VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
PIDD: Protein interactions and function in response to cellular stresses

P53-induced protein with death domain (PIDD) participates in diverse protein complexes to promote cell survival or apoptosis in response to cellular stresses. This anomaly has been attributed to the diverse roles of PIDD's cleavage fragments. Here we demonstrate that upon treatment with TNF-alpha in MCF-7 cells, or treatment with thapsigargin in U2OS cells, PIDD is up-regulated and is processed to yield a 42 kDa protein product. Our data reveal that the down regulation of PIDD results in enhanced apoptosis in response to TNF-alpha treatment implicating PIDD in a survival pathway downstream of this cytokine. In addition, we describe the validation of PIDD's interaction with two proteins: ferritin light chain (FTL), and Programmed Cell Death Protein 6 (PDCD6). FTL has been implicated in cell survival pathways and PDCD6 in the endoplasmic reticulum-stress induced cell death pathway. Thus, these proteins may represent components of novel PIDD protein complexes generated to promote cell survival or apoptosis.
Differential phosphorylation of the NR1 subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor following hypoxia-ischemia in 7-and 21-day old rat brains

The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is implicated in neuronal damage caused by hypoxia-ischemia (HI) in immature animals. We investigated the effects of HI on phosphorylation of the NR1 subunit of the NMDAR by protein kinase C and protein kinase A in 7- and 21-day old rats. Our results show that HI caused a reduction in the phosphorylation of NR1 that was followed by differential recovery of phosphorylation at the two ages. We also investigated the possible mechanisms and consequences of the reduced phosphorylation in the older animals. In P21 animals, HI caused a reduction in the association of PKC with SAP102, a component of the NMDAR complex and our preliminary experiments indicated that HI altered the subcellular distribution of PSD proteins. The findings suggest that the age-specific pattern of NR1 phosphorylation after HI might be related to the age-dependent vulnerability of the brain to HI-induced damage.
(Un)settled bodies: A visual phenomenology of four women living with (in)visible disabilities

Women living with (in)visible disabilities experience (un)settled bodies, bodies that visibly and invisibly shift into and out of periods of calm (settled-ness) and unrest (unsettled-ness) resulting in multiple, fractured subjectivities. Characterized by contradictions in physical appearance, behavior, and social expectations, this plural and paradoxical embodiment is misunderstood because it transgresses presumptive appearances of normalcy and the legitimate signs of a disabled body and identity. Conceptually grounding a phenomenological understanding of (un)settled bodies in ways that are conversant with disability studies and queer theorizing, this study explores how four women, three living with multiple sclerosis, and one living with vulvodynia, experience their disabilities in (in)visible and (un)settled ways across everyday moments. In doing so, the study encourages a critical version of "sight" and "insight" beyond what "normally" meets the eye in relation to embodied identity. I create a language for experiences that have been unnamed, that are ineffable in their shifting subjectivities, that question or "crip" (McRuer, 2006) how we interpret bodies in society. Combining tenets of phenomenology, hermeneutics, and practices of (non)art photography, participants engage in a three-stage process of in-depth conversational interviews that are guided by the interpretive use of personally created photographs. Three "storied movements" informs the women's portrayals. The first story, (Un)Convincing Bodies, echoes the shifting personal, social, and institutional (dis)belief of an (un)settled embodiment and the (inter)personal tensions surrounding forgetting and remembering the presence of an (in)visible disability in women's lives. The second storied movement, the Fluidity of Identity, characterizes the "comforting-danger" of secreting (un)settled identities, blending-in, twisting subjectivities, and the unburdening of women's (un)settled selves. While participants prefer to secret and blend-in their conditions because of the cultural misunderstanding and skepticism surrounding (in)visible illness, there are moments that necessitate self-disclosure. Although disclosure incites bewildering silences, it is also cathartic and enables the politicization of (un)settling subjectivities. The third story, (In)Visible Wounds, illustrates the emotional shifts of living with a progressively unsettled body. Implications for social work including crediting women's embodied ways of knowing, embracing fluid constructions that account for (un)settled bodies in service delivery, and debunking the rigidity of categorical imperatives for policy are considered.
The role of inducible costimulatory molecules in immune responses to infection

