Irish public opinion on assisted human reproduction services: Contemporary assessments from a national sample

Walsh, David J.,Sills, E. Scott,Collins, Gary S.,Hawrylyshyn, Christine A.,Sokol, Piotr,Walsh, Anthony P.H. The Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine 2013 Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine Vol.40 No.4

Objective: To measure Irish opinion on a range of assisted human reproduction (AHR) treatments. Methods: A nationally representative sample of Irish adults (n=1,003) were anonymously sampled by telephone survey. Results: Most participants (77%) agreed that any fertility services offered internationally should also be available in Ireland, although only a small minority of the general Irish population had personal familiarity with AHR or infertility. This sample finds substantial agreement (63%) that the Government of Ireland should introduce legislation covering AHR. The range of support for gamete donation in Ireland ranged from 53% to 83%, depending on how donor privacy and disclosure policies are presented. For example, donation where the donor agrees to be contacted by the child born following donation, and anonymous donation where donor privacy is completely protected by law were supported by 68% and 66%, respectively. The least popular (53%) donor gamete treatment type appeared to be donation where the donor consents to be involved in the future life of any child born as a result of donor fertility treatment. Respondents in social class ABC1 (58%), age 18 to 24 (62%), age 25 to 34 (60%), or without children (61%) were more likely to favour this donor treatment policy in our sample. Conclusion: This is the first nationwide assessment of Irish public opinion on the advanced reproductive technologies since 2005. Access to a wide range of AHR treatment was supported by all subgroups studied. Public opinion concerning specific types of AHR treatment varied, yet general support for the need for national AHR legislation was reported by 63% of this national sample. Contemporary views on AHR remain largely consistent with the Commission for Assisted Human Reproduction recommendations from 2005, although further research is needed to clarify exactly how popular opinion on these issues has changed. It appears that legislation allowing for the full range of donation options (and not mandating disclosure of donor identity at a stipulated age) would better align with current Irish public opinion.

Win, lose or draw? The fate of patented inventions

Walsh, J.P.,Lee, Y.N.,Jung, T. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland) 2016 RESEARCH POLICY Vol.45 No.7

Using information from a survey of US inventors, this study explores the reasons for patent non-use and different types of non-use at the patent level, and how this varies by industry and firm characteristics. We find that 55% of triadic patents are commercialized. We also find that 17% of all triadic patents are not commercialized but are at least partially for preemption, though only 3% of all triadic patents are purely preemptive patents. We find that preemptive non-use is less common than failed patents. We then test the discriminating effects of patent effectiveness, competition, firm size and fragmentation of patent rights on the likelihood of preemptive patents. We find that greater patent effectiveness, more competition, and large firm size are associated with greater preemptive non-use relative to commercial use of patents. We conclude with the policy implications of our results.

Rates of Readmission after Inpatient Plastic Surgery May Not Tell the Whole Story

Walsh, Kieran Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surge 2014 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.41 No.6

IL-18 Synergizes with IL-7 To Drive Slow Proliferation of Naive CD8 T Cells by Costimulating Self-Peptide–Mediated TCR Signals

Walsh, Matthew C.,Pearce, Erika L.,Cejas, Pedro J.,Lee, JangEun,Wang, Li-San,Choi, Yongwon American Association of Immunologists 2014 Journal of Immunology Vol. No.

<P>Naive T cell populations are maintained in the periphery at relatively constant levels via mechanisms that control expansion and contraction and are associated with competition for homeostatic cytokines. It has been shown that in a lymphopenic environment naive T cells undergo expansion due, at least in part, to additional availability of IL-7. We have previously found that T cell–intrinsic deletion of TNFR-associated factor (TRAF) 6 (TRAF6ΔT) in mice results in diminished peripheral CD8 T cell numbers. In this study, we report that whereas naive TRAF6ΔT CD8 T cells exhibit normal survival when transferred into a normal T cell pool, proliferation of naive TRAF6ΔT CD8 T cells under lymphopenic conditions is defective. We identified IL-18 as a TRAF6–activating factor capable of enhancing lymphopenia-induced proliferation (LIP) in vivo, and that IL-18 synergizes with high-dose IL-7 in a TRAF6-dependent manner to induce slow, LIP/homeostatic-like proliferation of naive CD8 T cells in vitro. IL-7 and IL-18 act synergistically to upregulate expression of IL-18R genes, thereby enhancing IL-18 activity. In this context, IL-18R signaling increases PI3K activation and was found to sensitize naive CD8 T cells to a model noncognate self-peptide ligand in a way that conventional costimulation via CD28 could not. We propose that synergistic sensitization by IL-7 and IL-18 to self-peptide ligand may represent a novel costimulatory pathway for LIP.</P>

Introduction of Speech Pathology for the Otolaryngologist

Walsh, Sheil M.,M.A., B.S. 대한이비인후과학회 1971 대한이비인후과학회지 두경부외과학 Vol.14 No.2

Laser-assisted photothermal heating of a plasmonic nanoparticle-suspended droplet in a microchannel

Walsh, Timothy,Lee, Jungchul,Park, Keunhan The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015 The Analyst Vol.140 No.5

<P>The present article reports the numerical and experimental investigations on the laser-assisted photothermal heating of a nanoliter-sized droplet in a microchannel when plasmonic particles are suspended in the droplet. Plasmonic nanoparticles exhibit strong light absorption and scattering upon the excitation of localized surface plasmons (LSPs), resulting in intense and rapid photothermal heating in a microchannel. Computational models are implemented to theoretically verify the photothermal behavior of gold nanoshell (GNS) and gold nanorod (GNR) particles suspended in a liquid microdroplet. Experiments were conducted to demonstrate rapid heating of a sub-100 nL droplet up to 100 °C with high controllability and repeatability. The heating and cooling time to the steady state is on the order of 1 second, while cooling requires less time than heating. The effects of core parameters, such as nanoparticle structure, volumetric concentration, microchannel depth, and laser power density on heating are studied. The obtained results can be integrated into existing microfluidic technologies that demand accurate and rapid heating of microdroplets in a microchannel.</P> <P>Graphic Abstract</P><P>The present article reports the numerical and experimental investigations on the laser-assisted photothermal heating of a nanoliter-sized droplet in a microchannel when plasmonic particles are suspended in the droplet. <IMG SRC='http://pubs.rsc.org/services/images/RSCpubs.ePlatform.Service.FreeContent.ImageService.svc/ImageService/image/GA?id=c4an01750a'> </P>

The cages, dynamics, and structuring of incipient methane clathrate hydrates

Walsh, Matthew R.,Rainey, J. Daniel,Lafond, Patrick G.,Park, Da-Hye,Beckham, Gregg T.,Jones, Michael D.,Lee, Kun-Hong,Koh, Carolyn A.,Sloan, E. Dendy,Wu, David T.,Sum, Amadeu K. Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 Physical chemistry chemical physics Vol.13 No.44

