Laboratory Evaluation of Roller-Compacted Concrete, MLR-86-6, 1988

Fine limestone aggregate is abundant in several areas of the state. The aggregate is a by-product from the production of concrete stone. Roller compacted concrete (RCC) is a portland cement concrete mixture that can be produced with small size aggregate. The objective of the research was to evaluate limestone screenings in RCC mixes. Acceptable strength and freeze/thaw durability were obtained with 300 pounds of portland cement and 260 pounds of Class C fly ash. The amount of aggregate passing the number 200 sieve ranged from 4.6 to 11 percent. Field experience in Iowa indicates that the aggregate gradation is more critical to placeability and compactibility than laboratory strength and durability.

Surface Improvement and Dust Palliation of Unpaved Secondary Roads and Streets, HR-151, 1973

As of December 31, 1970 there were 57,270 miles of Local Secondary roads and 32,958 miles of Farm to Market roads in the Iowa secondary road system. The Local Secondary system carried a traffic load of 2,714,180 daily vehicle miles, accounting for 32% of all traffic in the secondary system. For all Local Secondary roads having some form of surfacing, 98% were surfaced with gravel or crushed stone. During the 1970 construction year 335 miles of surfaced roads were constructed in the Local Secondary system with 78% being surfaced with gravel or crushed stone. The total maintenance expenditure for all secondary roads in Iowa during 1970 amounted to $40,086,091. Of this, 42%, or $17,020,332, was spent for aggregate replacement on existing gravel or crushed stone roads with an additional 31% ($12,604,456) being spent on maintenance other than resurfacing. This amounts to 73% of the total maintenance budget and are the largest two maintenance expenditure items out of a list of 10 ranging from bridges to drainage assessments. The next largest item was 7%, for maintenance of existing flexible bases. Three concurrent phases of study were included in this project: (1) laboratory screenings studies of various additives thought to have potential for long-lasting dust palliation, soil additive strength, durability, and additive retention potential; (2) test road construction using those additives that indicated promise for performance-serviceability usage; and (3) observations and tests of constructed sections for evaluation of the additive's contribution to performance and serviceability as well as the relationship to initial costs.

Characteristics and quality of care of diabetic patients residing int the canton of Vaud

Introduction: Within the framework of the «Programme cantonal Diabète», we aimed at collecting data to 1) describe the population of diabetic patients in the canton of Vaud, and 2) assess the quality of their care. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the fall of 2011. Out of 140 randomly selected community pharmacies registered in the canton of Vaud, 56 accepted to participate in patients' recruitment. Noninstitutionalized adult diabetic patients (disease duration >12 months) visiting a pharmacy with a prescription for oral anti-diabetic drugs, insulin, glycemic strips or glucose meter were eligible. Patients not residing in the canton of Vaud, not speaking and understanding French well enough, presenting obvious cognitive impairment, and women with gestational diabetes, were excluded. Using a self-administered questionnaire, data was collected on patients' characteristics and diabetes as well as various process (e.g. recommended annual screenings) and outcomes quality of care indicators. Descriptive analyses were performed. Results: A total of 406 patients with diabetes participated. Mean age was 64 years, 41% were women and 63% were married. Patients reported type 1, 2 and other types of diabetes in 13%, 69% and 19%, respectively. They were treated with oral anti-diabetic drugs, insulin or both in 50%, 23% and 27% of the cases. Half of the patients did not report any diabetes-related complication. Glucose self-monitoring was reported by 82% of the patients. Of those who were aware of HbA1C (n = 218), 98% reported at least one HbA1C control during the last 12 months. During that same time frame, 97% and 95% reported at least one blood pressure and weight measure, 94% reported having had a cholesterol check, 74%, 68% and 64% had eyes, feet and urine screening respectively. 62% of the patients had been immunized against influenza. At least 76% of the patients had a minimum of 5 of the 7 described process indicators performed during the last 12 months. Among patients who knew the value (n = 145), mean HbA1C was 7.4 (SD 1.2). Conclusion: This study targeting community-based diabetic patients shows that while routine clinical and laboratory tests were annually performed in the vast majority of patients, feet and urine screening, as well as influenza immunization, were less often reported by patients. The proportion of patients with diabetes having had at least 5 out of the 7 annual screenings performed was nevertheless very high.

CBS: an open platform that integrates predictive methods and epigenetics information to characterize conserved regulatory features in multiple Drosophila genomes.

