crisscrossing Science Episode 026: The Eclipse Is Coming, Baby!

In this episode, Chris Gaiser (professor of biology at Linfield College) and Mike Crosser (professor of physics at Linfield College) talk about solar and lunar eclipses: how they work, why they are infrequent, and why people should not look directly at the sun. This episode is all in preparation for the great solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, visible (at least in part) to most of North America. A special note from the Podcasters: Partial solar eclipses are amazing events. However, if you have the means to experience totality, you should take advantage of it. Anyone we have ever talked to who has experienced it became passionate about seeing another one

Precision cancer monitoring using a novel, fully integrated, microfluidic array partitioning digital PCR platform.

A novel digital PCR (dPCR) platform combining off-the-shelf reagents, a micro-molded plastic microfluidic consumable with a fully integrated single dPCR instrument was developed to address the needs for routine clinical diagnostics. This new platform offers a simplified workflow that enables: rapid time-to-answer; low potential for cross contamination; minimal sample waste; all within a single integrated instrument. Here we showcase the capability of this fully integrated platform to detect and quantify non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) rare genetic mutants (EGFR T790M) with precision cell-free DNA (cfDNA) standards. Next, we validated the platform with an established chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) fusion gene (BCR-ABL1) assay down to 0.01% mutant allele frequency to highlight the platform's utility for precision cancer monitoring. Thirdly, using a juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) patient-specific assay we demonstrate the ability to precisely track an individual cancer patient's response to therapy and show the patient's achievement of complete molecular remission. These three applications highlight the flexibility and utility of this novel fully integrated dPCR platform that has the potential to transform personalized medicine for cancer recurrence monitoring

The future of North American trade policy: lessons from NAFTA

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Center Task Force Reports, a publication series that began publishing in 2009 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.This Task Force Report written by an international group of trade policy experts calls for significant reforms to address adverse economic, environmental, labor and societal impacts created by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The report is intended to contribute to the discussion and decisions stemming from ongoing reviews of proposed reforms to NAFTA as well as to help shape future trade agreements. It offers detailed proposals on topics including services, manufacturing, agriculture, investment, intellectual property, labor, environment, and migration. Fifteen years after NAFTA was enacted, there is widespread agreement that the trade treaty among the United States, Canada and Mexico has fallen short of its stated goals. While proponents credit the agreement with stimulating the flow of goods, services, and investment among the North American countries, critics in all three countries argue that this has not brought improvements in the standards of living of most people. Rather than triggering a convergence across the three nations, NAFTA has accentuated the economic and regulatory asymmetries that had existed among the three countries. [TRUNCATED

Optical and ultraviolet observations of nova Vul 1987

The outburst for a nova discovered in Nov. 1987 and followed since then is summarized. Although it was possible to observe it with the IUE at maximum, its ultraviolet energy faded rapidly, and after the first 2 weeks it was impossible to observe it at IUE wavelengths. It is observed to form a thick dust shell and is in the nebular stage

Supernova Remnants in the Fossil Starburst in M82

We report the discovery of ten compact H-alpha-bright sources in the post-starburst region northeast of the center of M82, ``M82 B.'' These objects have H alpha luminosities and sizes consistent with Type II supernova remnants (SNRs). They fall on the same H alpha surface brightness-diameter (Sigma-D) relation defined by SNRs in other nearby star-forming galaxies, with the M82 candidates lying preferentially at the small diameter end. These are the first candidates for optically-visible SNRs in M82 outside the heavily obscured central starburst within ~250 pc from the galactic center. If these sources are SNRs, they set an upper limit to the end of the starburst in region ``B2,'' about 500 pc from the galaxy's core, of ~50 Myr. Region ``B1,'' about 1000 pc from the core, lacks good SNR candidates and is evidently somewhat older. This suggests star formation in the galaxy has propagated inward toward the present-day intense starburst core.Comment: Re-submitted to AJ, referee's comments taken into account, 15 pages LaTeX preprint style, 4 postscript figures; full-resolution figures available from http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~rd7a/snrs/ Changes: minor textual changes and orientation/axes of Fig.

