Prospectus, August 25, 1980

FALL IN ; Senate to hold elections; Ready or not…; President Staerkel welcomes students; U of I ROTC courses available to Parkland College students; Mexico -- A Land of Contrast; Dates to Live By; Parkland choral music has new conductor, big plans; Classes offered at Monticello, Lincoln schools; Courses offered to music lovers; Outlook optimistic for baseball; Women\u27s fast pitch softball meeting to be held Thursday; Fall tryouts for baseball; Fall Sports Schedules; Summer sports in review...; V-ballers face tough schedule, meeting and tryouts Tuesdayhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1980/1024/thumbnail.jp

Prospectus, October 22, 1980

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS CELEBRATE TODAY; Letters to the Editors: Student has questions for Schumacher, Co-editor apologizes to runners, Student supports Schumacher\u27s view; PACT discusses day care; Food, beer, fun planned for Oktoberfest; Seniors to tour Parkland next week; Stories of America will be presented October 29-Nov 1; Two-hundred help celebrate: Parkland students celebrate International Students Day today; State rep. candidates express their views; PC drama department presents its fall production; PC offers Pharmacy Technician program; Fall means football... and football means Homecoming; Handle your $$ properly; Learn to take care of you car: enroll in PC\u27s car care course; Leardship is not shout, flout, and clout; Compunds from marine animals could cure cancer; U of I\u27s John Dickel will talk; Reaching Out ; Jeff Beck gives a hot, jazzy show; Marcel Marceau: the Master isn\u27t up to par; IM football winds down: teams available for volleyball, b-ball; Career center needs guides; X-country third in invitational; PC to offer EMT refresher; Arts showcase scheduled for next week; PC Datebook; Cobras can tie for championship; Freddy\u27s record looking better; Bench Warmer: Women\u27s b-ball team looking for balance; Fast Freddy Contesthttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1980/1016/thumbnail.jp

FTIR and FT-Raman Spectroscopic Study on Polymer Based High Pressure Digestion Vessels

Surface corrosion of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) based microwave digestion vessels was monitored by reflection FTIR and FT-Raman techniques. Samples were taken from digestion vessels after 0 (new), 50, 100, and 200 digestion cycles of milk powder. The spectrum of the new (unused) sample was subtracted from the spectra of used vessels in order to identify small differences, e.g., surface degradation or modification, between the samples. The new IR features of CF2 and CF3 groups for PTFE samples at 1197, 1139, and 642 cm–1 refer to surface modification (degradation) of the polymer chain. Special surface species, such as aliphatic hydrocarbons, inorganic nitrates and FNO3, were identified. The Raman spectra of PTFE samples also showed formation of new CF3 groups, indicating that the polymer chain (or side chain) was changed (shortened) after different cycles

Prospectus, November 12, 1980

WINTERTIME CAN MEAN MUCH MORE THAN SNOWDRIFTS AND STUCK CARS; Letter to the editor: Scott apologizes, Student services looking to fill positions; Cancer Society Challenge: Can you quit for a day?; Parkland Bookstore stocked with all kinds of goodies for Christmas; Burnham has new tape on Toxic Shock; Reaching Out Series discusses violence; C-U Community Theatre moves to PC; Spring Semester Course Reservation set for November 17-December 2; Classifieds; Did You Know That...?; PACT to present Talking with Children About Death ; Student inaction reflects lack of self-interest; On The Cover: Winter--skiing, warm fires, cool drinks, and good friends; Barry Manilow awes crowd of all kinds; Commodores will prove to C-U audience they shouldn\u27t be taken for granted; Dirty Weekend describes Van Halen to a tee; PCFers hear Creation vs. Evolution ; Snyder to appear as Women\u27s Movement leader; NFC Central up for grabs; U of I gymnastics team faces Japan All-Stars; Pi Sigma Iota to sponsor road rally; PC to host Chautauqua short courses; Spikers end season; Fast Freddy Contest; Naturals upset Swags in IM final game; Look out! this week is the toughest; Cobras face Lincoln in rare morning game; Cobras basketball: \u27You won\u27t get bored\u27https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1980/1013/thumbnail.jp

Strengthening Public Health in Wisconsin Through the Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network

The Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is a partnership of 138 clinical and public health laboratories (as of February 2019) coordinated by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. This article describes the WCLN, its current activities, and lessons learned through this partnership. A laboratory technical advisory group, which consists of representatives from clinical laboratories, provides clinical laboratory perspective to the WCLN and fosters communication among laboratories. Activities and resources available through the WCLN include annual regional meetings, annual technical workshops, webinars, an email listserv, laboratory informational messages, in-person visits by a WCLN coordinator to clinical laboratories, and laboratory-based surveillance data and summaries distributed by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. One challenge to maintaining the WCLN is securing continual funding for network activities. Key lessons learned from this partnership of more than 20 years include the importance of in-person meetings, the clinical perspective of the laboratory technical advisory group, and providing activities and resources to clinical laboratories to foster sharing of data and clinical specimens for public health surveillance and outbreak response

