Studying the Subway: An Interdisciplinary Study of the New York City Subway for the First Grade

This thesis gives a rationale and overall framework for a four month interdisciplinary study of the New York City subway system for a first grade classroom. The unit will be based around field trips and interviews, where the students will gain hands-on knowledge that will later help them recreate their own school subway system. Throughout the study, students will investigate all aspects of the subway system, from mapping to mosaics, from fares to fines. The study culminates in a student-led role play where children take on the jobs of subway workers and guide their parents through a system that they will have built themselves, with cardboard box trains and hand drawn maps. Research and interviewing skills are a major focus of the study. Students will learn to form questions and practice using them as they investigate human and literary resources to learn about the subway system. This curriculum will be a vehicle for the core ideas of cooperation, interdependence and adaptation which will help reinforce the rnles and values that form the base of the classroom community

Benefits of Dance for Geriatrics

Drawing from recent related research, this paper analyzes the cognitive, physical, and social benefits of dance for geriatrics. By comparing studies involving both dance and geriatrics from around the world, as well as collecting original data, this work suggests significant positive effects when people age 65 and older participate in regular dance activity. Given the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate that the number of people age 65 and older will outnumber children under 18 for the first time in U.S. history by 2034, the need for dance for older people is reaching an all-time high. As more long-term care facilities, community centers, and retirement homes begin to see the need for this type of activity, it is important to offer guidance; effective dance class structure, length, and frequency is discussed. When everything is considered, dance can clearly be seen as a vehicle for social, emotional, and physical healing within the geriatric community

Exploring the effects of repetitive endurance exercise and tryptophan supplementation or dietary soluble fiber on the behaviour of sled dogs

The impacts of repetitive endurance exercise and dietary interventions on the behaviour and voluntary physical activity of dogs has not been previously studied. This thesis investigated the effects of incremental conditioning, supplemental tryptophan and increased dietary soluble fiber on the behaviour and voluntary physical activity of sled dogs. Repetitive endurance exercise generally resulted in a progressive decrease in voluntary physical activity and locomotive behaviours prior to an exercise bout. Additionally, voluntary physical activity increased after two consecutive rest days, indicating a potential recovery from the physiological impacts of endurance exercise. Increasing the tryptophan: large neutral amino acid ratio of the diet reduced agonistic behaviors prior to exercise, however, increasing the soluble fiber content had no effect on any behaviour prior to or following an exercise bout. This research could be used to improve the exercise training regimens and diets of sled dogs and promote their overall performance, health and well-being.Champion PetFoodsMitac

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Facilitative parenting and children's social, emotional and behavioural adjustment

Facilitative parenting (FP) supports the development of children’s social and emotional competence and effective peer relationships. Previous research has shown that FP discriminates between children bullied by peers from children who are not bullied, according to reports of teachers. This study investigates the association between FP and children’s social, emotional and behavioral problems, over and above the association with dysfunctional parenting (DP). 215 parents of children aged 5–11 years completed questionnaires about parenting and child behavior, and children and teachers completed measures of child bullying victimization. As predicted, FP accounted for variance in teacher reports of children’s bullying victimization as well as parent reports of children’s social and emotional problems and prosocial behavior better than that accounted for by DP. However for children’s reports of peer victimization the whole-scale DP was a better predictor than FP. Contrary to predictions, FP accounted for variance in conduct problems and hyperactivity better than DP. When analyses were replicated substituting subscales of dysfunctional and FP, a sub-set of FP subscales including Warmth, Supports Friendships, Not Conflicting, Child Communicates and Coaches were correlated with low levels of problems on a broad range of children’s adjustment problems. Parent–child conflict accounted for unique variance in children’s peer victimization (teacher report), peer problems, depression, emotional problems, conduct problems and hyperactivity. The potential relevance of FP as a protective factor for children against a wide range of adjustment problems is discussed