196 research outputs found
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Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Application of the Stress Process Model.
The purpose of this qualitative interview study is to examine the lives and experiences children of incarcerated parents from a theoretical perspective through an application of the social stress process. Previous research on children of incarcerated parents has neglected to add a theoretical component to their research, which is the intention of this research. The results will be organized around the theoretical domains of the stress process applied to findings from the analysis of eleven qualitative interviews of mothers and/or caregivers of youth(s) of an incarcerated parent. Guided by analytic induction, the themes that emerged from the transcripts were applied to the theoretical propositions of the social stress process: stressors, mediators, and manifestations. Stressors experienced by children of incarcerated parents include: the incarceration of a parent, financial difficulties, and residential instability. Stress mediators include: coping mechanisms and the importance of maintaining familial ties during parental incarceration. The manifestations or outcomes include: internalizing and externalizing behaviors
Catalytic depolymerisation of isolated lignin to fine chemicals: part 2 – process optimisation
The depolymerisation of an ammonia treated lignin to alkylphenols over a Pt/alumina catalyst was investigated under a range of process parameters including, pressure, mass of lignin, solvent and gas atmosphere. The depolymerisation was shown to be under kinetic control and orders of reaction in hydrogen and lignin were determined as 0.4 and 0 respectively. Hydrogen was shown to be necessary under our reaction conditions as when helium was used as the gas atmosphere poor conversion was obtained. A clear solvent effect was observed with 100% methanol being more effective than 100% water or any combination of the two with a yield of alkylphenols >40% with a selectivity of >40% to substituted 4-propyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenol compounds. This high yield using methanol as a solvent was thought to be due to the ability of the methanol to inhibit re-polymerisation. IPA/water was also found to be an effective solvent combination with a yield of alkylphenols of >20%. The depolymerisation reaction was also studied over Rh/alumina and Ir/alumina catalysts. The rhodium catalyst was found to be the most active on a weight basis being slightly more active than platinum, however on a molar basis the platinum was much more active
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Preparation and ring-opening reactions of N-diphenylphosphinyl vinyl aziridines
Predominantly (E)-N-diphenylphosphinyl vinyl aziridines are prepared by a reaction of N-diphenylphosphinyl imines with
α-bromoallyllithium in the presence of freshly fused ZnCl2. These aziridines undergo a ring-opening reaction with a variety of
carbon and heteronucleophiles, in good yield, and generally with good regioselectivity
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Fortification and health: challenges and opportunities.
Fortification is the process of adding nutrients or non-nutrient bioactive components to edible products (e.g., food, food constituents, or supplements). Fortification can be used to correct or prevent widespread nutrient intake shortfalls and associated deficiencies, to balance the total nutrient profile of a diet, to restore nutrients lost in processing, or to appeal to consumers looking to supplement their diet. Food fortification could be considered as a public health strategy to enhance nutrient intakes of a population. Over the past century, fortification has been effective at reducing the risk of nutrient deficiency diseases such as beriberi, goiter, pellagra, and rickets. However, the world today is very different from when fortification emerged in the 1920s. Although early fortification programs were designed to eliminate deficiency diseases, current fortification programs are based on low dietary intakes rather than a diagnosable condition. Moving forward, we must be diligent in our approach to achieving effective and responsible fortification practices and policies, including responsible marketing of fortified products. Fortification must be applied prudently, its effects monitored diligently, and the public informed effectively about its benefits through consumer education efforts. Clear lines of authority for establishing fortification guidelines should be developed and should take into account changing population demographics, changes in the food supply, and advances in technology. This article is a summary of a symposium presented at the ASN Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2014 on current issues involving fortification focusing primarily on the United States and Canada and recommendations for the development of responsible fortification practices to ensure their safety and effectiveness
Comparing flow cytometry with culture-based methods for microbial monitoring and as a diagnostic tool for assessing drinking water treatment processes
