116 research outputs found
Investigation of Metal and Organic Contaminant Distributions and Sedimentation Rates in Backwater Lakes along the Illinois River
Systematic sub-sampling of sediment cores in sections of uniform thickness is necessary
in order to evaluate historic changes in sediment quality, to determine the vertical extent
of contamination, and to measure sedimentation rates. With these objectives in mind,
fourteen sediment cores were collected during March 2002 using the Illinois State Water
Survey vibracorer. Concentrations of metals and total organic carbon were measured
using standard techniques. Concentrations of chlorinated pesticides, phenolic compounds,
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were
measured by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The concentrations of
chlorinated pesticides, phenolic compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were
below the method detection limit in all sediment samples analyzed. However, there was
a wide range in concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which were
detected in all sediment samples. Also, a wide range of metal concentrations was noted
in the sediments evaluated. Lower concentrations of metals were found in the upper 0.5
m of sediment but concentrations were elevated at depths ranging from 1.0 m to 1.5 m.
Sedimentation rates were estimated using cesium-137 radiometric dating on 14
vibracores. Sedimentation rates range from < 0.1 to 1.9 cm/yr, with an average of 0.9
cm/yr. These rates are comparable to those reported in previous studies.Illinois Sustainable Technology Centerpublished or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe
Gourd\u27geous
Finding a voice to articulate my passion for making utilitarian pottery has been the central focus of my graduate studies. As a ceramic artist, I strive to make work that celebrates clay\u27s tactile qualities, history, environmental responsiveness, and beauty. My research involved investigating different clay processes, fabrication methods, glazes, and contemporary/historical influences. The end result is a body of work that expresses a balanced blending of clay, nature, and history
Luminosity measurement method for the LHC: The detector requirements studies
Absolute normalisation of the LHC measurements with a precision of O(1%) is
desirable but beyond the reach of the present LHC detectors. This series of
papers proposes and evaluates a measurement method capable to achieve such a
precision target. In our earlier paper we have selected the phase-space region
where the lepton pair production cross section in pp collisions at the LHC can
be controlled with < 1 % precision and is large enough to reach a comparable
statistical accuracy of the absolute luminosity measurement on the day-by-day
basis. In the present one the performance requirements for a dedicated
detector, indispensable to efficiently select events in the proposed
phase-space region, are discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figure
Draft Report: Sediment Characterization in the Middle Peoria Pool, Illinois River
The Illinois Waterway (IWW) is a significant resource to the state of Illinois and the nation as a whole. Commercial navigation on the Illinois Waterway provides a vital means for transporting commodities to and from blue water ports on the East and Gulf coasts of the United States. However throughout the world large floodplain-river ecosystems, like the Illinois River, are becoming increasingly rare. The National Research Council Committee on Aquatic Ecosystems considered this ecosystem type to be the highest priority for aquatic restoration and specifically named the Illinois River as one of three floodplain-river ecosystems within the United States having sufficient ecological integrity to recover. To address the concomitant while sometimes competing needs of commercial navigation and ecological integrity the US federal government, through the Army Corp of Engineers (COE), and the Upper Mississippi River states have proposed the Navigation and Ecological Sustainability Project (NESP) as a means of improving navigation along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Waterways while improving and/or mitigating the environmental impacts associated with the navigation improvements. As part of this effort it is envisioned that certain backwater areas within the middle Peoria Pool area will be dredged and the dredged material will be used for the construction of islands, elevated floodplain areas or other beneficial uses. These deep water areas will provide suitable overwinter habitat for native fish species while the islands and elevated floodplain areas will diversify terrestrial habitats within that river reach and provide loafing and nesting habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds.
