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Geysers on Mars Time-lapsed imagery performed by NASA confirms the apparent ejection of dark material following the radial growth of spider channels in the ice. Time-lapsed imaging of a single area of interest also shows that small dark spots generally indicate the position of spider features not yet visible; it also shows that spots expand significantly, including dark fans emanating from some of the spots, which increase in prominence and develop clear directionality indicative of wind action. Some branching ravines modify, some destroy and others create crust in a dynamic near-surface process that extensively reworks the terrain creating and destroying surface layers. Thus, Mars seems to have a dynamic process of recycling of its near surface crust of carbon dioxide. Growth process is rapid, happening in the space of a few days, weeks or months, a growth rate rather unusual in geology – especially for Mars. A number of geophysical models have been investigated to explain the various colors and shapes' development of these geysers on the southern polar ice cap of Mars. The strength of the eruptions is estimated to range from simple upsurges to high-pressure eruptions at speeds of or more, carrying dark basaltic sand and dust plumes high aloft. The current proposed models dealing with the possible forces powering the geyser-like system are discussed next. The surface atmospheric pressure on Mars varies annually around: 6.7–8.8 mbar and 7.5–9.7 mbar; daily around 6.4–6.8 mbar

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Geysers on Mars Because of the pressure changes subsurface gases expand and contract periodically, causing a downward gas flow during increase of and expulsion during decrease of atmospheric pressure. This cycle was first quantified with measurements of the surface pressure, which varies annually with amplitude of 25%. This model proposes downward gas flow during increase of and upward flow during decrease of atmospheric pressure. In the defrosting process, ices (clathrate) may partly migrate into the soil and partly may evaporate. These locations can be in connection with the formation of dark dune spots and the arms of spiders as gas travel paths. Some teams propose dry venting of carbon dioxide (CO) gas and sand, occurring between the ice and the underlying bedrock. It is known that a CO ice slab is virtually transparent to solar radiation where 72% of solar energy incident at 60 degrees off vertical will reach the bottom of a 1 m thick layer. In addition, separate teams from Taiwan and France measured the ice thickness in several target areas, and discovered that the greatest thickness of the CO frost layer in the geysers' area is about 0.76–0.78 m, supporting the geophysical model of dry venting powered by sunlight. As the southern spring CO ice receives enough solar energy, it starts sublimation of the CO ice from the bottom. This vapor accumulates under the slab rapidly increasing pressure and erupting

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Geysers on Mars High-pressure gas flows through at speeds of or more; under the slab, the gas erodes ground as it rushes toward the vents, snatching up loose particles of sand and carving the spidery network of grooves. The dark material falls back to the surface and may be taken up slope by wind, creating dark wind streak patterns on the ice cap. This model is consistent with past observations. The location, size and direction of these fans are useful to quantifying seasonal winds and sublimation activity. It is clear that sublimation of the base of the seasonal ice cap is more than capable of generating a substantial overpressure, which is four orders of magnitude higher than the ice overburden pressure and five orders of magnitude higher than atmospheric pressure as discussed above. The observation that a few dark spots form before sunrise, with significant spot formation occurring immediately following sunrise, supports the notion that the system is powered by solar energy. Eventually the ice is completely removed and the dark granular material is back on the surface; the cycle repeats many times. Laboratory experiments performed in 2016 were able to trigger dust eruptions from a layer of dust inside a ice slab under Martian atmospheric conditions, lending support to the jet and fan production model

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Geysers on Mars Data obtained by the Mars Express satellite, made it possible in 2004 to confirm that the southern polar cap has an average of thick slab of CO ice with varying contents of frozen water, depending on its latitude: the bright polar cap itself, is a mixture of 85% CO ice and 15% water ice. The second part comprises steep slopes known as 'scarps', made almost entirely of water ice, that fall away from the polar cap to the surrounding plains. This transition area between the scarps and the permafrost is the 'cryptic region', where clusters of geysers are located. This model explores the possibility of active water-driven erosive structures, where soil and water derived from the shallow sub-surface layer is expelled up by CO gas through fissures eroding joints to create spider-like radiating tributaries capped with mud-like material and/or ice. A European team proposes that the features could be a sign that non-solar energy source is responsible of the jets, subsurface heat wave for instance. This model is difficult to reconcile with the evidence collected in the form of thermal emission (infrared) imaging, which shows that the fans, spots and blotches are produced by expulsion of cold fluids or cold gases. Michael C. Malin, a planetary scientist and designer of the cameras used by the Mars Global Surveyor that obtained the earliest images of the CO geyser phenomenon, is studying the images acquired of specific areas and he tracks their changes over a period of a few years

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Geysers on Mars In 2000, he modelled the fans and spots' dynamics as a complex process of carbon dioxide (CO) and water sublimation and re-precipitation. The typical pattern of defrosting proceeds from the initiation of small, dark spots typically located at the margins of dunes; these spots individually enlarge and eventually all coalesce. The pattern the enlargement follows is distinct and characteristic: a dark nuclear spot enlarges slowly, often with a bright outer zone or 'halo'. As these are progressive, centripetal phenomena, each location of the light zone is overtaken by an expanding dark zone. Although initially developed along dune margins, spot formation quickly spreads onto and between dunes. As spring progresses, fan-shaped tails ('spiders') develop from the central spot. Defrosting occurs as the low albedo polar sand heats beneath an optically thin layer of frost, causing the frost to evaporate. This is the dark nucleus of the spots seen on dunes. As the vapor moves laterally, it encounters cold air and precipitates, forming the bright halo. This precipitated frost is again vaporized as the uncovered zone of sand expands; the cycle repeats many times