Flow cytometry (FCM) and the ability to measure both total and intact cell populations through DNA staining methodologies has rapidly gained attention and consideration across the water sector in the past decade. In this study, water quality monitoring was undertaken over three years across 213 drinking water treatment works (WTW) in the Scottish Water region (Total n = 39,340). Samples subject to routine regulatory microbial analysis using culture-based methods were also analysed using FCM. In addition to final treated water, the bacterial content in raw water was measured over a one-year period. Three WTW were studied in further detail using on-site inter-stage sampling and analysis with FCM. It was demonstrated that there was no clear link between FCM data and the coliform samples taken for regulatory monitoring. The disinfectant Ct value (Ct = mg·min/L) was the driving factor in determining final water cell viability and the proportion of intact cells (intact/total cells) and the frequency of coliform detections in the water leaving the WTW. However, the free chlorine residual, without consideration of treatment time, was shown to have little impact on coliform detections or cell counts. Amongst the three treatment trains monitored in detail, the membrane filtration WTW showed the greatest log removal and robustness in terms of final water intact cell counts. Flow cytometry was shown to provide insights into the bacteriological quality of water that adds significant value over and above that provided by traditional bacterial monitoring
HIRAYA
Hiraya is a sole proprietorship business founded in February 2020 by Jan Marc Portal, an ABM student in DLSU-SHS. Its mission is to provide the community with pouch bags that feature sustainability, affordability, and durability, promoting the Philippines’ indigenous designs using locally sourced materials such as Abaca and cotton canvas. Hiraya’s vision is to create a convenient and practical experience for the general lifestyle of the people by catering local products. The owner formed a business venture with his co-students in the ABM Strand, namely: Aeriel Punzalan (operations), Jarvis Servino (financial), Katriona Ureta (marketing), Jin Ha Kim (human resource), and Jiro Mhaye Salayo (advertising). The officers possess individual skills related to their departments, such as leadership, project management, and marketing, contributing to the development of Hiraya. The business took the opportunity to sell products through the online platform, reaching millennials and Gen-Z as its target market. The business’s location was strategically placed in Laguna. The venture considers itself to be different from its competitors as it features an accented Abaca design inspired by local Kalinga tattoo artists in its products. In terms of the initial capital, the business had invested Php 31,500 to operate. The capital was able to produce 120 bags, costing Php 349 each (39.6% mark-up). Once the break-even is reached, Hiraya intends to diversify its products by putting another Php 27,488 for capital. Hiraya plans to continually expand in the future to remain true to its cause in helping indigenous people as part of its social responsibility
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Extracellular Lactate: A Novel Measure of T Cell Proliferation.
Following activation, T cells rapidly divide and acquire effector functions. This energetically demanding process depends upon the ability of T cells to undergo metabolic remodeling from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis, during which glucose is converted into lactate and released extracellularly. In this article, we demonstrate that extracellular lactate can be used to dynamically assess human T cell responses in vitro. Extracellular lactate levels strongly correlated with T cell proliferation, and measuring lactate compared favorably with traditional methods for determining T cell responses (i.e., [3H]thymidine incorporation and the use of cell proliferation dyes). Furthermore, we demonstrate the usefulness of measuring lactate as a read-out in conventional suppression assays and high-throughput peptide-screening assays. Extracellular lactate was stably produced over 7 d, and results were reproducibly performed over several freeze-thaw cycles. We conclude that the use of extracellular lactate measurements can be a sensitive, safe, stable, and easy-to-implement research tool for measuring T cell responses and cellular metabolic changes in vitro
Optical tweezers for the study of microbubble dynamics in ultrasound
2005/2006Optical tweezers enable for non-destructive, contact-free manipulation of ultrasound
contrast agent (UCA) microbubbles, which are used in medical imaging
for enhancing the echogenicity of the blood pool and to quantify organ perfusion.
Understanding the dynamics of ultrasound-driven contrast agent microbubbles
from a fundamental physical standpoint is a first step for exploiting their
acoustical properties and to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
However, experiments on bubble dynamics presently suffer from a lack of control
on bubble position, because of buoyancy, microstreaming and bubble clustering.
In this respect, optical tweezers can be used to study UCA microbubbles under
controlled and repeatable conditions, by positioning them away from interfaces
and from neighboring bubbles. In addition, an ultra-high speed imaging system
is required to record the dynamics of UCA microbubbles in ultrasound, as their
oscillations occur on the nanoseconds timescale.
