Mentoring interdisciplinary undergraduate students via a team effort

We describe how a team approach that we developed as a mentoring strategy can be used to recruit, advance, and guide students to be more interested in the interdisciplinary field of mathematical biology, and lead to success in undergraduate research in this field. Students are introduced to research in their first semester via lab rotations. Their participation in the research of four faculty members-two from biology and two from mathematics-gives them a first-hand overview of research in quantitative biology and also some initial experience in research itself. However, one of the primary goals of the lab rotation experience is that of developing teams of students and faculty that combine mathematics and statistics with biology and the life sciences, teams that subsequently mentor undergraduate research in genuine interdisciplinary environments. Thus, the team concept serves not only as a means of establishing interdisciplinary research, but also as a means of incorporating new students into existing research efforts that will then track those students into meaningful research of their own. We report how the team concept is used to support undergraduate research in mathematical biology and what types of team-building strategies have worked for us.     

Effect of <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Thyroxine on Micronuclei Frequency in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes in Clinical and Experimental Conditions

The aim was to study the genotoxic effect of high concentration of thyroxine (T₄) in vivo in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of the patients suffering from thyroid disorders. The effect was compared by performing in vitro experiments with addition of increasing concentration of T₄ (0.125–1 µM) in whole blood samples from healthy donors. Cytokinesis-blocked micronuclei (CBMN) assay method was used to assess the DNA damage in the PBL. The study included 104 patients which were grouped as control (n = 49), hyperthyroid (n = 31) and hypothyroid (n = 24). A significant increase in micronuclei (MN) frequency was observed in hyperthyroid patients when compared with the hypothyroid and euthyroid group thereby suggesting increased genotoxicity in hyperthyroidism (p < 0.001). A significant increase in MN frequency was observed at T₄ concentration of 0.5 µM and above when compared to lower T₄ concentrations (0.125 and 0.25 µM) and basal in in vitro experiments (p = 0.000). The results indicate that the T₄ in normal concentration does not exhibit the genotoxic effect, as observed in both the in vivo and in vitro experiments. The toxicity of T₄ increases at and above 0.5 μM concentration in vitro. Therefore acute T₄ overdose should be handled promptly and effectively so as to avoid the possible genotoxic effect of high concentration of T₄ in vivo.     

A comparison of accelerometry analysis methods for physical activity in older adult women and associations with health outcomes over time

ABSTRACT

This study compared five different methods for analyzing accelerometer-measured physical activity (PA) in older adults and assessed the relationship between changes in PA and changes in physical function and depressive symptoms for each method. Older adult females (N = 144, M_age = 83.3 ± 6.4yrs) wore hip accelerometers for six days and completed measures of physical function and depressive symptoms at baseline and six months. Accelerometry data were processed by five methods to estimate PA: 1041 vertical axis cut-point, 15-second vector magnitude (VM) cut-point, 1-second VM algorithm (Activity Index (AI)), machine learned walking algorithm, and individualized cut-point derived from a 400-meter walk. Generalized estimating equations compared PA minutes across methods and showed significant differences between some methods but not others; methods estimated 6-month changes in PA ranging from 4 minutes to over 20 minutes. Linear mixed models for each method tested associations between changes in PA and health. All methods, except the individualized cut-point, had a significant relationship between change in PA and improved physical function and depressive symptoms. This study is among the first to compare accelerometry processing methods and their relationship to health. It is important to recognize the differences in PA estimates and relationship to health outcomes based on data processing method.

Abbreviation: Machine Learning (ML); Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB); Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D); Physical Activity (PA); Activity Index (AI); Activities of Daily Living (ADL)     

Intelligent Indexing and Semantic Retrieval of Multimodal Documents

Finding useful information from large multimodal document collections such as the WWW without encountering numerous false positives poses a challenge to multimedia information retrieval systems (MMIR). This research addresses the problem of finding pictures. The fact that images do not appear in isolation, but rather with accompanying, collateral text is exploited. Taken independently, existing techniques for picture retrieval using (i) text-based and (ii) image-based methods have several limitations. This research presents a general model for multimodal information retrieval that addresses the following issues: (i) users' information need, (ii) expressing information need through composite, multimodal queries, and (iii) determining the most appropriate weighted combination of indexing techniques in order to best satisfy information need. A machine learning approach is proposed for the latter. The focus is on improving precision and recall in a MMIR system by optimally combining text and image similarity. Experiments are presented which demonstrate the utility of individual indexing systems in improving overall average precision.     

Temporal Trends of Malondialdehyde in Stored Human Plasma

Malondialdehyde (MDA) is widely used as oxidative stress biomarker in biomedical research. Plasma is stored in deep freezers generally till analysis. Effect of such storage on MDA values, which may be variable and prolong, was incidentally observed in the ongoing study which is to estimate oxidative stress with oral iron. Plasma from blood samples of pregnant women (20–30 years age) in third trimester of singleton pregnancy (n = 139), consuming oral iron tablets was stored at −20 °C with intention of MDA estimation, as soon as possible. However logistic problems led this storage for prolonged and variable period (1–708 days). When values of MDA estimated using “Ohkawa” 79 method and readings were plotted against time to check the temporal effect, it showed a hyperbolic curve. Standard deviation (SD) was lowest when samples were tested within 3 weeks time. The samples analyzed within 3 weeks had mean ± SD value of 31.59 ± 26.11 μmol/L, while 123.7 ± 93.97 and 366.5 ± 189.8 μmol/L for samples stored for 1–3 and 4 months to 1 year respectively. Mean ± SD were 539.9 ± 196.8 in the samples store for more than a year. Rate of change in values was also lowest (0.0433 μmol/L/day) in the samples tested within first 3 weeks, which rose to 1.2 μmol/L/day during 3 month’s storage. This rate peaked at storage of 120 days (1.87 μmol/L/day) and fell to 0.502 μmol/L/day in the second year of storage. It is concluded that at −20 °C, only 3 weeks of storage time should be considered valid for fairly acceptable stability in MDA values.     

Girls’ higher education in India on the road to inclusiveness: on track but heading where?

The scope of this paper spans from macro-level national and inter-state comparisons to more micro-level intra-state scrutiny of systemic fault-lines shaping the contours of girls’ education in India. Post independence, national level indicators have been suggestive of greater gender parity. Yet, there is more to inclusiveness of girls in Indian higher education than increasing absolute numbers or improving gender ratios. Rising female participation has coincided with a massive ‘systemic expansion’ of delivery systems and therefore, would have to be a function of this expanded availability. As a corollary, systemic skews and limitations, both qualitative and quantitative, are bound to influence how girls get incorporated into the system. This would matter not just in terms of how many access it, but also what courses do they access and where. In the course of this paper, we scan through several geographic layers of delivery systems to surface how critical systemic traits are shaping access to higher education in India, and how girls remain particularly vulnerable to them. It reveals how the progress achieved so far has spawned its own hierarchies, which do not get reflected adequately in the national level indicators. As we scale down to states, the first set of skews begins to surface in the form of inter-state disparities of access and uneven faculty-wise distributions. Moving to the next level of geographic dis-aggregation, further skews are revealed based on availability of medium of instruction; as also the guidelines of gender based affirmative action meant for improving girls’ participation that ironically end up creating their own distortions. Through a study of these multi-layered hurdles, this paper brings forth the systemic side of impediments that have remained less explored in comparison with the cultural-attitudinal biases that have plagued girls’ participation to higher education in India.