The Political Ecology of Sewage Sludge: The Collision of Science, Politics, and Human Values

164 pagesEnvironmental debates are often accompanied by calls for the increased use of "sound science", yet science pertaining to environmental issues is especially subject to influence from social, political, and economic actors. This thesis seeks to evaluate the role of science in environmental decision making by examining the practice of land application of sewage sludge of biosolids. The United States Environmental Protection Agency's 2003 decision not to regulate dioxins, furans, and dioxin-like PCBs in sewage sludge will serve as a case study of how science is integrated into the policy world through risk assessment. A multidisciplinary analysis indicates that while the beneficial reuse of human waste is essential to sustainability, the application of biosolids on farmland as currently practiced is not environmentally or politically sustainable

PV1 Down-Regulation via shRNA Inhibits the Growth of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Xenografts

PV1 is an endothelial-specific protein with structural roles in the formation of diaphragms in endothelial cells of normal vessels. PV1 is also highly expressed on endothelial cells of many solid tumours. On the basis of in vitro data, PV1 is thought to actively participate in angiogenesis. To test whether or not PV1 has a function in tumour angiogenesis and in tumour growth in vivo, we have treated pancreatic tumour-bearing mice by single-dose intratumoural delivery of lentiviruses encoding for two different shRNAs targeting murine PV1. We find that PV1 down-regulation by shRNAs inhibits the growth of established tumours derived from two different human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines (AsPC-1 and BxPC-3). The effect observed is because of down-regulation of PV1 in the tumour endothelial cells of host origin, PV1 being specifically expressed in tumour vascular endothelial cells and not in cancer or other stromal cells. There are no differences in vascular density of tumours treated or not with PV1 shRNA, and gain and loss of function of PV1 in endothelial cells does not modify either their proliferation or migration, suggesting that tumour angiogenesis is not impaired. Together, our data argue that down-regulation of PV1 in tumour endothelial cells results in the inhibition of tumour growth via a mechanism different from inhibiting angiogenesis

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Expanding R through accessible interactivity: The development of tidy psychological statistics modules

The "Psychological Statistics You Can Handle" (PSYCH) module addresses the replication crisis in psychology by integrating open science principles into statistical education. Utilizing R's open-source platform, PSYCH offers a hands-on learning experience with pre-processed data from psychology research, simplifying data setup for educators and engaging students with real research scenarios. The module reduces student anxiety through immediate feedback, encouraging learning through practice. Built within the "swirl" package, PSYCH focuses on code readability, employing the tidyverse 'pipe' syntax for clearer code structure. Despite excluding advanced statistical techniques, PSYCH provides essential analysis tools for psychology students, with adaptable content for instructors via GitHub. This educational tool bridges the gap between statistical theory and practical application, preparing students for data analysis in psychological research

Expanding R Through Accessible Interactivity: Development of tidy psychological statistics modules- SIPS Grants In Aid 2023

This grant will be kept up-to-date here as well as on GitHub. See the grant application for full details

Acute Pancreatitis Accelerates Initiation and Progression to Pancreatic Cancer in Mice Expressing Oncogenic Kras in the Nestin Cell Lineage

Targeting of oncogenic Kras to the pancreatic Nestin-expressing embryonic progenitor cells and subsequently to the adult acinar compartment and Nestin-expressing cells is sufficient for the development of low grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) between 2 and 4 months. The mice die around 6 month-old of unrelated causes, and it is therefore not possible to assess whether the lesions will progress to carcinoma. We now report that two brief episodes of caerulein-induced acute pancreatitis in 2 month-old mice causes rapid PanIN progression and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) development by 4 months of age. These events occur with similar frequency as observed in animals where the oncogene is targeted during embryogenesis to all pancreatic cell types. Thus, these data show that oncogenic Kras-driven PanIN originating in a non-ductal compartment can rapidly progress to PDAC when subjected to a brief inflammatory insult