Background: Information about the composition of regulatory regions is of great value for designing experiments to functionally characterize gene expression. The multiplicity of available applications to predict transcription factor binding sites in a particular locus contrasts with the substantial computational expertise that is demanded to manipulate them, which may constitute a potential barrier for the experimental community. Results: CBS (Conserved regulatory Binding Sites, http://compfly.bio.ub.es/CBS) is a public platform of evolutionarily conserved binding sites and enhancers predicted in multiple Drosophila genomes that is furnished with published chromatin signatures associated to transcriptionally active regions and other experimental sources of information. The rapid access to this novel body of knowledge through a user-friendly web interface enables non-expert users to identify the binding sequences available for any particular gene, transcription factor, or genome region. Conclusions: The CBS platform is a powerful resource that provides tools for data mining individual sequences and groups of co-expressed genes with epigenomics information to conduct regulatory screenings in Drosophila.

Trends and characteristics of attendance at the emergency department of a Swiss university hospital: 2002-2012.

BACKGROUND: The numbers of people attending emergency departments (EDs) at hospitals are increasing. We aimed to analyse trends in ED attendance at a Swiss university hospital between 2002 and 2012, focussing on age-related differences and hospital admission criteria. METHODS: We used hospital administrative data for all patients aged ≥16 years who attended the ED (n = 298,306) at this university hospital between 1 January 2002, and 31 December 2012. We descriptively analysed the numbers of ED visits according to the admission year and stratified by age (≥65 vs <65 years). RESULTS: People attending the ED were on average 46.6 years old (standard deviation 20 years, maximum range 16‒99 years). The annual number of ED attendances grew by n = 6,639 (27.6%) from 24,080 in 2002 to 30,719 in 2012. In the subgroup of patients aged ≥65 the relative increase was 42.3%, which is significantly higher (Pearson's χ2 = 350.046, df = 10; p = 0.000) than the relative increase of 23.4% among patients <65 years. The subgroup of patients ≥65 years attended the ED more often because of diseases (n = 56,307; 85%) than accidents (n = 9,844; 14.9%). This subgroup (patients ≥65 years) was also more often admitted to hospital (Pearson's χ2 = 23,377.190; df = 1; p = 0.000) than patients <65 years. CONCLUSIONS: ED attendance of patients ≥65 years increased in absolute and relative terms. The study findings suggest that staff of this ED may want to assess the needs of patients ≥65 years and, if necessary, adjust the services (e.g., adapted triage scales, adapted geriatric screenings, and adapted hospital admission criteria).

β1 integrin regulation

Integrins are heterodimeric adhesion receptors mediating adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins and to other cells. Integrins are important in embryonic development, structural integrity of connective tissue, blood thrombus formation, and immune defense system. Integrins are transmembrane proteins whose ligand binding capacity (activity) is regulated by large conformational changes. Extracellular ligand binding or intracellular effector binding to integrin cytoplasmic face regulate integrin activity. Integrins are thus able to mediate bi-directional signaling. Integrin function is also regulated by intracellular location. Integrins are constantly recycled from endocytic vesicles to plasma membrane, and this has been shown to be important for cell migration and invasion as well. Deregulation of integrin functionality can lead to deleterious illnesses, such as bleeding or inflammatory disorders. It is also evident that integrin deregulation is associated with cancer progression. In this study, a novel Beta1 integrin associating protein, Rab21, was characterized. Rab21 binding to integrin cytoplasmic tail was shown to be important for Beta1 integrin endo- and exocytosis – intracellular trafficking. It was furher shown that this interaction has an important role in cell adhesion, migration, as well as in the final step of cell division, cytokinesis. This work showed that abrogation of Rab21 function or β1 integrin endocytic traffic, can lead to defects in cell division and results in formation of multinucleated cells. Multinucleation and especially tetraploidy can be a transient pathway to aneuploidy and tumorigenesis. This work characterized chromosomal deletions in rab21 locus in ovarian and prostate cancer samples and showed that a cell line with rab21 deletion also had impairment in cell division, which could be rescued by Rab21 re-expression. The work demonstrates an important role for Rab21 and Beta1 integrin traffic regulation in cell adhesion and division, and suggests a probable associaton with tumorigenesis. In this study, Beta1 integrin activity regulation was also addressed. A novel cell array platform for genome-scale RNAi screenings was characterized here. More than 4500 genes were knocked-down in prostate cancer cells using siRNA-mediated silencing. The effects on Beta1 integrin activity were analyzed upon knock-downs. The screen identified more that 400 putative regulators of Beta1 integrin activity in prostate cancer. In conclusion, this work will help us to understand complex regulatory pathways involved in cancer cell adhesion and migration.