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Geysers on Mars While the European Space Agency (ESA) has not yet formulated a theory or model, they have stated that the process of frost sublimation is not compatible with a few important features observed in the images, and that the location and shape of the spots is at odds with a physical explanation, specifically, because the channels appear to radiate downhill as much as they radiate uphill, defying gravity. A team of Hungarian scientists propose that the dark dune spots and channels may be colonies of photosynthetic Martian microorganisms, which over-winter beneath the ice cap, and as the sunlight returns to the pole during early spring, light penetrates the ice, the microorganisms photosynthesise and heat their immediate surroundings. A pocket of liquid water, which would normally evaporate instantly in the thin Martian atmosphere, is trapped around them by the overlying ice. As this ice layer thins, the microorganisms show through grey. When it has completely melted, they rapidly desiccate and turn black surrounded by a grey aureole. The Hungarian scientists think that even a complex sublimation process is insufficient to explain the formation and evolution of the dark dune spots in space and time. Since their discovery, fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke promoted these formations as deserving of study from an astrobiological perspective

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Geysers on Mars A multinational European team suggests that if liquid water is present in the spiders' channels during their annual defrost cycle, the structures might provide a niche where certain microscopic life forms could have retreated and adapted while sheltered from UV solar radiation. British and German teams also consider the possibility that organic matter, microbes, or even simple plants might co-exist with these inorganic formations, especially if the mechanism includes liquid water and a geothermal energy source. However, they also remark that the majority of geological structures may be accounted for without invoking any organic "life on Mars" hypothesis. (See also: Life on Mars.) There is no direct data on these features other than images taken in the visible and infrared spectra, and development of the Mars Geyser Hopper lander is under consideration to study the geyser-like systems. It has not yet been formally proposed nor funded.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18418502

Geysers on Mars

Paraspecies A paraspecies (a paraphyletic species) is a species, living or fossil, that gave rise to one or more daughter species without itself becoming extinct. Geographically widespread species that have given rise to one or more daughter species as peripheral isolates without themselves becoming extinct (i.e. through peripatric speciation) are examples of paraspecies. are expected from evolutionary theory (Crisp and Chandler, 1996), and are empirical realities in many terrestrial and aquatic taxa. The evolution of the polar bear from the brown bear is a well-documented example of a living species that gave rise to another living species.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18420709

Paraspecies

Prosection A prosection is the dissection of a cadaver (human or animal) or part of a cadaver by an experienced anatomist in order to demonstrate for students anatomic structure. In a dissection, students learn by doing; in a prosection, students learn by either observing a dissection being performed by an experienced anatomist or examining a specimen that has already been dissected by an experienced anatomist (etymology: Latin pro- "before" + sectio "a cutting") A prosection may also refer to the dissected cadaver or cadaver part which is then reassembled and provided to students for review. Prosections are used primarily in the teaching of anatomy in disciplines as varied as human medicine, chiropractic, veterinary medicine, and physical therapy. Prosections may also be used to teach surgical techniques (such as the suturing of skin), pathology, physiology, reproduction medicine and theriogenology, and other topics. The use of the prosection teaching technique is somewhat controversial in medicine. In the teaching of veterinary medicine, the goal is to "create the best quality education ... while ensuring that animals are not used harmfully and that respect for animal life is engendered within the student." Others have concluded that dissections and prosections have a negative impact on students' respect for patients and human life

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18421030

Prosection

Prosection Some scholars argue that while actual hands-on experience is essential, alternatives such as plastinated or freeze-dried cadavers are just as effective in the teaching of anatomy while dramatically reducing the number of cadavers or cadaver parts needed. Other alternatives such as instructional videos, plastic models, and printed materials also exist. Some studies find them equally effective as dissection or prosections, and some schools of human medicine in the UK have abandoned the use of cadavers entirely. But others question the usefulness of these alternatives, arguing dissection or prosection of cadavers are required for in-depth learning and teach skills alternatives cannot. Some scholars and teachers go so far as to argue that cadavers and prosections are irreplaceable in the teaching of medicine. Whether prosections are as effective as dissections in the teaching of medicine is also an unsettled aspect of medical education. Some have concluded that prosections are equally effective. However, others argue that the use of prosections is not as effective, and that dissections help students learn about "detached concern," better understand medical uncertainty, and allow teachers to raise moral issues about death and dying. Some academics conclude that the effectiveness of prosections versus dissection or other alternatives depends on the type of anatomy or the discipline being taught (e.g

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18421030

Prosection

Prosection , anatomy versus pathology), that the teaching of anatomy is yet insufficiently understood, and that existing studies are too narrow or limited to draw conclusions.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18421030

Prosection

Tethered particle motion (TPM) is a biophysical method that is used for studying various polymers such as DNA and their interaction with other entities such as proteins. The method allows observers to measure various physical properties on the substances, as well as to measure the properties of biochemical interactions with other substances such as proteins and enzymes. TPM is a single molecule experiment method. TPM was first introduced by Schafer, Gelles, Sheetz and Landick in 1991. In their research, they attached RNA polymerase to the surface, and gold beads were attached to one end of the DNA molecules. In the beginning, the RNA polymerase "captures" the DNA near the gold bead. During the transcription, the DNA "slides" on the RNA polymerase so the distance between the RNA polymerase and the gold bead (the tether length)is increased. Using an optical microscope the area that the bead moves in was detected. The transcription rate was extracted from data.<br> Since then, a lot of TPM experiments have been done, and the method was improved in many ways such as bead types, biochemistry techniques, imaging (faster cameras, different microscopy methods etc.) data analysis and combination with other single-molecule techniques (e.g. optical or magnetical tweezers). One end of a polymer is attached to a small bead (tens to hundreds of nanometer), while the other end is attached to a surface. Both the polymer and the bead stay in an aqueous environment, so the bead moves in Brownian motion. Because of the tether, the motion is restricted

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441673

Tethered particle motion

Tethered particle motion Using an optical microscope and CCD camera, one can track the bead position in a time series. Although the bead is usually smaller than the diffraction limit, so the image is a spot which is larger than the bead itself (point spread function), the center of the spot represents the projection on the X-Y plane of the end of the polymer (end-to-end vector). Analyzing the distribution of the bead position can tell us a lot of information about the polymer. In order that the motion would be polymer dominated, and not bead dominated, one should notice that the excursion number, N, will be less than 1:<br> formula_1 where formula_2 is the bead radius, formula_3 is the contour length of the polymer and formula_4 is the persistence length (50 nm in physiological conditions) of the polymer. (It is possible to work also when formula_5, but it should be treated carefully.) Metallic beads (usually gold) scatter light with high intensity, so one can use very small beads (~40 nm diameter), and still have a good picture. From the other hand, metallic beads are not the appropriate tool for optical tweezers experiments. Polystyrene beads scatter light weaker than metallic (in order to get the same intensity as getting from 40 nm gold bead, the polystyrene bead should be ~125 nm!), but it has the advantage that it can be combined with optical tweezers experiments

