1,410 research outputs found
Effects of Oil Shale Leachate on Phytoplankton Productivity
The effects of oil shale leachate and salinity additions on the productivity of freshwater algae were studied in the laboratory using batch bioassays. These batch bioassays were used to screen variations of ten salts in single and multiple additions of all possible combinations of the ten salts; water extractions of different processed and unprocessed oil shales; and the concentration effects of both the salts from 0.3 N to 0.05 N as NaCl and the oil shale extractions on the growth of standard test algae and indigenous algae from Lake Powell. The batch bottle bioassays were conducted following the standard algal assay procedure as closely as possible. Variations in the standard algal assay procedure included media variation with the use of indigenous algal species isolated from Lake Powell and the use of three different algal species isolated from Lake Powell and the use of three different algal species for test innoculum in the bioassay procedure. The biomass was monitored using optical density, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and/or cell counts. The indegenous algal species were found to be negatively affected but more tolerant to all salinity additions than the standard test alga. The growth of the indigenous algal species
The Iowa Homemaker vol.25, no.5
Poem, Harris Kramer, page 2
Keeping Up With Today, Jeanne O’Connor, page 3
Campus Christmas Traditions, Florence Nylin, page 4
Evolution of a Button, Shirliann Fortman, page 5
Letter to the Homemaker Staff, Joyce Curley, page 6
Students Create Own Books, Marjorie Clampitt, page 8
Variety in Christmas Celebrations, Rosalie Riglin, page 9
Careers for Foods Graduates, Mary Lowell Schwinn, page 10
What’s New in Home Economics, Doris Adams, page 12
Gay Holiday Clothes, Josephine Ahern, page 14
Home Economics Pioneer, June Welch, page 17
U. S. Christmas Combines Customs, Louise Stuckert, page 18
Across Alumnae Desks, Etha Schipull, page 19
Give a Good Book, Dorothy Lindecker, page 20
Coeds Share Ideas, page 21
Careers for Homemakers, Betsy Nichol, page 22
Alums in the News, Philomena Beck, page 2
Genome-wide screening reveals the genetic basis of mammalian embryonic eye development.
BACKGROUND: Microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma (MAC) spectrum disease encompasses a group of eye malformations which play a role in childhood visual impairment. Although the predominant cause of eye malformations is known to be heritable in nature, with 80% of cases displaying loss-of-function mutations in the ocular developmental genes OTX2 or SOX2, the genetic abnormalities underlying the remaining cases of MAC are incompletely understood. This study intended to identify the novel genes and pathways required for early eye development. Additionally, pathways involved in eye formation during embryogenesis are also incompletely understood. This study aims to identify the novel genes and pathways required for early eye development through systematic forward screening of the mammalian genome.
RESULTS: Query of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) database (data release 17.0, August 01, 2022) identified 74 unique knockout lines (genes) with genetically associated eye defects in mouse embryos. The vast majority of eye abnormalities were small or absent eyes, findings most relevant to MAC spectrum disease in humans. A literature search showed that 27 of the 74 lines had previously published knockout mouse models, of which only 15 had ocular defects identified in the original publications. These 12 previously published gene knockouts with no reported ocular abnormalities and the 47 unpublished knockouts with ocular abnormalities identified by the IMPC represent 59 genes not previously associated with early eye development in mice. Of these 59, we identified 19 genes with a reported human eye phenotype. Overall, mining of the IMPC data yielded 40 previously unimplicated genes linked to mammalian eye development. Bioinformatic analysis showed that several of the IMPC genes colocalized to several protein anabolic and pluripotency pathways in early eye development. Of note, our analysis suggests that the serine-glycine pathway producing glycine, a mitochondrial one-carbon donator to folate one-carbon metabolism (FOCM), is essential for eye formation.
