Evaluating Tissue Morphology in the Context of Varied Initial Fabrication Conditions

Cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death for years. This includes myocardial infarctions (MI) where blood flow to the myocardium is restricted. This causes damage to cardiac muscle due to insufficient oxygen. There are multiple ways to treat patients following an MI with the most common involving assorted medication. However, there are limited medications that can be used for treating patients following MIs, and the FDA’s decreasing approval rate for new cardiac drugs will not dramatically improve the range of options. The lead-up to drug candidate rejection by the FDA can involve drugs exhibiting promising preliminary research that does not show the same effects in-vivo. A possible way to improve this area of testing is by using engineered tissues (ETs) which exhibit greater physiological relevance. One common base material used for ET applications is fibrinogen which is combined with thrombin to form fibrin gel cultures with embedded cellular populations. A difficulty with using ETs is finding the right fabrication conditions. This study focuses on two factors that impact fibrin-based ET functionality, uniformity, and compatibility with tracing software that analyzes tissue morphology. The primary factors are cell concentration and protein concentration. Experimental groups with a higher protein concentration performed the best with the tracing software. Groups with higher cell concentrations compacted uniformly and effectively following mechanical release. These results present a first step towards optimizing physiologically relevant ETs for in-vitro studies. However, there still is much to investigate when it comes to the long-term stability and validity testing of in-vitro models for clinical applications

De l'interculturel a l'interreligieux en Europe: évolution et tour d'horizon

Els intercanvis interculturals són el mitjà per acostar les persones de diferents països i cultures dins d'Europa, el nostre lloc de naixement i treball: ser internacional i europeu implica necessàriament un desig de trobar-nos com a europeus i persones que viuen a Europa. El tema dels drets humans i la ciutadania democràtica és una part integral de tota formació intercultural. Hem de defensar els principis de la convenció dels drets humans com un requisit bàsic per al reconeixement de la nostra humanitat comuna, fins i tot si les diferents interpretacions culturals formulen els requisits de la convenció de maneres diferents. És força clar que aquesta obertura porta les persones a treballar per l'establiment d'un diàleg genuí entre les religions i també amb altres persones, les conviccions de les quals són compatibles amb les de les grans religions. Creiem que hem d'empendre la nostra part en la creació d'un nou món de comprensió entre els pobles; tenim aquesta convicció per la nostra creença en una Europa oberta al món

Evaluating Tissue Morphology in the Context of Varied Initial Fabrication Conditions

Cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death for years. This includes myocardial infarctions (MI) where blood flow to the myocardium is restricted. This causes damage to cardiac muscle due to insufficient oxygen. There are multiple ways to treat patients following an MI with the most common involving assorted medication. However, there are limited medications that can be used for treating patients following MIs, and the FDA’s decreasing approval rate for new cardiac drugs will not dramatically improve the range of options. The lead-up to drug candidate rejection by the FDA can involve drugs exhibiting promising preliminary research that does not show the same effects in-vivo. A possible way to improve this area of testing is by using engineered tissues (ETs) which exhibit greater physiological relevance. One common base material used for ET applications is fibrinogen which is combined with thrombin to form fibrin gel cultures with embedded cellular populations. A difficulty with using ETs is finding the right fabrication conditions. This study focuses on two factors that impact fibrin-based ET functionality, uniformity, and compatibility with tracing software that analyzes tissue morphology. The primary factors are cell concentration and protein concentration. Experimental groups with a higher protein concentration performed the best with the tracing software. Groups with higher cell concentrations compacted uniformly and effectively following mechanical release. These results present a first step towards optimizing physiologically relevant ETs for in-vitro studies. However, there still is much to investigate when it comes to the long-term stability and validity testing of in-vitro models for clinical applications

Measurement of ascorbic acid in Australian native plants

Ascorbic acid is one of the compounds found in a number of commercially important native plants fruits e.g. Kakadu plum, wild lime and bush tomato. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine ascorbic acid in these native plant fruits. Ascorbic acid degradation of both standards and plant extracts was observed during HPLC sequence runs. These losses were considerable even though factors such as light, temperature and water activity, which accelerate the loss of ascorbic acid, were eliminated. Several concentrations of sodium metabisulphite were added to both standards and plant extracts to evaluate the effect on the rate of ascorbic acid degradation. A concentration of 500 μg/mL was the most effective but did not eliminate the problem. To correct for any loss still occurring, the rate constant k for ascorbic acid degradation was calculated and used to extrapolate back to the original ascorbic acid concentration. The k value was also found to vary for the different plants studied. For example the k value without added sodium metabisulphite for Kakadu plum, wild lime and Kakadu plum intermediate raw material were 0.00532, 0.02710 and 0.04429 respectively. With the addition of 500 μg/mL sodium metabisulphite the k value decreased to 0.00005, 0.00915 and 0.00586 respectively

