Isolating and Sequencing Genes Coding for Metal-Reducing Enzymes in Shewanella algae, BrY

The Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) Program focuses on efficiently managing and reducing contamination of soil and groundwater by heavy metals and nuclear materials at Department of Energy (DOE) sites across the United States. In an effort to learn how to use microbes to accomplish this goal, four genes that code for metal-reducing enzymes expressed by the soil bacterium Shewanella algae, strain BrY are being sequenced. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is used to amplify the genes of interest, and the PCR products are purified by cloning and sent to the University of Chicago for sequencing. So far, partial sequences of two genes have been obtained. Once the complete sequences of all four genes have been obtained, the research will focus on the characterization of the metal-reducing enzymes themselves

Urban Dreams and Agrarian Renovations: Examining the Politics and Practices of Peri-urban Land Conversion in Hanoi, Vietnam

In Mễ Trì village on the Western peri-urban edge of Hanoi, Vietnam, landless rice farmers no longer tend to rice paddy fields. Instead, many have converted 40 square meters of their residential space into a small factory for producing an artisanal rice product called cốm (young rice). This small village-based industry has garnered national demand for the product, drawing the attention of central policymakers who want to preserve the craft as a cultural relic of Hanoi. But without land to cultivate the rice inputs, young rice production is largely driven by the outsourcing of grains, the use of inventive new machinery, and most notably, widespread sentiments of pride and passion in the village craft. Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Mễ Trì village between July 2017 and December 2018, this dissertation examines the assemblages of rural-urban spaces that emerge out of the convergence of mega-city master plans, foreign investment, heritage preservation, and the everyday livelihood practices of those living and working in the changing urban fringe. It attends to competing discourses on Vietnam’s rural spaces as well as the dialogic practices between state actors and local cốm producers, which have allowed agrarian traditions to re-emerge amidst urban development. In this dissertation, I argue that Mễ Trì’s practices of adaptation through craft production demonstrate a politics of resilience, which has both material and symbolic implications. Craft production not only provides people with a transitional livelihood in their post-agrarian landscape, but it has also served as an important cultural tool and resource that villagers use in finding and cultivating meaningful identities amidst society’s contemporary urban-oriented shifts. Stories about Mễ Trì’s acts of resilience through cốm production narrate the lived experiences of land use and social transformation of a village that lies, both empirically as well as conceptually, at the tenuous intersection between a capital mega-city’s dual projects of urban civilization (văn minh đô thị) and “heritage” protection. In doing so, it provides an ethnographic insight into the shifting but continually significant place of agrarian-based cultures and livelihoods in shaping the broader processes of urban-oriented economic and land use change in Hanoi, with implications for other Asian contexts

Tips to Ensure Impact: Best Practices in Sharing Data with Funders and Foundations

Best practices in sharing data with funders and foundations Breakout Session

Spatial Variation of Bacterial Communities on the Leaves of a Southern Magnolia Tree

The leaf surface, or phylloplane, is a dynamic environment for its microbial inhabitants, which can be subjected to many environmental factors. Existing phylloplane studies have focused on differences in bacterial community structure between trees of the same species, in different geographical locations, or between trees of different species. Few studies have examined the spatial distribution of bacterial communities on the leaves of a single tree. In this study, leaf samples from different areas of the canopy were obtained from a single Magnolia grandiflora tree. Samples were taken from the high (3.5-4.0 m above the ground), middle (1.5 m), inner middle (1.5 m but close to the trunk), and low (0.5 m) portions of the tree canopy, following cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Following DNA extraction procedures, dual index barcoding was used to sequence the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Phylloplane communities were dominated by Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, which are common inhabitants of plants. Patterns in alpha and beta diversity suggested that the height from which the sample was taken had a strong influence on the shaping of communities, while cardinal direction was not a significant predictor of diversity. Interestingly, the inner leaves of the canopy had higher species abundance than the leaves on the outside of the canopy, which could suggest that the surrounding canopy protects the inner leaves from ultraviolent light, desiccation, or other factors that may limit bacterial growth