T cells require antigen-specific and costimulatory signals for activation. Here we examined the roles of inducible costimulatory molecules ICOS and 4-1BB in immune responses to infection. We show that ICOS plays a critical role in the control of Salmonella infection in mice, with effects on antibody, Th1, and CD8+ T cell responses. Furthermore, in vitro studies suggest that in vivo effects of ICOS on CD8+ T cells could be direct. We further examined the relationship of ICOS to 4-1BB and CD28 in the immune response to influenza virus infection. Previous studies showed that CD28-/- mice have severely impaired primary and secondary CD8+ T cell expansion, which can be corrected by treatment with agonistic anti-4-1BB antibody. Although influenza-specific CD8+ T cells in ICOS-/- mice show only a small and transient defect late in the primary response, ICOS appears to be necessary for the anti-4-1BB-mediated recovery of immune responses in CD28-/- mice. Furthermore, we show that ICOS and 4-1BB can cooperate to directly stimulate CD28-/- CD8+ T cells, which may have implications in human T cell responses in diseases characterized by accumulation of CD28- T cells. Although previous studies suggest a costimulatory role for 4-1BB, it was recently suggested that it also may have a negative regulatory role. Here we examine immune responses in 4-1BB-/- mice using two well-defined models and test several possible reasons for these conflicting results. We show that in the systemic influenza infection model 4-1BB plays a costimulatory role, but the adoptive transfer model using transgenic T cells shows that 4-1BB may be a negative regulator. The reasons for these apparently different roles of 4-1BB need to be further investigated.
Do emotions play a role in young offenders' suitability for diversion to victim-offender mediation?

The arousal of state shame and guilt following diversion to victim-offender mediation (VOM) or traditional alternative measures (AM) was evaluated within a sample of youths (N = 32). The relationships between this emotional arousal, shame or guilt proneness, empathic orientation, and victim presence during sanctioning were also explored. Finally, an investigation of whether these individual emotional characteristics predict short-term, prosocial outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, positive attitude) was conducted. State guilt was significantly aroused among offenders diverted to VOM, however, only when a victim representative rather than the victim participated in mediation. Regression analyses demonstrated that pre-sanction guilt levels and cognitive empathic orientation significantly predicted the magnitude of guilt arousal, and in turn, guilt arousal predicted greater post-program satisfaction and positive attitude. These findings conflict with the perspective that shame arousal underlies the success of VOM and indicate a need for attention to how mediation differs according to victim versus victim representative involvement.

Keywords: Juvenile delinquents, Rehabilitation
Guilt in adolescence
Shame in adolescence
Mediation
An 8-bit 2-GSample/s folding-interpolating analog-to-digital converter for LMDS applications

This thesis deals with the design and implementation of a high speed high resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) which is an essential component in a direct IF sampling receiver for the base station of LMDS wireless communication systems. The ADC features an 8-bit resolution, a 2-GSample/s sampling rate and is implemented in a 0.5 mum BiCMOS SiGe process with a unity gain cut off frequency of 47 GHz. A folding-interpolating architecture is used in the converter to provide the GHz sampling rate, wide bandwidth and high resolution as well as reduce the power dissipation and chip area of the circuit. The 8-bit, 2-GSample/s A/D converter consists of a track-and-hold amplifier, a reference ladder, four folding amplifiers, a comparator array, a digital encoder including an XOR array and a 31-to-5 ROM and a coarse quantizer. The chip area is 3.5 x 3.5 mm2 including pads and buffer circuits. The ADC exhibits a maximum signal-to-noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) of 47 dB corresponds to an effective number of bits (SNOB) of 7.45 bits and an effective resolution bandwidth (ERBW) of 700 MHz. The circuit demonstrates a maximum differential nonlinearity (DNL) and integral nonlinearity (INL) of 0.5 and 1 LSB, respectively. The chip consumes 3.5 W from a single -3.3 V power supply. The ADC exceeds the LMDS architecture specifications and is the highest performance GSample/s ADC reported to date. Local multi-point distribution system (LMDS) is a terrestrial cellular broadband communication system operating in the 28 GHz band. LMDS provides two-way wireless transmission for data, video and voice and allows for interactive services.
Seizure induced gliogenesis in the piriform cortex