CONCLUSIONS: Using genome-wide phenotype screening of single-gene knockout mouse lines, STRING analysis, and bioinformatic methods, this study identified genes heretofore unassociated with MAC phenotypes providing models to research novel molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in eye development. These findings have the potential to hasten the diagnosis and treatment of this congenital blinding disease
The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe
The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the
dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for
life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront
of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early
evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The
Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed
plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE
is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity
neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream
of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed
as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research
Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in
Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at
Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino
charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet
cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can
accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional
combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and
potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility
for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around
the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program
of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of
LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics
worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will
possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for
LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a
comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the
landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate
and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure
Constructing the eastern european other: The horsemeat scandal and the migrant other
The Horsemeat scandal in the UK in 2013 ignited a furore about
consumer deception and the bodily transgression of consuming
something so alien to the British psyche. The imagination of the
horse as a noble and mythic figure in British history and sociological
imagination was invoked to construct the consumption of horsemeat
as a social taboo and an immoral proposition in the British media
debates. This paper traces the horsemeat scandal and its media framing
in the UK. Much of the aversion to horsemeat was intertextually
bound with discourses of immigration, the expansion of the EU and
the threat in tandem to the UK. Food as a social and cultural artefact
laden with symbolic meaning and national pride became a platform
to construct the ‘Other’ – in this case the Eastern European Other. The
media debates on the horsemeat scandal interwove the opening up of
the EU and particularly UK to the influx of Eastern European migration.
The horsemeat controversy in implicating the Eastern Europeans for
the contamination of the supply chain became a means to not just
construct the ‘Other’ but also to entwine contemporary policy debates
about immigration. This temporal framing of contemporary debates
enables a nation to renew and contemporise its notions of ‘otherness’
while sustaining an historic social imaginary of itself
Refined histopathological predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status: A large-scale analysis of breast cancer characteristics from the BCAC, CIMBA, and ENIGMA consortia
Introduction: The distribution of histopathological features of invasive breast tumors in BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutation carriers differs from that of individuals with no known mutation. Histopathological features thus have utility for mutation prediction, including statistical modeling to assess pathogenicity of BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants of uncertain clinical significance. We analyzed large pathology datasets accrued by the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA) and the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) to reassess histopathological predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status, and provide robust likelihood ratio (LR) estimates for statistical modeling. Methods: Selection criteria for study/center inclusion were estrogen receptor (ER) status or grade data available for invasive breast cancer diagnosed younger than 70 years. The dataset included 4,477 BRCA1 mutation carriers, 2,565 BRCA2 mutation carriers, and 47,565 BCAC breast cancer cases. Country-stratified estimates of the
Allele-Specific HLA Loss and Immune Escape in Lung Cancer Evolution
Immune evasion is a hallmark of cancer. Losing the ability to present neoantigens through human leukocyte antigen (HLA) loss may facilitate immune evasion. However, the polymorphic nature of the locus has precluded accurate HLA copy-number analysis. Here, we present loss of heterozygosity in human leukocyte antigen (LOHHLA), a computational tool to determine HLA allele-specific copy number from sequencing data. Using LOHHLA, we find that HLA LOH occurs in 40% of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) and is associated with a high subclonal neoantigen burden, APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis, upregulation of cytolytic activity, and PD-L1 positivity. The focal nature of HLA LOH alterations, their subclonal frequencies, enrichment in metastatic sites, and occurrence as parallel events suggests that HLA LOH is an immune escape mechanism that is subject to strong microenvironmental selection pressures later in tumor evolution. Characterizing HLA LOH with LOHHLA refines neoantigen prediction and may have implications for our understanding of resistance mechanisms and immunotherapeutic approaches targeting neoantigens. Video Abstract [Figure presented] Development of the bioinformatics tool LOHHLA allows precise measurement of allele-specific HLA copy number, improves the accuracy in neoantigen prediction, and uncovers insights into how immune escape contributes to tumor evolution in non-small-cell lung cancer
Fc-Optimized Anti-CD25 Depletes Tumor-Infiltrating Regulatory T Cells and Synergizes with PD-1 Blockade to Eradicate Established Tumors
CD25 is expressed at high levels on regulatory T (Treg) cells and was initially proposed as a target for cancer immunotherapy. However, anti-CD25 antibodies have displayed limited activity against established tumors. We demonstrated that CD25 expression is largely restricted to tumor-infiltrating Treg cells in mice and humans. While existing anti-CD25 antibodies were observed to deplete Treg cells in the periphery, upregulation of the inhibitory Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) IIb at the tumor site prevented intra-tumoral Treg cell depletion, which may underlie the lack of anti-tumor activity previously observed in pre-clinical models. Use of an anti-CD25 antibody with enhanced binding to activating FcγRs led to effective depletion of tumor-infiltrating Treg cells, increased effector to Treg cell ratios, and improved control of established tumors. Combination with anti-programmed cell death protein-1 antibodies promoted complete tumor rejection, demonstrating the relevance of CD25 as a therapeutic target and promising substrate for future combination approaches in immune-oncology
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