Role of the NUDT Enzymes in Breast Cancer

Despite global research efforts, breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. The majority of these deaths are due to metastasis occurring years after the initial treatment of the primary tumor and occurs at a higher frequency in hormone receptor-positive (Estrogen and Progesterone; HR+) breast cancers. We have previously described the role of NUDT5 (Nudix-linked to moiety X-5) in HR+ breast cancer progression, specifically with regards to the growth of breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs). BCSCs are known to be the initiators of epithelial-to-mesenchyme transition (EMT), metastatic colonization, and growth. Therefore, a greater understanding of the proteins and signaling pathways involved in the metastatic process may open the door for therapeutic opportunities. In this review, we discuss the role of NUDT5 and other members of the NUDT family of enzymes in breast and other cancer types. We highlight the use of global omics data based on our recent phosphoproteomic analysis of progestin signaling pathways in breast cancer cells and how this experimental approach provides insight into novel crosstalk mechanisms for stratification and drug discovery projects aiming to treat patients with aggressive cancer.     

Rehabilitation of bedrock stream channels: the effects of boulder weir placement on aquatic habitat and biota

The placement of boulder weirs is a popular method to improve fish habitat, though little is known about the effectiveness of these structures at increasing fish and biota abundance. We examined the effectiveness of boulder weir placement by comparing physical habitat, chemical and biotic metrics in 13 paired treatment (boulder weir placement) and control reaches in seven southwest Oregon watersheds in the summer of 2002 and 2003. Pool area, the number of boulders, total large woody debris (LWD) and LWD forming pools were all significantly higher in treatment than control reaches (p < 0.05). No differences in water chemistry (total N, total P, dissolved organic carbon) or macroinvertebrate metrics (richness, total abundance, benthic index of biotic integrity etc.) were detected. Abundance of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and trout (O. mykiss and O. clarki) were higher in treatment than control reaches (p < 0.05), while dace (Rhinichthys spp.; p < 0.09) were more abundant in control reaches and no significant difference was detected for young‐of‐year trout (p > 0.20). Both coho salmon and trout response to boulder weir placement were positively correlated with difference in pool area; p < 0.10), while dace and young‐of‐year trout response to boulder weir placement were negatively correlated with difference in LWD (p < 0.05). The placement of boulder weirs appears to be an effective technique for increasing local abundance of species that prefer pools (juvenile coho and trout >100 mm). Based on our results and previous studies on bedrock and incised channels, we suggest that the placement of boulder structures is a useful first step in attempting to restore these types of stream channels. Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introduction to special issue: The psychology of creativity and innovation in the workplace.

While the study of creativity dates back to the early days of psychology, the application of psychological theories to understand and explain creativity and innovation in the workplace is more recent (Shalley & Zhou, 2008). This recent emergence of interest is a result of the recognition that creativity and innovation are necessary for organizational adaptation and survival. Rapid advancement of technology, globalization, and increased competition have all served as forces that require organizations to adapt and change. Further, organizational creativity and innovation is not limited to product development and R&D (Mumford, Whetzel, & Reiter-Palmon, 1997). Rather, current conceptualizations view creativity and innovation in products as well as work processes, and include a variety of occupations in the organization (Mumford et al., 1997). As expected with a complex phenomenon such as creativity in the workplace, the articles included in this special issue cover the entire range from individual to leadership effects to team creativity. The articles include both theoretical and empirical papers. Empirical studies include lab studies, field studies, as well as a meta-analysis. Articles are organized such that work focusing on the individual is presented first, followed by work that involves situational factors and the larger organizational context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collaborative privacy preserving multi-agent planning

In many cases several entities, such as commercial companies, need to work together towards the achievement of joint goals, while hiding certain private information. To collaborate effectively, some sort of plan is needed to coordinate the different entities. We address the problem of automatically generating such a coordination plan while preserving the agents’ privacy. Maintaining privacy is challenging when planning for multiple agents, especially when tight collaboration is needed and a global high-level view of the plan is required. In this work we present the Greedy Privacy-Preserving Planner (GPPP), a privacy preserving planning algorithm in which the agents collaboratively generate an abstract and approximate global coordination plan and then individually extend the global plan to executable plans. To guide GPPP, we propose two domain independent privacy preserving heuristics based on landmarks and pattern databases, which are classical heuristics for single agent search. These heuristics, called privacy-preserving landmarks and privacy preserving PDBs, are agnostic to the planning algorithm and can be used by other privacy-preserving planning algorithms. Empirically, we demonstrate on benchmark domains the benefits of using these heuristics and the advantage of GPPP over existing privacy preserving planners for the multi-agent STRIPS formalism.     