Complex partial epilepsy is a seizure disorder in which attacks frequently arise from foci located in the temporal lobes. The amygdala-kindling model is a widely used model of complex partial epilepsy with secondary generalization. The present study was designed to (1) quantitatively assess astrocytic changes in the rat piriform cortex in the amygdala-kindling model of epilepsy. (2) to assess the functional role of astrocytic proliferation in the kindling process. In the fully kindled subjects, once the experimental subjects reached five stage 5 seizures, stimulation was stopped, and subjects were allowed to survive for the interval appropriate to their group (7, 18, 30, or 90 days). Following each interval, the kindled and control animals in that group were given BrdU injections and sacrificed 24h following the last injection. A significantly higher number of dividing astrocytes (identified by co-labeling with antibodies to bromodeoxyuridine and to one of the astrocytic intermediate filament proteins glial fibrillary acidic protein or vimentin) was found in both partially kindled (Stage 1) and fully kindled (Stage 5) brains. The second part of this project involved the selective elimination of astrocytes both in the ipsi- or contralateral side to the stimulation site. This was achieved through intracerebral injections of the astrotoxins alpha-aminoadipic acid or fluorocitrate. Both D and L isomers of alpha-AA were tested to examine the gliotoxicity of each isomer. It was found that L-alphaAA is the active isomer since the D-isomer did not yield any positive result. In addition to the focal elimination of astrocytes at the stimulation site, L-alphaAA infusions also significantly reduced the proliferating astrocytes in the piriform cortex. In addition, the astrocytic loss significantly raised the afterdischarge threshold, lowered the afterdischarge duration (spiking), and dramatically reduced the motor seizure intensity. Likewise, infusions of fluorocitrate had anti-kindling effects. During this period, the thresholds were dramatically increased, followed by the retardation of kindling. These results suggest that gliogenesis in response to kindling stimulations, are involved in both the development and maintenance of the seizure-prone state, and therefore might be epileptogenic.
Economic evaluation of early treatment for patients with primary open-angle glaucoma

Introduction. This analysis was performed to determine if early treatment of patients with Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) is cost-effective compared to late treatment. Results. Total discounted costs of early and late treatment were $7,107 and $5,608, respectively. Total vision years gained (VYG) were 13.07 for early treatment and 12.65 for late treatment. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio was $3,543/VYG. Results were sensitive to variations in disease progression, time horizon and yearly cost of treating patients with mild disease. Conclusion. Early treatment of patients diagnosed with POAG is a reasonably cost-effective choice, providing added years of vision. Methods. A decision analytic Markov model was developed using a 25 year time horizon. The perspective was that of the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care of Ontario. Health states were defined according to mean visual field (VF) deviation scores. Costs and outcomes were derived from the literature, discounted at a 5% rate.
Patient responsibility for detrimental health outcomes: the defence of contributory negligence in medical negligence actions

This thesis examines the increased use and success of the defence of contributory negligence in Canada and the United States. The approach is historical and comparative. First, the thesis considers the causes and effects of the increased use of the defence of contributory negligence in medical negligence actions. Second, the thesis surveys American and Canadian case law to analyze critically the evolving duties to which a patient must adhere in his/her own care. Finally, the thesis advocates a correlative approach to the doctrine of patient responsibility, as the conceptual framework with which to understand and adjudicate patient errors in medical negligence law. This thesis concludes that patients can be held responsible for their medical decisions, but such responsibility must be adjudicated equitably, in order to preserve and promote the integrity of the clinical relationship, and to ensure that patients are not held to an unreasonably high standard of care.