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441673

Tethered particle motion

Tethered particle motion The major advantage of fluorospheres is that the excitation wavelength and the emission wavelength are not the same, so dichroic filter can be used to give a cleaner signal. The disadvantage of the fluorospheres is photobleaching. All of the bead types and diameters (with the biochemistry marker, look at the tether assembly section) are manufactured by commercial companies, and can purchased easily. A chip can be made of two coverslips. One of them should be drilled to make two hole, allowing the reagents to be injected into the flowcell. The slides should be cleaned to remove dirt. A bath sonicator is a good tool for that, 15 minutes in Isopropanol should do the trick. Next, the a channel should be made. One way of doing so is to cut parafilm in the center, leaving a frame of parafilm that would be used as a spacer between the slides. The slides should be assembled one on the other with the cut parafilm between them. The final step is to heat the chip so that the parafilm will melt and glue the slides together. First, the chip has to be passivated so that the polymer won't stick to the glass, there are plenty of blocking reagents available (BSA, alpha-casein, etc.) and one should find what works best for the specific situation Next, the surface should be coated with an antibody or other reactive molecule (such as anti-digoxigenin) that will bind to an antigen (digoxigenin) at one end of the polymer. After an incubation of about 45min, the excess antibody has to be washed away

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441673

Tethered particle motion

Tethered particle motion After washing the excess antibody, the polymer should be injected into the chip and incubated for about the same time. The polymer had been modified before at the ends. One end has a biotin tail and the other has a digoxigenin tail. After incubation, unbound polymer has to be washed out from the cell. Then, anti-biotin coated beads should be injected to the flowcell and incubate for about 30-45min. Excess beads should be washed out. As mentioned above, the image doesn't show the bead itself but a larger spot according to its PSF (Point spread function). In addition, the pixel size on the camera may reduce the resolution of the measure. In order to extract the exact bead's position (that corresponds to the end-to-end vector), the center of the spot should be found as accurate as possible. It can be done with good resolution using two different techniques, both based on spot characteristics. The light intensity in the focal plane distributed as airy disk, and has circular symmetry. A 2-dimensional Gaussian function is a good approximation for airy disk. By fitting this function to the spot one can find the parameters formula_6 and formula_7 that are the coordinates of the center of the spot, and of the end-to-end vector. The second technique is to find the center of intensity, using the definition of center of mass: formula_8 where formula_9 is the center of mass coordinate, formula_10 is the total intensity of the spot, and formula_11 and formula_12 are the intensity and coordinate of the "k"-th pixel

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441673

Tethered particle motion

Tethered particle motion Because of the circular symmetry, the coordinate of the center of intensity is the coordinate of the center of the bead.<br> Both techniques give us the coordinate of the end-to-end vector in a resolution better than pixel size. Usually, the whole system drifts during the measuring. There are several methods to correct the drift, generally these can divided into 3 groups: The Brownian motion frequency is much larger than the drift frequency, so one can use high-pass filter in order to remove the drift. Similar effect can achieve by smoothing the data, and subtraction of the smoothed from the data (see figure). If few beads are shown in the frame, because every bead moving randomly, averaging over the position of them for every frame should give us the drift (it should subtracted from the data for having clean data). If an immobilized bead is shown in the frame, we can take its position as a reference, and correct the data by the immobilized bead's position. (Another advantage of looking at immobilized bead, is the fact that the motion of it can tell us about the accuracy of the measure.)<br> Of course one can use more than one method. It is common to fit random walk statistics to the end-to-end vector of the polymer. For 1-dimensional we'll get the Normal distribution, and for 2-dimensional the Rayleigh distribution: formula_13<br> where formula_3 is the contour length and formula_4 is the persistence length

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441673

Tethered particle motion

Tethered particle motion <br> After collecting the data of time series, one should fitting the histogram of the data to the distribution function (one or two dimensional). If the contour length of the polymer is known, the only fitting parameter is the persistence length. Due to entropic force, the polymer acts like Hookian spring. According to Boltzmann distribution, the distribution is proportional to exponent of the ratio between the elastic energy and the thermal energy: formula_16 where formula_17 is the spring constant, formula_18 is Boltzmann constant and formula_19 is the temperature. By taking the logarithm of the distribution formula_20 and fitting it to a parabola shape, one can get the spring constant of the polymer: formula_21 where formula_22 is the coefficient of formula_23 from the parabola fit. Advantages include a simple setup, cost, the fact that observations are made in the polymer's natural environment (no external forces are used), it is suitable for various microscopy methods (e.g. TIRFM, dark field, differential interference contrast microscopy, etc.), it can be combined and manipulated using other methods, and there are a high variety of applications. Disadvantages include low spatial resolution (~30 nm) and that it fits to in vitro experiments only.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441673

Tethered particle motion

Pacific Research Laboratories Pacific Research Laboratories, Inc. (PRL) is a design, research and development (R&D) and prototype manufacturing company. It is the leading producer of Sawbones, designed to simulate bone architecture and a bone’s physical properties. It was founded in 1978. The company had 135 employees as of April 2016 and is the largest manufacturer in Vashon, Washington. It is locally referred to as "The Bone Factory." PRL has capabilities in (R&D) prototypes, short run production, and rapid prototyping. It is the manufacturer for Seaglider fairings, wings and rudders; Seaglider is an underwater glider autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed by the University of Washington. PRL also manufactures Super Shroud cell tower concealment shrouds. The company also works in product development and design, including quick-turnaround projects using urethanes, silicones, glass/carbon fibers, braided fiberglass, thermoplastics, electronics, hydraulics, and pneumatics; the creation of prototypes, master patterns, and tooling; reverse engineering; laser scanning; and manufacturing using 3D printing, 3-axis CNC router, 4-axis CNC machining, and a triaxial fiberglass braider. In December 2010, became employee owned under an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18441713

