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New and aspiring teachers go into Twitter.com's chat room.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
PAST PANDEMICS PROVIDE CLUES TO CURRENT KILLER
POLLY WANT A CRACKER?
It was a classic medical scare story: Parrots died. A few people got sick. Newspapers went wild. Then, well after the outbreak of "parrot fever" was declared dormant, researchers who dealt with the birds began to mysteriously die themselves. Historian Jill Lepore talks to host Jacki Lyden about the great parrot fever outbreak of 1929. Lepore chronicles the episode in the June 1 issue of The New Yorker magazine. Listen on NPR.
ONE LITTLE PIGGY
Like hurricane watchers, public health officials must try to predict the velocity and course of the influenza A virus causing the swine flu outbreak, a novel H1N1, because they have to make complicated and expensive decisions about how aggressively they should pursue vaccines, antivirals, and mitigation strategies like school closings.
For additional breaking news search H1N1 on Technorati.com
Given the fuzziness of the data about this new virus's behavior, researchers are looking to the past for clues about the seasonality and geography of pandemic flu, the relationship between the new viruses and existing ones, and the behavior of this new H1N1's parent viruses in swine.
Read the full story on Science Magazine's website.
It was a classic medical scare story: Parrots died. A few people got sick. Newspapers went wild. Then, well after the outbreak of "parrot fever" was declared dormant, researchers who dealt with the birds began to mysteriously die themselves. Historian Jill Lepore talks to host Jacki Lyden about the great parrot fever outbreak of 1929. Lepore chronicles the episode in the June 1 issue of The New Yorker magazine. Listen on NPR.
ONE LITTLE PIGGY
Like hurricane watchers, public health officials must try to predict the velocity and course of the influenza A virus causing the swine flu outbreak, a novel H1N1, because they have to make complicated and expensive decisions about how aggressively they should pursue vaccines, antivirals, and mitigation strategies like school closings.
For additional breaking news search H1N1 on Technorati.com
Given the fuzziness of the data about this new virus's behavior, researchers are looking to the past for clues about the seasonality and geography of pandemic flu, the relationship between the new viruses and existing ones, and the behavior of this new H1N1's parent viruses in swine.
Read the full story on Science Magazine's website.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Ovarian stimulation with letrozole does not raise breast cancer recurrence risk
Will Boggs, MD
Reuters Health
Last Modified: June 16, 2008
Last Updated: 2008-06-16 13:51:56 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fertility preservation using ovarian stimulation with letrozole and gonadotropins does not seem to increase the risk of recurrence in women with breast cancer, according to a report in the June 1st Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"Women with breast cancer can preserve their fertility by egg and embryo freezing in a relatively safe manner," Dr. Kutluk Oktay from the Institute for Fertility Preservation, New York, told Reuters Health. "Fertility drugs can be used for this purpose in conjunction with letrozole without significant exposure to estrogen."
Dr. Oktay and colleagues investigated whether ovarian stimulation with concurrent use of gonadotropins and letrozole before chemotherapy affects breast cancer recurrence rates and prognosis. Two hundred fifteen women were enrolled in the study; 79 underwent the procedure and the remaining 136, who did not undergo a procedure to preserve fertility, served as controls.
Ovarian stimulation increased the median time between surgery and chemotherapy from 33.46 days to 45.06 days, the report indicates.
There were 3 (3.8%) recurrences or contralateral breast cancers during a median 23.4 months of follow-up in the study group, compared with 11 (8.1%) during a median 33.05 months of follow-up in the control group.
Relapse-free survival did not differ between the treatment and control groups, the authors report.
The influence of tumor size, grade, number of lymph nodes, estrogen- and progesterone-receptor status, and other variables on outcomes did not differ between the study group and the control group.
Ten women in the ovarian stimulation group eventually underwent embryo replacement to their own uterus (4 patients) or to a gestational carrier (6 patients) after breast cancer treatment, resulting in 8 pregnancies and 5 deliveries. There was also 1 spontaneous pregnancy (ongoing) in the study group.
