A low intensity 20 TeV proton beam extracted from the SSC by crystal channeling has been proposed... more A low intensity 20 TeV proton beam extracted from the SSC by crystal channeling has been proposed for use in producing B hadrons in a fixed target configuration. This option for doing B physics offers a relatively inexpensive way of obtaining large numbers of reconstructable B decays for the study of rare B decays and CP violation in the B system. This paper reports on the progress during and since the 1990 Snowmass meeting in developing the techniques for the crystal extraction and discusses special advantages that an SSC fixed target spectrometer may have relative to other experimental methods for studying B decays.
Glioblastoma (GB) is the most frequent and aggressive primary tumor of the central nervous system... more Glioblastoma (GB) is the most frequent and aggressive primary tumor of the central nervous system (CNS) in adults. Standard treatment is complete tumor resection followed by concomitant radiochemotherapy (RCT) and subsequent adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ). Information about brain tumors statistics in Latin American countries is scarce, so we aimed to measure the overall survival (OS) of patients with resected GB in a single institution in Chile. This is a retrospective report of 67 patients treated between 2012 and 2019 with resected GB and who received adjuvant treatment with radiotherapy (RT) with and without TMZ during 2012-2019 in this center (Chilean NCI). Most of them were men (72%), ages > 50 years old (57%), with Karnofsky performance status (KPS) scale ≥ 70% (94%) and recursive partitioning analysis-IV (RPA-IV) (60%). Some 54% received concomitant TMZ and RT. Median OS was 11.4 months, with 1-, 2-, and 5-year OS of 48%,15%, and 3% respectively. In conclusion, in patients with GB treated with RCT at the NCI, OS was the same as expected from international articles. Adjuvant RCT therefore is considered the standard of care at NCI.
OBJECTIVES This prospective study aimed to evaluate the value of B-mode lung ultrasound (LUS) for... more OBJECTIVES This prospective study aimed to evaluate the value of B-mode lung ultrasound (LUS) for the early diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in nonhospitalized COVID-19 suspected cases in a population with a low prevalence of disease. METHODS From April 2020 to June 2020, in an ambulatory testing center for COVID-19-suspected cases, 297 subjects were examined by LUS before a nasopharyngeal swab was taken for a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. The following LUS findings were defined as pathological ultrasound findings and were analyzed: the presence of 1) pleural effusion, 2) B-lines, 3) fragmented visceral pleura, 4) consolidation, and 5) air bronchogram in the consolidation. The LUS findings were compared with the RT-PCR test results. RESULTS The result of the RT-PCR test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was positive in 11 and negative in 286 subjects, and the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in the study participants was 3.7%. On LUS, a pathological finding could be detected in 56/297 (18.9%) study participants. The LUS revealed a sensitivity of 27.3%, a specificity of 81.5%, a positive predictive value of 5.4%, a negative predictive value of 96.7%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 79.9% for the identification of COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSIONS For the identification of COVID-19 infection, LUS is highly sensitive to the patient spectrum and to the prevalence of the disease. Due to the low diagnostic performance in nonhospitalized COVID-19 cases in low-prevalence areas, LUS cannot be considered to be an adequate method for making a diagnosis in this group.