Pacific Research Laboratories

SimAnimals is a life simulation video game published by Electronic Arts for the Nintendo DS and Wii console systems. It was released on January 21, 2009 in North America. It was released on January 29, 2009 in Australia and January 30, 2009 in Europe. A sequel, "Africa", was released for Wii and Nintendo DS on October 27, 2009. The game has the player in a similar role as in "The Sims" controlling a disembodied hand in which the player manipulates over 30 types of animals, and creates their habitat around them. The animals evolve personalities depending on how the user treats (or mistreats) them. The players can use the animals to solve challenges and achieve goals by discovering secrets, unlocking forest areas and uncovering one-of-a-kind objects and wild animals, some with special abilities, by having the animals successfully complete tasks. After a certain number of achievement points are earned in the DS version, the player can blow into the DS microphone, creating wind for the pickup of berries. The players can pick up anything in the forest including trees, flowers, other plants, animals, water, logs, and rocks. The game contains more than 30 species of animals from the Northern Hemisphere. Electronics retailer Best Buy offered an exclusive in-game animal (panda, red panda, and ferret for Wii, electric squirrel for DS) with purchase during the initial US release of the game. The music for "SimAnimals" was composed by Winifred Phillips and produced by Winnie Waldron

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18448023

SimAnimals

SimAnimals The music from the game was released on January 13, 2009 as a digital download album by E.A.R.S. EA Recordings. The soundtrack album was released to positive reviews and high scores, including a 9.5 out of 10 from Michael Pascua of The Celebrity Cafe, a 90 out of 100 from Jeremy Hill of Gamertell, and a 9 out of 10 from the music review site VGM Rush. has a score of 60% on Metacritic, which indicates mixed or average reviews, and 69% on GameRankings. IGN gave the game a 5.3, writing,The Sims franchise is insanely popular for a reason, and growing a community, whether it be man or animal, is rewarding. But no effort has been put into the presentation here. The game doesn't run smoothly, the forest is unattractive, and the controls aren't user-friendly. However, the game garnered some positive reviews. USA Today awarded 5 stars out of 5. Reviewer Jinny Gudmundsen wrote, It ("SimAnimals") is a fascinating experience that is hard to put down... There are many things that make this game compelling, including the outstanding graphics, music and artificial intelligence, but the most attractive feature is that the game lets you explore the delicate balances found in nature.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18448023

SimAnimals

Dole Nutrition Institute The (DNI) is a research and education foundation within the Dole Food Company and is based in Kannapolis, North Carolina at the North Carolina Research Campus. The DNI was founded by David H. Murdock in 2003. The institute exists as a resource offering educational publications on a plant-based diet. The offers self-produced health and nutrition segments. In 2008, the Web Marketing Association (WMA) awarded the Dole Nutrition News (DNN) their International Advertising Competition Award for Outstanding Achievement in Internet Advertising - Best Food Industry On-line Newsletter Award. The Corporate Wellness Toolkit teaches businesses how to promote healthy eating and exercise. The kit includes signage, newsletters, videos, and instructional materials which encourage businesses to provide weight loss seminars, trainers, and healthier foods for their employees. The School Salad Days program was designed to encourage healthy eating habits and promote daily fruit and vegetable consumption in California public schools. The pilot program was launched in 2006 with the donation of fifty full-service portable salad bars to public schools in California. DNI gave these schools nutrition information, worked with schools to develop fruit baskets to be sold as fund-raising alternatives, and helped schools plant on-site "edible gardens". In 2007, donated nearly 250,000 nutrition-focused publications to the Children's Hunger Fund (CHF), an international non-profit organization

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18463049

Dole Nutrition Institute

Dole Nutrition Institute CHF is now including these materials in their Food Paks, 20 lb. boxes of staple foods, which are delivered to the homes of needy families. The donation included DNI’s "Health & Wellness" brochure series and "What You Need to Eat Every Day & Why" in English and Spanish. For the children, "Dole's 5-A-Day the Color Way" coloring books and bookmarks help kids focus on their own nutrition and to make good food choices in the future.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18463049

Dole Nutrition Institute

Zombie taxon In paleontology, a zombie taxon (plural "zombie taxa") or the zombie effect refers to a fossil, such as a dinosaur tooth, that was washed out of sediments and re-deposited in rocks and/or sediments millions of years younger. That basic mistake in the interpretation of the age of the fossil leads to its title, in that the discovered fossil was at some point mobile (or "walking") despite the original organism having been long dead. When that occurs, the fossil is described as a "reworked fossil" or "remanié".

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18468924

Zombie taxon

Telalginite is a structured organic matter (alginite) in sapropel, composed of large discretely occurring colonial or thick-walled unicellular algae such as "Botryococcus", "Tasmanites" and "Gloeocapsomorpha prisca". is present in large algal bodies. It fluoresce brightly in shades of yellow under blue/ultraviolet light. The term of telalginite was introduced by Adrian C. Hutton of the University of Wollongong.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18480166

Telalginite

Lamalginite is a structured organic matter (alginite) in sapropel, composed of thin-walled colonial or unicellular algae that occur as distinct laminae, cryptically interbedded with mineral matter. It displays few or no recognisable biologic structures. fluoresce brightly in shades of yellow under blue/ultraviolet light. The term of lamalginite was introduced by Adrian C. Hutton of the University of Wollongong.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18480598