In the control group, there were 3 spontaneous pregnancies resulting in
Will Boggs, MD
Reuters Health
Last Modified: June 16, 2008
Last Updated: 2008-06-16 13:51:56 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fertility preservation using ovarian stimulation with letrozole and gonadotropins does not seem to increase the risk of recurrence in women with breast cancer, according to a report in the June 1st Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"Women with breast cancer can preserve their fertility by egg and embryo freezing in a relatively safe manner," Dr. Kutluk Oktay from the Institute for Fertility Preservation, New York, told Reuters Health. "Fertility drugs can be used for this purpose in conjunction with letrozole without significant exposure to estrogen."
Dr. Oktay and colleagues investigated whether ovarian stimulation with concurrent use of gonadotropins and letrozole before chemotherapy affects breast cancer recurrence rates and prognosis. Two hundred fifteen women were enrolled in the study; 79 underwent the procedure and the remaining 136, who did not undergo a procedure to preserve fertility, served as controls.
Ovarian stimulation increased the median time between surgery and chemotherapy from 33.46 days to 45.06 days, the report indicates.
There were 3 (3.8%) recurrences or contralateral breast cancers during a median 23.4 months of follow-up in the study group, compared with 11 (8.1%) during a median 33.05 months of follow-up in the control group.
Relapse-free survival did not differ between the treatment and control groups, the authors report.
The influence of tumor size, grade, number of lymph nodes, estrogen- and progesterone-receptor status, and other variables on outcomes did not differ between the study group and the control group.
Ten women in the ovarian stimulation group eventually underwent embryo replacement to their own uterus (4 patients) or to a gestational carrier (6 patients) after breast cancer treatment, resulting in 8 pregnancies and 5 deliveries. There was also 1 spontaneous pregnancy (ongoing) in the study group.
In the control group, there were 3 spontaneous pregnancies resulting in
Friday, March 07, 2008
Linking the Limbic Brain to Krispy Kreme Donuts
ScienceDaily asks ... What makes you suddenly dart into the bakery when you spy chocolate- frosted donuts in the window, though you certainly hadn't planned on indulging? As you lick the frosting off your fingers, don't blame a lack of self-control,blame...
ScienceDaily asks ... What makes you suddenly dart into the bakery when you spy chocolate- frosted donuts in the window, though you certainly hadn't planned on indulging? As you lick the frosting off your fingers, don't blame a lack of self-control,blame...
Is There A “Brain Signature” for Cigarette Craving?
Researchers at Penn think so.
A brain imaging study conducted at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows that cigarette cravings in smokers who are deprived of nicotine are linked with increased activation in specific regions of the brain. Using a novel method of measuring brain blood flow developed by John Detre, MD, associate professor of Neurology at Penn, this study is the first to ...
Researchers at Penn think so.
A brain imaging study conducted at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows that cigarette cravings in smokers who are deprived of nicotine are linked with increased activation in specific regions of the brain. Using a novel method of measuring brain blood flow developed by John Detre, MD, associate professor of Neurology at Penn, this study is the first to ...
Thursday, November 01, 2007
October 2nd, 2007
Posted by Dan Farber @ 4:10 pm
Peter Zencke, a member of SAP’s Executive Board and head of R&D, spent the last four years developing Business ByDesign, a new foundation for SAP’s ERP software. I caught up with him during SAP TechEd ‘07 and asked about the origins of the product and what will differentiate it in the marketplace. (See earlier coverage of Zencke’s TechEd ‘07 keynote and more SAP coverage here.)
DF: What was the genesis behind Business ByDesign?