Can performing Shakespeare address, let alone mitigate, the threats to human and nonhuman life in... more Can performing Shakespeare address, let alone mitigate, the threats to human and nonhuman life in the Anthropocene? Perhaps because its destruction seems to be virtually unstoppable and, on some levels, invisible and baffling, the answer so far seems to be, no. Today’s worsening climate-change impacts, rising sea levels, and species extinctions are rarely reflected in today’s productions of Shakespeare. James Shapiro has remarked that we read the news to find out what has happened in the world and then turn to Shakespeare to make sense of it.1 But this does not seem to be happening in terms of ecology and Shakespearean performance, even though ecocritics have been exploring relations between the playwright, early modern environmental history, and contemporary ecology for the past dozen years or so.2 These studies have focused mainly on textual readings of Shakespeare’s and other early modern plays.3 In 2011, Lynne Brucker and Dan Brayton’s introduction to their ground-breaking collection, Ecocritical Shakespeare, asked, “Can reading, writing about and teaching Shakespeare contribute to the health of the planet?” (2), leaving performance out of the enquiry. And while theater scholars Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May note that the “critical and theoretical intersections between literary ecocriticism and theater/ performance studies [...] have been slowly but increasingly articulated over the past two decades” (3), there is little evidence, as yet, of ecocritical studies of theater and performance crossing over with Shakespearean ecocriticism.4 Randall Martin’s epilogue to his study Shakespeare and Ecology calls for future work in this direction by asserting that “Shakespeare’s greatest possibilities for becoming our eco-contemporary [...] lie not in academic discourse but in performance” (167). Richard Kerridge makes a similar provocation, imagining a production of Macbeth that might realize
Progress in community health partnerships : research, education, and action, 2018
In 2002, the University of Southern Mississippi's Therapeutic Recreation Program and the Hatt... more In 2002, the University of Southern Mississippi's Therapeutic Recreation Program and the Hattiesburg (MS) Public School District's Department of Exceptional Children and Health Services formed a partnership that has lasted (off and on) for 15 years. The partnership was formed based on a shared mission of education and training, and grew in depth based on reciprocated respect and support. Early collaborative efforts included simple programming efforts that provided health and educational benefits for the students with disabilities in the public schools and training for the future professionals in therapeutic recreation at the university. As the program progressed, more complex programs were designed to teach students with disabilities to build the capacity for pursuing and maintaining personal health. Planned programming efforts for the near future focus on collecting data to support the development of an extracurricular athletic program for students with disabilities.
Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indi... more Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.
To observe and measure the process of hydration and dehydration in four commonly used adhesive fo... more To observe and measure the process of hydration and dehydration in four commonly used adhesive foam dressings using high frequency ultrasound. High frequency ultrasound (20MHz) with an axial resolution of 60 microm was used to image the inside of the wound dressings under investigation and thereby assess their level of hydration. This allowed the uptake of a bolus of fluid into the dressing via absorption and the subsequent loss of fluid via evaporation to be both observed and measured. Four dressings were assessed:ActivHeal Foam Island (10 x 10cm), Allevyn Adhesive (10 x 10 cm), Biatain Adhesive (12 x 12cm), and Mepilex Border (10 x 10 cm). Part I showed that Allevyn hydrated most rapidly followed byActivHeal, Biatain and Mepilex. Part 2 indicated that Allevyn dehydrated most rapidly followed by Mepilex,ActivHeal and Biatain. High frequency ultrasound proved to be an effective tool in assessing the fluid handling properties of wound dressings. Of the dressings tested Allevyn demons...
While nonstructural protein 4B (NS4B) from hepatitis C virus (HCV) is absolutely required for vir... more While nonstructural protein 4B (NS4B) from hepatitis C virus (HCV) is absolutely required for viral propagation, a full understanding of the enzymatic properties of this protein is lacking. Previous studies suggest that NS4B is located at the endoplasmic reticulum and that the protein structure consists of four central transmembrane domains with the N-and C-termini located in the cytoplasm of the host cell. To characterize the enzymatic activity of NS4B, the full-length protein with a C-terminal His tag was expressed in Sf9 insect cells and stabilized with nonionic detergents during purification. Chemical cross-linking experiments using GTP-γ-azidoanilide and ATP-γ-azidoanilide and equilibrium binding analyses with GTPγS and ATPγS show that both GTP and ATP are bound by NS4B, with ATP displaying a higher affinity. Analyses of enzymatic reactions catalyzed by NS4B indicate that the terminal phosphate groups of ATP, GTP, and GDP are removed to produce ADP, GDP, and GMP, respectively. The k cat for hydrolysis of GTP by purified NS4B compared favorably with the k cat for hydrolysis of GTP by Ras-p21 in the absence of GTPase activating proteins (GAPs). In addition to the hydrolysis of NTP and NDP substrates, adenylate kinase activity was detected in purified preparations of NS4B with the reverse reaction 2ADP f ATP + ADP, yielding a larger k cat compared to that of the forward reaction ATP + AMP f 2ADP. These studies suggest that HCV NS4B possesses both adenylate kinase activity and nucleotide hydrolase activity. Mutation of amino acids in the Walker A and B motifs of NS4B resulted in decreased affinity for both GTPγS and ATPγS as well as decreased ATP hydrolysis and AK activity.
