Carbon turnover in the water-soluble protein of the adult human lens.

PurposeHuman eye lenses contain cells that persist from embryonic development. These unique, highly specialized fiber cells located at the core (nucleus) of the lens undergo pseudo-apoptosis to become devoid of cell nuclei and most organelles. Ostensibly lacking in protein transcriptional capabilities, it is currently believed that these nuclear fiber cells owe their extreme longevity to the perseverance of highly stable and densely packed crystallin proteins. Maintaining the structural and functional integrity of lenticular proteins is necessary to sustain cellular transparency and proper vision, yet the means by which the lens actually copes with a lifetime of oxidative stress, seemingly without any capacity for protein turnover and repair, is not completely understood. Although many years of research have been predicated upon the assumption that there is no protein turnover or renewal in nuclear fiber cells, we investigated whether or not different protein fractions possess protein of different ages by using the (14)C bomb pulse.MethodsAdult human lenses were concentrically dissected by gently removing the cell layers in water or shaving to the nucleus with a curved micrometer-controlled blade. The cells were lysed, and the proteins were separated into water-soluble and water-insoluble fractions. The small molecules were removed using 3 kDa spin filters. The (14)C/C was measured in paired protein fractions by accelerator mass spectrometry, and an average age for the material within the sample was assigned using the (14)C bomb pulse.ResultsThe water-insoluble fractions possessed (14)C/C ratios consistent with the age of the cells. In all cases, the water-soluble fractions contained carbon that was younger than the paired water-insoluble fraction.ConclusionsAs the first direct evidence of carbon turnover in protein from adult human nuclear fiber cells, this discovery supports the emerging view of the lens nucleus as a dynamic system capable of maintaining homeostasis in part due to intricate protein transport mechanisms and possibly protein repair. This finding implies that the lens plays an active role in the aversion of age-related nuclear (ARN) cataract

The Internet of Individuation

This thesis engages in a sustained reconsideration of a new and evolving technology - the Internet of Things - along social scientific and philosophical lines. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel technical paradigm which connects 'things' in a way that allows them to collect and communicate sense data for analysis and action. IoT systems range from the everyday realm of smart home devices to government-backed agricultural management networks, massive industrial complexes spanning international supply chains and telecommunications networks themselves. The thesis does not seek to determine whether the Internet of Things' social effects are, or will be, progressive or regressive. Nor does it prescribe policy or other guidelines for its applications. Rather, the purpose of the thesis is to provide a critical engagement with the paradigmatic framing of the Internet of Things, to unpack the assumptions underpinning the practical accounts of its function, as well as the social scientific and popular evaluations that stem from these more common sense claims of the Internet of Things as a technological innovation. The thesis offers a more ontologically processual account of the Internet of Things, with an eye to grasping its participation in the ongoing production of novelty. To this end, the main body of this thesis rethinks each of the IoT's basic technical operations: communication, sensing, and actuation. Each of these operations are transformed so that their technical realities are shown to be compatible with social scientific thought. Communication can be seen as modulation, sensing as concretization, and actuation as transduction. Three empirical chapters furnish these transformations with qualitative interviews with IoT practitioners in Australia and abroad: student-run engineering labs in Canberra; the office of a smart building company bursting with dreams and tangles of wires; a watering system for a national Arboretum; a former IT consultant who runs a farm in Yass, NSW; and a smart city consulting agency in the UK that specializes in experimental and community-based IoT installations. These case studies are more than interesting instances of IoT systems; approached from a processual framework, they show how possible it is for social scientists to think about, write about, and interact with technical reality in more critical and productive ways. This thesis thus contributes an original analysis of the Internet of Things using a process ontology framework. Specifically, it uses the work of Gilbert Simondon, Gilles Deleuze, and their contemporaries to repose the 'problem' of the Internet of Things as an open problematic. Although studies in the sociology of technology have considered the IoT in general, there is not yet an extended analysis of the Internet of Things as a processual phenomenon in Australia or elsewhere. As such, this thesis provides additional insight into the Internet of Things as an object of study and a specific phenomenon unfolding in Australia and overseas, and discusses what new methods of problematizing that the social sciences might adopt to engage with it

STR-815: FEASIBILITY OF USING UNBONDED REINFORCEMENT IN CONCRETE BLOCK WALLS

An experimental program is underway at the University of Saskatchewan to investigate the performance of concrete masonry block walls reinforced with non-prestressed, unbonded reinforcement that are subjected to out-of-plane lateral loads. By eliminating the need for grouting, this construction method may lead to substantially lower wall weights, as well reduced construction times, cost, and workplace injuries. At the same time, the presence of reinforcement will increase the flexural strength of the walls, significantly increasing the allowable vertical spans of such walls as compared to those of comparable unreinforced walls. Unreinforced walls, as well as conventionally reinforced and partially grouted walls, were included in the experimental program to serve as control specimens against which the performance of the walls with unbonded, ungrouted reinforcement could be compared. Although the experimental program is ongoing, preliminary results described herein comparing the unbonded reinforced walls to unreinforced companion specimens suggest that this construction method is a promising alternative to more conventional systems

Geographic variation in the PRNP gene and its promoter, and their relationship to chronic wasting disease in North American deer

PRNP genotypes, number of octarepeats (PHGGGWGQ) and indels in the PRNP promoter can influence the progression of prion disease in mammals. We found no relationship between presence of promoter indels in white-tailed deer and mule deer from Nebraska and CWD presence. White-tailed deer with the 95 H allele and G20D mule deer were more likely to be CWD- free, but unlike other studies white-tailed deer with the 96S allele(s) were equally likely to be CWD-free. We provide the first information on PRNP genotypes and indels in the promoter for Key deer (all homozygous 96SS) and Coues deer (lacked 95 H and 96S alleles, but possessed a uniquely high frequency of 103 T). All deer surveyed were homozygous for three tandem octarepeats

Nematic Cells for Digital Light Deflection

Smectic A (SmA) materials can be used in non-mechanical, digital beam deflectors (DBDs) as fillers for passive birefringent prisms based on decoupled pairs of electrically controlled, liquid crystalline polarization rotators, like twisted nematic (TN) cells and passive deflectors. DBDs are used in free-space laser communications, optical fiber communications, optical switches, scanners, and in-situ wavefront correction

Improving Resulted Hemoglobin A1c Rates: A Feasibility Study for Point-of-Care Hemoglobin A1c Testing at an Urban Family Medicine Office

Study Aims: Our practice’s goal is to increase the number of up to date hemoglobin A1c for diabetic patients seen at JFMA in order to help improve glycemic control The aim of this study is to see if point of care (POC) hemoglobin A1C is a feasible way to increase the number of up to date hemoglobin A1C. We looked at various factors including timing, training, and flow.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1037/thumbnail.jp

Digital Beam Deflectors Based Partly on Liquid Crystals

A digital beam deflector based partly on liquid crystals has been demonstrated as a prototype of a class of optical beam-steering devices that contain no mechanical actuators or solid moving parts. Such beam-steering devices could be useful in a variety of applications, including free-space optical communications, switching in fiber-optic communications, general optical switching, and optical scanning. Liquid crystals are of special interest as active materials in nonmechanical beam steerers and deflectors because of their structural flexibility, low operating voltages, and the relatively low costs of fabrication of devices that contain them