Keywords: Negligence, Contributory, Canada
Negligence, Contributory, United States
Medical personnel, Malpractice
Medical personnel, Canada
Medical personnel, Malpractice
Medical personnel, United States
Patients, Legal status, laws, etc
Patients, Canada
Patients, Legal status, laws, etc
Patients, United States
Actions and defenses, Canada
Actions and defenses, United States
Effect of an individualized symptom education program on the symptom distress of women receiving radiation therapy for gynecological cancers

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an Individualized Symptom Education Program (ISEP) on the symptom distress of women with gynecological cancer receiving radiation therapy and on the individual symptoms of fatigue, pain, nausea, pelvic symptoms, and mood disturbance. The Symptom Management Model (Dodd, Janson, et al., 2001) was used as a conceptual framework for the study. Patients who received ISEP reported statistically less worsening of symptom distress at T2 compared to the usual care group. This effect did not persist at 3 months following the intervention. Both groups experienced worsening of fatigue, pain, nausea, mood disturbance, and pelvic symptoms over the course of radiation therapy. Women in the ISEP group had less worsening of symptoms; however, the results were not statistically significant. The symptoms of fatigue, pain, and mood disturbance were highly correlated at all measurement periods. Findings suggest that nurses can intervene to reduce symptom distress in women with gynecological cancer during radiation therapy. A two-group randomized controlled trial with repeated measures design was used. A sample of 144 women from large gynecology oncology programs of two teaching hospitals were randomly allocated to either (a) a six-session ISEP group (intervention) or (b) a usual care group (standard care). An individualized educational program derived from published (National Cancer Care Network [NCCN], 2001a, 2001b, 2001c, 2001d), evidence-based guidelines for symptom management was provided to women at the initiation of radiation therapy and weekly during radiation treatment for a total of six sessions. Outcomes were measured at baseline (T1), at program completion (T2), and at 3 months (T3) following program completion. Mixed models were used to analyze the effect of ISEP on outcomes.
Tracking molecular interactions in membranes by simultaneous Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy-Atomic Force Microscopy

An integrated platform consisting of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) combined with Attenuated Total Reflection - Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy has been developed to study molecular interactions that take place at the membrane interface. AFM allows high-resolution topographical, structural information to be obtained, while ATR-FTIR allows information to be collected on the nature of the bonding interactions. Preliminary studies of thermal transitions in supported lipid bilayers and direct evidence of lipid-induced conformational changes in adsorbed proteins illustrates the potential of this coupled in situ functional imaging strategy to study protein interactions at the membrane interface.
Reinforcement learning optimal adaptive control strategy for freeway ramp metering

Ramp metering is a freeway control method capable of preventing operational breakdown due to excessive total demand by limiting entry to the main line using on-ramp traffic lights. When the control strategy is properly designed, it has the potential to eliminate congestion near on-ramps, avoid blockage of exit ramps, influence route choice behaviour, and enhance traffic safety via safer merging. None of the existing ramp metering strategies is adaptive from a control theory point of view, i.e. controller parameters are not changing while working. This thesis introduces a new reinforcement learning approach to closed-loop adaptive optimal freeway ramp metering. Reinforcement learning is a powerful machine-learning tool used for unsupervised learning especially in stochastic environments. Its continuous learning capability enables a truly adaptive control strategy.
Inflationary trajectories

