IMMUNOMODULATORS IN SENESCENT MICE

The suppression of the immune response in senescent animals, including humans, is not complete and may be ameliorated by specific interventions. Previous studies have suggested that the replacement of thymus factors lost with age may rejuvenate senescent immune function. Similarly, exogenous growth hormone has been reported to improve senescent immune function in certain mammals. Other studies with the immunomodulator PSK claim to restore tumor-induced immunosuppression even in aged mice. This project investigated the abilities of thymus supernatant, ovine growth hormone, and PSK to rejuvenate different parameters of the senescent immune response. In the first series of experiments, erythroid depleted bone marrow cells from 3 month and 24 month old CBA (Thy 1.2) mice were given to irradiated ARR (Thy1.1) mice and allowed to repopulate for 30 days. Flow cytometry analysis using x mAb Thy 1.1 and Thy 1.2 revealed that the old bone marrow was deficient in its ability to repopulate the thymus. Subsequent experiments revealed that treatment of the old bone marrow with thymus supernatant, made from neonatal thymus cultures, could restore the thymus repopulating ability of these cells. The second part of this project investigated the reported ability of growth hormone to rejuvenate the age-involuted thymus and senescent immune response. Limited success was achieved using subcutaneous timed-release pellets containing ovine growth hormone. Twenty-four month old mice treated in this manner for 8 weeks demonstrated larger thymuses with nearly normal thymus morphology, i.e. distinct cortical and medullary regions. Various assays of cellular immune function exhibited no improvement. PSK injections every other day injections of 18 month old mice, for one month, resulted in an increase in splenic mass when compared to saline treated age—matched controls. There was no improvement in the thymus morphology or in the cellular immune function of the treated animals

Cultural Resources Survey for the Riverside Drive Improvements Project, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas

This report documents the substantive findings and management recommendations of a cultural resources survey conducted by Integrated Environmental Solutions, LLC (IES) for the proposed Riverside Drive improvements project. The proposed project pertains to the improvement of Riverside Drive from Golden Triangle Boulevard to Keller Hicks Road, in the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. As the project will require compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act through the use of a Nationwide Permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), portions of the project will be subjected to the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended. Additionally, as the City of Fort Worth is a political subdivision of the State of Texas, the project is subject to the provisions of the Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT). The goal of this survey was to locate cultural resources that could be adversely affected by the proposed development, and to provide an evaluation of the eligibility potential of each identified resource for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). This cultural resources survey was conducted on 30 July 2019. All work conformed to 13 Texas Administrative Code 26, which outlines the regulations for implementing the ACT, and was conducted under Antiquities Permit No. 8972. During the survey, no cultural resources were encountered within the APE. No artifacts were collected as part of this survey. All project-related records and field data will be temporarily stored at the IES McKinney office and permanently curated at the Center for Archeological Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio. No further cultural resources investigation or evaluation of the APE is recommended. However, if any cultural resources are encountered during construction, the operators should stop construction activities in the vicinity of the inadvertent discovery, and immediately contact the project cultural resources consultant to initiate coordination with the USACE and Texas Historical Commission (THC) prior to resuming construction activities

Responsibility and excuses

This thesis deals primarily with criminal responsibility, although some of my arguments also apply to responsibility for non-criminal acts,. It can roughly be divided into three parts: (l) a. defense of the practice of holding people responsible for their actions based upon the fact that people are morally responsible for their actions (2) a defense of the practice of holding people responsible for their acts based upon a series of arguments in which I try to show that a society which, retains the practice of holding people responsible for their actions is better than one which replaces this practice with something else; and (3) a defense of the doctrine of mens rea against strict liability and objective liability. In (1) I argue for a version of libertarianism and then I argue that moral responsibility is a sufficient reason for holding people responsible for their actions. This involves a discussion of punishment In (2) I first discuss the arguments of three people who believe that we should do away with the practice of holding people responsible for their actions and replace it with treatment designed to modify people's (especially criminals') behaviour, I argue that to abandon the practice of holding people responsible for their actions would be extremely unwise for a variety of reasons. Among these reasons are considerations of justice, human-rights dignity humane treatment of criminals, and the control of crimes In (3) I carefully compare a legal system which retains the doctrine of mens rea with legal systems which have adopted either strict or objective liability, I argue that considerations of justice and human rights make it imperative that we retain the doctrine of mens rea

Catheter Attachment Device for Prevention of Urinary Tract Infection

Hospital-acquired infections are costly occurrences that cause patients physical discomfort, have dangerous immune consequences, and cost healthcare providers hundreds of millions of dollars every year in liability fees and negligence charges. Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are the most common class of hospital-acquired infection, affecting over half a million patients in U.S. hospitals alone every year.The CAUTI-Guard team has designed a silver-coated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) plug device that helps prevent CAUTI through its action as a physical and chemical block. The device slides along standard urinary catheters and helps block the migration of infectious material into the urethra and subsequently the bladder. Currently, adequate solutions exist to reduce the risk of CAUTI in male patients, but no suitable technologies exist for female patients. CAUTIGuard is specifically designed to prevent CAUTI in female patients by blocking the entry of infectious material into the urinary tract at the macro- and micro-scale. Both a 3D printed hard prototype, PDMS soft prototype, and a PDMS silver coated soft prototype have been produced for testing purposes. Proof-of-concept testing has demonstrated our design’s efficacy in blocking the macro-scale entry of infectious material. Bacterial assays and quantification of antimicrobial properties are ongoing to demonstrate efficacy at the micro-scale.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1074/thumbnail.jp

Archeological Survey for the Port of Victoria U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Easement Disposal, Port of Victoria, Victoria County, Texas

