Recently reported data demonstrate that Vav3, a Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor (Rho GEF) is overexpressed in breast tumors, coexpressed with ER, necessary for proliferation in breast cancer cells, and predictive of response to neoadjuvant endocrine therapies in patients with ER+ tumors. Such data beg the question as to what roles Vav3 plays in modulation of steroid receptor activity in breast cancer and in resistance to current hormonal therapies. Using reporter assays, I provide novel evidence that Vav3 potentiates Estrogen Receptor activity and represses Androgen Receptor activity in breast cancer cells. Vav3 potentiates ligand-dependent estrogen receptor activity in the MCF-7. A truncated, constitutively active form of Vav3, caVav3 potentiates ligand dependent ER activity in both MCF-7 and T47D. Vav3 activates Rho GTPases through its GEF domain. ER potentiation by caVav3 is dependent upon GEF activity. A caVav3 mutant with defective GEF function represses basal and ligand-mediated ER activity in T47D. Although other studies have shown that Vav3 could activate various Rho GTPases, only constitutively active Rac1 mutants potentiated ER activity in both cell lines. Contrastingly, reporter assays were used to show that caVav3 inhibits ligand-mediated AR activity in the AR+ T47D cell line by both R1881 and DHT stimulation. caVav3-mediated repression of AR activity is GEF-dependent, as caVav3 GEF mutants potentiate AR activity. Constitutively active forms of Rho GTPases were found to repress AR activity to different extents, but R1881-mediated AR activity was only significantly repressed by caCdc42. My studies of the effect of androgens on AR protein by western blot show that androgens downregulate AR protein in the highly Vav3 positive T47D cell line. Previous studies have demonstrated that androgens stabilize AR protein in MCF-7, and I now provide evidence that overexpression of Vav3 or caVav3 reverses hormone-mediated AR protein stabilization in MCF-7. These data are especially relevant given recently published data that decreased AR protein levels contributed to failure of response to MPA in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Further breast cancer studies may prove Vav3 to be a potential drug target in hormone dependent, hormone independent, and metastatic disease.

Porous carbon derived from an inorganic silicon carbide (SiC) precursor, termed SiC-derived carbon, is an attractive material for electrochemical energy storage applications, including electrodes for electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs). The objective of this thesis is to investigate the effects that the carbide-derived carbon (CDC) microstructure and pore structure have on the energy and power characteristics of the EDLC electrodes. Conventional SiC CDC is produced from non-porous crystalline SiC powder at temperatures above 800 °C. Here we studied the performance of SiC CDCs produced by chlorination at 700-900 °C of an ordered mesoporous SiC precursor, which was synthesized via a 1000 °C pyrolysis of polycarbosilane infiltrated into an SBA-15 silica template having ordered mesopores. The SiC CDC was purified from chlorine impurities by annealing in ammonia. The surface area and pore size of the purified SiC CDC was characterized via N2 and CO2 sorption using density functional theory (DFT) and Brunnauer, Emmet, and Teller (BET) theory. The specific capacitance, power and energy densities were characterized via electrochemical measurements of the SiC CDC electrodes in 1 M tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEABF4) acetonitrile solution. The SiC CDC exhibited a specific surface area (SSA) in excess of 2400 m2/g and gravimetric capacitance values of up to ~ 150 F/g, among the highest ever reported for any electrodes in this electrolyte. The ordered mesopores allowed for fast ion transport within each particle, resulting in excellent capacity retention under high current rates and ultra-fast frequency response, thus allowing for extremely high power and energy densities. The best overall performance was achieved in SiC CDC samples chlorinated at the lowest temperature of 700 °C.

The main aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of diabetes-related complications in white to the prevalence in other racial and ethnic groups in United States using 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). By constructing the logistic regression model, odds ratios (OR) were calculated to compare the prevalence of diabetes complications in white and other groups. Compared to white, the prevalence of hypertension and stroke in African Americans were higher, while the prevalence of heart attack and coronary heart disease were lower. The Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders, African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to develop retinopathy compared to white. The prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, heart attack, coronary heart disease, Stroke in Native Americans and “other” group were not significantly different from the prevalence in white. Asian or Pacific Islanders were less likely to experience stroke.

