Spectrofluorometric Quantification of Optical Brighteners in Ambient Water

A spectrofluorometric method was established and used to detect and quantify optical brighteners (OB) in ambient water samples. Optical brighteners are added to products such as laundry soaps, detergents, and cleaning agents for the purpose of making the fabric appear brighter after washing. Because a large fraction of OBs are discharged into wastewater, they are ideal for use as indicators of failing septic systems, sewage leaks, or lack of wastewater treatment. The method described here uses moderately priced equipment to provide rapid and accurate detection of minute levels of contamination. Standard curves were prepared with disodium diaminostilbene disulfonate solutions ranging in concentration from 0.3 ppm to 70 ppm. Linear plots with R2 values of ≥ 0.987 were obtained for the standard curves, which were then used to determine the concentration of optical brighteners in water samples

Do Corporations & Unions Face the Same Rules for Political Spending?

Corporations and unions face very different rules and requirements for their political spending. Labor unions must publicly disclose their political spending and, in some instances, face restrictions about seeking consent from their stakeholders before using political funds. Corporations do not face the same requirements. After Citizens United, there are many avenues through which corporations can spend money in politics without disclosing their financial support for particular candidates or causes. And corporations are not required to seek approval from their stakeholders -- in fact, shareholders don't even have the right under federal law to know if and how a company is spending money in politics.This paper highlights the differences and broad implications of rules governing political spending by corporations and unions. It recommends Congress adopt a comprehensive disclosure regime like the DISCLOSE Act and the SEC meet its responsibility to update disclosure laws for corporate political spending in the wake of Citizens United

Partisanship Has a Price: Citizens United and Political Partisanship in the US House of Representatives

This study aimed to determine whether or not a correlation between independent expenditure levels and political partisanship in the US House of Representatives exists, using the Congressional sessions from before and after the Citizens United decision to determine if the decision had any effect on political partisanship. Multiple factors were tested to determine levels of correlation and to adjust for any potential exasperating factors. The study concluded that a very strong correlation exists between aggregate levels of independent expenditures and distance between average levels of partisanship for the parties. However, no causal relationship could be established from the data alone, though the causal mechanism was hypothesized for further research

Precision Medicine and Novel Therapeutic Strategies in Detection and Treatment of Cancer: Highlights from the 58th IACR Annual Conference

Innovation in both detection and treatment of cancer is necessary for the constant improvement in therapeutic strategies, especially in patients with novel or resistant variants of cancer. Cancer mortality rates have declined by almost 30% since 1991, however, depending on the cancer type, acquired resistance can occur to varying degrees. To combat this, researchers are looking towards advancing our understanding of cancer biology, in order to inform early detection, and guide novel therapeutic approaches. Through combination of these approaches, it is believed that a more complete and thorough intervention on cancer can be achieved. Here, we will discuss the advances and approaches in both detection and treatment of cancer, presented at the 58th Irish Association for Cancer Research (IACR) annual conference

Simulating Drug-Eluting Stents: Progress Made and the Way Forward

Drug-eluting stents have significantly improved the treatment of coronary artery disease. Compared with their bare metal predecessors, they offer reduced rates of restenosis and thus represent the current gold standard in percutaneous coronary interventions. Drug-eluting stents have been around for over a decade, and while progress is continually being made, they are not suitable in all patients and lesion types. Furthermore there are still real concerns over incomplete healing and late stent thrombosis. In this paper, some modelling approaches are reviewed and the future of modelling and simulation in this field is discussed