A low intensity 20 TeV proton beam extracted from the SSC by crystal channeling has been proposed... more A low intensity 20 TeV proton beam extracted from the SSC by crystal channeling has been proposed for use in producing B hadrons in a fixed target configuration. This option for doing B physics offers a relatively inexpensive way of obtaining large numbers of reconstructable B decays for the study of rare B decays and CP violation in the B system. This paper reports on the progress during and since the 1990 Snowmass meeting in developing the techniques for the crystal extraction and discusses special advantages that an SSC fixed target spectrometer may have relative to other experimental methods for studying B decays.
Glioblastoma (GB) is the most frequent and aggressive primary tumor of the central nervous system... more Glioblastoma (GB) is the most frequent and aggressive primary tumor of the central nervous system (CNS) in adults. Standard treatment is complete tumor resection followed by concomitant radiochemotherapy (RCT) and subsequent adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ). Information about brain tumors statistics in Latin American countries is scarce, so we aimed to measure the overall survival (OS) of patients with resected GB in a single institution in Chile. This is a retrospective report of 67 patients treated between 2012 and 2019 with resected GB and who received adjuvant treatment with radiotherapy (RT) with and without TMZ during 2012-2019 in this center (Chilean NCI). Most of them were men (72%), ages > 50 years old (57%), with Karnofsky performance status (KPS) scale ≥ 70% (94%) and recursive partitioning analysis-IV (RPA-IV) (60%). Some 54% received concomitant TMZ and RT. Median OS was 11.4 months, with 1-, 2-, and 5-year OS of 48%,15%, and 3% respectively. In conclusion, in patients with GB treated with RCT at the NCI, OS was the same as expected from international articles. Adjuvant RCT therefore is considered the standard of care at NCI.
OBJECTIVES This prospective study aimed to evaluate the value of B-mode lung ultrasound (LUS) for... more OBJECTIVES This prospective study aimed to evaluate the value of B-mode lung ultrasound (LUS) for the early diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in nonhospitalized COVID-19 suspected cases in a population with a low prevalence of disease. METHODS From April 2020 to June 2020, in an ambulatory testing center for COVID-19-suspected cases, 297 subjects were examined by LUS before a nasopharyngeal swab was taken for a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. The following LUS findings were defined as pathological ultrasound findings and were analyzed: the presence of 1) pleural effusion, 2) B-lines, 3) fragmented visceral pleura, 4) consolidation, and 5) air bronchogram in the consolidation. The LUS findings were compared with the RT-PCR test results. RESULTS The result of the RT-PCR test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was positive in 11 and negative in 286 subjects, and the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in the study participants was 3.7%. On LUS, a pathological finding could be detected in 56/297 (18.9%) study participants. The LUS revealed a sensitivity of 27.3%, a specificity of 81.5%, a positive predictive value of 5.4%, a negative predictive value of 96.7%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 79.9% for the identification of COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSIONS For the identification of COVID-19 infection, LUS is highly sensitive to the patient spectrum and to the prevalence of the disease. Due to the low diagnostic performance in nonhospitalized COVID-19 cases in low-prevalence areas, LUS cannot be considered to be an adequate method for making a diagnosis in this group.
