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The University of West Florida instructional and performance technology (IPT) programs, currently housed in the Department of Instructional, Workforce and Applied Technology (IWAT), have been in place for over 20 years. Intense interactions with potential members of the target population including area public school teachers, school administrators, directors of instructional technology, the US Navy, the Chamber of Commerce, Pensacola State College, and others guided the initial planning processes, aiding in the identification of a framework for IPT competencies needed by regional partners. These same partners continue to provide input today, ensuring that the programs offered are preparing students to meet the demands of today's workforce. Coursework provides students with the critical thinking, communication, and project management skills to examine performance improvement opportunities holistically, taking a systems view and focusing on adding value by concentrating on results and working in partnership with clients and stakeholders.

Copy number variants (CNVs) underlie many aspects of human phenotypic diversity and provide the raw material for gene duplication and gene family expansion. However, our understanding of their evolutionary significance remains limited. We performed comparative genomic hybridization on a single human microarray platform to identify CNVs among the genomes of 30 humans and 30 chimpanzees as well as fixed copy number differences between species. We found that human and chimpanzee CNVs occur in orthologous genomic regions far more often than expected by chance and are strongly associated with the presence of highly homologous intrachromosomal segmental duplications. By adapting population genetic analyses for use with copy number data, we identified functional categories of genes that have likely evolved under purifying or positive selection for copy number changes. In particular, duplications and deletions of genes with inflammatory response and cell proliferation functions may have been fixed by positive selection and involved in the adaptive phenotypic differentiation of humans and chimpanzees.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitors gefitinib and erlotinib are effective treatments for lung cancers with EGFR activating mutations, but these tumors invariably develop drug resistance. Here, we describe a gefitinib-sensitive lung cancer cell line that developed resistance to gefitinib as a result of focal amplification of the MET proto-oncogene. inhibition of MET signaling in these cells restored their sensitivity to gefitinib. MET amplification was detected in 4 of 18 (22%) lung cancer specimens that had developed resistance to gefitinib or erlotinib. We find that amplification of MET causes gefitinib resistance by driving ERBB3 (HER3)–dependent activation of PI3K, a pathway thought to be specific to EGFR/ERBB family receptors. Thus, we propose that MET amplification may promote drug resistance in other ERBB-driven cancers as well.

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society and 2015 World Health Organization classifications of lung adenocarcinoma recommend designating tumors showing entirely lepidic growth as adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and lepidic tumors with invasion less than or equal to 5 mm as minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA), both of which have superior outcome to conventional invasive adenocarcinoma (IA). Data on interobserver variability within this classification are limited, and further validation of the superior survival of AIS and MIA is needed. A total of 296 surgically excised pulmonary adenocarcinomas were reviewed from 254 patients (1997-2009). Slides were independently reviewed by 2 pulmonary pathologists who categorized tumors as AIS, MIA, or IA. Of 296 nodules, 244 (82.4%) were agreed upon by both observers: 10 AIS, 61 MIA, and 173 IA (κ = 0.63, good agreement). In 6 cases (2%), there was disagreement between AIS and MIA; in 45 cases (15%), there was disagreement between MIA and IA; and in 1 case, there was disagreement between AIS and IA. Overall survival was significantly different among categories as determined by both observers. Cases with disagreement between MIA and IA had similar survival to agreed MIA. Disease-specific 10-year survival was 100% for AIS (both observers) and 97.3% and 97.6% for MIA, although this did not reach statistical significance compared to IA for either observer. Good agreement was present between observers when classifying tumors as AIS, MIA, and IA. Significant differences in overall survival were present between the 3 groups for both observers, and interobserver variability was evident. Patients with AIS and MIA experienced excellent DSS.

Publisher Summary Development of high-resolution assays capable of detecting small segmental genetic alterations in a genome-wide fashion have led to the detection of widespread copy number variation (CNV) among the genomes of healthy individuals. This chapter identifies the extent of genetic variation in human populations and its impact on human health. CNVs are genomic gains and losses of 1 kb or larger, differentiating it from other forms of polymorphism and/or repeated DNAs in the human genome. This includes indels, microsatellites, minisatellites, simple repeats, telomeric and centromeric repetitive DNAs, and most interspersed repetitive elements. Since CNVs are considered subchromosomal imbalances, they are differentiated from whole chromosomal aneuploidies. CNVs are categorized into biallelic or multiallelic states. Biallelic CNVs have only two alleles and produce three different genotypes. CNVs with greater than two alleles are considered multiallelic and result in more than three different genotypes. Genomic imbalances, including CNVs, contribute to human diseases and are usually de novo in nature. Specific genomic imbalances are associated with as many as 50 genetic syndromes. Most of the remaining known genomic imbalances, considered benign CNVs because of their identification in healthy individuals, have more subtle consequences on human health.