Carbide-derived carbon Monoliths (CDC-Ms) containing a multimodal arrangement with high volumes of micro- meso- and macropores are prepared by direct nanocasting of silica monoliths with polycarbosilane precursors. CDC-Ms show well-defined pore structures along with specific surface areas of more than 2600 m2 g−1 and overall pore volumes as high as 3.14 cm3 g−1. They exhibit advanced gas filtration properties compared to purely microporous materials due to enhanced storage capacities and kinetics as demonstrated by thermal response measurements based on InfraSORP technology.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2006. / Embargoed. Vita. Bibliography: 180-194.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo demonstrar a necessidade de se tutelar a desigualdade substancial existente nas relações contratuais celebradas entre empresários, quando uma das partes, ainda que profissional, encontrar-se em situação de dependência econômica, favorecendo o abuso da parte contrária na situação concreta. O cerne do trabalho gira em torno do problema das cláusulas abusivas no âmbito dos contratos interempresariais. Busca-se demonstrar que, nas hipóteses em que não for possível repreendê-las por meio da aplicação do Código Civil ou da Lei Antitruste, seria possível equiparar o contratante vulnerável, sujeito a um abuso por parte de seu parceiro contratual, aos consumidores, para fins de aplicação dos dispositivos do Código de Defesa do Consumidor CDC ao contrato em questão. Para tanto, são analisados os conceitos de empresário, de consumidor tendo em vista as três principais correntes doutrinárias existentes no ordenamento pátrio e de dependência econômica. Especificamente em relação à definição de consumidor, tenta-se demonstrar que, nos dias de hoje, a Teoria Finalista Aprofundada parece ser a que melhor atende à necessidade de se buscar a solução mais justa no caso concreto, sem, contudo, banalizar a aplicação do CDC. Por fim, faz-se uma análise da jurisprudência brasileira sobre o tema, com o objetivo de delimitar os critérios para a incidência do CDC em contratos interempresariais, bem como os principais casos em que o conceito de consumidor-equiparado tem prevalecido nos litígios decorrentes de tais contratos. / The objective of the present study is to demonstrate the need of instructing the substantial inequality existing in contractual relations signed between businessmen, when one of the parties, although still professional, finds itself in a situation of economic dependence, favoring the abuse of the counterpart in the real situation. The core of this work involves the problem regarding abusive clauses in the scope of inter-business contracts. It seeks to demonstrate that, in hypothesis where it is not possible to reprehend them by means of application of the Civil Code or Antitrust Act, it would be possible to match the vulnerable contracting party, subject to an abuse by its contractual partner, to the consumers, for purposes of application of the provisions in the Consumer Defense Code CDC to the contract in question. To do so, it analyzes the concepts of businessman and consumers considering the three main doctrinaire schools of thought existing in the country system and economic dependence. Specially in relation to the definition of consumers, it attempts to demonstrate that, nowadays, the In-depth Finalist Theory seems to be the best theory that meets the need of searching for the more righteous solution in the real case, without, however, trivializing the application of the CDC. At last, an analysis of Brazilian jurisprudence is made on the subject, aiming to delimitate the criteria for the incidence of CDC in inter-business contracts as well as the main cases in which the concept of consumer has prevailed in such contracts for one of the parties.

Energy efficiency is a key requirement for wireless sensor nodes, biomedical implants, and wearable devices. The energy consumption of the sensor node needs to be minimized to avoid battery replacement, or even better, to enable the device to survive on energy harvested from the ambient. Capacitive sensors do not consume static power; thus, they are attractive from an energy efficiency perspective. In addition, they can be employed in a wide range of sensing applications. However, the sensor readout circuit–i.e., the capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC)–can be the dominant source of energy consumption in the system. Thus, the development of energy-efficient CDCs is crucial to minimizing the energy consumption of capacitive sensor nodes. In the first part of this dissertation, we propose several energy-efficient CDC architectures for low-energy sensor nodes. First, we propose a digitally-controlled coarsefine multislope CDC that employs both current and frequency scaling to achieve significant improvement in energy efficiency. Second, we analyze the limitations of successive approximation (SAR) CDC, and we address these limitations by proposing a robust parasitic-insensitive opamp-based SAR CDC. Third, we propose an inverter-based SAR CDC that achieves an energy efficiency figure-of-merit (FoM) of 31fJ/Step, which is the best energy efficiency FoM reported to date. Fourth, we propose a differential SAR CDC with quasi-dynamic operation to maintain excellent energy efficiency for a scalable sample rate. In the second part of this dissertation, we study the matching properties of small integrated capacitors, which are an integral component of energy-efficient CDCs. Despite conventional wisdom, we experimentally illustrate that the mismatch of small capacitors can be directly measured, and we report mismatch measurements for subfemtofarad integrated capacitors. We also correct the common misconception that lateral capacitors match better than vertical capacitors, and we identify the conditions that make one implementation preferable. In the third and last part of this dissertation, we investigate the potential of novel metal-organic framework (MOF) thin films in capacitive gas sensing. We provide sensitivity-based optimization and simple fabrication flow for capacitive interdigitated electrodes. We use a custom flexible gas sensor test setup that is designed and built in-house to characterize MOF-based capacitive gas sensors.

No description available.

In the presented diploma thesis I deal with the issue of proper insertion of short-term central venous catheters, adherence to procedures by medical and non-medical staff according to CDC guidelines 2011 during insertion and subsequent treatment in intensive care in a faculty-type medical facility. The aim of the diploma thesis is to determine the occurrence of complications, especially infectious, the level of adherence to recommended procedures in practice according to 2011 CDC guidelines, central venous catheter manipulation, comparison of real activities with recommendations and mapping the level of knowledge of non-medical staff about short-term central venous catheters. The theoretical part deals with the importance of clinical guidelines, central venous catheter in general, complications associated with the central venous catheter and prevention of infectious complications of invasive inputs. For the empirical part of the diploma thesis, a prospective non- randomized observational study of cannulation and possible complications associated with a short- term central venous catheter according to CDC 2011 guidelines was chosen to determine real procedures for insertion, treatment and removal of a short-term central venous catheter. This was supplemented by an exploratory questionnaire survey of...

The study examined the frequent frames adopted by the CDC in the communication of the Covid-19 vaccine and how it impacts vaccine uptake through quantitative content analysis. The study builds on the framing theory and elaboration likelihood model. This study’s content collected 327 posts by the CDC on covid-19 vaccinations from December 2020- December 2022. A research randomizer was used to choose 200 posts as the final sample from the data that had been gathered. 122 posts out of the 200 total posts that the randomizer tallied were pertinent to the research questions for the study. It was found that the predominant framing strategy adopted by the CDC was the gain framing strategy, which outlined the benefits of being vaccinated. This is encouraging since, as advocates of health communication, we must understand that emphasizing the benefits of adopting a recommended action has a greater chance of having a positive impact.