Assembly of BioBrick standard biological parts using three antibiotic assembly

This is a revised personal version of the text of the final journal article available via DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-385120-8.00013-9An underlying goal of synthetic biology is to make the process of engineering biological systems easier and more reliable. In support of this goal, we developed BioBrick assembly standard 10 to enable the construction of systems from standardized genetic parts. The BioBrick standard underpins the distributed efforts by the synthetic biology research community to develop a collection of more than 6000 standard genetic parts available from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Here, we describe the three antibiotic assembly method for physical composition of BioBrick parts and provide step-by-step protocols. The method relies on a combination of positive and negative selection to eliminate time- and labor-intensive steps such as column cleanup and agarose gel purification of DNA during part assembly

Working with Children with Learning Disabilities and/or who Communicate Non-verbally: Research experiences and their implications for social work education, increased participation and social inclusion

Social exclusion, although much debated in the UK, frequently focuses on children as a key 'at risk' group. However, some groups, such as disabled children, receive less consideration. Similarly, despite both UK and international policy and guidance encouraging the involvement of disabled children and their right to participate in decision-making arenas, they are frequently denied this right. UK based evidence suggests that disabled children's participation lags behind that of their non-disabled peers, often due to social work practitioners' lack of skills, expertise and knowledge on how to facilitate participation. The exclusion of disabled children from decision-making in social care processes echoes their exclusion from participation in society. This paper seeks to begin to address this situation, and to provide some examples of tools that social work educators can introduce into pre- and post-qualifying training programmes, as well as in-service training. The paper draws on the experiences of researchers using non-traditional qualitative research methods, especially non-verbal methods, and describes two research projects, focusing on the methods employed to communicate with and involve disabled children, the barriers encountered and lessons learnt. Some of the ways in which these methods of communication can inform social work education are explored alongside wider issues of how and if increased communication can facilitate greater social inclusion

Pain and quality of life in youth with inflammatory bowel disease: The role of parent and youth perspectives on family functioning

Introduction: Daily pain experiences are a common feature of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which can negatively influence their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). A holistic, family systems approach is needed to further our understanding of daily pain experiences in youth with IBD and their influence on youth’s HRQOL. Objectives: The study’s objectives were to 1) provide a detailed description of daily pain experiences in youth with IBD, 2) investigate the relative contribution of family functioning and pain in explaining youth’s HRQOL, and 3) explore differences in parental and youth perspectives. Methods: Sixty youth with IBD (8-17years) and a parent completed questionnaires to assess family functioning, HRQOL and pain experiences within the past week. A subsample of 16 youth completed an online diary (7 days) about their pain experiences. Results: When including any pain experiences, higher youth-reported family satisfaction and lower pain intensity were related to better HRQOL, while higher parent-reported family cohesion and satisfaction indirectly related to youth HRQOL via lower pain intensity. When only accounting for abdominal pain, pain intensity related negatively with HRQOL, and only parent-reported cohesion showed an indirect relation with HRQOL via pain intensity. Diary data revealed large heterogeneity: abdominal pain, described as cramping, sharp, and/or stinging was most frequent, but other pain symptoms (e.g. back pain, headache) often co-occured. Conclusion: The findings provide a rich picture of the daily pain experiences of youth with IBD and underscore the importance of a family systems approach to understand how family functioning and pain symptoms influence HRQOL

Displaced but not replaced: the impact of e-learning on academic identities in higher education.

Challenges facing universities are leading many to implement institutional strategies to incorporate e-learning rather than leaving its adoption up to enthusiastic individuals. Although there is growing understanding about the impact of e-learning on the student experience, there is less understanding of academics’ perceptions of e-learning and its impact on their identities. This paper explores the changing nature of academic identities revealed through case study research into the implementation of e-learning at one UK university. By providing insight into the lived experiences of academics in a university in which technology is not only transforming access to knowledge but also influencing the balance of power between academic and student in knowledge production and use, it is suggested that academics may experience a jolt to their ‘trajectory of self’ when engaging with e-learning. The potential for e-learning to prompt loss of teacher presence and displacement as knowledge expert may appear to undermine the ontological security of their academic identity

Detection of Crab Giant Pulses Using the Mileura Widefield Array Low Frequency Demonstrator Field Prototype System

We report on the detection of giant pulses from the Crab Nebula pulsar at a frequency of 200 MHz using the field deployment system designed for the Mileura Widefield Array's Low Frequency Demonstrator (MWA-LFD). Our observations are among the first high-quality detections at such low frequencies. The measured pulse shapes are deconvolved for interstellar pulse broadening, yielding a pulse-broadening time of 670 ± 100 μs, and the implied strength of scattering (scattering measure) is the lowest that is estimated toward the Crab Nebula from observations made so far. The sensitivity of the system is largely dictated by the sky background, and our simple equipment is capable of detecting pulses that are brighter than ∼9 kJy in amplitude. The brightest giant pulse detected in our data has a peak amplitude of ∼50 kJy, and the implied brightness temperature is 10 31.6 K. We discuss the giant pulse detection prospects with the full MWA-LFD system. With a sensitivity over 2 orders of magnitude larger than the prototype equipment, the full system will be capable of detecting such bright giant pulses out to a wide range of Galactic distances; from ∼ 15 to ∼30 kpc depending on the frequency. The MWA-LFD will thus be a highly promising instrument for the studies of giant pulses and other fast radio transients at low frequencies

Incorporation of Cobalt-Cyclen Complexes into Templated Nanogels Results in Enhanced Activity

European Commission. Grant Numbers: MCRTN-2006-033873, MCIAPP-2009-25130

Severe consequences of habitat fragmentation on genetic diversity of an endangered Australian freshwater fish: A call for assisted gene flow

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Genetic diversity underpins the ability of populations to persist and adapt to environmental changes. Substantial empirical data show that genetic diversity rapidly deteriorates in small and isolated populations due to genetic drift, leading to reduction in adaptive potential and fitness and increase in inbreeding. Assisted gene flow (e.g. via translocations) can reverse these trends, but lack of data on fitness loss and fear of impairing population “uniqueness” often prevents managers from acting. Here, we use population genetic and riverscape genetic analyses and simulations to explore the consequences of extensive habitat loss and fragmentation on population genetic diversity and future population trajectories of an endangered Australian freshwater fish, Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica. Using guidelines to assess the risk of outbreeding depression under admixture, we develop recommendations for population management, identify populations requiring genetic rescue and/or genetic restoration and potential donor sources. We found that most remaining populations of Macquarie perch have low genetic diversity, and effective population sizes below the threshold required to retain adaptive potential. Our simulations showed that under management inaction, smaller populations of Macquarie perch will face inbreeding depression within a few decades, but regular small-scale translocations will rapidly rescue populations from inbreeding depression and increase adaptive potential through genetic restoration. Despite the lack of data on fitness loss, based on our genetic data for Macquarie perch populations, simulations and empirical results from other systems, we recommend regular and frequent translocations among remnant populations within catchments. These translocations will emulate the effect of historical gene flow and improve population persistence through decrease in demographic and genetic stochasticity. Increasing population genetic connectivity within each catchment will help to maintain large effective population sizes and maximize species adaptive potential. The approach proposed here could be readily applicable to genetic management of other threatened species to improve their adaptive potential

Functional and genetic analysis of regulatory regions of coliphage H-19B: location of shiga-like toxin and lysis genes suggest a role for phage functions in toxin release

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74784/1/j.1365-2958.1998.00890.x.pd