The shapes of the primordial power spectra are the key quantities to unravel the physics of the inflationary epoch. We propose a new framework for parametrizing the spectra of primordial scalar and tensor perturbations, stressing the statistical trajectory nature of the relevant quantities. Of particular importance is the influence of priors which can lead to spurious results like an apparent detection of tensor modes. We clarify the impact of prior probabilities and demonstrate strategies to adjust the prior distributions. The dependence on priors in inflation bears some resemblance to the landscape picture in string theory where a selection mechanism for the choice of compactified low energy limit describing the observable four dimensional universe is not available and the huge number of vacua can only be analyzed statistically, making the predictions of the theory highly dependent on the prior beliefs. As an example we study two field inflation models based on the "large-volume" flux compactification of type IIB string theory representing a small corner of the full landscape. We find that even even for a given realization of the potential, the details of inflation are heavily dependent on the initial conditions of the fields, adding an additional statistical element to the landscape. Instead of being able to reconstruct the full shape of this potential from inflation, only the path that the effective inflaton actually evolved along can be observationally determined, leaving the other areas of the potential inaccessible to exploration using the early universe as a laboratory. Finally we investigate the trans-Planckian issue in the example of the Milne universe. In this FRW type universe, modes of a given physical wavelength are stretched due to the growths of the scale factor, implying that any given wavelength will at some point in the past have been shorter than the Planck length and therefore requiring modifications due to trans-Planckian effects. However we argue that due to the fact that the Milne universe is a reparametrization of Minkowski space, no such effect should occur, as for an Minkowski observer only Unruh radiation should be visible.
Intrinsic and extrinsic defects in colloidal photonic crystal films

Photonic crystals (PC's) are a new class of engineered material that is structurally periodic on the scale of optical wavelengths. One promising form of photonic crystal is the self-assembled colloidal crystal film, which consist of a close-packed lattice of colloidal spheres and can be grown inexpensively from a colloidal dispersion. This crystal can serve as a template for the infiltration of a material of higher refractive index, such as silicon, to create a material possessing a complete photonic bandgap (PBG). However, the self-assembled nature of colloidal crystal films allows the formation of intrinsic defects. Such defects, disruptions in the lattice periodicity, can be expected to influence the optical properties of this photonic material. Here, various intrinsically-formed defects are structurally analyzed by microscopy, and their optical properties are then individually measured through careful spatially-resolved optical spectroscopy. Point, line, and volume defects are shown to contribute to incoherent scattering, in good agreement with numerical simulation. In all cases, the influence of such defects on the fundamental stop-band is negligible, while influences on the "higher-band" region of the bandstructure and the PBG are shown to be significant. Stacking faults, variations in the stacking of close-packed crystalline planes, are also analysed. It is shown that different stacking sequences give rise to unique optical spectra, which are shown to differ in the higher-band region of the bandstructure, while leaving the fundamental stopgap unaffected. Additionally, stacking faults are shown to be caused by the incorporation of differently-sized impurity spheres in the lattice, a hard- sphere type mechanism analogous to atomic systems. A fabrication method for extrinsic defects, those which are deliberately introduced to create a designed photonic functionality, and which combines top-down photolithographic patterning with bottom-up self-assembly, is presented. Defects created using this technique can potentially serve as optical waveguides in silicon inverse colloidal photonic crystals, with applications in optical telecommunications or optical computing. Through better understanding of the structure, optical properties, and formation mechanisms of colloidal crystal defects, the quality of self-assembled photonic crystal films can be improved, resulting in more homogeneous optical properties and allowing the full-potential of colloidal photonic crystals to be realized.
The effects of sustained and intermittent intraperitoneal paclitaxel chemotherapy on tumour repopulation and response in ovarian cancer

Lack of early detection, inadequate regional control, drug resistance, tumour repopulation and disease recurrence make ovarian cancer one of the most difficult malignancies to diagnose and treat. Although a high proportion of patients attain complete clinical remission following initial treatment, the majority relapse with minimal chances for long term survival. Therefore, the optimal management and treatment approach for ovarian cancer remains to be defined. We explored the effects of regional and sustained paclitaxel chemotherapy both in vitro and in vivo in a murine model of human ovarian cancer.

Keywords: Pharmacology
Pharmacy
Medicine