A Micro-Analytical Technique for Determination of Aluminum in Aqueous Solutions

A flow-cell colorimetric technique has been developed by which Al concentrations of 0.0003to 0.1 wt. percent can be analyzed in one-microliter fluid samples.An A1-complexing reagent (Ferron) continuously flowing through teflon capillary tubing is spiked with one-microliter aliquots of solutions containing A1. The sample reacts with the reagent and subsequently passes through a microcolorimeter. Measurement of less than one nanomole A1 is possible by comparing the integrated absorbance of unknown samples with standard solutions

Direct Detection of the Brown Dwarf GJ 802B with Adaptive Optics Masking Interferometry

We have used the Palomar 200" Adaptive Optics (AO) system to directly detect the astrometric brown dwarf GJ 802B reported by Pravdo et al. 2005. This observation is achieved with a novel combination of aperture masking interferometry and AO. The dynamical masses are 0.175$\pm$0.021 M$_\odot$ and 0.064$\pm$0.032 M$_\odot$ for the primary and secondary respectively. The inferred absolute H band magnitude of GJ 802B is M$_H$=12.8 resulting in a model-dependent T$_\mathrm{eff}$ of 1850 $\pm$ 50K and mass range of 0.057--0.074 M$_\odot$.Comment: 4 Pages, 5 figures, emulateapj format, submitted to ApJ

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 31, No. 3

• Jamison City • Domestic Architecture in Lancaster County • Conversation with Marguerite de Angeli • Who Put the Turnip on the Grave? • Pennsylfawnisch Deitsch un Pfalzer: Dialect Comparisons Old and New • John Philip Boehm: Pioneer Pennsylvania Pastor • The Search for our German Ancestors • Aldes un Neieshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1095/thumbnail.jp

Mortality in pulmonary arterial hypertension in the modern era: Early insights from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry

Background Current mortality data for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in the United States are based on registries that enrolled patients prior to 2010. We sought to determine mortality in PAH in the modern era using the PHAR (Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry). Methods and Results We identified all adult patients with PAH enrolled in the PHAR between September 2015 and September 2020 (N=935). We used Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models to assess mortality at 1, 2, and 3 years. Patients were stratified based on disease severity by 3 validated risk scores. In treatment-naïve patients, we compared survival based on initial treatment strategy. The median age was 56 years (44-68 years), and 76% were women. Of the 935 patients, 483 (52%) were ≤6 months from PAH diagnosis. There were 121 deaths (12.9%) during a median follow-up time of 489 days (281-812 days). The 1-, 2-, and 3-year mortality was 8% (95% CI, 6%-10%), 16% (95% CI, 13%-19%), and 21% (95% CI, 17%-25%), respectively. When stratified into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk PAH, the mortality at 1, 2, and 3 years was 1%, 4% to 6%, and 7% to 11% for low risk; 7% to 8%, 11% to 16%, and 18% to 20% for intermediate risk; and 12% to 19%, 22% to 38%, and 28% to 55% for high risk, respectively. In treatment-naïve patients, initial combination therapy was associated with better 1-year survival (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.43 [95% CI, 0.19-0.95]

Desiring Bollywood: Re-staging racism, exploring difference

In this article I engage with the insights that emerged through the making of Desiring Bollywood, a collaborative ethno-fiction project I produced in 2018. The project recruited academics, amateur actors, novice filmmakers, and enthusiastic university students to narrate the story of Jason, an aspiring actor and filmmaker from Nigeria who I first met in 2013 soon after his release from Tihar Prison in Delhi, India. My goals are two-fold: first, to share a few scenes from the film – embedded in this article as video clips – to broadly theorize the affordances and limits of what I call re-staging, the collaborative, performance-based multimodal method we devised and deployed to produce Desiring Bollywood. Second, and more central to the article, I aim to analyze these very same scenes to show how re-staging, as it offered participants involved in the project the opportunity to reflexively explore how Jason’s experiences of discrimination in Delhi and the aspirations and desires that led him there in the first place, create a rich site of analysis to engage with the nuances of anti-Black racism in India in a moment where ‘India-Africa’ economic relationships are on the rise. RESUMEN En este artículo examino el entendimiento que surgió a través de la producción de Desiring Bollywood, un proyecto colaborativo de etno-ficción que realicé en 2018. El proyecto reclutó académicos, actores amateurs, productores cinematográficos novicios y entusiastas estudiantes universitarios para narrar la historia de Jason, un aspirante a actor y productor cinematográfico, de Nigeria a quien conocí en 2013, poco después de su puesta en libertad de la Prisión Tihar en Delhi, India. Mi propósito es doble: primero, compartir algunas escenas del filme – embebidas en este artículo como video clips– para teorizar ampliamente las affordances y límites de lo que llamo remontaje, el colaborativo método multimodal basado en performance, que nosotros ideamos y utilizamos para producir Desiring Bollywood. Segundo, y más central al artículo, tengo como objetivo analizar estas mismas escenas para mostrar cómo el remontaje, en la medida que ofreció a los participantes involucrados en el proyecto la oportunidad de explorar reflexivamente cómo las experiencias de Jason de discriminación en Delhi y las aspiraciones y deseos que lo llevaron allí en primer lugar, crea un sitio profundo de análisis para abordar los matices del racismo anti-negro en India en un momento donde las relaciones económicas “India-África” están en aumento

