Ballad of a Bootlegger

Roll in the soot of fires-gone! Purification through osmosis(?). They don’t pass onward so you can pass on the recognition. Learn the lesson, you bootlegger! This is necessary; you must use your hands and forge onward. Shit fire to save a match and light the birthday candles, time will pass before you’ve finished blinking so take another sip in and breathe easy child-- loss is part of life and no one can ever take that away from you (not that you’ve feared this). Slip the ring on your finger and marry to a practice of breaking perceptions of rules that will only align you to dump-mountain humans’ fear; you’ll smile when you realize that misery breeds bliss bliss, sip sip, welcome home Homeless Graphite Pile! This is it, potent with potential that only you can waste

Community Perspectives Regarding Building Electrification as a Climate Mitigation Strategy in Bellingham, WA: A Q-Study

Americans have varying ideas about the validity of climate science, the risk that climate change poses, and what action should be taken to address that risk. To effectively address climate change, policy makers must imagine and implement solutions that are meaningful and affirming to people with fundamentally different ways of perceiving the topic. In this study, I utilized Q-method to uncover distinct perspectives that stakeholders in Bellingham, Washington have regarding two proposed climate mitigation measures that would require the electrification of the City’s building sector. I conclude that the study participants represented three well-developed perspectives regarding the topic—the “Bold Climate Action Now” perspective, the “Unregulated Energy Independence” perspective, and the “Cost Concerned” perspective. Each perspective prioritized different concerns and values in their support for or opposition to the proposed measures. I discuss policies and strategies that the City can pursue to address building electrification while honoring these different perspectives. I suggest that such widely acceptable policies could be more viable, durable, and effective in mitigating for climate change than a policy rooted in just one perspective. My findings are relevant to policy makers and decision makers in Bellingham, Washington and beyond who seek to design and implement widely acceptable and long-lasting policies that effectively mitigate for climate change

Ultrasonic Imaging of Reproductive Events in Muskoxen

To our knowledge, this is the first detailed report of ovarian follicular dynamics in a wild species. It seems that the pattern in muskoxen, with major and minor waves and a short first cycle, is similar to that in goats. Insight of this kind is important in the design of appropriate artificial breeding systems and in this respect, the muskox may provide a useful model for the endangered takin {Budorcas taxicolor). A detailed knowledge of ovarian events may also be critical to the interpretation of the response of wild populations to environmental stress

Mucoadhesive polysaccharides modulate sodium retention, release and taste perception

The mucoadhesion between polymeric substances and mucosal membranes, widely exploited in the pharmaceutics industry to prolong drug residence, has been investigated as a means of retaining taste or aroma molecules in the oral cavity. This study shows that the mucoadhesive properties of carboxymethyl cellulose, a commonly used polysaccharide in the food and pharmaceutics industry, can modify retention, release and perception of sodium over time. A three-part study was designed coupling in vitro retention using ex vivo porcine tongue, sensory perception with a trained panel and in vivo retention of sodium ions in human volunteers. The findings suggest that although salt perception is stunted in samples containing a random coil, ionic, mucoadhesive thickener, the retention of sodium ions in the mouth is prolonged due to the mucoadhesive nature of the polysaccharide. Not only has this study-investigated mucoadhesion of liquid formulations in the oral cavity but it is also the first to link the mucoadhesive nature of a commonly used polysaccharide to the organoleptic properties of a food

NamesforLife Semantic Resolution Services for the Life Sciences

A major challenge in bioinformatics, life sciences, and medicine is using correct and informative names. While this sounds simple enough, many different naming conventions exist in the life sciences and medicine that may be either complementary or competitive with other naming conventions. For a variety of reasons, proper names are not always used, leading to an accumulated semantic ambiguity that readers of the literature and end users of databases are left to resolve on their own. This ambiguity is a growing problem and the biocuration community is aware of its consequences. 