Aptamer-based multiplexed proteomic technology for biomarker discovery

Interrogation of the human proteome in a highly multiplexed and efficient manner remains a coveted and challenging goal in biology. We present a new aptamer-based proteomic technology for biomarker discovery capable of simultaneously measuring thousands of proteins from small sample volumes (15 [mu]L of serum or plasma). Our current assay allows us to measure ~800 proteins with very low limits of detection (1 pM average), 7 logs of overall dynamic range, and 5% average coefficient of variation. This technology is enabled by a new generation of aptamers that contain chemically modified nucleotides, which greatly expand the physicochemical diversity of the large randomized nucleic acid libraries from which the aptamers are selected. Proteins in complex matrices such as plasma are measured with a process that transforms a signature of protein concentrations into a corresponding DNA aptamer concentration signature, which is then quantified with a DNA microarray. In essence, our assay takes advantage of the dual nature of aptamers as both folded binding entities with defined shapes and unique sequences recognizable by specific hybridization probes. To demonstrate the utility of our proteomics biomarker discovery technology, we applied it to a clinical study of chronic kidney disease (CKD). We identified two well known CKD biomarkers as well as an additional 58 potential CKD biomarkers. These results demonstrate the potential utility of our technology to discover unique protein signatures characteristic of various disease states. More generally, we describe a versatile and powerful tool that allows large-scale comparison of proteome profiles among discrete populations. This unbiased and highly multiplexed search engine will enable the discovery of novel biomarkers in a manner that is unencumbered by our incomplete knowledge of biology, thereby helping to advance the next generation of evidence-based medicine

Ethological principles predict the neuropeptides co-opted to influence parenting

Ethologists predicted that parental care evolves by modifying behavioural precursors in the asocial ancestor. As a corollary, we predict that the evolved mechanistic changes reside in genetic pathways underlying these traits. Here we test our hypothesis in female burying beetles, Nicrophorus vespilloides, an insect where caring adults regurgitate food to begging, dependent offspring. We quantify neuropeptide abundance in brains collected from three behavioural states: solitary virgins, individuals actively parenting or post-parenting solitary adults and quantify 133 peptides belonging to 18 neuropeptides. Eight neuropeptides differ in abundance in one or more states, with increased abundance during parenting in seven. None of these eight neuropeptides have been associated with parental care previously, but all have roles in predicted behavioural precursors for parenting. Our study supports the hypothesis that predictable traits and pathways are targets of selection during the evolution of parenting and suggests additional candidate neuropeptides to study in the context of parenting

Genome of Rhodnius prolixus, an insect vector of Chagas disease, reveals unique adaptations to hematophagy and parasite infection

Rhodnius prolixus not only has served as a model organism for the study of insect physiology, but also is a major vector of Chagas disease, an illness that affects approximately seven million people worldwide. We sequenced the genome of R. prolixus, generated assembled sequences covering 95% of the genome ( approximately 702 Mb), including 15,456 putative protein-coding genes, and completed comprehensive genomic analyses of this obligate blood-feeding insect. Although immune-deficiency (IMD)-mediated immune responses were observed, R. prolixus putatively lacks key components of the IMD pathway, suggesting a reorganization of the canonical immune signaling network. Although both Toll and IMD effectors controlled intestinal microbiota, neither affected Trypanosoma cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas disease, implying the existence of evasion or tolerance mechanisms. R. prolixus has experienced an extensive loss of selenoprotein genes, with its repertoire reduced to only two proteins, one of which is a selenocysteine-based glutathione peroxidase, the first found in insects. The genome contained actively transcribed, horizontally transferred genes from Wolbachia sp., which showed evidence of codon use evolution toward the insect use pattern. Comparative protein analyses revealed many lineage-specific expansions and putative gene absences in R. prolixus, including tandem expansions of genes related to chemoreception, feeding, and digestion that possibly contributed to the evolution of a blood-feeding lifestyle. The genome assembly and these associated analyses provide critical information on the physiology and evolution of this important vector species and should be instrumental for the development of innovative disease control methods

Repurposing the orphan drug nitisinone to control the transmission of African trypanosomiasis

Tsetse transmit African trypanosomiasis, which is a disease fatal to both humans and animals. A vaccine to protect against this disease does not exist so transmission control relies on eliminating tsetse populations. Although neurotoxic insecticides are the gold standard for insect control, they negatively impact the environment and reduce populations of insect pollinator species. Here we present a promising, environment-friendly alternative to current insecticides that targets the insect tyrosine metabolism pathway. A bloodmeal contains high levels of tyrosine, which is toxic to haematophagous insects if it is not degraded and eliminated. RNA interference (RNAi) of either the first two enzymes in the tyrosine degradation pathway (tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)) was lethal to tsetse. Furthermore, nitisinone (NTBC), an FDA-approved tyrosine catabolism inhibitor, killed tsetse regardless if the drug was orally or topically applied. However, oral administration of NTBC to bumblebees did not affect their survival. Using a novel mathematical model, we show that NTBC could reduce the transmission of African trypanosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa, thus accelerating current disease elimination programmes