A decision tree‐based NLOS detection method for the UWB indoor location tracking accuracy improvement

Among existing wireless technologies, ultra‐wideband (UWB) is the most promising solution for indoor location tracking. UWB has a great multipath fading immunity; however, great multipath resolvability alone does not eliminate the effect of non‐line‐of‐sight (NLOS) and multipath propagation. NLOS and multipath propagation in indoor environments can easily produce meters of UWB ranging error. This condition gives an enormous impact on the accuracy of indoor location tracking data. To address this problem, we propose an NLOS detection method using recursive decision tree learning. Using the UWB channel quality indicators information, we develop our model with the Gini index and altered priors splitting criteria. We then validate the constructed model using the 10‐fold cross‐validation method. Our experiment shows that the constructed model has correctly detected 90% of both line‐of‐sight (LOS) and NLOS cases on the seven different indoor environments. The result of this work can be used for the UWB indoor location tracking accuracy improvement.     

Electroluminescence properties of PbTe pn junctions fabricated under controlled Te vapor pressures

Electroluminescence properties of PbTe pn junctions grown under various tellurium vapor pressures are investigated. For unintentionally doped pn junctions, the luminescence bands corresponding to D-A pair and band to band transition are observed. The luminescence intensity of the band to band transition has depended on tellurium vapor pressure, which suggests nonradiative transitions through nonstoichiometric defects forming deep levels. For pn junctions with Bi-doped epitaxial layers, only one peak appears at 20∼25 meV below band to band-transition energy, which, probably, shows recombination through impurity levels or impurity band originating from Bi-doping.     

An Acceptability Trial of Desiccated Beef Liver and Meat Powder as Potential Fortifiers of Complementary Diets of Young Children in Indonesia

The addition of desiccated beef liver to infant and young child complementary foods can be used to overcome nutrient deficits, however its acceptability is unknown. We conducted a series of studies to test the acceptability of complementary foods fortified with either powdered beef liver, beef meat, beef liver + meat or placebo among 96 Indonesian children aged 12 to 23 mo. This was achieved by determining liking of a single test food with added study powder, followed by a 2‐wk home trial and focus group discussions to assess liking during repeated consumption of the study powders added to daily meals. The test food with added beef powders were well liked by mothers, with liking scores never falling below neutral on a 7‐point scale. After home use, mothers reported that their children moderately liked their meals with added powder, with scores ranging between 3.3 and 3.5 on a 5‐point scale. With the exception of lower liking for the combination beef liver + meat powder, there were no detectable differences in mothers’ overall perception of child's liking between the placebo and any of the study powders. The low disappearance rate of the study powders during the home trial was a concern, with mothers reporting a strong smell and fishy odor as the major reason why children did not like their meals. Nonetheless, mothers declared they would continue using the powder on account of the nutritional value and perceived health benefits. Strategies are underway to minimize the level of fishy odor in the beef liver powder.     

Self-assembled peptide nanotubes are uniquely rigid bioinspired supramolecular structures

We recently presented a novel class of self-assembled diphenylalanine-based peptide nanotubes. Here, for the first time, we present their mechanical properties, which we directly measured through indentation type experiments using atomic force microscopy. We find that the averaged point stiffness of the nanotubes is 160 N/m, and that they have a correspondingly high Young's modulus of approximately 19 GPa, as calculated by finite element analysis. This high value places these peptide nanotubes among the stiffest biological materials presently known, making them attractive building blocks for the design and assembly of biocompatible nanodevices.     

In Situ Generation of n-Type Dopants by Thermal Decarboxylation

Molecular doping is a powerful and increasingly popular approach toward enhancing electronic properties of organic semiconductors (OSCs) past their intrinsic limits. The development of n-type dopants has been hampered, however, by their poor stability and high air-reactivity, a consequence of their generally electron rich nature. Here, the use of air-stable carboxylated dopant precursors is reported to overcome this challenge. Active dopants are readily generated in solution by thermal decarboxylation and applied in n-type organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Both 1,3-dimethylimidazolium-2-carboxylate (CO₂-DMI) and novel dopant 1,3-dimethylbenzimidazolium-2-carboxylate (CO₂-DMBI) are applied to n-type OFETs employing well-known organic semiconductors (OSCs) P(NDI2OD-T2), PCBM, and O-IDTBR. Successful improvement of performance in all devices demonstrates the versatility of the dopants across a variety of OSCs. Experimental and computational studies indicate that electron transfer from the dopant to the host OSC is preceded by decarboxylation of the precursor, followed by dimerization to form the active dopant species. Transistor studies highlight CO₂-DMBI as the most effective dopant, improving electron mobility by up to one order of magnitude, while CO₂-DMI holds the advantage of commercial availability.