Lamalginite

Germline mosaicism Germline mosaicism, also called gonadal mosaicism, is a type of genetic mosaicism where more than one set of genetic information is found specifically within the gamete cells; conversely, somatic mosaicism is a type of genetic mosaicism found in somatic cells. can be present at the same time as somatic mosaicism or individually depending on when the conditions occur. Pure germline mosaicism refers to mosaicism found exclusively in the gametes and not in any somatic cells. can be caused either by a mutation that occurs after conception, or by epigenetic regulation, alterations to DNA such as methylation that do not involve changes in the DNA coding sequence. A mutation in an allele acquired by a somatic cell early in its development can be passed on to its daughter cells, including those that later specialize to gametes. With such mutation within the gamete cells, a pair of medically typical individuals may have repeated succession of children who suffer from certain genetic disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophyand osteogenesis imperfecta because of germline mosaicism. It is possible for parents unaffected by germline mutations to produce an offspring with an autosomal dominant (AD) disorder due to a random new mutation within one’s gamete cells known as sporadic mutation; however, if these parents produce more than one child with an AD disorder, germline mosaicism is more likely the cause than a sporadic mutation

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18487326

Germline mosaicism

Germline mosaicism In the first documented case of its kind, two offspring of a French woman who had no phenotypic expression of the AD disorder, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, inherited the disease. Germline mosacisim disorders are usually inherited in a pattern that suggests that the condition is dominant in ether or both of the parents. That said, diverging from Mendelian gene inheritance patterns, a parent with a recessive allele can produce offspring expressing the phenotype as dominant through germline mosaicism. A situation may also arise in which the parents have milder phenotypic expression of a mutation yet produce offspring with more expressive phenotypic variance and a more frequent sibling recurrences of the mutation. Diseases caused by germline mosaicism can be difficult to diagnose as genetically-inherited because the mutant alleles are not likely to be present in the somatic cells. Somatic cells are more commonly used for genetic analysis because they are easier to obtain than gametes. If the disease is a result of pure germline mosaicism, then the disease causing mutant allele would never be present in the somatic cells. This is a source of uncertainty for genetic counselling. An individual may still be a carrier for a certain disease even if the disease causing mutant allele is not present in the cells that were analyzed because the causative mutation could still exist in some of the individual's gametes. may contribute to the inheritance of many genetic conditions

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18487326

Germline mosaicism

Germline mosaicism Conditions that are inherited by means of germline mosaicism are often mistaken as being the result of de novo mutations. Various diseases are now being re-examined for presence of mutant alleles in the germline of the parents in order to further our understanding of how they can be passed on. The frequency of germline mosaicism is not known due to the sporadic nature of the mutations causing it and the difficulty in obtaining the gametes that must be tested to diagnose it. Autosomal dominant or X-linked familial disorders often prompt prenatal testing for germline mosaicism. This diagnosis may involve minimally invasive procedures, such as blood sampling or amniotic fluid sampling. Collected samples can be sequenced via common DNA testing methods, such as Sanger Sequencing, MLPA, or Southern Blot analysis, to look for variations on relevant genes connected to the disorder. The recurrence rate of conditions caused by germline mosaicism varies greatly between subjects. Recurrence is proportional to the number of gamete cells that carry the particular mutation with the condition. If the mutation occurred earlier on in the development of the gamete cells, then the recurrence rate would be higher because a greater number of cells would carry the mutant allele

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18487326

Germline mosaicism

Germline mosaicism A Moroccan family consisting of two healthy unrelated parents and three offspring—including two with Noonan syndrome, a rare autosomal dominant disorder with varying expression and genetic heterogeneity—underwent genetic testing revealing that both of the siblings with NS share the same PTPN11 haplotype from both parents, while a distinct paternal and maternal haplotype was inherited by the unaffected sibling. In the paper Germline and somatic mosaicism in transgenic mice published in 1986, Thomas M.Wilkie, Ralph L.Brinster, and Richard D.Palmiter analyzed a germline mosaicism experiment done on 262 transgenic mice and concluded that 30% of founder transgenic mice are mosaic in the germline.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18487326

Germline mosaicism

Khatyspytia is a frondose member of the Ediacara biota. It is slender, with many short branches, and is named after the Khatyspyt Formation.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18492919

Khatyspytia

Darwin–Wallace Medal The is a medal awarded by the Linnean Society of London for "major advances in evolutionary biology". Historically, the medals have been awarded every 50 years, beginning in 1908. That year marked 50 years after the joint presentation by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace of two scientific papers—"On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection"—to the Linnean Society of London on 1 July 1858. Fittingly, Wallace was one of the first recipients of the medal, in his case it was, exceptionally, in gold, rather than the silver version presented in the six other initial awards. However, in 2008 the Linnean Society announced that due to the continuing importance of evolutionary research, the medal will be awarded on an annual basis beginning in 2010. The first award was of a gold medal to Alfred Russel Wallace, and silver medals to six other distinguished scientists: 20 silver medals were awarded: 13 silver medals were awarded, including 2 posthumously:

Biology

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Darwin–Wallace Medal

Intergradation In zoology, intergradation is the way in which two distinct subspecies are connected via areas where populations are found that have the characteristics of both. There are two types of intergradation: primary and secondary intergradation. This occurs in cases where two subspecies are connected via one or more intermediate populations, each of which is in turn intermediate to its adjacent populations and exhibits more or less the same amount of variability as any other population within the species. Adjacent populations and subspecies are subject to cline intergradation, and in these situations it is usually taken for granted that the clines are causally related (by natural selection) to environmental gradients. When contact between a geographically isolated subspecies is reestablished with the main body of the species or with another isolate subspecies, interbreeding takes place as long as the isolate has not yet evolved an effective set of isolating mechanisms. Consequently, a relatively distinct zone or belt of hybridization will develop depending on the degree of genetic and phenotypic difference that was achieved by the previously isolated subspecies.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18500477