PZ: “Four years ago, in 2003–exactly 10 years after R3 was introduced–we decided to go for new architecture, which we called “Ether” and then later “Enterprise SOA.” The first year we were figuring out how to do enterprise SOA. We built a prototype but decided not to productize it. We were just working on some principles during the first year. Early on we made a decision for a more rigid approach figure, one that we could not let flow to our ERP product SAP Business Suite.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Second Life: A Virtual Universe for Real Engineering
Matthew J. Traum, Contributing Editor -- Design News, October 22, 2007
First there was the drafting table and the pencil. Then there was 2-D CAD; next came 3-D drafting utilities like SolidWorks and ProEngineer. Now, San Francisco-based Linden Lab has evolved computer-aided design to its next plateau, offering free access to a computer-generated alternative universe called Second Life (SL) where users can build anything. Ironically, the SL developers did not intend to design a solid modeling tool. SL was just another massive multiplayer online experience until users spontaneously began utilizing it for engineering design.
First there was the drafting table and the pencil. Then there was 2-D CAD; next came 3-D drafting utilities like SolidWorks and ProEngineer. Now, San Francisco-based Linden Lab has evolved computer-aided design to its next plateau, offering free access to a computer-generated alternative universe called Second Life (SL) where users can build anything. Ironically, the SL developers did not intend to design a solid modeling tool. SL was just another massive multiplayer online experience until users spontaneously began utilizing it for engineering design.
“Some people call Second Life a game while others think of it as serious development tool,” says Assistant Professor Chang Liu (a.k.a. Chang Tuxing in SL) of the Virtual Immersive Technologies and Arts for Learning (VITAL) Lab. at Ohio University (http://rbi.ims.ca/5407-591). “The fun is still there, but Second Life can also be applied for useful ends.”
Sunday, October 21, 2007
SAP to Kanye West "There's Only One of Me"
SAP is a Goliath of Epic Proportions. SAP is The Man. SAP is King. Basically, it's SAP's world, and the rest of are just living in it.
So says an article in PC World. Writes author, Thomas Wailgum, if you're wondering just how big SAP is becoming, IDC's Albert Pang has this nugget for you: "The recent rise of SAP as the leading enterprise applications vendor across multiple customer and product categories has created a booming economy whereby an increasing number of developers and resellers are jockeying for the attention of the market leader and its installed base of more than 41,000 customers," he wrote in a recent IDC report.
Is that over the top? Hardly. "We have read more ...
Business Analyst Tool
I found an interesting post on a Business Analyst blog. The blogger attended a Certified ScrumMaster training class delivered by Lithespeed. He noted that the class was very valuable, and went on to share a tool, trade-off matrix, to help set customer and team expectations. Go to the Business-Analyst-Blogblog to view the matrix.
By documenting items this way at the beginning of a project, the project sponsor and all project stakeholders (including project team members) have a clear view of what project success looks like. In the example success is implementing all features, within a budget close to $500k and somewhere within 3-6 months. In addition the sponsor is OK with 2 large bugs a month.
Comments (4) | Filed under: General, BA Tips, Requirements — Kupe @ 9:00 am |
Monday, February 12, 2007
If KOH in alcohol is used, the first elimination is much faster than the second, so the bromoalkene may be isolated if desired.
C6H5CH=CBrC6H5 + KOH ——> C6H5C≡CC6H5 + KBr + H2O
The reaction of 1-butene with bromine would give 1,2-dibromobutane, and on treatment with base this vicinal dibromide would be expected to yield 1-bromo-1-butene followed by a second elimination to 1-butyne.
CH3CH2CH=CH2 + Br2 ——> CH3CH2CHBr–CH2Br + base ——> CH3CH2CH=CHBr + base ——> CH3CH2C≡CH
In practice this strategy works, but it requires care in the selection of the base and solvent. If KOH in alcohol is used, the first elimination is much faster than the second, so the bromoalkene may be isolated if desired. Under more extreme conditions the second elimination takes place, but isomerization of the triple bond also occurs, with the more stable isomer (2-butyne) being formed along with 1-butyne, even becoming the chief product. To facilitate the second elimination and avoid isomerization the very strong base sodium amide, NaNH2, may be used. Since ammonia is a much weaker acid than water (by a factor of 1018), its conjugate base is proportionally stronger than hydroxide anion (the conjugate base of water), and the elimination of HBr from the bromoalkene may be conducted at relatively low temperature. Also, the acidity of the sp-hybridized C-H bond of the terminal alkyne traps the initially formed 1-butyne in the form of its sodium salt.
