Contact urticaria to giraffe hair

Background: Immediate-type hypersensitivity to animal proteins is a common problem in people occupationally exposed to animals. Methods: A 19-year-old female working as a voluntary zookeeper in her off-time suffered from hives on her forearms following contact to the fur of a giraffe. For diagnostic evaluation, skin prick tests, assessment of specific serum IgE antibodies, and basophil activation tests were performed. Results: Skin prick tests with a standard series of common aeroallergens were positive for various pollens. Prick testing with native materials was positive for extracts of hair from two different giraffe subspecies in the patient, but not in control subjects. By CAP-FEIA, no specific serum IgE antibodies to dander of a large variety of animals were found in the patient. In the basophil activation test, expression of the activation marker CD63 was induced by extract of giraffe hair on the cells from the patient, but not on those from unaffected controls. Conclusions: This patient suffers from an `exotic' immediate-type contact allergy to giraffe hair. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

Transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation of human androgen receptor expression by androgen.

Autoregulation is a control mechanism common to several proteins of the steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily. In this work the effect of androgens and antiandrogens on the expression of the human androgen receptor (hAR) in prostate and breast cancer cell lines was studied. Northern blot analysis revealed a decrease in hAR steady state RNA levels in LNCaP cells by 3.3 nht of the synthetic androgen mibolerone. Maximal down-regulation of hAR RNA to 30% of control levels occurred 48 h after hormone addition. T47D breast cancer cells showed a similar effect with mibolerone, while hAR expression in normal skin fibroblasts did not respond to androgen treatment. As shown by nuclease Sl analysis, hAR transcripts initiate at three principal start sites, all of which are equally sensitive to androgen. Steroidal as well as nonsteroidal antiandrogens were capable of partially antagonizing androgen-mediated hAR RNA down-regulation in LNCaP and T47D cells, while not exerting a significant effect when administered alone. While hAR RNA stability was increased by hormone, nuclear run-on analysis revealed a 4-fold reduction of hAR gene transcrip tion 98 h after androgen treatment. Although decreased hAR RNA levels did not coincide with a parallel decrease in AR protein levels, analysis of androgen-inducible reporter constructs demonstrated that prolonged androgen administration to ceils results in a progressively impaired sensitivity of the intracellular androgen response mechanism. These results show that prolonged androgen exposure leads, besides its effect on hAR RNA levels, to functional inactivation of the AR. Thus, in viva, posttranslational control of AR activity appears to be a novel mechanism of negative autoregulation of androgen effects on gene expression

Raman study of Fano interference in p-type doped silicon

As the silicon industry continues to push the limits of device dimensions, tools such as Raman spectroscopy are ideal to analyze and characterize the doped silicon channels. The effect of inter-valence band transitions on the zone center optical phonon in heavily p-type doped silicon is studied by Raman spectroscopy for a wide range of excitation wavelengths extending from the red (632.8 nm) into the ultra-violet (325 nm). The asymmetry in the one-phonon Raman lineshape is attributed to a Fano interference involving the overlap of a continuum of electronic excitations with a discrete phonon state. We identify a transition above and below the one-dimensional critical point (E = 3.4 eV) in the electronic excitation spectrum of silicon. The relationship between the anisotropic silicon band structure and the penetration depth is discussed in the context of possible device applications.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, pape

MPLP Ten Years Later: the Adventure of Being among the First

The Northwest Archival Processing Initiative (NWAPI) was the first consortium to implement Greene and Meissner’s “More Product, Less Process,” and its member institutions were among the earliest to adopt MPLP methods. Now, ten years after the close of this NHPRC-funded initiative, MPLP is a widely-recognized methodology that has been applied to many collections, but MPLP has also influenced archival functions other than processing. This article revisits the original eight NWAPI consortium participants to explore how successfully archivists that were trained in MPLP were able to institutionalize its processing methods over the last ten years, and how MPLP affected other areas of their archival practice. This article details the history of the NWAPI grant, reviews the MPLP literature to show its development over time, and analyzes survey results from the NWAPI institutions. It concludes with a recommendation to guide the future of MPLP

Developing a Mathematics Capstone Experience at The U.S. Air Force Academy

There are many details to consider when designing a capstone experience. Expectations of students, faculty workload, resources, logistics, and timing all play a part in the value of this endeavor. We discuss the experience of creating a research capstone experience from scratch including the components of our current course as well as lessons learned. Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher’s online edition of PRIMUS to view the supplemental file

Der Fortschrittsbalken - Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft

Fortschrittsbalken bestimmen im heutigen Zeitalter das Leben der Menschen in einem hohen Ausmaß. Jedoch können viele Menschen mit dem Begriff „Fortschrittsbalken“ als solcher nicht wesentlich viel anfangen. Der Begriff „Fortschrittsbalken“ wird in der deutschen Sprache nicht gebraucht. Verwendet man den Begriff Wartebalken, Ladebalken oder Statusanzeige können Menschen im deutschsprachigen Raum schon eher etwas mit dem Themengebiet anfangen. Weiters ist den Menschen nicht bewusst, in welchem Ausmaß die Gestaltung, das Design und die Farbe Anteil daran haben, wie Menschen die dabei vergangene Zeit einschätzen. Durch die Verstärkung des Bewusstseins, Fortschrittsbalken aus der Perspektive des Programmierers bzw. eines Psychologen zu sehen, erleichtert vielen Menschen sich auf das Wesentliche zu konzentrieren und über gewisse Eigenheiten einer Ladeanzeige nachzudenken. Fortschrittsanzeigen werden als visuelle Darstellung eines fortschreitenden Prozesses benutzt, um dem Benutzer das Gefühl zu geben, dass das technische Gerät etwas tut. Für Menschen ist es immer wichtig ein gewisses Feedback zu erhalten, da die Toleranzgrenze einfachen Wartens, ohne Feedback zu erhalten, sehr niedrig ist. Wesentliche Aufgabe des Programmierers ist es, den Fortschrittsbalken so zu implementieren, dass die Anzeige effektiv und effizient ist. Unter effektiv versteht man, dass die Wartezeit für den Benutzer möglichst abwechslungsreich und kurzweilig (im psychologischen Sinne) ist. Effizient meint, dass die Implementierung von Fortschrittsanzeigen gut überlegt und, im technischen Sinne, so kurz wie möglich gehalten werden soll. Die Untersuchung durch die sechs verschiedenen Versuchsgruppen hat gezeigt, dass Menschen nicht in der Lage sind, die Zeit des Wartens abzuschätzen

Maximizing Good: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Minimal Description for Online Archives

Minimal descriptive practices have been embraced by archives over the past fifteen years for their efficiency and practicality. This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of minimal description within the context of digitized collections and evaluates them against the assumptions made by cultural heritage professionals. It considers whether minimal description provides digitized collections with sufficient metadata to meet MPLP’s user-centered goals of improving access, sufficient context to ensure collections are understandable within their digital environments, and sufficient framework to facilitate data exchange across systems, all while considering MPLP within archival ecosystems that impact labor and resource allocation. The authors offer a set of questions under four themes that challenge these assumptions and promote critical evaluation of professional norms related to minimal description of digitized collections. Recommendations are presented that realign methods to develop nuanced strategies that maximize our ability to steward our collections, respect our labor, and serve our users