<P>Interest in describing clathrate hydrate formation mechanisms spans multiple fields of science and technical applications. Here, we report findings from multiple molecular dynamics simulations of spontaneous methane clathrate hydrate nucleation and growth from fully demixed and disordered two-phase fluid systems of methane and water. Across a range of thermodynamic conditions and simulation geometries and sizes, a set of seven cage types comprises approximately 95% of all cages formed in the nucleated solids. This set includes the ubiquitous 5<SUP>12</SUP> cage, the 5<SUP>12</SUP>6<SUP><I>n</I></SUP> subset (where <I>n</I> ranges from 2–4), and the 4<SUP>1</SUP>5<SUP>10</SUP>6<SUP><I>n</I></SUP> subset (where <I>n</I> also ranges from 2–4). Transformations among these cages occur <I>via</I> water pair insertions/removals and rotations, and may elucidate the mechanisms of solid–solid structural rearrangements observed experimentally. Some consistency is observed in the relative abundance of cages among all nucleation trajectories. 5<SUP>12</SUP> cages are always among the two most abundant cage types in the nucleated solids and are usually the most abundant cage type. In all simulations, the 5<SUP>12</SUP>6<SUP><I>n</I></SUP> cages outnumber their 4<SUP>1</SUP>5<SUP>10</SUP>6<SUP><I>n</I></SUP> counterparts with the same number of water molecules. Within these consistent features, some stochasticity is observed in certain cage ratios and in the long-range ordering of the nucleated solids. Even when comparing simulations performed at the same conditions, some trajectories yield swaths of multiple adjacent sI unit cells and long-range order over 5 nm, while others yield only isolated sI unit cells and little long-range order. The nucleated solids containing long-range order have higher 5<SUP>12</SUP>6<SUP>2</SUP>/5<SUP>12</SUP> and 5<SUP>12</SUP>6<SUP>3</SUP>/4<SUP>1</SUP>5<SUP>10</SUP>6<SUP>2</SUP> cage ratios when compared to systems that nucleate with little long-range order. The formation of multiple adjacent unit cells of sI hydrate at high driving forces suggests an alternative or addition to the prevailing hydrate nucleation hypotheses which involve formation through amorphous intermediates.</P> <P>Graphic Abstract</P><P>The dominant cages of clathrates are classified and the formation of multiple sI unit cells is reported from large-scale simulations. <IMG SRC='http://pubs.rsc.org/services/images/RSCpubs.ePlatform.Service.FreeContent.ImageService.svc/ImageService/image/GA?id=c1cp21899a'> </P>

Treatment of Hyperlipidemia in Women

Walsh, Judith M. E.,Grady, Deborah MediMedia Korea 1996 JAMA-Korea Vol.11 No.2

Instilling defect tolerance in new compounds

Walsh, Aron,Zunger, Alex Nature Publishing Group 2017 Nature materials Vol.16 No.10

Conformation-specific spectroscopy of capped glutamine-containing peptides: role of a single glutamine residue on peptide backbone preferences

Walsh, Patrick S.,Dean, Jacob C.,McBurney, Carl,Kang, Hyuk,Gellman, Samuel H.,Zwier, Timothy S. The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016 Physical chemistry chemical physics Vol.18 No.16

<P>The conformational preferences of a series of short, aromatic-capped, glutamine-containing peptides have been studied under jet-cooled conditions in the gas phase. This work seeks a bottom-up understanding of the role played by glutamine residues in directing peptide structures that lead to neurodegenerative diseases. Resonant ion-dip infrared (RIDIR) spectroscopy is used to record single-conformation infrared spectra in the NH stretch, amide I and amide II regions. Comparison of the experimental spectra with the predictions of calculations carried out at the DFT M05-2X/6-31+G(d) level of theory lead to firm assignments for the H-bonding architectures of a total of eight conformers of four molecules, including three in Z-Gln-OH, one in Z-Gln-NHMe, three in Ac-Gln-NHBn, and one in Ac-Ala-Gln-NHBn. The Gln side chain engages actively in forming H-bonds with nearest-neighbor amide groups, forming C8 H-bonds to the C-terminal side, C9 H-bonds to the N-terminal side, and an amide-stacked geometry, all with an extended (C5) peptide backbone about the Gln residue. The Gln side chain also stabilizes an inverse gamma-turn in the peptide backbone by forming a pair of H-bonds that bridge the gamma-turn and stabilize it. Finally, the entire conformer population of Ac-Ala-Gln-NHBn is funneled into a single structure that incorporates the peptide backbone in a type I beta-turn, stabilized by the Gln side chain forming a C7 H-bond to the central amide group in the beta-turn not otherwise involved in a hydrogen bond. This beta-turn backbone structure is nearly identical to that observed in a series of X-(AQ)-Y beta-turns in the protein data bank, demonstrating that the gas-phase structure is robust to perturbations imposed by the crystalline protein environment.</P>