This report documents the substantive findings and management recommendations of an archeological survey conducted by Integrated Environmental Solutions, LLC (IES) in preparation for an easement disposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Galveston District (SWG) within property owned by the Port of Victoria (POV), in Victoria County, Texas. An archeological survey was requested by the USACE as part of the overall National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Categorical Exclusion documentation process, which subsequently required compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Additionally, as the POV is a political subdivision of the State of Texas, the project is subject to the provisions of the Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT). Although no ground disturbing activities are included in this undertaking, the POV seeks to conduct coordination with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) for the easement disposal areas to facilitate future development of the property. To satisfy USACE-SWG and THC requirements for the easement disposal, IES conducted an archeological inventory of the easement disposal tracts. The proposed easement disposal tracts are located adjacent to the Pickering Basin near the northern terminus of the Victoria Barge Canal, in southern Victoria County, Texas. The project area or Area of Potential Effects (APE) encompasses the proposed easement disposal area, consisting of five tracts totaling 193.34 acres (ac). The goal of this survey was to locate archeological sites that could be adversely affected by the proposed and anticipated development, and to provide an evaluation of the eligibility potential of each identified resource for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). This survey was conducted between 09 and 13 September 2019. All work conformed to 36 Code of Federal Regulations 800.4 and 13 Texas Administrative Code 26, which outlines the regulations for implementing Section 106 of the NHPA and the ACT, respectively, and was conducted under Antiquities Permit No. 9048. During this survey, backhoe trenching was conducted within a 78-ac portion of the APE. Pedestrian transect survey and systematic shovel testing was conducted within a 12-ac portion of the APE. The remaining 103.34-ac portion of the APE has experienced extensive previous disturbance due to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Victoria Barge Canal and its associated facilities. No archeological sites were encountered within the APE during this survey. No artifacts were collected during this survey. All project-related records will be temporarily stored at the IES McKinney office and permanently curated at the Museum of the Coastal Bend in Victoria, Texas. No further archeological investigation or evaluation of the APE is recommended. However, if any archeological resources are encountered during construction, the operators should stop construction activities, and immediately contact the project environmental representative to initiate coordination with the USACE-SWG Regulatory Archeologist and the THC prior to resuming any construction activities in the vicinity of the inadvertent discovery

Cultural Resources Survey of the Sparks Drive Valley Storage Project, City of Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas

This report documents the substantive findings and management recommendations of a cultural resources survey conducted by Integrated Environmental Solutions, LLC (IES) for the Sparks Drive Valley Storage Project in the City of Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas. The project area or Area of Potential Effects (APE) encompasses approximately 14 acres (ac). As the project will require compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act through the use of a Nationwide Permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), portions of the project will be subjected to the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended. Additionally, the City of Cleburne is a political subdivision of the State of Texas. Therefore, the project is also subject to the provisions of the Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT). The goal of this survey was to locate, identify, and document any cultural resources, which included architectural and archeological resources, that could be adversely affected by the proposed development, and to provide an evaluation of the eligibility potential of each identified resource for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). This cultural resources survey was conducted on 01 August 2019. All work conformed to 13 Texas Administrative Code 26, which outlines the regulations for implementing the ACT, and was conducted under Antiquities Permit No. 8993. During the survey, no cultural resources were documented within the 14-ac APE. No artifacts were collected during this survey. All field and project-related records will be temporarily stored at the IES McKinney office and permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Based on the results of this survey, no additional cultural resources investigations or evaluation of the APE is recommended. It is the recommendation of IES that the State Historic Preservation Officer, represented by the Texas Historical Commission, concur with these findings. However, if any cultural resources are encountered during construction, the operators should cease work immediately in that area and contact the project cultural resources consultant to initiate coordination with the THC and USACE prior to resuming any construction activities in the vicinity of the inadvertent discovery

Cultural Resources Survey of the City of Hutto Transmission and Distribution Pumping Stations Phase I Project, City of Hutto, Williamson County, Texas

This report documents the substantive findings and management recommendations of a cultural resource inventory conducted by Integrated Environmental Solutions, LLC (IES) for the City of Hutto (COH) Transmission and Distribution Pumping Stations Phase I Project in the City of Hutto, Williamson County, Texas. As the COH is a political subdivision of the State of Texas, the COH is required to comply with the Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT). The goal of the survey was to locate, identify, and assess any cultural resources, which include standing buildings/structures and archeological sites that could be adversely affected by the proposed development, and to evaluate such resources for their potential eligibility for listing as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL) or eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The cultural resources inventory was conducted by Project Archeologist Anne Gibson and Archeological Field Technician Will Clow on 03 and 04 March 2020, under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 9196. The Area of Potential Effects (APE) encompasses approximately 6.63 acres (ac) and is comprised of three distinct APE areas. The Frame Switch Pumping Station (PS) is 1.2 ac in size and is located approximately 900 feet (ft) south of the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road (FM) 3349 and U.S. Highway (US) 79 midway between the City of Hutto and the City of Taylor. The Inline PS is 4.05 ac in size and is located southwest of the intersection of FM 112 and Williamson County Road (CR) 432. The Shiloh PS is 1.38 ac in size and is located approximately 1,700 ft southwest of the intersection of FM 481 and 482. During the survey, a newly-recorded, historic-period site (41WM1419) was documented within the APE. Based on the lack of association with historically-important individuals or events, absence of significant architectural features, the degree of prior disturbance, and lack of contextual integrity, site 41WM1419 is recommended as not eligible for listing in the NRHP or designation as SALs. In addition, four historic-age architectural resources were identified within the indirect APE during this survey. All records will be temporarily curated at the IES McKinney office and permanently curated at the Center for Archeological Research (CAR) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). No further work is warranted. However, if any cultural resources, other than those documented within this report, are unearthed during construction, the operators should stop construction activities, and immediately contact the project environmental representative to initiate coordination with the THC prior to resuming any construction activities