Cultural Food Habits as a Social Factor of Health Among Immigrants in New Haven, Connecticut: A Focused Ethnographic Study

Diet-related health disparities are well documented in immigrant populations. This study aims to help better inform nutrition interventions. It did so by working with migrant members of the New Haven community to explore their perceptions of the nutrition of the food they eat and relate it to how this food is grounded in their cultural identity and social belonging

Safety in Numbers? The Effect of Increasing Numbers of Bicycle Commuters on Bicycle-Automobile Collisions

The idea that increasing the numbers of bicycle and pedestrians in an area lowers the automobile collision risk for individual cyclists and pedestrians is called the safety in numbers effect. This paper applies the safety in numbers effect to bicycling and pedestrian commuters in California cities from 2005 to 2011. The results indicate that cities with 10% more bicycle commuters will only see about 6% more collisions between cyclists and automobiles and thus have a lower average risk to bicycle commuters. These results are similar to those found by Jacobson (2003) although this study uses a multiple regression analysis on an expanded data set

ERG1A POTASSIUM CHANNEL ABUNDANCE VARIES WITHIN SPECIFIC SKELETAL MUSCLE AND FIBER TYPE

Skeletal muscle atrophy results from an imbalance of protein degradation and protein synthesis which produces a net loss of protein. This loss occurs mainly through the ubiquitin proteasome pathway (UPP). The ether-a-go-go related gene (ERG1A) is a voltage-gated K+ ­­channel that is upregulated in atrophying skeletal muscle. Expression of ERG1A in skeletal muscle increases UPP activity and induces atrophy. Because ERG1A appears variably expressed in muscles composed of mixed fiber types and is a K+ channel which has the potential to modulate contraction speed by enhancing repolarization, we hypothesized that ERG1A would be more abundant in slow-twitch fibers than in fast-twitch fibers in skeletal muscle. To test this hypothesis, we cryo-sectioned Soleus (SOL), Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL), and Gastrocnemius muscles of rats. These muscles were chosen because the SOL and EDL have an abundance of slow and fast-twitch fibers, respectively, while the Gastrocnemius contains a heterogeneous composition. The sections were co-immunostained for the ERG1A protein and either the fast or slow-twitch MyHC. ERG1A fluorescence was measured in the sarcolemma of each fiber type and compared. The data reveal that the ERG1A protein is more abundant in muscle fibers of the SOL than the EDL. Further, the data show that there is a 3.2-fold increase in ERG1A expression in slow fibers than fast fibers in the Gastrocnemius. Diet and exercise remain the best treatment for muscle atrophy, however not all patients are able to participate in these, thus futher research into skeletal muscle atrophy is needed to develop future treatments

Expanding the CRISPR toolbox in Culicine mosquitoes: in vitro validation of Pol III promoters

CRISPR–Cas9-based “gene drive” technologies have been proposed as a novel and effective means of controlling human diseases vectored by mosquitoes. However, more complex designs than those demonstrated to date—and an expanded molecular toolbox with which to build them—will be required to overcome the issues of resistance formation/evolution and drive spatial/temporal limitation. Foreseeing this need, we assessed the sgRNA transcriptional activities of 33 phylogenetically diverse insect Polymerase III promoters using three disease-relevant Culicine mosquito cell lines (Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus). We show that U6 promoters work across species with a range of transcriptional activity levels and find 7SK promoters to be especially promising because of their broad phylogenetic activity. We further show that U6 promoters can be substantially truncated without affecting transcriptional levels. These results will be of great utility to researchers involved in developing the next generation of gene drives

Domestic Biodiesel Viability in the US vs EU

Biodiesel is used to a greater extent in the EU than the US. Tax incentives in the US have not been renewed for small businesses, as seen below. EU provides producer tax exemption if under 2,500 L biodiesel production. Ethanol is the most taxed transport fuel in the EU, while it is viewed as the biofuel of choice in the U.S. Inconsistencies in the RFS are unfavorable to biodiesel production in the U.S. The EU and US share little in terms of public policies and financial support of biodiesel -EU supports it to a great extent, US doesn’t. A weak amount of social involvement is the root cause of lack of biodiesel policies in U.S. Increasing public knowledge could improve thi

Feed Batch Mixer Box for Beef Cattle Farm

• Our client, requires increasing efficiency and decreasing time spent feeding cattle daily. • Currently, there is daily loss of productivity and revenue. • This project will better allocate workers and get more done every day

Feed Batch Mixer Box for ISU Beef Nutrition Farm

The Iowa State Beef Nutrition Farm’s mission is to provide facilities and support for research aimed at optimizing nutrition and management of beef cattle in Iowa. Facilities include a modern open-front, 60-pen feedlot, a 7-pen feedlot with an electronic feed intake management system, and a 16-pen open-front feedlot. All pen sizes are adequate for up to six animals. There are 120 acres of improved pasture available for grazing research and several small open lots with fence line feed bunks. A modern, indoor animal handling facility, feed mill and indoor and outdoor feed storage structures are on hand. Our client, Jordan Harding, has tasked us with the goal of increasing efficiency and decreasing time spent feeding cattle daily. Currently, they are using multiple people to feed, and when the feed wagon is out feeding there is wasted downtime for the other workers. This downtime will be filled with our dumper in place. We hope to cut their daily feeding time down from 3 hours to 2 hours. Our solution is to fill their downtime waiting on the feed wagon with a fillable hopper that can then dump into the feed wagon. Using the time that the feed wagon is actually feeding to mix the next ration will save them tremendous overall time and increase their efficiency drastically