Intergradation

Compression of morbidity The compression of morbidity in public health is a hypothesis put forth by James Fries, professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. The hypothesis was supported by a 1998 study of 1700 University of Pennsylvania alumni over a period of 20 years. Fries' hypothesis is that the burden of lifetime illness may be compressed into a shorter period before the time of death, if the age of onset of the first chronic infirmity can be postponed. This hypothesis contrasts to the view that as the age of countries' populations tends to increase over time, they will become increasingly infirm and consume an ever-larger proportion of the national budget in healthcare costs. Fries posited that if the hypothesis is confirmed, healthcare costs and patient health overall will be improved. In order to confirm this hypothesis, the evidence must show that it is possible to delay the onset of infirmity, and that corresponding increases in longevity will at least be modest. The evidence is at best mixed. Vincent Mor's "The Compression of Morbidity Hypothesis: A Review of Research and Prospects for the Future" argues that "Cross-national evidence for the validity of the compression of morbidity hypothesis originally proposed by Fries is generally accepted. Generational improvements in education and the increased availability of adaptive technologies and even medical treatments that enhance quality of life have facilitated continued independence of older persons in the industrialized world

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18504221

Compression of morbidity

Compression of morbidity Whether this trend continues may depend upon the effect of the obesity epidemic on the next generation of older people." See also "Mortality and Morbidity Trends: Is There Compression of Morbidity?" for recent evidence against the hypothesis. There may also be age versus cohort effects.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18504221

Compression of morbidity

Spirorhaphe (sometimes misspelt Spiroraphe) is an ichnogenus of spiraling burrows.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18522007

Spirorhaphe

EIF4G Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4 G (eIF4G) is a protein involved in eukaryotic translation initiation and is a component of the eIF4F cap-binding complex. Orthologs of eIF4G have been studied in multiple species, including humans, yeast, and wheat. However, eIF4G is exclusively found in domain Eukarya, and not in domains Bacteria or Archaea, which do not have capped mRNA. As such, eIF4G structure and function may vary between species, although the human eIF4G 1 has been the focus of extensive studies. Across species, eIF4G strongly associates with eIF4E, the protein that directly binds the mRNA cap. Together with the RNA helicase protein eIF4A, these form the eIF4F complex. Within the cell eIF4G is found primarily in the cytoplasm, usually bound to eIF4E; however, it is also found in the nucleus, where its function is unknown. It may have a role in nonsense-mediated decay. eIF4G stands for eukaryotic initiation factor 4 gamma (typically gamma is now replaced by G in the literature). It was initially isolated by fractionation, found present in fraction 4 gamma, and was involved in eukaryotic translation initiation. eIF4G has been found to associate with many other proteins besides those of the eIF4F complex, including MNK-1, CBP80, CBP20, PABP, and eIF3. eIF4G also directly binds mRNA and has multiple positively charged regions for this function. Several IRESs also bind eIF4G directly, as do BTE CITEs

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18523258

EIF4G

EIF4G eIF4G is an important scaffold for the eIF4F complex and aids in recruiting the 40S ribosomal subunit to mRNA. There are three mechanisms that the 40S ribosome can come to recognize the start codon: scanning, internal entry, and shunting. In scanning, the 40S ribosome slides along the RNA until it recognizes a start site (typically an AUG sequence in "good context"). In internal entry, the 40S ribosome does not start from the beginning (5' end) of the mRNA but instead starts from somewhere in the middle. In shunting, after the 40S ribosome starts sliding along the mRNA it "jumps" or skips large sections; the mechanism for this is still unclear. eIF4G is required for most types of initiation, except in special cases such as internal initiation at the HCV IRES or Cripavirus IRES. eIF4G is an initiation factor involved in the assembly of the 43S and 48S 43S_preinitiation_complex. This particular initiation factor binds to the PABPI (PolyA binding protein I), which is in turn binds the messenger RNA's poly(A) tail and eIF3, which is bound to the incoming small ribosomal subunit (40S). eIF4G has been implicated in breast cancer. It appears in increased levels in certain types of breast cancer and increases production of mRNAs that contain IRESs; these mRNAs produce hypoxia- and stress-related proteins that encourage blood vessel invasion (which is important for tumorigenesis). Regulation of translation initiation by eIF4G is vital for protein synthesis in developing organisms, for example yeast and nematodes

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18523258

EIF4G

EIF4G Deletion of eIF4G is lethal in yeast. In the roundworm C. elegans, knockout of eIF4G leads to animals that cannot develop past the early larval stage (L2) of development. The critical role of eIF4G in development appears to be reversed in adulthood, when eIF4G dysregulation negatively impacts lifespan and increases susceptibility to certain aging-related diseases (see eIF4G in diseases above). Inhibiting eIF4G during adulthood in C. elegans drastically extends lifespan, comparable to the lifespan increase exhibited during dietary restriction. In addition, inhibiting eIF4G reduces overall protein translation, while preferentially translating mRNA of genes important for responding to stress and against those associated with growth and reproduction. Thus eIF4G appears to control differential mRNA translation during periods or growth and stress, which may ultimately lead to age-related decline. As previously mentioned, eIF4G is bound by certain IRESs, which were initially discovered in viruses. Some viral IRESs directly bind eIF4G and co-opt it to gain access to the ribosome. Some cellular mRNAs also contain IRESs (including eIF4G itself). Some viral proteases cleave off part of eIF4G, that contains the eIF4E binding region. This has the effect of preventing most cellular mRNAs from binding eIF4G; however, a few cellular mRNAs with IRESs still translate under these conditions. One example of an eIF4G binding site in a viral IRES is in the EMCV IRES (nucleotides 746-949).

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18523258

EIF4G

Fragment-based lead discovery (FBLD) also known as fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) is a method used for finding lead compounds as part of the drug discovery process. Fragments are small organic molecules which are small in size and low in molecular weight. It is based on identifying small chemical fragments, which may bind only weakly to the biological target, and then growing them or combining them to produce a lead with a higher affinity. FBLD can be compared with high-throughput screening (HTS). In HTS, libraries with up to millions of compounds, with molecular weights of around 500 Da, are screened, and nanomolar binding affinities are sought. In contrast, in the early phase of FBLD, libraries with a few thousand compounds with molecular weights of around 200 Da may be screened, and millimolar affinities can be considered useful. FBLD is a technique being used in research for discovering novel potent inhibitors. This methodology could help to design multitarget drugs for multiple diseases.The multitarget inhibitor approach is based on designing an inhibitor for the multiple targets. This type of drug design opens up new polypharmacological avenues for discovering innovative and effective therapies. Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s, among others, also show rather complex etiopathologies. Multitarget inhibitors are more appropriate for addressing the complexity of AD and may provide new drugs for controlling the multifactorial nature of AD, stopping its progression. <ref name="DOI: 10.1002/cem

