1,974 research outputs found
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia:A critical appraisal of perinatal care
A congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a rare birth defect characterised byincomplete closure of the diaphragm. After birth, CDH is associated with significantneonatal morbidity and mortality due to a combination of pulmonary hypoplasia,pulmonary hypertension, and cardiac dysfunction. Despite improvements in clinicalcare, around 30% of these infants do not survive. The research projects reportedin this thesis provide a critical appraisal of important aspects of perinatal care forinfants with CDH.<br/
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia:A critical appraisal of perinatal care
A congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a rare birth defect characterised byincomplete closure of the diaphragm. After birth, CDH is associated with significantneonatal morbidity and mortality due to a combination of pulmonary hypoplasia,pulmonary hypertension, and cardiac dysfunction. Despite improvements in clinicalcare, around 30% of these infants do not survive. The research projects reportedin this thesis provide a critical appraisal of important aspects of perinatal care forinfants with CDH.<br/
Gonads without glp-1: Silencing glp-1 in the Male Somatic Gonad in Caenorhabditis elegans
In C. elegans, the gene glp-1 encodes for a Notch receptor called GLP-1, one of two found in C. elegans’ genome. The gene has been previously implicated in the development of the hermaphroditic germline as well as playing a role in the mitosis/meiosis decision. Genetic screening has further identified it as potentially playing a role in the development of the male somatic gonad, making it an ideal candidate for a reverse genetic. We did this by silencing glp-1 and observing if any alterations to the gonad’s phenotype occur.
Normally this could be done by performing a gene knockout. However, due to the nature of Notch receptors’ overall role in the regulation of tissue development, it is an essential gene, and silencing it would result in worms dying as embryos, long before a gonad capable of being studied could form. In order to conduct a knockdown study, CRISPR-Cas was used to tag GLP-1 at its C-terminus with green fluorescent protein (GFP). In a separate strain of worms, degron, a method used for targeting proteins tagged with GFP for ubiquination and lysis, was placed under a promoter specific to the gonad. When the two strains are crossed, they will result in a worm that has functional GLP-1 in all tissues except for the gonad.
In order to resolve the sex ratio issue and focus on the development of the male gonad, which has been neglected in the literature, a mutant strain of him-8 worms that produced offspring with a ratio of three males for every ten viable was cultivated. The bulk of our work was spent crossing the degron strain with the him-8 strain, resulting in a new strain of worms that express degron in the gonad and are disproportionately likely to be male. By coupling this strain with the use of CRISPR to tag any gene of interest with GFP, a gonad-specific knockdown study can be performed not only for glp-1 but for any gene expressed in the gonad, essential or not.
We crossed the new strain with degron and the mutant him-8 with the glp-1::GFP worms, generating both a produce a worm homozygous for all three genes, which should thus contain adult male worms without GLP-1 in their gonads and a strain with him-8 and glp-1::GFP but not degron, allowing us easy access to a source of a male control group. These we will examine for alterations against the N2 male gonad. In doing so, we will hopefully further understand Notch receptors’ role both in the development of the male gonad as well as in general tissue development
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Alternative Power: The Politics of Denmark\u27s Renewable Energy Transition
Global climate change is one of the defining political challenges and opportunities of the current era. Experts widely agree that technical means already exist for making the necessary transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy; the obstacles to doing so are primarily political. Careful observers also recognize that this period of transition creates an opening for political innovation and development. How can the political will be generated to take action to prevent climate catastrophe? And what will the process of transitioning mean for the political systems that have been built on cheap and abundant oil? Political scientists have largely ignored technological development as a lever for political development, or feared that technology could only be a force of domination. Yet renewable energy enthusiasts have often seen democratizing potential in these technologies. What can be accomplished politically by building a wind turbine? As countries like Denmark accumulate decades of experience with renewable energy, it is becoming possible to give such questions close empirical consideration. Denmark generates more of its electricity from renewable sources, and has been doing so longer, than any other industrialized nation, making it a uniquely valuable case for studying an advanced renewable energy transition in progress. This dissertation draws on novel qualitative and quantitative data to present the first comprehensive history of Denmark’s energy transition from its roots in the 1970s until the present, aiming to explain how this tiny nation emerged as the world’s leading wind power producer, and assess whether this process has yielded any democratic dividends. The multi-method analysis sheds new light on internal dynamics of Denmark’s energy transition, and, more generally, on late-stage evolutionary processes in mature technological systems. Many studies have shown an interest in the Danish case, which is usually presented as a relatively unqualified success story, but few have provided the empirical resolution to identify these complicating factors. This dissertation employs an explanatory strategy adapted from the ecological sciences to construct a more holistic and integrative portrait, resulting in a more thorough and accurate account of how Denmark jumped out to such a significant lead in the energy transition, and why that momentum might be flagging today, with implications for other countries hoping to chart a path toward a sustainable future
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