CH3CH2C≡CH + NaNH2 ——> CH3CH2C≡C:(–) Na(+) + NH3
An additional complication of this procedure is that the 1-bromo-1-butene product of the first elimination (see previous equations) is accompanied by its 2-bromo-1-butene isomer, CH3CH2CBr=CH2, and elimination of HBr from this bromoalkene not only gives 1-butyne (base attack at C-1) but also 1,2-butadiene, CH3CH=C=CH2, by base attack at C-3. Dienes of this kind, in which the central carbon is sp-hybridized, are called allenes and are said to have cumulated double bonds. They are usually less stable than their alkyne isomers.In each case two conformers are drawn within parentheses, and the anti-relationship of selected vicinal groups in each is colored green. The reaction proceeding to the left is a dehydrohalogenation induced by treatment with KOH in alcohol. Since this is a stereospecific elimination, each diastereomer gives a different stereoisomeric product. The reaction to the right is a dehalogenation (the reverse of halogen addition to an alkene), caused by treatment with iodide anion. Zinc dust effects the same reaction, but with a lower degree of stereospecificity. The mechanism of the iodide anion reaction is shown by red arrows in the top example. A similar mechanism explains the comparable elimination of the racemic isomer. In both reactions an anti-transition state is observed.
The two stereoisomers of 1-bromo-1,2-diphenylethene (shown on the left of the diagram) undergo a second dehydrobromination reaction on more vigorous treatment with base, as shown in the following equation. This elimination generates the same alkyne (carbon-carbon triple bond) from each of the bromo-alkenes. Interestingly, the (Z)-isomer (lower structure) eliminates more rapidly than the (E)-isomer (upper structure), again showing a preference for anti-orientation of eliminating groups.
C6H5CH=CBrC6H5 + KOH ——> C6H5C≡CC6H5 + KBr + H2O
The reaction of 1-butene with bromine would give 1,2-dibromobutane, and on treatment with base this vicinal dibromide would be expected to yield 1-bromo-1-butene followed by a second elimination to 1-butyne.
CH3CH2CH=CH2 + Br2 ——> CH3CH2CHBr–CH2Br + base ——> CH3CH2CH=CHBr + base ——> CH3CH2C≡CH
In practice this strategy works, but it requires care in the selection of the base and solvent. If KOH in alcohol is used, the first elimination is much faster than the second, so the bromoalkene may be isolated if desired. Under more extreme conditions the second elimination takes place, but isomerization of the triple bond also occurs, with the more stable isomer (2-butyne) being formed along with 1-butyne, even becoming the chief product. To facilitate the second elimination and avoid isomerization the very strong base sodium amide, NaNH2, may be used. Since ammonia is a much weaker acid than water (by a factor of 1018), its conjugate base is proportionally stronger than hydroxide anion (the conjugate base of water), and the elimination of HBr from the bromoalkene may be conducted at relatively low temperature. Also, the acidity of the sp-hybridized C-H bond of the terminal alkyne traps the initially formed 1-butyne in the form of its sodium salt.
CH3CH2C≡CH + NaNH2 ——> CH3CH2C≡C:(–) Na(+) + NH3
An additional complication of this procedure is that the 1-bromo-1-butene product of the first elimination (see previous equations) is accompanied by its 2-bromo-1-butene isomer, CH3CH2CBr=CH2, and elimination of HBr from this bromoalkene not only gives 1-butyne (base attack at C-1) but also 1,2-butadiene, CH3CH=C=CH2, by base attack at C-3. Dienes of this kind, in which the central carbon is sp-hybridized, are called allenes and are said to have cumulated double bonds. They are usually less stable than their alkyne isomers.In each case two conformers are drawn within parentheses, and the anti-relationship of selected vicinal groups in each is colored green. The reaction proceeding to the left is a dehydrohalogenation induced by treatment with KOH in alcohol. Since this is a stereospecific elimination, each diastereomer gives a different stereoisomeric product. The reaction to the right is a dehalogenation (the reverse of halogen addition to an alkene), caused by treatment with iodide anion. Zinc dust effects the same reaction, but with a lower degree of stereospecificity. The mechanism of the iodide anion reaction is shown by red arrows in the top example. A similar mechanism explains the comparable elimination of the racemic isomer. In both reactions an anti-transition state is observed.