These Options 1-3 of this project seek to provide additional data to help further characterize the sediments found in the middle reach of the Illinois River. For this project that area can generally be described as that portion of the Illinois River between Lacon and Chillicothe IL. The descriptions, photos, and analytical results of the analyses for the 16
sediment cores collected May 8-9, 2006 are presented.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island DistrictResults for Contract Options 1-3........................................................................... 1
Introduction ............................................................. 1
Acknowledgments ................................................... 1
Study Area ............................................................. 1
Methods .................................................................. 3
Results ................................................................... 4
References ............................................................ 5
Results for Contract Base Option .......................... 7
Appendix A. Field Sheets ....................................... 48
Appendix B. Standard Operating Procedures for the Collection of Sediment Cores Using the Rossfelder 3-Pc Vibrocore ............. 54
Appendix C. Chemical Results from Severn Trent Laboratories ..........62
Appendix D. Particle Size Results ............................................... 195
Appendix E. Percent Moisture ................................................... 230
Appendix F. Photographs of Sediment Cores ............................ 234Ope
Source Monitoring and Evaluation of Sediment Inputs for Peoria Lake
NOTE: ISWS Library copies were labeled as ISWS CR 514, but this designation is not included in the report itself. and there was no ISWS Contract Report CR-514 listed on the ISWS website or ISWS pubs database.Ope
Defining inflammatory cell states in rheumatoid arthritis joint synovial tissues by integrating single-cell transcriptomics and mass cytometry
© 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc. To define the cell populations that drive joint inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we applied single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), mass cytometry, bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and flow cytometry to T cells, B cells, monocytes, and fibroblasts from 51 samples of synovial tissue from patients with RA or osteoarthritis (OA). Utilizing an integrated strategy based on canonical correlation analysis of 5,265 scRNA-seq profiles, we identified 18 unique cell populations. Combining mass cytometry and transcriptomics revealed cell states expanded in RA synovia: THY1(CD90) + HLA-DRA hi sublining fibroblasts, IL1B + pro-inflammatory monocytes, ITGAX + TBX21 + autoimmune-associated B cells and PDCD1 + peripheral helper T (T PH ) cells and follicular helper T (T FH ) cells. We defined distinct subsets of CD8 + T cells characterized by GZMK + , GZMB + , and GNLY + phenotypes. We mapped inflammatory mediators to their source cell populations; for example, we attributed IL6 expression to THY1 + HLA-DRA hi fibroblasts and IL1B production to pro-inflammatory monocytes. These populations are potentially key mediators of RA pathogenesis
Methods for high-dimensonal analysis of cells dissociated from cyropreserved synovial tissue
© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Detailed molecular analyses of cells from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovium hold promise in identifying cellular phenotypes that drive tissue pathology and joint damage. The Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network aims to deconstruct autoimmune pathology by examining cells within target tissues through multiple high-dimensional assays. Robust standardized protocols need to be developed before cellular phenotypes at a single cell level can be effectively compared across patient samples. Methods: Multiple clinical sites collected cryopreserved synovial tissue fragments from arthroplasty and synovial biopsy in a 10% DMSO solution. Mechanical and enzymatic dissociation parameters were optimized for viable cell extraction and surface protein preservation for cell sorting and mass cytometry, as well as for reproducibility in RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Cryopreserved synovial samples were collectively analyzed at a central processing site by a custom-designed and validated 35-marker mass cytometry panel. In parallel, each sample was flow sorted into fibroblast, T-cell, B-cell, and macrophage suspensions for bulk population RNA-seq and plate-based single-cell CEL-Seq2 RNA-seq. Results: Upon dissociation, cryopreserved synovial tissue fragments yielded a high frequency of viable cells, comparable to samples undergoing immediate processing. Optimization of synovial tissue dissociation across six clinical collection sites with ~ 30 arthroplasty and ~ 20 biopsy samples yielded a consensus digestion protocol using 100 μg/ml of Liberase™ TL enzyme preparation. This protocol yielded immune and stromal cell lineages with preserved surface markers and minimized variability across replicate RNA-seq transcriptomes. Mass cytometry analysis of cells from cryopreserved synovium distinguished diverse fibroblast phenotypes, distinct populations of memory B cells and antibody-secreting cells, and multiple CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell activation states. Bulk RNA-seq of sorted cell populations demonstrated robust separation of synovial lymphocytes, fibroblasts, and macrophages. Single-cell RNA-seq produced transcriptomes of over 1000 genes/cell, including transcripts encoding characteristic lineage markers identified. Conclusions: We have established a robust protocol to acquire viable cells from cryopreserved synovial tissue with intact transcriptomes and cell surface phenotypes. A centralized pipeline to generate multiple high-dimensional analyses of synovial tissue samples collected across a collaborative network was developed. Integrated analysis of such datasets from large patient cohorts may help define molecular heterogeneity within RA pathology and identify new therapeutic targets and biomarkers
Tubular cell and keratinocyte single-cell transcriptomics applied to lupus nephritis reveal type I IFN and fibrosis relevant pathways.
The molecular and cellular processes that lead to renal damage and to the heterogeneity of lupus nephritis (LN) are not well understood. We applied single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to renal biopsies from patients with LN and evaluated skin biopsies as a potential source of diagnostic and prognostic markers of renal disease. Type I interferon (IFN)-response signatures in tubular cells and keratinocytes distinguished patients with LN from healthy control subjects. Moreover, a high IFN-response signature and fibrotic signature in tubular cells were each associated with failure to respond to treatment. Analysis of tubular cells from patients with proliferative, membranous and mixed LN indicated pathways relevant to inflammation and fibrosis, which offer insight into their histologic differences. In summary, we applied scRNA-seq to LN to deconstruct its heterogeneity and identify novel targets for personalized approaches to therapy
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The immune cell landscape in kidneys of patients with lupus nephritis.
Lupus nephritis is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease for which the current treatment is ineffective and often toxic. To develop mechanistic hypotheses of disease, we analyzed kidney samples from patients with lupus nephritis and from healthy control subjects using single-cell RNA sequencing. Our analysis revealed 21 subsets of leukocytes active in disease, including multiple populations of myeloid cells, T cells, natural killer cells and B cells that demonstrated both pro-inflammatory responses and inflammation-resolving responses. We found evidence of local activation of B cells correlated with an age-associated B-cell signature and evidence of progressive stages of monocyte differentiation within the kidney. A clear interferon response was observed in most cells. Two chemokine receptors, CXCR4 and CX3CR1, were broadly expressed, implying a potentially central role in cell trafficking. Gene expression of immune cells in urine and kidney was highly correlated, which would suggest that urine might serve as a surrogate for kidney biopsies
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