Shade and Drought Stress-Induced Changes in Phenolic Content of Wild Oat (Avena fatua L.) Seeds

Plants develop under a wide range of maternal environments, depending on the time of emergence, prevailing competition from other plants, and presence or absence of other biotic or abiotic stress factors. Stress factors, such as light limitation and drought, during plant development typically reduces the reproductive allocation to seeds, resulting in fewer and often smaller seeds. Such stress factors may also influence seed quality traits associated with persistence in the soil, such as seed dormancy and chemical defense. For this research, we hypothesized that light limitation and drought during wild oat (Avena fatua L.) seed development would result in reduced allocation to seed phenolics and other aliphatic organic acids previously identified in the seeds of this species. Wild oat isolines (M73 and SH430) were grown in the greenhouse under cyclic drought conditions (2005 only) or two levels of shade (50 and 70%; 2005 and 2006) achieved with standard black shade cloth. The soluble and cellular bound chemical constituents were identified and quantified using gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. The shade and drought stress treatments often significantly affected the mass of the caryopsis and hull seed fractions, as well as the phenolic content of these seed fractions, depending upon isoline, seed fraction, phenolic fraction, and specific phenolics analyzed. Phenolic content of the hull was reduced by the stress environments by up to 48%, whereas there was some evidence of an increase in the soluble phenolic content of the caryopsis in response to the stress environments. Ferulic and p-coumaric acids were the most abundant phenolic acids in both soluble and bound fractions, and bound phenolics comprised generally 95% or more of total phenolics. There was no discernable evidence that the aliphatic organic content was affected by the stress environments. Our results indicate that plant stress during seed development can reduce both the physical and chemical defense in seeds, which may result in seeds that are less persistent in the soil seed bank and potentially less of a weed management concern

A statistical and biological response to an informatics appraisal of healthy aging gene signatures

Jacob and Speed did not identify even a single example of a ‘150-gene-set’ that was statistically significant at classifying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) samples, or age in independent studies. We attempt to clarify the various misunderstandings

The Star Clusters in the Starburst Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569

We examine star clusters in the irregular, starburst galaxy NGC 1569 from HST images. In addition to the two known super star clusters, we identify 45 other clusters that are compact but resolved. Integrated UVI colors of the clusters span a large range, and suggest that ages range from 3 Myrs to 1 Gyr. However, most of the clusters were formed at the tail end of the recent starburst. Numerous clusters in addition to the know super star clusters are similar in luminosity to a small globular cluster. We examined the radial surface brightness of four of the clusters. Their half-light radii and core radii are in the range observed in present-day globular clusters. Therefore, conditions that produced the recent starburst have also been those necessary for producing compact, bright star clusters. We examine resolved stars in the outer parts of the two super star clusters. Cluster A is dominated by bright blue stars with a small population of red supergiants. Sub-components A1 and A2 have similar colors and a two-dimensional color map does not offer evidence that one component is dominated by red supergiants and the other not. The contradiction of the presence of red super- giants with Wolf-Rayet stars may instead not be a contradiction at all since there coexistence in a coeval population is not inconsistent with the evolution of massive stars. Cluster B is dominated by red supergiants, and this is confirmed by the presence of the stellar CO absorption feature in an integrated spectrum. The various age indicators are consistent with a picture in which cluster B is of order 10--20 Myrs old, and cluster A is >4-5 Myrs old.Comment: To be published in AJ, November 200

A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis assessing intelectin-1 in cancer patients and healthy individuals

Background: Intelectin-1 (ITLN1) is an adipokine with multiple physiological functions, including a role in tumour formation and development. Previous research reported variable ITLN1 levels for cancer patients and healthy individuals. This study aimed to compare ITLN1 concentrations between controls and cancer patients and to determine the adipokine’s physiological level. Methods: Five databases were searched in January 2022 for studies that measured the level of ITLN1 in adults that were healthy or diagnosed with any type of cancer. After title, abstract and full-text screening, the methodological quality of the studies was assessed. The extracted data were meta-analysed using the R language and Bayesian statistical techniques. Results: Overall, 15 studies compared circulating ITLN1 levels between healthy individuals (n=3424) and cancer patients (n=1538), but no differences were observed between these studies. ITLN1 was not different between groups in an analysis that evaluated high-quality studies only (n=5). The meta-analysis indicated considerably higher ITLN1 levels in gastrointestinal (i.e., colorectal, pancreatic, gastric) cancer compared to controls, while the other cancer types did not demonstrate differences between groups. The mean ITLN1 level of healthy individuals was 234 ± 21ng/ml (n=136), while the average value in high-quality studies (n=52) was 257 ± 31ng/ml. Conclusion: Different types of cancer showed different circulating ITLN1 patterns. Circulating ITLN1 concentration was higher in gastrointestinal cancer compared to controls, with strong support from the meta-analytical model. Our analysis also determined the mean ITLN1 level in healthy individuals; this is a crucial starting point for understanding how this cytokine associates with diseases. Two-thirds of the studies were of low methodological quality and thus, future work in this field must focus on improved methods. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=303406, identifier CRD42022303406