Can performing Shakespeare address, let alone mitigate, the threats to human and nonhuman life in... more Can performing Shakespeare address, let alone mitigate, the threats to human and nonhuman life in the Anthropocene? Perhaps because its destruction seems to be virtually unstoppable and, on some levels, invisible and baffling, the answer so far seems to be, no. Today’s worsening climate-change impacts, rising sea levels, and species extinctions are rarely reflected in today’s productions of Shakespeare. James Shapiro has remarked that we read the news to find out what has happened in the world and then turn to Shakespeare to make sense of it.1 But this does not seem to be happening in terms of ecology and Shakespearean performance, even though ecocritics have been exploring relations between the playwright, early modern environmental history, and contemporary ecology for the past dozen years or so.2 These studies have focused mainly on textual readings of Shakespeare’s and other early modern plays.3 In 2011, Lynne Brucker and Dan Brayton’s introduction to their ground-breaking collection, Ecocritical Shakespeare, asked, “Can reading, writing about and teaching Shakespeare contribute to the health of the planet?” (2), leaving performance out of the enquiry. And while theater scholars Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May note that the “critical and theoretical intersections between literary ecocriticism and theater/ performance studies [...] have been slowly but increasingly articulated over the past two decades” (3), there is little evidence, as yet, of ecocritical studies of theater and performance crossing over with Shakespearean ecocriticism.4 Randall Martin’s epilogue to his study Shakespeare and Ecology calls for future work in this direction by asserting that “Shakespeare’s greatest possibilities for becoming our eco-contemporary [...] lie not in academic discourse but in performance” (167). Richard Kerridge makes a similar provocation, imagining a production of Macbeth that might realize
Progress in community health partnerships : research, education, and action, 2018
In 2002, the University of Southern Mississippi's Therapeutic Recreation Program and the Hatt... more In 2002, the University of Southern Mississippi's Therapeutic Recreation Program and the Hattiesburg (MS) Public School District's Department of Exceptional Children and Health Services formed a partnership that has lasted (off and on) for 15 years. The partnership was formed based on a shared mission of education and training, and grew in depth based on reciprocated respect and support. Early collaborative efforts included simple programming efforts that provided health and educational benefits for the students with disabilities in the public schools and training for the future professionals in therapeutic recreation at the university. As the program progressed, more complex programs were designed to teach students with disabilities to build the capacity for pursuing and maintaining personal health. Planned programming efforts for the near future focus on collecting data to support the development of an extracurricular athletic program for students with disabilities.
Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indi... more Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.
To observe and measure the process of hydration and dehydration in four commonly used adhesive fo... more To observe and measure the process of hydration and dehydration in four commonly used adhesive foam dressings using high frequency ultrasound. High frequency ultrasound (20MHz) with an axial resolution of 60 microm was used to image the inside of the wound dressings under investigation and thereby assess their level of hydration. This allowed the uptake of a bolus of fluid into the dressing via absorption and the subsequent loss of fluid via evaporation to be both observed and measured. Four dressings were assessed:ActivHeal Foam Island (10 x 10cm), Allevyn Adhesive (10 x 10 cm), Biatain Adhesive (12 x 12cm), and Mepilex Border (10 x 10 cm). Part I showed that Allevyn hydrated most rapidly followed byActivHeal, Biatain and Mepilex. Part 2 indicated that Allevyn dehydrated most rapidly followed by Mepilex,ActivHeal and Biatain. High frequency ultrasound proved to be an effective tool in assessing the fluid handling properties of wound dressings. Of the dressings tested Allevyn demons...
While nonstructural protein 4B (NS4B) from hepatitis C virus (HCV) is absolutely required for vir... more While nonstructural protein 4B (NS4B) from hepatitis C virus (HCV) is absolutely required for viral propagation, a full understanding of the enzymatic properties of this protein is lacking. Previous studies suggest that NS4B is located at the endoplasmic reticulum and that the protein structure consists of four central transmembrane domains with the N-and C-termini located in the cytoplasm of the host cell. To characterize the enzymatic activity of NS4B, the full-length protein with a C-terminal His tag was expressed in Sf9 insect cells and stabilized with nonionic detergents during purification. Chemical cross-linking experiments using GTP-γ-azidoanilide and ATP-γ-azidoanilide and equilibrium binding analyses with GTPγS and ATPγS show that both GTP and ATP are bound by NS4B, with ATP displaying a higher affinity. Analyses of enzymatic reactions catalyzed by NS4B indicate that the terminal phosphate groups of ATP, GTP, and GDP are removed to produce ADP, GDP, and GMP, respectively. The k cat for hydrolysis of GTP by purified NS4B compared favorably with the k cat for hydrolysis of GTP by Ras-p21 in the absence of GTPase activating proteins (GAPs). In addition to the hydrolysis of NTP and NDP substrates, adenylate kinase activity was detected in purified preparations of NS4B with the reverse reaction 2ADP f ATP + ADP, yielding a larger k cat compared to that of the forward reaction ATP + AMP f 2ADP. These studies suggest that HCV NS4B possesses both adenylate kinase activity and nucleotide hydrolase activity. Mutation of amino acids in the Walker A and B motifs of NS4B resulted in decreased affinity for both GTPγS and ATPγS as well as decreased ATP hydrolysis and AK activity.
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