Omental Infarction: A Rare Cause of Abdominal pain

Omental infarction is a rare cause of acute abdomen pain first described by Eitel in 1899 and has been described in the literature with total numbers ranging from 250-400 worldwide with many coming from individual case reports. Risk factors for developing omental infarction are thought to be obesity, trauma, intense exercise or secondary to torsion from adhesions. Historically, the diagnosis of omental infarction was made incidentally in the operating room for patients with an acute abdomen with a different suspected diagnosis. Most often being appendicitis with associated right lower quadrant abdominal pain and smaller subset from suspected diverticulitis and cholecystitis in the left lower and right upper quadrants respectively. The increasing availability of high-resolution CT scans of the abdomen/pelvis has led to increased reports of omental infarction as a cause for an acute abdomen in the literature. In this case report we present a case of idiopathic omental infarction found in a 28-year-old male who presented with left lower quadrant abdominal pain who was managed with conservative treatment. I will also discuss the recommended treatment guidelines based on the limited data in the literature many of which are from case reports and a recently published systematic review

Development of a System for Analysing Method Names in Java Source Code

Naming code can seem like a simple task, however finding a good name can be rather challenging. Entity names should be consistent and brief yet comprehensive when representing the information each entity hold. What is considered a good name can be highly debatable, although it usually involves descriptive names that can contribute to readability and comprehensibility of source code. Bad code names can cause uncertainty, potential future bugs and be misleading. For this reason, the task of naming code is vital, hence there is a need of a system to improve and maintain it. To develop such a system, there are requirements required to be specified to define the expected implementation for certain entity names. These requirements are encoded into software in a domain-specific language, granting executable code to be generated from the expressed requirements. As a result, this name analysis tool provides programmers to perform code analysis on Java source code checking if the entities act in accordance with the requirements of their names. Additionally, the result shows insights of how contributions from linguistics can be valuable for software development and can be used to analyse software languages, such as entity names.Masteroppgave i informatikkINF399MAMN-PROGMAMN-IN

Introduction

Introduction to volume 6 of Macalester College\u27s journal Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Struck By Lightning Twice

INTRODUCTION: ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV) refer to a group of disorders causing inflammation of small vessels which include granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA, Churg-Strauss). Here I present a case of MPA vasculitis in a patient with alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, and describe a proposed causal link between these two rare disease processes. CASE REPORT: • 43-year-old man with history of newly-diagnosed AAT deficiency liver disease. • Chief complaint of subacute shortness of breath associated with hemoptysis and fever for 5 months. • Symptoms had been progressively worsening despite multiple courses of antibiotics and inhalers. • Pulmonary CT angiogram (CTPA) was negative for pulmonary embolism but showed “multifocal pulmonary infiltrates for whichpneumonia andseptic emboli could not be excluded”. • Infectious workup negative. • Positive myeloperoxidase (MPO) antibodies and findings on thoracoscopic lung biopsy most consistent with MPA. • Managed with steroids and rituximab. DISCUSSION: • AAT is an acute-phase protein that inhibits the serine proteases of inflammatory cells, including proteinase 3 (PR3), to protect tissues from damage. •Mutations in the AAT-encoding gene SERPINA1 result in a structural change in AAT that inhibits its release into the bloodstream, leading to higher levels of proteases in the blood that can then cause excessive tissue damage. •Because increased levels of PR3 is a major component in the pathogenesis of ANCA vasculitis, a causal link between AAT deficiency and ANCA vasculitis has been proposed. There are many case reports describing this association, but the level of detail is variable based on the tests available at the time of the report. •Even though ANCA vasculitis is relatively rare, it is worth considering and pushed closer to the top of the differential list when a concurrent history of AAT deficiency is present.https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/psv_internal/1009/thumbnail.jp

Koe Koe Tech: Nursing Training Modules

These Nursing Training Modules were created so that Koe Koe Tech’s Marketing Team may help ANC effectively reach a larger population of nurses throughout Myanmar. These training modules consist of PowerPoint slides and key talking points, which have been approved by Misja and ANC. The slides have screenshots of the maymay app which line up with ANC’s usual speech, and due to the succinct layout of the talking points, Koe Koe Tech can have confidence that the team will completely cover everything of importance