X-irradiation of cells on glass slides has a dose doubling impact

Immunofluorescence detection of γH2AX foci is a widely used tool to quantify the induction and repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ionising radiation. We observed that X-irradiation of mammalian cells exposed on glass slides induced twofold higher foci numbers compared to irradiation with γ-rays. Here, we show that the excess γH2AX foci after X-irradiation are produced from secondary radiation particles generated from the irradiation of glass slides. Both 120 kV X-rays and 137Cs γ-rays induce ∼20 γH2AX foci per Gy in cells growing on thin (∼2 μm) plastic foils immersed in water. The same yield is obtained following γ-irradiation of cells growing on glass slides. However, 120 kV X-rays produce ∼40 γH2AX foci per Gy in cells growing on glass, twofold greater than obtained using cells irradiated on plastic surfaces. The same increase in γH2AX foci number is obtained if the plastic foil on which the cells are grown is irradiated on a glass slide. Thus, the physical proximity to the glass material and not morphological differences of cells growing on different surfaces accounts for the excess γH2AX foci. The increase in foci number depends on the energy and is considerably smaller for 25 kV relative to 120 kV X-rays, a finding which can be explained by known physical properties of radiation. The kinetics for the loss of foci, which is taken to represent the rate of DSB repair, as well as the Artemis dependent repair fraction, was similar following X- or γ-irradiation, demonstrating that DSBs induced by this range of treatments are repaired in an identical manner

Are you still comparing or already learning?:experience report of a Facility Management benchmarking for laboratory buildings

The founding of the "IFMA Benchmarking® Research Group Chemistry, Pharma and Life Science" actually has its roots in the former professional association IFMA Deutschland e.V., which preceded the organization Rea1FM e.V.. The acronym was redesignated as "Industrial Facility Management Benchmarking" and the right to this name was secured. With the founding of the research group in 2004, the goal was set to identify the most efficient concepts related to the special requirements of constructing and operating laboratory and office buildings in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry through benchmarking. The research group has grown to include 15 participating companies. The results of this long-standing and successful cooperation are being increasingly acknowledged outside of the research group and more and more inquiries from third party companies are being made. The present article entails key fin- dings of our conducted benchmarking study

Can social robots affect children's prosocial behavior? An experimental study on prosocial robot models

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a social robot that models prosocial behavior (in terms of giving away stickers) influences the occurrence of prosocial behavior among children as well as the extent to which children behave prosocially. Additionally, we investigated whether the occurrence and extent of children's prosocial behavior changed when being repeated and whether the behavior modeled by the robot affected children's norms of prosocial behavior. In a one-factorial experiment (weakly prosocial robot vs. strongly prosocial robot), 61 children aged 8 to 10 and a social robot alternately played four rounds of a game against a computer and, after each round, could decide to give away stickers. Children who saw a strongly prosocial robot gave away more stickers than children who saw a weakly prosocial robot. A strongly prosocial robot also increased children's perception of how many other children engage in prosocial behavior (i.e., descriptive norms). The strongly prosocial robot affected the occurrence of prosocial behavior only in the first round, whereas its effect on the extent of children's prosocial behavior was most distinct in the last round. Our study suggests that the principles of social learning also apply to whether children learn prosocial behavior from robots