Induced encystment improves resistance to preservation and storage of Acanthamoeba castellanii

Several conditions that allow the preservation, storage and rapid, efficient recovery of viable Acanthamoeba castellanii organisms were investigated. The viability of trophozoites (as determined by time to confluence) significantly declined over a period of 12 months when stored at −70°C using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; 5 or 10%) as cryopreservant. As A. castellanii are naturally capable of encystment, studies were undertaken to determine whether induced encystment might improve the viability of organisms under a number of storage conditions. A. castellanii cysts stored in the presence of Mg2+ at 4°C remained viable over the study period, although time to confluence was increased from approximately 8 days to approximately 24 days over the 12-month period. Storage of cysts at −70°C with DMSO (5 or 10%) or 40% glycerol, but not 80% glycerol as cryopreservants increased their viability over the 12-month study period compared with those stored at room temperature. Continued presence of Mg2+ in medium during storage had no adverse effects and generally improved recovery of viable organisms. The present study demonstrates that A. castellanii can be stored as a non-multiplicative form inexpensively, without a need for cryopreservation, for at least 12 months, but viability is increased by storage at −70°C

Molecular basis for resistance of acanthamoeba tubulins to all major classes of antitubulin compounds

Tubulin is essential to eukaryotic cells and is targeted by several antineoplastics, herbicides, and antimicrobials. We demonstrate that Acanthamoeba spp. are resistant to five antimicrotubule compounds, unlike any other eukaryote studied so far. Resistance correlates with critical amino acid differences within the inhibitor binding sites of the tubulin heterodimers

The Organs of the Parietal Fossa in Elasmobranchs

Davidson, in a paper on the musculature of Heptanchus maculatus (1918), mentions a small shield-shaped organ to be found in the parietal fossa, and in connection with it a pair of small muscles having their origin on the cranium and dorsal longitudinal muscles. He believes that these muscles constrict this sac-like organ

Hands-on Gravitational Wave Astronomy: Extracting astrophysical information from simulated signals

In this paper we introduce a hands-on activity in which introductory astronomy students act as gravitational wave astronomers by extracting information from simulated gravitational wave signals. The process mimics the way true gravitational wave analysis will be handled by using plots of a pure gravitational wave signal. The students directly measure the properties of the simulated signal, and use these measurements to evaluate standard formulae for astrophysical source parameters. An exercise based on the discussion in this paper has been written and made publicly available online for use in introductory laboratory courses.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Am. J. Phy

A Preliminary Investigation of Smart Rural Water Distribution Systems in the Gambia

This is the final version. Available on open access from Scientific Research Publishing via the DOI in this recordAn estimated one-third of water points in rural sub-Saharan Africa are non-functioning at any one time because of lack of upkeep. Communities are left without access to clean drinking water and this has multiple knock-on developmental impacts. An innovative pre-payment and Internet-of-Things enabled “e-Tap” based water technology and management system cycles revenue back into operation and maintenance and collects accurate and real-time data on consumption and tap failures. This has been operational in the Gambia since April 2016. Preliminary research has begun on evaluating this innovation. Technical tests were conducted to examine the efficiency of the e-Tap under varying conditions. Water use trends were then analysed by using the cloud-collected data transmitted from operational e-Taps. Further, baseline surveys to investigate social parameters were undertaken on 20 user households. This exploratory research shows the e-Taps to work efficiently in the laboratory and the Gambia with negligible failures, and to reduce distances users must travel for clean water and time they spend collecting

Graduation Rate Differences by Ethnicity/Race at Texas Community Colleges: A Statewide, Multiyear Examination

In this multiyear, statewide investigation, the degree to which differences were present in graduation rates between Black and White, Black and Hispanic, and Black and Asian students was addressed for the 2007-2008 academic year to the 2015-2016 academic years. Inferential statistical procedures revealed the presence of statistically significant differences for all 9 academic years. In all 9 years, Black students had statistically significantly lower graduation rates than White, Hispanic, and Asian students. Also identified were the Texas community colleges that had the highest and that had the lowest graduation rates of their Black students in the last two academic years. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research were discussed

New techniques for imaging and analyzing lung tissue.