International approaches to protecting and retaining trees on private urban land

Most studies of urban forest management look at vegetation on public land. Yet, to meet ambitious urban forest targets, cities must attempt to maintain or increase trees and canopy cover on private urban land too. In this study, we review and evaluate international approaches to protecting and retaining trees on private urban land. Our study combines a systematic academic literature review, two empirical social science studies on the views of urban forest professionals, and a global case study review of innovative regulations and incentives aimed at protecting and retaining trees on private urban land. Case studies were evaluated for the extent they exceeded minimum standards or went beyond ?business-as-usual?. We found that the most innovative mechanisms combine many regulations, instead of relying on a single regulation, and use financial incentives to retain or plant trees in newly developed or re-developed sites, as well as private residences. We did not find any cases where appropriate monitoring was in place to determine the efficacy and efficiency of these mechanisms. We also found no single simple solution that could effectively and efficiently protect and retain trees on private land. Only by combining policies, planning schemes, local laws, and financial incentives with community engagement and stewardship will cities protect and retain trees on private land. Useful and innovative ways to protecting and retaining trees on private land involves providing solutions at multiple governments levels, embedding trees in existing strategic policy and management solutions, incentivising positive behavior, creating regulations that require payment up front, and engaging the broader community in private tree stewardship.Peer reviewe

A critical review of the N-15(2) tracer method to measure diazotrophic production in pelagic ecosystems

Dinitrogen (N-2) fixation is an important source of biologically reactive nitrogen (N) to the global ocean. The magnitude of this flux, however, remains uncertain, in part because N-2 fixation rates have been estimated following divergent protocols and because associated levels of uncertainty are seldom reported-confounding comparison and extrapolation of rate measurements. A growing number of reports of relatively low but potentially significant rates of N-2 fixation in regions such as oxygen minimum zones, the mesopelagic water column of the tropical and subtropical oceans, and polar waters further highlights the need for standardized methodological protocols for measurements of N-2 fixation rates and for calculations of detection limits and propagated error terms. To this end, we examine current protocols of the N-15(2) tracer method used for estimating diazotrophic rates, present results of experiments testing the validity of specific practices, and describe established metrics for reporting detection limits. We put forth a set of recommendations for best practices to estimate N-2 fixation rates using N-15(2) tracer, with the goal of fostering transparency in reporting sources of uncertainty in estimates, and to render N-2 fixation rate estimates intercomparable among studies

A Critical Review of the \u3csup\u3e15\u3c/sup\u3eN\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e Tracer Method to Measure Diazotrophic Production in Pelagic Ecosystems

Dinitrogen (N2) fixation is an important source of biologically reactive nitrogen (N) to the global ocean. The magnitude of this flux, however, remains uncertain, in part because N2 fixation rates have been estimated following divergent protocols and because associated levels of uncertainty are seldom reported—confounding comparison and extrapolation of rate measurements. A growing number of reports of relatively low but potentially significant rates of N2 fixation in regions such as oxygen minimum zones, the mesopelagic water column of the tropical and subtropical oceans, and polar waters further highlights the need for standardized methodological protocols for measurements of N2 fixation rates and for calculations of detection limits and propagated error terms. To this end, we examine current protocols of the 15N2 tracer method used for estimating diazotrophic rates, present results of experiments testing the validity of specific practices, and describe established metrics for reporting detection limits. We put forth a set of recommendations for best practices to estimate N2 fixation rates using 15N2 tracer, with the goal of fostering transparency in reporting sources of uncertainty in estimates, and to render N2 fixation rate estimates intercomparable among studies

High Guanine and Cytosine Content Increases mRNA Levels in Mammalian Cells

Mammalian genes are highly heterogeneous with respect to their nucleotide composition, but the functional consequences of this heterogeneity are not clear. In the previous studies, weak positive or negative correlations have been found between the silent-site guanine and cytosine (GC) content and expression of mammalian genes. However, previous studies disregarded differences in the genomic context of genes, which could potentially obscure any correlation between GC content and expression. In the present work, we directly compared the expression of GC-rich and GC-poor genes placed in the context of identical promoters and UTR sequences. We performed transient and stable transfections of mammalian cells with GC-rich and GC-poor versions of Hsp70, green fluorescent protein, and IL2 genes. The GC-rich genes were expressed several-fold to over a 100-fold more efficiently than their GC-poor counterparts. This effect was not due to different translation rates of GC-rich and GC-poor mRNA. On the contrary, the efficient expression of GC-rich genes resulted from their increased steady-state mRNA levels. mRNA degradation rates were not correlated with GC content, suggesting that efficient transcription or mRNA processing is responsible for the high expression of GC-rich genes. We conclude that silent-site GC content correlates with gene expression efficiency in mammalian cells