In this thesis, optical tweezers and an ultra-high speed camera are integrated
into an experimental setup to control the boundary conditions and record the
oscillations of the microbubbles. Optical tweezers are commonly obtained by focusing
a laser beam through a microscope objective, as the high intensity gradient
in the focal region causes dielectric microparticles to be attracted in the focus.
In the special case of microbubbles, which exhibit a lower refractive index than
the surrounding liquid, the opposite situation arises: they are pushed away from
the region of maximum intensity. Nevertheless, microbubbles can be trapped in
the dark core of a donut-shaped trap, which can be obtained e.g. by focusing
a Laguerre-Gaussian beam. In our setup, a Gaussian beam is converted to a
Laguerre-Gaussian mode by using diffractive optical elements implemented on a
spatial light modulator. This allows to trap and manipulate single or multiple
microbubbles, and to control the distance from interfaces as well as the bubbleto-
bubble distance. The “Brandaris 128” ultra-high speed camera is used, in
combination with the optical tweezers, to recorded the bubble oscillations at a
frame rate of 15 million frames per second.
The influence of a rigid wall on the resonance frequency and oscillation amplitude
was experimentally investigated. An experimental phospholipid-coated
agent (BR-14, Bracco Research S.A., Geneva, Switzerland) was used throughout
the experiments. A resonance frequency curve was recorded for the same
bubble positioned at the wall and at controlled distance from the wall. The experiments
show a drop in the resonance frequency for the bubble close to the
ii Abstract
wall, as expected from the theoretical models. These results are highly relevant
for molecular imaging applications, where the response of targeted microbubbles
needs to be discriminated from that of freely flowing ones. We also quantify the
bubble-to-bubble interaction, in two ways: first, we compare the change of the radial
oscillations of one bubble with and without a neighboring bubble. Second, we
resolve the change in distance between two bubbles during ultrasonic insonation.
This results from an acoustical, generally attractive, interaction force between the
bubbles, termed secondary Bjerknes force. To understand this rich two-bubble
dynamics, we couple a recent single-bubble model, accounting for both gas and
monolayer properties with a model quantifying the mutual interaction of bubbles
in their translation and oscillations.
Experiments where optical tweezers are used as a force sensor to measure the
binding force in an antigen-antibody complex at the single molecule level are also
presented. In the future, the possibility of combining optical micromanipulation
with the force-sensing capabilities of optical tweezers will open the way to a new
class of experiments which will give us a deeper insight into fundamental bubble
phenomena and find direct application to new ultrasound-assisted targeting
strategies.XIX Ciclo197
Accelerated discovery of thermoelectric materials::combinatorial facility and high-throughput measurement of thermoelectric power factor
A series of processes have been developed to facilitate the rapid discovery of new promising thermoelectric alloys. A novel combinatorial facility where elements are wire-fed and laser-melted was designed and constructed. Different sample compositions can be achieved by feeding different element wires at specific rates. The composition of all the samples prepared was tested by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Then, their thermoelectric properties (power factor) at room temperature were screened in a specially designed new high-throughput setup. After the screening, the thermoelectric properties can be mapped with the possibility of identifying compositional trends. As a proof-of-concept, a promising thermoelectric ternary system, Al–Fe–Ti, has been identified, demonstrating the capability of this accelerated approach
Dynamic tracking of functional gene modules in treated juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Background
We have previously shown that childhood-onset rheumatic diseases show aberrant patterns of gene expression that reflect pathology-associated co-expression networks. In this study, we used novel computational approaches to examine how disease-associated networks are altered in one of the most common rheumatic diseases of childhood, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
Methods
Using whole blood gene expression profiles derived from children in a pediatric rheumatology clinical trial, we used a network approach to understanding the impact of therapy and the underlying biology of response/non-response to therapy.
Results
We demonstrate that therapy for JIA is associated with extensive re-ordering of gene expression networks, even in children who respond inadequately to therapy. Furthermore, we observe distinct differences in the evolution of specific network properties when we compare children who have been treated successfully with those who have inadequate treatment response.
Conclusions
Despite the inherent noisiness of whole blood gene expression data, our findings demonstrate how therapeutic response might be mapped and understood in pathologically informative cells in a broad range of human inflammatory diseases
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