Predicting Seasonal Performance in Professional Sport: A 30-Year Analysis of Sports Illustrated Predictions.

In 2017, Sports Illustrated (SI) made headlines when their remarkable prediction from 2014 that the Houston Astros (a team in one of the lowest Major League Baseball divisional rankings) would win the World Series, came true. The less-publicised story was that in 2017, SI predicted the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) title. Assessing the forecasting accuracy of experts is critical as it explores the difficulty and limitations of forecasts and can help illuminate how predictions may shape sociocultural notions of sport in society. To thoroughly investigate SI's forecasting record, predictions were collected from the four major North American sporting leagues (the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and National Hockey League) over the last 30 years (1988-2018). Kruskal-Wallis H Tests and Mann-Whitney U Tests were used to evaluate the absolute and relative accuracy of predictions. Results indicated that SI had the greatest predictive accuracy in the National Basketball Association and was significantly more likely to predict divisional winners compared to conference and league champions. Future work in this area may seek to examine multiple media outlets to gain a more comprehensive perspective on forecasting accuracy in sport.

Using genome-wide CRISPR library screening with library resistant DCK to find new sources of Ara-C drug resistance in AML.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can display de novo or acquired resistance to cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), a primary component of induction chemotherapy. To identify genes capable of independently imposing Ara-C resistance, we applied a genome-wide CRISPR library to human U937 cells and exposed to them to Ara-C. Interestingly, all drug resistant clones contained guide RNAs for DCK. To avoid DCK gene modification, gRNA resistant DCK cDNA was created by the introduction of silent mutations. The CRISPR screening was repeated using the gRNA resistant DCK, and loss of SLC29A was identified as also being capable of conveying Ara-C drug resistance. To determine if loss of Dck results in increased sensitivity to other drugs, we conducted a screen of 446 FDA approved drugs using two Dck-defective BXH-2 derived murine AML cell lines and their Ara-C sensitive parental lines. Both cell lines showed an increase in sensitivity to prednisolone. Guide RNA resistant cDNA rescue was a legitimate strategy and multiple DCK or SLC29A deficient human cell clones were established with one clone becoming prednisolone sensitive. Dck-defective leukemic cells may become prednisolone sensitive indicating prednisolone may be an effective adjuvant therapy in some cases of DCK-negative AML.