To assist those confronted with ambiguous names (which not only includes researchers but clinicians, manufacturers, patent attorneys, and others who use biological data in their routine work), we developed a generalizable semantic model that represents names, concepts, and exemplars (representations of biological entities) as distinct objects. By identifying each object with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) it becomes possible to place forward-pointing links in the published literature, in databases, and vector graphics that can be used as part of a mechanism for resolving ambiguities, thereby “future proofing” a nomenclature or terminology. A full implementation of the N4L model for the _Bacteria_ and _Archaea_ was released in April, 2010. The system is professionally curated and represents a Tier III resource in Parkhill’s view of bioinformatic services. A variety of tools and web services have been developed for readers, publishers, and others (N4L Guide, N4L Autotagger, N4L Semantic Search, N4L Taxonomic Abstracts) and we are incorporating other taxonomies into the N4L data model, as well as adding additional phenotypic, genotypic, and genomic information to the existing exemplars to add greater value to end users

Next-generation tissue-engineered heart valves with repair, remodelling and regeneration capacity

Valvular heart disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Surgical valve repair or replacement has been the standard of care for patients with valvular heart disease for many decades, but transcatheter heart valve therapy has revolutionized the field in the past 15 years. However, despite the tremendous technical evolution of transcatheter heart valves, to date, the clinically available heart valve prostheses for surgical and transcatheter replacement have considerable limitations. The design of next-generation tissue-engineered heart valves (TEHVs) with repair, remodelling and regenerative capacity can address these limitations, and TEHVs could become a promising therapeutic alternative for patients with valvular disease. In this Review, we present a comprehensive overview of current clinically adopted heart valve replacement options, with a focus on transcatheter prostheses. We discuss the various concepts of heart valve tissue engineering underlying the design of next-generation TEHVs, focusing on off-the-shelf technologies. We also summarize the latest preclinical and clinical evidence for the use of these TEHVs and describe the current scientific, regulatory and clinical challenges associated with the safe and broad clinical translation of this technology.</p

Looking beyond the exome: a phenotype-first approach to molecular diagnostic resolution in rare and undiagnosed diseases.

PurposeTo describe examples of missed pathogenic variants on whole-exome sequencing (WES) and the importance of deep phenotyping for further diagnostic testing.MethodsGuided by phenotypic information, three children with negative WES underwent targeted single-gene testing.ResultsIndividual 1 had a clinical diagnosis consistent with infantile systemic hyalinosis, although WES and a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based ANTXR2 test were negative. Sanger sequencing of ANTXR2 revealed a homozygous single base pair insertion, previously missed by the WES variant caller software. Individual 2 had neurodevelopmental regression and cerebellar atrophy, with no diagnosis on WES. New clinical findings prompted Sanger sequencing and copy number testing of PLA2G6. A novel homozygous deletion of the noncoding exon 1 (not included in the WES capture kit) was detected, with extension into the promoter, confirming the clinical suspicion of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy. Individual 3 had progressive ataxia, spasticity, and magnetic resonance image changes of vanishing white matter leukoencephalopathy. An NGS leukodystrophy gene panel and WES showed a heterozygous pathogenic variant in EIF2B5; no deletions/duplications were detected. Sanger sequencing of EIF2B5 showed a frameshift indel, probably missed owing to failure of alignment.ConclusionThese cases illustrate potential pitfalls of WES/NGS testing and the importance of phenotype-guided molecular testing in yielding diagnoses

Development of Methods to Predict the Effects of Test Media in Ground-Based Propulsion Testing

This report discusses work that began in mid-2004 sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Test & Evaluation/Science & Technology (T&E/S&T) Program. The work was undertaken to improve the state of the art of CFD capabilities for predicting the effects of the test media on the flameholding characteristics in scramjet engines. The program had several components including the development of advanced algorithms and models for simulating engine flowpaths as well as a fundamental experimental and diagnostic development effort to support the formulation and validation of the mathematical models. This report provides details of the completed work, involving the development of phenomenological models for Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes codes, large-eddy simulation techniques and reduced-kinetics models. Experiments that provided data for the modeling efforts are also described, along with with the associated nonintrusive diagnostics used to collect the data