapping Workshops

Three essays on organizations and their external environment

Abstract: The literature on the various links between organizations and their external environment is very extensive and fragmented. This thesis is comprised of three separate essays, each examining specific research questions related to these links. The first essay deals with the notion of industry life cycle and how the geographical concentration of an industry is linked to the particular life cycle stage in which the industry finds itself. The aim of this first essay is firstly to verify if the evolution of the Swiss hotel industry fits some of the stylized facts of the industry life cycle. The second aim is to verify if there is evidence of geographical clustering of the hotel industry, and by extension of tourism. The third aim is to verify a hypothesis that industry decline manifests itself mainly by company closures in decentralized locations. The importance for organizational survival and performance of adapting and reacting to environmental changes has long been ascertained. This adaptation requires managers, under conditions of uncertainty, to identify relevant changes in their external environment and to interpret the possible effects of those changes on their organization. Furthermore, it requires finding and adopting organizational responses in reaction to the environmental changes. The second essay explores how managers perceive their environment by reporting the results of two workshops held with managers from the European hotel industry. In the third essay we examine in more detail the role of uncertainty in the interpretation by executives of environmental changes. We integrate existing theories of interpretation and uncertainty into one framework, which we then test using national survey data from the hotel industry. In all three essays we are able to provide some evidence to support our main hypotheses, but.also make suggestions far further research into the topics examined.

Concepts of metastasis in flux: the stromal progression model.

The ability of tumor cells to leave a primary tumor, to disseminate through the body, and to ultimately seed new secondary tumors is universally agreed to be the basis for metastasis formation. An accurate description of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie this multistep process would greatly facilitate the rational development of therapies that effectively allow metastatic disease to be controlled and treated. A number of disparate and sometimes conflicting hypotheses and models have been suggested to explain various aspects of the process, and no single concept explains the mechanism of metastasis in its entirety or encompasses all observations and experimental findings. The exciting progress made in metastasis research in recent years has refined existing ideas, as well as giving rise to new ones. In this review we survey some of the main theories that currently exist in the field, and show that significant convergence is emerging, allowing a synthesis of several models to give a more comprehensive overview of the process of metastasis. As a result we postulate a stromal progression model of metastasis. In this model, progressive modification of the tumor microenvironment is equally as important as genetic and epigenetic changes in tumor cells during primary tumor progression. Mutual regulatory interactions between stroma and tumor cells modify the stemness of the cells that drive tumor growth, in a manner that involves epithelial-mesenchymal and mesenchymal-epithelial-like transitions. Similar interactions need to be recapitulated at secondary sites for metastases to grow. Early disseminating tumor cells can progress at the secondary site in parallel to the primary tumor, both in terms of genetic changes, as well as progressive development of a metastatic stroma. Although this model brings together many ideas in the field, there remain nevertheless a number of major open questions, underscoring the need for further research to fully understand metastasis, and thereby identify new and effective ways of treating metastatic disease.

Expression and function of interleukin-7 in secondary and tertiary lymphoid organs.

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is known since many years as stromal-cell derived cytokine that plays a key role for the adaptive immune system. It promotes lymphocyte development in the bone marrow and thymus as well as naive and memory T cell homeostasis in the periphery. More recently, IL-7 reporter mice and other approaches have led to the further characterization of the various stromal cell sources of IL-7 in secondary lymphoid organs (SLO) and other tissues. We will review these advances along with a discussion of the regulation of IL-7 and its receptor, and compare the biological effects IL-7 has on adaptive as well as innate immune cells in SLO. Finally, we will review the role of IL-7 in development of SLO and tertiary lymphoid tissues that frequently are associated with sites of chronic inflammation.

The microenvironment in T-cell lymphomas: Emerging themes

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are heterogeneous and uncommon malignancies characterized by an aggressive clinical course and a mostly poor outcome with current treatment strategies. Despite novel insights into their pathobiology provided by recent genome-wide molecular studies, several entities remain poorly characterized. In addition to the neoplastic cell population, PTCLs have a microenvironment component, composed of non-tumor cells and stroma, which is quantitatively and qualitatively variable, and which may have an effect on their pathological and clinical features. The best example is provided by angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), a designation reflecting the typical vascularization and reactive immunoblastic content of the tumor tissues. In this disease, a complex network of interactions between the lymphoma cells and the microenvironment exists, presumably mediated by the neoplastic T cells with follicular helper T-cell properties. A better understanding of the crosstalk between neoplastic T or NK cells and their microenvironment may have important implications for guiding the development of novel therapies.

Molecularly defined vaccines for cancer immunotherapy, and protective T cell immunity.

Malignant cells are frequently recognized and destroyed by T cells, hence the development of T cell vaccines against established tumors. The challenge is to induce protective type 1 immune responses, with efficient Th1 and CTL activation, and long-term immunological memory. These goals are similar as in many infectious diseases, where successful immune protection is ideally induced with live vaccines. However, large-scale development of live vaccines is prevented by their very limited availability and vector immunogenicity. Synthetic vaccines have multiple advantages. Each of their components (antigens, adjuvants, delivery systems) contributes specifically to induction and maintenance of T cell responses. Here we summarize current experience with vaccines based on proteins and peptide antigens, and discuss approaches for the molecular characterization of clonotypic T cell responses. With carefully designed step-by-step modifications of innovative vaccine formulations, T cell vaccination can be optimized towards the goal of inducing therapeutic immune responses in humans.

Chemokines in neuroectodermal cancers: the crucial growth signal from the soil.

Although chemokines and their receptors were initially identified as regulators of cell trafficking during inflammation and immune response, they have emerged as crucial players in all stages of tumor development, primary growth, migration, angiogenesis, and establishment as metastases in distant target organs. Neuroectodermal tumors regroup neoplasms originating from the embryonic neural crest cells, which display clinical and biological similarities. These tumors are highly malignant and rapidly progressing diseases that disseminate to similar target organs such as bone marrow, bone, liver and lungs. There is increasing evidence that interaction of several chemokine receptors with corresponding chemokine ligands are implicated in the growth and invasive characteristics of these tumors. In this review we summarize the current knowledge on the role of CXCL12 chemokine and its CXCR4 and CXCR7 receptors in the progression and survival of neuroectodermal tumors, with particular emphasis on neuroblastoma, the most typical and enigmatic neuroectodermal childhood tumor.

Folklore Fellows' summer school 1995 : personal recollections

by Isabel, Baiba, Lillis, Maria, and Ermis

Lymphoproliferative disorders associated with hypereosinophilia.

Hypereosinophilia, defined as peripheral blood eosinophil counts >1,500/μL, may complicate the course of various lymphoproliferative disorders. Among these, Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and certain peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) derived from CD4 cells, including Sezary syndrome (SS), adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), are most commonly associated with increased reactive eosinophilopoiesis. Rarely, marked hypereosinophilia (HE) may occur in the setting of acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia, with a substantial impact on disease course. The mechanisms leading to blood and tissue eosinophilia in the setting of lymphoproliferative disorders, as well as the clinical complications and prognostic implications of hypereosinophilia, are discussed in this review.

Folklore Fellows' summer school 1995 : personal recollections

by Isabel, Baiba, Lillis, Maria, and Ermis

Computer Tips and Tricks Newsletter, October, 2005

Performance & Development Solutions (PDS) publishes a variety of newsletters that include some great information about our programs and services. Some of the topics you may find include: Upcoming Seminars Current events or news related to training Recognition of achievements How-to section