The two stereoisomers of 1-bromo-1,2-diphenylethene (shown on the left of the diagram) undergo a second dehydrobromination reaction on more vigorous treatment with base, as shown in the following equation. This elimination generates the same alkyne (carbon-carbon triple bond) from each of the bromo-alkenes. Interestingly, the (Z)-isomer (lower structure) eliminates more rapidly than the (E)-isomer (upper structure), again showing a preference for anti-orientation of eliminating groups.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Announcing The Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program 2007 Research Grants
Numerous grants and graduate fellowships in various environmental science and engineering disciplines can be obtained via a competitive bid process and independent peer review.
The program engages the nation’s best scientists and engineers in targeted research that complements EPA’s own outstanding intramural research program and those of our partners in other federal agencies. In addition, through this same competitive process, NCER periodically establishes large research centers in specific areas of national concern. At present, these centers focus on children’s health, hazardous substances, particulate matter, and estuarine and coastal monitoring.
PARTIAL LIST
* Issues in Tribal Environmental Research and Health Promotion: Novel Approaches for Assessing and Managing Cumulative Risks and Impacts of Global Climate Change - Open: September 25, 2006 - Closing: January 23, 2007
* Sources and Atmospheric Formation of Organic Particulate Matter - Open: November 20, 2006 - Closing: February 27, 2007
* An Interdisciplinary Approach To Examining The Links Between Social Stressors, Biodiversity And Human Health - Open: December 15, 2006 - Closing: April 19, 2007
* Computational Toxicology Centers: Development Of Predictive Environmental And Biomedical Computer-Based Simulations And Models - Opens: December 2006
* Ecological Impacts from the Interaction of Climate Change, Land Use Change and Invasive Species - Opens: December 2006
* Enhancing Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Lands: Developing Tools for Quantification and Decision Support - Opens: December 2006
* Development and Evaluation of Innovative Approaches for the Quantitative Assessment of Pathogens or Cyanobacteria and their Toxins in Drinking Water - Opens: January 2007.
Read more information.
Numerous grants and graduate fellowships in various environmental science and engineering disciplines can be obtained via a competitive bid process and independent peer review.
The program engages the nation’s best scientists and engineers in targeted research that complements EPA’s own outstanding intramural research program and those of our partners in other federal agencies. In addition, through this same competitive process, NCER periodically establishes large research centers in specific areas of national concern. At present, these centers focus on children’s health, hazardous substances, particulate matter, and estuarine and coastal monitoring.
PARTIAL LIST
* Issues in Tribal Environmental Research and Health Promotion: Novel Approaches for Assessing and Managing Cumulative Risks and Impacts of Global Climate Change - Open: September 25, 2006 - Closing: January 23, 2007
* Sources and Atmospheric Formation of Organic Particulate Matter - Open: November 20, 2006 - Closing: February 27, 2007
* An Interdisciplinary Approach To Examining The Links Between Social Stressors, Biodiversity And Human Health - Open: December 15, 2006 - Closing: April 19, 2007
* Computational Toxicology Centers: Development Of Predictive Environmental And Biomedical Computer-Based Simulations And Models - Opens: December 2006
* Ecological Impacts from the Interaction of Climate Change, Land Use Change and Invasive Species - Opens: December 2006
* Enhancing Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Lands: Developing Tools for Quantification and Decision Support - Opens: December 2006
* Development and Evaluation of Innovative Approaches for the Quantitative Assessment of Pathogens or Cyanobacteria and their Toxins in Drinking Water - Opens: January 2007.
Read more information.
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