The recent technological revolution in the field of imaging techniques has provided pathologists and toxicologists with an expanding repertoire of analytical techniques for studying the interaction between the lung and the various exogenous materials to which it is exposed. Analytical problems requiring elemental sensitivity or specificity beyond the range of that offered by conventional scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis are particularly appropriate for the application of these newer techniques. Electron energy loss spectrometry, Auger electron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and laser microprobe mass analysis each offer unique advantages in this regard, but also possess their own limitations and disadvantages. Diffraction techniques provide crystalline structural information available through no other means. Bulk chemical techniques provide useful cross-checks on the data obtained by microanalytical approaches. It is the purpose of this review to summarize the methodology of these techniques, acknowledge situations in which they have been used in addressing problems in pulmonary toxicology, and comment on the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach. It is necessary for an investigator to weigh each of these factors when deciding which technique is best suited for any given analytical problem; often it is useful to employ a combination of two or more of the techniques discussed. It is anticipated that there will be increasing utilization of these technologies for problems in pulmonary toxicology in the decades to come

A Role for the Vacuolating Cytotoxin, VacA, in Colonization and Helicobacter pylori-Induced Metaplasia in the Stomach

Carriage of Helicobacter pylori strains producing more active (s1/i1) forms of VacA is strongly associated with gas-tric adenocarcinoma. To our knowledge, we are the first to determine effects of different polymorphic forms of VacA on inflammation and metaplasia in the mouse stomach. Bacteria producing the less active s2/i2 form of VacA colonized mice more efficiently than mutants null for VacA or producing more active forms of it, providing the first evidence of a positive role for the minimally active s2/i2 toxin. Strains producing more active toxin forms induced more severe and extensive metaplasia and in flammation in the mouse stomach than strains producing weakly active (s2/i2) toxin. We also examined the association in humans, controlling for cag PAI status. In human gastric biopsy specimens, the vacA i1 allele was strongly associated with precancerous intestinal metaplasia, with almost complete absence of intestinal metaplasia in subjects infected with i2-type strains, even in a vacA s1, cagA+ background

Reconstruction Control of Magnetic Properties during Epitaxial Growth of Ferromagnetic Mn_3-δGa on Wurtzite GaN(0001)

Binary ferromagnetic Mn_3-δGa (1.2<3-δ≤1.5) crystalline thin films have been epitaxially grown on wurtzite GaN(0001) surfaces using rf N-plasma molecular beam epitaxy. The film structure is face-centered tetragonal with CuAu type-I (L1_0) ordering with (111) orientation. The in-plane epitaxial relationship to GaN is nearly ideal with [11̅ 0]_MnGa∥[11̅ 00]_GaN and [112̅ ]_MnGa∥[112̅ 0]_GaN. We observe magnetic anisotropy along both the in-plane and out-of-plane directions. The magnetic moments are found to depend on the Mn/(Mn+Ga) flux ratio and can be controlled by observation of the surface reconstruction during growth, which varies from 1×1 to 2×2 with increasing Mn stoichiometry

Temperature controlled material irradiation in the advanced test reactor

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is located at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) near Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA and is owned and regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE). The ATR is operated for the US DOE by Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies. In recent years, prime irradiation space in the ATR has been made available for use by customers having irradiation service needs in addition to the reactor`s principal user, the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. To enhance the reactor`s capabilities, the US DOE has initiated the development of an Irradiation Test Vehicle (ITV) capable of providing neutron spectral tailoring and temperature control for up to 28 experiments. The ATR-ITV will have the flexibility to simultaneously support a variety of experiments requiring fast, thermal or mixed spectrum neutron environments. Temperature control is accomplished by varying the thermal conductivity across a gas gap established between the experiment specimen capsule wall and the experiment `in-pile tube (IPT)` inside diameter. Thermal conductivity is adjusted by alternating the control gas mixture ratio of two gases with different thermal conductivities