Elevated amniotic fluid amino acid levels in fetuses with gastroschisis

Our objective was to measure maternal plasma and amniotic fluid amino acid concentrations in pregnant women diagnosed as having fetuses with gastroschisis in the second trimester of pregnancy. Twenty-one pregnant women who had fetuses with gastroschisis detected by ultrasonography (gastroschisis group) in the second trimester and 32 women who had abnormal triple screenings indicating an increased risk for Down syndrome but had healthy fetuses (control group) were enrolled in the study. Amniotic fluid was obtained by amniocentesis, and maternal plasma samples were taken simultaneously. The chromosomal analysis of the study and control groups was normal. Levels of free amino acids and non-essential amino acids were measured in plasma and amniotic fluid samples using EZ:fast kits (EZ:fast GC/FID free (physiological) amino acid kit) by gas chromatography (Focus GC AI 3000 Thermo Finnigan analyzer). The mean levels of essential amino acids (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) and non-essential amino acids (alanine, glycine, proline, and tyrosine) in amniotic fluid were found to be significantly higher in fetuses with gastroschisis than in the control group (P < 0.05). A significant positive correlation between maternal plasma and amniotic fluid concentrations of essential and nonessential amino acids was found only in the gastroschisis group (P < 0.05). The detection of significantly higher amino acid concentrations in the amniotic fluid of fetuses with a gastroschisis defect than in healthy fetuses suggests the occurrence of amino acid malabsorption or of amino acid leakage from the fetus into amniotic fluid.

Sélection in vivo par phage display dans un modèle de sténose valvulaire aortique chez la souris pour la découverte de nouveaux peptides ciblant la valve aortique

La sténose valvulaire aortique (SVA) est la maladie des valves cardiaques la plus répandue dans les pays développés qui touche les personnes âgées. La SVA est un processus actif caractérisé par des dépôts de lipides, de l’inflammation, de la fibrose et une calcification active des feuillets qui progresse vers un épaississement et durcissement de la valve aortique et une diminution de l’aire de la valve aortique. Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que la pathogénèse de la SVA modifie progressivement l’endothélium de la valve aortique, ce qui engendre l’expression de biomarqueurs spécifiques aux tissus et à la maladie. On rapporte dans cet étude, l’utilisation de la technique de sélection in vivo par phage display d’une librairie de peptides aléatoires afin de trouver de nouveaux peptides candidats qui se lieraient à des biomarqueurs spécifiques à la valve aortique malade d’une souris. Des souris ATX (LDLr-/-;Tg(hApoB+/+)) âgées atteintes de la SVA ont été utilisées pour la sélection in vivo d’une librairie de peptides aléatoires de 7 acides aminés contraints ou linéaires. Après 4 tours de criblage, on a caractérisé 14 phages différents qui ont été séparés en 5 motifs consensus pour la librairie linéaire et 11 phages différents qui représentent 5 différents motifs consensus pour la libraire de peptides contraints. La spécificité de 4 phages candidats de la librairie linéaire et de 5 phages de la librairie contrainte a été étudiée par l’immunomarquage des peptides d’intérêt exprimés par les phages sur les coupes de tissus de la valve aortique malade par rapport aux tissus contrôles du foie, du rein, de la rate, du ventricule et du poumon. Parmi eux, 6 phages représentent des peptides candidats intéressants qui ont besoin d’être testés davantage pour évaluer leur spécificité in vivo à la valve. Bien qu’il reste encore de la validation à effectuer, les peptides candidats spécifiques trouvés peuvent représenter des agents moléculaires d’imagerie utiles ou des transporteurs dans la livraison de drogue qui ciblent la valve aortique malade.

Parental response to newborn hearing screening

This paper investigates parental response to the results of screening programs mandated by Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UHHS), a Missouri law requiring hearing screenings of all newborns that went into effect January 1, 2002.

xero, kline & coma

xero, kline & coma is an artist run project space at 258 Hackney Road, London. It’s program, curated by Pil and Galia Kollectiv, focuses primarily on solo exhibitions by internationally established as well as emerging artists. Work by recent graduates King Conny Wobble and David Steans is being shown alongside projects like the Museum of American Art – Berlin, previously included in the Venice and Istanbul Biennales, Jeffrey Vallance, whose recent solo exhibition was at the Warhol Museum, and Plastique Fantastique, whose work has been shown at Tate Britain and the Pratt Manhatten Gallery, New York, with the aim of raising the profile of lesser known artists and allowing others to experiment with work that more institutional contexts don’t always permit. Some of the themes this program has explored have included fictional identities, a-chronological art histories and the mediation of ritual in time-based media. A commitment to critically engaged art is also central to the ethos of the space, and future shows include an exploration of unionism in art by Sophie Carapetian. As well as displaying new work, the gallery hosts events, talks and screenings. Most recently these have included meetings of the Political Currency of Art research group, a discussion and film screening dealing with the theme of ‘hostile objects’ led by Evan Calder Williams and Marina Vishmidt, a book launch for New Lines of Alliance, New Spaces of Liberty by Antonio Negri and Felix Guattari and an event dedicated to the theatre work of Slovenian art collective NSK, featuring a screening of unreleased documentation and a discussion about the future of total performance.

