Evaluation of two NASA biological isolation garments

Biological isolation garments for spacemen returning from lunar flights to prevent contamination from potential lunar microorganisms - evaluation test

Development and validation of an ELISA to detect antibodies to Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis in ovine sera

Several enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed for the detection of antibodies to Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, the causative agent of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA). However, none are commercially available in the UK. It was therefore necessary to develop a new, economic ELISA for use in a research project studying the epidemiology of CLA in UK sheep. The ELISA with its diagnostic qualities is presented. The ELISA was developed using sonicated C. pseudotuberculosis and optimised to detect total antibody or IgG class antibody in serum. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were obtained and the area under the ROC curve was used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the two ELISAs. Both versions of the ELISA were evaluated on a panel of 150 positive reference sera and 103 negative reference sera. Using the test at 100% specificity, the sensitivity of detection of total antibody was 71% (95% confidence interval 63-78%), and the 2 sensitivity of detection of IgG antibody to C. pseudotuberculosis was 83% (76-89%), which compares favourably with other reported ELISA tests for CLA in sheep. The sensitivity of the IgG antibody assay may be higher because of the greater affinity of IgG class antibodies compared with the IgM antibodies also detected by the total antibody ELISA. The results of ROC analysis indicated that the IgG isotype ELISA was more accurate than the total antibody ELISA. The efficiency of the test was greatest when serum samples were run in a dilution series than when any single serum dilution was used. The ELISA is considered to be suitable for application in field studies of CLA in UK sheep

Writing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning articles for peer-reviewed journals

There are many general books and articles on publishing in peer-reviewed journals, but few specifically address issues around writing for journals focused on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). One of the challenges of beginning to write about teaching and learning is that most scholars have become interested in exploring these issues in higher education alongside their disciplinary interests and have to grapple with a new literature and sometimes unfamiliar methods and genres, as well. Hence, for many, as they write about their projects, they are simultaneously forging their identities as scholars of teaching and learning. We discuss the process of producing four types of SoTL-focused writing for peer-reviewed journals: empirical research articles, conceptual articles, reflective essays, and opinion pieces. Our goal is to support both new and experienced scholars of teaching and teaching— faculty/academics, professional staff, and students—as they nurture and further develop their voices and their identities as scholars of teaching and learning and strive to contribute to the enhancement of learning and teaching in higher education. We pose three related sets of overarching questions for consideration when writing about teaching and learning for peer-reviewed journals and offer heuristic frameworks for publishing in the four specific writing genres listed above. We also discuss how to get started with writing, preparing to submit, and responding to reviewers, focusing on the importance of contributing to and creating scholarly conversations about teaching and learning. Finally, using the metaphor of being in conversation, we argue that writing is a values-based process that contributes to the identity formation of scholars of teaching and learning and their sense of belonging within the SoTL discourse community

WLAP the Web Lecture Archive Project: The Development of a Web-Based Archive of Lectures, Tutorials, Meetings and Events at CERN and at the University of Michigan

This paper summarizes the results of a project to develop an electronic repository of "content-rich" lectures, talks, and training activities on the World-Wide Web. The work was carried out from July 1999 to July 2001 by a collaboration consisting of the University of Michigan ATLAS Collaboratory Project, the University of Michigan Media Union, the CERN HR Division, supported by the CERN IT and ETT Divisions and the CERN Academic and Summer Student Programs. In this document, we describe the software application chosen to synchronize the slide presentations to the video recordings, provide technical solutions to the various recording and archival challenges encountered during the project, and propose a set of research and development issues we feel merit further investigation. We also present the concept of a "Lecture Object" and suggest the adoption of standards so that lectures at multiple institutes can be seamlessly shared and incorporated into federated databases world-wide

Diverse human extracellular RNAs are widely detected in human plasma

There is growing appreciation for the importance of non-protein-coding genes in development and disease. Although much is known about microRNAs, limitations in bioinformatic analyses of RNA sequencing have precluded broad assessment of other forms of small-RNAs in humans. By analysing sequencing data from plasma-derived RNA from 40 individuals, here we identified over a thousand human extracellular RNAs including microRNAs, piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA), and small nucleolar RNAs. Using a targeted quantitative PCR with reverse transcription approach in an additional 2,763 individuals, we characterized almost 500 of the most abundant extracellular transcripts including microRNAs, piRNAs and small nucleolar RNAs. The presence in plasma of many non-microRNA small-RNAs was confirmed in an independent cohort. We present comprehensive data to demonstrate the broad and consistent detection of diverse classes of circulating non-cellular small-RNAs from a large population