Rudimentary G-Quadruplex-Based Telomere Capping In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Telomere capping conceals chromosome ends from exonucleases and checkpoints, but the full range of capping mechanisms is not well defined. Telomeres have the potential to form G-quadruplex (G4) DNA, although evidence for telomere G4 DNA function in vivo is limited. In budding yeast, capping requires the Cdc13 protein and is lost at nonpermissive temperatures in cdc13-1 mutants. Here, we use several independent G4 DNA-stabilizing treatments to suppress cdc13-1 capping defects. These include overexpression of three different G4 DNA binding proteins, loss of the G4 DNA unwinding helicase Sgs1, or treatment with small molecule G4 DNA ligands. In vitro, we show that protein-bound G4 DNA at a 3\u27 overhang inhibits 5\u27-\u3e 3\u27 resection of a paired strand by exonuclease I. These findings demonstrate that, at least in the absence of full natural capping, G4 DNA can play a positive role at telomeres in vivo

Nuclear Factor (NF) κB polymorphism is associated with heart function in patients with heart failure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiac remodeling is generally an adverse sign and is associated with heart failure (HF) progression. NFkB, an important transcription factor involved in many cell survival pathways, has been implicated in the remodeling process, but its role in the heart is still controversial. Recently, a promoter polymorphism associated with a lesser activation of the <it>NFKB1 </it>gene was also associated with Dilated Cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of this polymorphism with clinical and functional characteristics of heart failure patients of different etiologies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 493 patients with HF and 916 individuals from a cohort of individuals from the general population were investigated. The <it>NFKB1 </it>-94 insertion/deletion ATTG polymorphism was genotyped by High Resolution Melt discrimination. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared between groups. In addition, frequencies or mean values of different phenotypes associated with cardiovascular disease were compared between genotype groups. Finally, patients were prospectively followed-up for death incidence and genotypes for the polymorphism were compared regarding disease onset and mortality incidence in HF patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We did not find differences in genotype and allelic frequencies between cases and controls. Interestingly, we found an association between the ATTG₁/ATTG₁genotype with right ventricle diameter (<it>P </it>= 0.001), left ventricle diastolic diameter (P = 0.04), and ejection fraction (EF) (P = 0.016), being the genotype ATTG₁/ATTG₁more frequent in patients with EF lower than 50% (<it>P </it>= 0.01). Finally, we observed a significantly earlier disease onset in ATTG1/ATTG₁carriers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is no genotype or allelic association between the studied polymorphism and the occurrence of HF in the tested population. However, our data suggest that a diminished activation of <it>NFKB1</it>, previously associated with the ATTG₁/ATTG₁genotype, may act modulating on the onset of disease and, once the individual has HF, the genotype may modulate disease severity by increasing cardiac remodeling and function deterioration.</p

MKID Exoplanet Camera for Subaru SCExAO

We present the MKID Exoplanet Camera (MEC), a z through J band (800–1400 nm) integral field spectrograph located behind The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) at the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea that utilizes Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) as the enabling technology for high contrast imaging. MEC is the first permanently deployed near-infrared MKID instrument and is designed to operate both as an IFU, and as a focal plane wavefront sensor in a multi-kHz feedback loop with SCExAO. The read noise free, fast time domain information attainable by MKIDs allows for the direct probing of fast speckle fluctuations that currently limit the performance of most high contrast imaging systems on the ground and will help MEC achieve its ultimate goal of reaching contrasts of 10⁻⁷ at 2 λ/D. Here we outline the instrument details of MEC including the hardware, firmware, and data reduction and analysis pipeline. We then discuss MEC's current on-sky performance and end with future upgrades and plans

The MKID Exoplanet Camera for Subaru SCExAO

We present the MKID Exoplanet Camera (MEC), a z through J band (800 - 1400 nm) integral field spectrograph located behind The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) at the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea that utilizes Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) as the enabling technology for high contrast imaging. MEC is the first permanently deployed near-infrared MKID instrument and is designed to operate both as an IFU, and as a focal plane wavefront sensor in a multi-kHz feedback loop with SCExAO. The read noise free, fast time domain information attainable by MKIDs allows for the direct probing of fast speckle fluctuations that currently limit the performance of most high contrast imaging systems on the ground and will help MEC achieve its ultimate goal of reaching contrasts of $10^{-7}$ at 2$\lambda / D$. Here we outline the instrument details of MEC including the hardware, firmware, and data reduction and analysis pipeline. We then discuss MEC's current on-sky performance and end with future upgrades and plans.Comment: To be published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi