A statistical assessment of the biological relationship between simultaneous canine mammary tumours

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Gunnes ◽  
K. S. Borge ◽  
F. Lingaas
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Assessment ◽  
Mammary Tumours ◽  
Biological Relationship

Judgments of moral responsibility in tissue donation cases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Beebe
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Tissue Donation ◽  
Potential Donor ◽  
Sperm Donor ◽  
Biological Relationship ◽  
Related Individuals ◽  
Unique Ability

If a person requires an organ or tissue donation to survive, many philosophers argue that whatever moral responsibility a biological relative may have to donate to the person in need will be grounded at least partially, if not entirely, in biological relations the potential donor bears to the recipient. We contend that such views ignore the role that a potential donor’s unique ability to help the person in need plays in underwriting such judgments. If, for example, a sperm donor is judged to have a significant moral responsibility to donate tissue to a child conceived with his sperm, we think this will not be due to the fact that the donor stands in a close biological relationship to the recipient. Rather, we think such judgments will largely be grounded in the presumed unique ability of the sperm donor to help the child due to the compatibility of his tissues and organs with those of the recipient. In this paper, we report the results of two studies designed to investigate the comparative roles that biological relatedness and unique ability play in generating judgments of moral responsibility in tissue donation cases. We found that biologically related individuals are deemed to have a significant moral responsibility to donate tissue only when they are one of a small number of people who have the capacity to help.

Assessing Language Acquisition and Intercultural Sensitivity Development in Relation to Study Abroad Program Design

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilli Engle ◽  
John Engle
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
International Education ◽  
Program Design ◽  
Intercultural Sensitivity ◽  
Outcomes Assessment ◽  
Statistical Assessment ◽  
Preliminary Examination ◽  
Study Abroad Program

The complexity of international education is such that it is far from easy to move towards significant, objectively measurable, and comparable outcomes. What follows is the preliminary examination of one attempt to generate and interpret meaningful statistical assessment of the study abroad experience, within the context of specifically defined study abroad program types. We will examine the data thus far generated, suggest its limitations, and appeal for a continued gathering of information. We will suggest a structured, coordinated, profession-wide assessment effort that will, we hope, gradually reveal a useful correlation between study abroad learning and the input of program variables such as duration, housing, experiential work and on-site mentoring. If, as a profession, study abroad is to invest in outcomes assessment, it would be sensible for such efforts to utilize profession-wide definitions and standards.

scholarly journals Ovarian cycle stage critically affects 21-gene recurrence scores in Mmtv-Pymt mouse mammary tumours

BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Bernhardt ◽  
Pallave Dasari ◽  
Danielle J. Glynn ◽  
Lucy Woolford ◽  
Lachlan M. Moldenhauer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Gene Expression ◽  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Recurrence Score ◽  
Gene Signature ◽  
Ovarian Cycle ◽  
Oncotype Dx ◽  
Mammary Tumours ◽  
Er Positive ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The Oncotype DX 21-gene Recurrence Score is predictive of adjuvant chemotherapy benefit for women with early-stage, estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. In premenopausal women, fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone during the menstrual cycle impact gene expression in hormone-responsive cancers. However, the extent to which menstrual cycling affects the Oncotype DX 21-gene signature remains unclear. Here, we investigate the impact of ovarian cycle stage on the 21-gene signature using a naturally cycling mouse model of breast cancer. Methods ER-positive mammary tumours were dissected from naturally cycling Mmtv-Pymt mice at either the estrus or diestrus phase of the ovarian cycle. The Oncotype DX 21-gene signature was assessed through quantitative real time-PCR, and a 21-gene experimental recurrence score analogous to the Oncotype DX Recurrence Score was calculated. Results Tumours collected at diestrus exhibited significant differences in expression of 6 Oncotype DX signature genes (Ki67, Ccnb1, Esr1, Erbb2, Grb7, Bag1; p ≤ 0.05) and a significant increase in 21-gene recurrence score (21.8 ± 2.4; mean ± SEM) compared to tumours dissected at estrus (15.5 ± 1.9; p = 0.03). Clustering analysis revealed a subgroup of tumours collected at diestrus characterised by increased expression of proliferation- (p < 0.001) and invasion-group (p = 0.01) genes, and increased 21-gene recurrence score (p = 0.01). No correlation between ER, PR, HER2, and KI67 protein abundance measured by Western blot and abundance of mRNA for the corresponding gene was observed, suggesting that gene expression is more susceptible to hormone-induced fluctuation compared to protein expression. Conclusions Ovarian cycle stage at the time of tissue collection critically affects the 21-gene signature in Mmtv-Pymt murine mammary tumours. Further studies are required to determine whether Oncotype DX Recurrence Scores in women are similarly affected by menstrual cycle stage.

scholarly journals Evaluation of log P, pKa, and log D predictions from the SAMPL7 blind challenge

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Danielle Bergazin ◽  
Nicolas Tielker ◽  
Yingying Zhang ◽  
Junjun Mao ◽  
M. R. Gunner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Physical Property ◽  
Rational Drug Design ◽  
Log P ◽  
Prediction Methods ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
Reasonable Accuracy ◽  
Statistical Assessment ◽  
Rational Drug

AbstractThe Statistical Assessment of Modeling of Proteins and Ligands (SAMPL) challenges focuses the computational modeling community on areas in need of improvement for rational drug design. The SAMPL7 physical property challenge dealt with prediction of octanol-water partition coefficients and pKa for 22 compounds. The dataset was composed of a series of N-acylsulfonamides and related bioisosteres. 17 research groups participated in the log P challenge, submitting 33 blind submissions total. For the pKa challenge, 7 different groups participated, submitting 9 blind submissions in total. Overall, the accuracy of octanol-water log P predictions in the SAMPL7 challenge was lower than octanol-water log P predictions in SAMPL6, likely due to a more diverse dataset. Compared to the SAMPL6 pKa challenge, accuracy remains unchanged in SAMPL7. Interestingly, here, though macroscopic pKa values were often predicted with reasonable accuracy, there was dramatically more disagreement among participants as to which microscopic transitions produced these values (with methods often disagreeing even as to the sign of the free energy change associated with certain transitions), indicating far more work needs to be done on pKa prediction methods.

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