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18526787

Fragment-based lead discovery

Fragment-based lead discovery 2556"></ref> In analogy to the rule of five, it has been proposed that ideal fragments should follow the 'rule of three' (molecular weight < 300, ClogP < 3, the number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors each should be < 3 and the number of rotatable bonds should be < 3). Since the fragments have relatively low affinity for their targets, they must have high water solubility so that they can be screened at higher concentrations. In fragment-based drug discovery, the low binding affinities of the fragments pose significant challenges for screening. Many biophysical techniques have been applied to address this issue. In particular, ligand-observe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods such as water-ligand observed via gradient spectroscopy (waterLOGSY), saturation transfer difference spectroscopy (STD-NMR), F NMR spectroscopy and inter-ligand Overhauser effect (ILOE) spectroscopy, protein-observe NMR methods such as H-N heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) that utilises isotopically-labelled proteins, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) are routinely-used for ligand screening and for the quantification of fragment binding affinity to the target protein. Once a fragment (or a combination of fragments) have been identified, protein X-ray crystallography is used to obtain structural models of the protein-fragment(s) complexes

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18526787

Fragment-based lead discovery

Fragment-based lead discovery Such information can then be used to guide organic synthesis for high-affinity protein ligands and enzyme inhibitors. Advantages of screening low molecular weight fragment based libraries over traditional higher molecular weight chemical libraries are several. These include:

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18526787

Fragment-based lead discovery

Runhild Gammelsæter is a Norwegian musician notable for being the vocalist for the American bands Thorr's Hammer and Khlyst. She works as a professional biologist and holds a Ph.D. in cell physiology. was a 17-year-old foreign exchange student from Norway when she joined Thorr's Hammer along with Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson. After six weeks, which was the time it took to release "Sannhet i Blodet" and record "Dommedagsnatt", the band split up due to Runhild returning to Oslo, Norway. "Dommedagsnatt" was released soon afterwards in 1996 via Southern Lord Records. The four other members of Thorr's Hammer went on to form the band Burning Witch. In 2006, she helped form the band Khlyst along with James Plotkin and Tim Wyskida. The album "Chaos is My Name" was released the same year, which also featured two painted portraits by Runhild herself. On June 28, 2008, her debut solo album, "Amplicon", was released through Utech Records. On December 13, 2014, she released a collaboration album with a renowned Norwegian noise musician Lasse Marhaug, "Quantum Entanglement". has a PhD in cell physiology from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oslo. She is also a Fulbright Scholar, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of Norwegian biotechnology company Regenics A.S.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18531906

Runhild Gammelsæter

Electropositive shark repellent Electropositive metals (EPMs) are a new class of shark repellent materials that produce a measurable voltage when immersed in an electrolyte such as seawater. The voltages produced are as high as 1.75 VDC in seawater. It is hypothesized that this voltage overwhelms the ampullary organ in sharks, producing a repellent action. Since bony fish lack the ampullary organ, the repellent is selective to sharks and rays. The process is electrochemical, so no external power input is required. As chemical work is done, the metal is lost in the form of corrosion. Depending on the alloy or metal utilized and its thickness, the electropositive repellent effect lasts up to 48 hours. The reaction of the electropositive metal in seawater produces hydrogen gas bubbles and an insoluble nontoxic hydroxide as a precipitate which settles downward in the water column. SharkDefense made the discovery of electrochemical shark repellent effects on May 1, 2006 at South Bimini, Bahamas at the Bimini Biological Field Station. An electropositive metal, which was a component of a permanent magnet, was chosen as an experimental control for a tonic immobility experiment by Eric Stroud using a juvenile lemon shark ("Negaprion brevirostris"). It was anticipated that this metal would produce no effect, since it was not ferromagnetic. However, a violent rousing response was observed when the metal was brought within 50 cm of the shark's nose

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18543746

Electropositive shark repellent

Electropositive shark repellent The experiment was repeated with three other juvenile lemon sharks and two other juvenile nurse sharks ("Ginglymostoma cirratum"), and care was taken to eliminate all stray metal objects in the testing site. Patrick Rice, Michael Herrmann, and Eric Stroud were present at this first trial. Mike Rowe, from Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs series, subsequently witnessed and participated in a test using an electropositive metal within 24 hours after the discovery. In the next three months, a variety of transition metals, lanthanides, post-transition metals, metalloids, and non-metal samples were screened for rousing activity using the tonic immobility bioassay in juvenile lemon sharks and juvenile nurse sharks. All behaviors were scored from 0 to 4 depending on the response. It was determined that Group I, II, III, and Lanthanide metals all produced rousing responses, but the average score generally increased with electropositivity. Further testing using salt bridge electrochemical cells were conducted during 2006 and 2007 at the Oak Ridge Shark Lab. Using seawater as the electrolyte and a shark fin clipping as the cathode, voltages measured closely correlated with the standard reduction potential of the metal under test. SharkDefense now hypothesizes that a net positive charge from the cations produced by the electropositive metals accumulate on the electronegative skin of the shark. The net increase of the charge on the shark's skin is perceived by the ampullae of Lorenzini, and above 1

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18543746

Electropositive shark repellent

Electropositive shark repellent 2 eV potential, aversion is produced. Electropositive metals are reducing agents and liberate hydrogen gas in seawater via hydrolysis, producing a half-cell voltage of about −0.86 eV. Simultaneously, an insoluble metal hydroxide precipitate is produced, which is inert for shark repellent activity. As such, metal is lost to corrosion in the process of generating cations. SharkDefense conducted corrosion loss studies in 2008 at South Bimini, Bahamas, and found that a 70 gram piece of a custom electropositive alloy retained more than 50% of its original weight after 70 hours of immersion. Losses due to corrosion are heavily a function of temperature, therefore, the cold seawater at fishing depths serves to reduce the corrosion rate. Stoner and Kaimmer (2008) reported success using cerium mischmetal and Pacific spiny dogfish ("Squalus acanthias", a type of shark) in captivity, both with tonic immobility and feeding preference tests. Lead metal was used as a control. Encouraged by the results, a longline study was conducted off Homer, Alaska in late 2007 with the cooperation of the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Again, lead was used as a control. This study found a 17% reduction in Pacific spiny dogfish catch, and a 48% reduction in clearnose skate catch. However, Tallack et al. reported that cerium mischmetal was entirely ineffective against Atlantic spiny dogfish in the Gulf of Maine. Mandelman et al