Flatpack revolution

The project consists of a trilogy of films and a live performance. The Future trilogy takes IKEA riot of 2005 as the starting point for a speculative history of a fictional future, culminating in a choreographed re-enactment of the original event. Shot on 16mm and 8mm film, the series explores the possibility of collective action emerging from the capitalist relations inherent in the consumer riot. The live performance No Haus Like Bau, staged at the HAU 1 theatre in Berlin for the 5th Berlin Biennale, continues this research into re-enactment and post-1989 politics by dramatizing the rise and fall of the soviet union as a neo-Constructivist mime using a stage set made of flatpack furniture. Using the aesthetics of Modernism and the avant garde, from Constructivist and Futurist constumes to biomechanics and Bauhaus theatre theory, the project transposes early twentieth century utopian ideology to a present day setting where mass uprisings are motivated by cheap commodities. These explorations of consumerism and revolution have been widely exhibited internationally and supported by Film London, Arts Council England, Collective Gallery and the Berlin Biennale. The Future Trilogy formed the basis of a solo exhibition at the Te Tuhi Art Centre in Auckland, New Zealand and was screened as part of the Signal and Noise media art festival in Vancouver, as well as other exhibitions and screenings including “Roll it to Me” at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, and Apocatopia, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester.

Ballet-performing normality in the face of crisis

This paper contextualises the framework and methodology for producing the video performance Ballet, by Szuper Gallery (Susanne Clausen & Pavlo Kerestey), which was initiated through an encounter with an archive of rural information and propaganda films from the Museum of English Rural Life [MERL] in Reading, UK. This project looked at ways of extrapolating filmed gestures from the MERL films to choreograph a large-scale performance film and to consider how this practice-led research could instigate a new way of engaging with and interpreting the MERL film collection. The resulting video was produced in 2009 and was first exhibited at MERL, where it became part of the archive. This was followed by a series of international screenings. I will set out the surrounding research in and around the archive propaganda films, focusing on the performances by rural extras (background actors) in these films, while looking at the way one could understand the relation between a future-past, or tradition and accident in these films (Massumi, 1993). I will pair this with a reflection on the cultural reading of the extras (Didi-Huberman, 2009) and the notion of social choreography (Hewitt, 2005) in this context. I will then lay out reflections on artistic methods for the final performance, a Crash Choreography, based on calculated, but spontaneous encounters.

Next Generation Sequencing of Pooled Samples Reveals New SNRNP200 Mutations Associated with Retinitis Pigmentosa

The gene SNRNP200 is composed of 45 exons and encodes a protein essential for pre-mRNA splicing, the 200 kDa helicase hBrr2. Two mutations in SNRNP200 have recently been associated with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP), a retinal degenerative disease, in two families from China. In this work we analyzed the entire 35-Kb SNRNP200 genomic region in a cohort of 96 unrelated North American patients with adRP. To complete this large-scale sequencing project, we performed ultra high-throughput sequencing of pooled, untagged PCR products. We then validated the detected DNA changes by Sanger sequencing of individual samples from this cohort and from an additional one of 95 patients. One of the two previously known mutations (p.S1087L) was identified in 3 patients, while 4 new missense changes (p.R681C, p.R681H, p.V683L, p.Y689C) affecting highly conserved codons were identified in 6 unrelated individuals, indicating that the prevalence of SNRNP200-associated adRP is relatively high. We also took advantage of this research to evaluate the pool-and-sequence method, especially with respect to the generation of false positive and negative results. We conclude that, although this strategy can be adopted for rapid discovery of new disease-associated variants, it still requires extensive validation to be used in routine DNA screenings. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

rastreamento histoquímico, fitoquímico e biológico de folhas de Plinia cauliflora (DC.) Kausel (Myrtaceae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Busca de parceiros físicos por duplo-híbrido das proteínas ADAM23 e MX1, codificadas por genes metilados em câncer de cabeça e pescoço

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)