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Acquired drug resistance is an increasing challenge in treating cancer with chemotherapy. One mechanism
behind this resistance is the increased inflammation that supports the progression and development of
cancer that arises because of the drug’s presence. Integrative oncology is the field that focuses on including natural products alongside traditional therapy to create a treatment that focuses on holistic patient well-being.
In this study, the authors demonstrate that the use of an herbal formulation, consisting of turmeric and green tea, alongside a traditional chemotherapeutic drug, 5-fluorouracil (FU) significantly decreases the level of cytokines produced in breast cancer cells when compared to the levels produced when exposed solely to the chemo drug. The authors conclude that this combination of treatment, based on the principle of integrative oncology, shows potential for reducing the resistance against treatment conferred through increased inflammation. Consequently, this suggests a prospective way forward in improving the efficacy of cancer treatment.

Hydrogen sulfide is toxic at high concentrations, but at low concentrations may be helpful for plant growth. This study characterizes the effect of hydrogen sulfide exposure on leafy plant growth. Bok choy hearts were grown in the presence of hydrogen sulfide, and measured for new leaf growth and flowering.

An integrated plant that would generate energy from solar power and provide clean water would help solve multiple sustainability issues. The feasibility of such a plant was investigated by looking at the efficacy of several different modules of such a plant on a small scale.

Sound waves can be amazingly powerful, especially when they work together. Here the authors create an “acoustic lens” that focuses sound waves on a single location. This makes the sound waves very powerful, capable of causing damage at a precise point. In the future, acoustic lenses like this could potentially be used to treat cancer by killing small tumors without surgery.

Vibrato, defined as a rapid and subtle oscillation in pitch, is a technique that is commonly used by musicians to add expression and colour to notes. However, on stringed instruments, there are certain notes (open string notes) on which it is impossible to perform the technique. Without vibrato, they can sound angular and unpleasant, especially when juxtaposed against other notes played with vibrato. String players therefore use an alternative to achieve the same vibrato effect on the open string — a technique referred to as “open string vibrato”. While the technique is widely used, it is unknown how much of a physical effect it has on the sound waves produced, if any at all. The purpose of this study is to analyse open string vibrato using a statistical approach to provide evidence to characterize the physical effect of the technique, and then compare it to normal vibrato. We hypothesised that it would have a noticeable and measurable effect on the sound waves produced because of the technique’s widespread usage. To test this, notes, with and without either open string vibrato or normal vibrato, were recorded on the violin. We analyzed the audio recordings using a computational and statistical approach. The results of the study partially agreed with our hypothesis: while the technique has an observable physical effect on the sound waves, the effect is weaker than expected. We concluded that open string vibrato does work, but has quite a subtle effect, and thus should only be used when there is no other option.

With increased screen time and exposure to blue light, an increasing number of people have sleep deprivation. Blue light suppresses the release of melatonin and hinders sleep at night. We hypothesized that people could get a greater amount of sleep by controlling the blue light exposure from screen time before bedtime. BBG’s effect on reducing time to fall asleep was significant within the teenage group, but not significant in the adult group. This indicated that BBG could improve the time taken to sleep for young teenagers post screen time in the evening.

Emissions from oil and natural gas (O&G) wells such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and ozone (O₃) can severely impact the health of communities located near wells. In this study, we used O&G activity and wind-carried emissions to quantify the extent to which O&G wells affect the air quality of nearby communities, revealing that NO₂, NO_x, and NO are correlated to O&G activity. We then developed a novel land use regression (LUR) model using machine learning based on O&G prevalence to predict emissions.

Using facial recognition as a use-case scenario, we attempt to identify sources of bias in a model developed using transfer learning. To achieve this task, we developed a model based on a pre-trained facial recognition model, and scrutinized the accuracy of the model’s image classification against factors such as age, gender, and race to observe whether or not the model performed better on some demographic groups than others. By identifying the bias and finding potential sources of bias, his work contributes a unique technical perspective from the view of a small scale developer to emerging discussions of accountability and transparency in AI.

Luteolin (3′,4′,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a flavonoid that occurs in fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Research suggests that luteolin is effective against various forms of cancer by triggering apoptosis pathways. This experiment analyzes the effects of luteolin on the cell viability of malignant melanoma cells using an in vitro experiment to research alternative melanoma treatments and hopefully to help further cancer research as a whole.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a type of dementia that affects more than 5.5 million Americans, and there are no approved treatments that can delay the advancement of the disease. In this work, Xu and Mitchell test the effects of various herbal extracts (bugleweed, hops, sassafras, and white camphor) on Aβ_1-40 peptide levels in human neuroblastoma cells. Their results suggest that bugleweed may have the potential to reduce Aβ_1-40 levels through its anti-inflammatory properties.