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18543746

Electropositive shark repellent

Electropositive shark repellent reported that the repellent effect disappeared after starvation using captive Atlantic spiny dogfish, and that a species-specific variation in response to the mischmetals exist between captive Atlantic spiny dogfish and dusky smoothhounds ("Mustelis canis"). Stroud (SharkDefense, 2006) and Fisher (VIMS) observed captive cownose rays ("Rhinoptera bonasus") changing swim elevation and ignoring blue crab baits in cages that contained neodymium-praseodymium mischmetal. The position of the treatment cages were alternated, and all cages were placed in the swim path of the rays. Brill et al. (2008) reported that captive juvenile sandbar sharks ("Carcharhinus plumbeus") maintained a 50–60 cm clearance in their swimming patterns when a piece of neodymium-praseodymium mischmetal was placed in the tank. Wang, Swimmer, and Laughton (2007) reported aversive responses to neodymium-praseodymium mischmetals placed near baits offered to adult Galapagos ("C. galapagensis") and Sandbar sharks on bamboo poles in Hawaii. In July 2008 Richard Brill of NMFS/VIMS and SharkDefense both conducted more at-sea trials with electropositive metals in an effort to reduce shark bycatch in commercial fisheries. As of August 2, 2008, Brill reported nearly a 3:1 reduction in sandbar shark catch when plastic decoys were compared to metals. A high statistical significance was obtained, as reported in the Virginian-Pilot by Joanne Kimberlin

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18543746

Electropositive shark repellent

Electropositive shark repellent SharkDefense later developed a simple on-hook treatment and a bait attachment which were being tested on Atlantic longlining vessels in 2008. As expected, teleosts (bony fish) are not repelled by the electropositive metal's cation liberation in seawater. This is because teleosts lack the ampullae of Lorenzini. Teleost response was confirmed using captive Cobia ("Rachycentron canadum") and Pacific halibut ("Hippoglossus stenolepis"). In July 2008 swordfish ("Xiphias gladius") catch was reported on experimental hooks treated with electropositive metal. As with all shark repellents, 100% effectiveness will not be achieved with electropositive metals. The metals are particularly effective when the shark is relying on its electrosense. It is likely that electropositive metals are ineffective for deliberately stimulated (chummed) sharks, competitively feeding sharks, and shark "frenzies". The metals are very useful in the environment of commercial fisheries, and possibly recreational and artisanal fisheries.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18543746

Electropositive shark repellent

Synnema A synnema (plural "synnemata", also "coremia"; derivation: "Threads together") is a large, erect reproductive structure borne by some fungi, bearing compact conidiophores, which fuse together to form a strand resembling a stalk of wheat, with conidia at the end or on the edges. Fungal genera which bear synnemata include "Doratomyces".

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18552541

Synnema

Nitrocellulose slide A nitrocellulose slide (or nitrocellulose film slide) is a glass microscope slide that is coated with nitrocellulose that is used to bind biological material, often protein, for colorimetric and fluorescence detection assays. For this purpose, a nitrocellulose slide is generally considered to be superior to glass, because it binds a great deal more protein, and protects the tertiary structure of the protein (and other biological material, i.e.: cells). Typically, nitrocellulose slides have a thin, opaque film of nitrocellulose on a standard 25mm × 75 mm glass microscope slide. The film is extremely sensitive to contact, and to foreign material; contact causes deformation and deposition of material, especially liquids. A nitrocellulose slide is different from a nitrocellulose membrane, which usually filters protein from solution (i.e.: physician's office pregnancy tests), but that it serves a similar goal: to detect the presence and/or concentration level of certain biological material. Nitrocellulose slides are used mainly in proteomics to do protein microarrays with automated systems that print the slides and record results. Microarrays of cell analytes, arrays of cell lysate, antibody microarrays, tissue printing, immunoarrays, etc. are also possible with the slide. Due to their high surface roughness, conventional white nitrocellulose films scatter and reflect large amounts of excitation and emission light during the fluorescence detection in the microarray scanner

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18558539

Nitrocellulose slide

Nitrocellulose slide In addition, nitrocellulose exhibits a natural autofluorescence at the detection wavelengths commonly used. Both these factors lead to a high background fluorescent signal from these membrane slides. To overcome this problem, a new process has been developed to generate black membranes that absorb the scattered light, significantly reducing the background auto-fluorescence and thus offering a very low and homogenous auto-fluorescence to achieve a significantly improved dynamic range. These slides are commercially available through Schott AG. Nevertheless, conventional white nitrocellulose films continue to be the dominant surface for many protein microarray applications because the claims above have not proved relevant to end user requirements. Regardless, nitrocellulose slide manufacturers like Grace Bio-Labs continue to develop new nitrocellulose surfaces to further optimize their use in protein microarrays. A method for protein quantitation on nitrocellulose coated glass slides uses near-IR fluorescent detection with quantum dots. Traditional porous nitrocellulose signal to noise is limited by auto-fluorescence of the nitrocellulose at the respective required wavelengths of excitation and emission for standard organic fluorescent detection probes. Near IR detection probes are excited and read at emission wavelengths outside the range of nitrocellulose fluorescence.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18558539

Nitrocellulose slide

Basophil activation Allergic symptoms are caused by an initial systemic histamine release by activated basophils and mast cells, that may lead to shock with laryngeal edema, lower-airway obstruction and hypotension. This is why basophils are considered with mast cells to be the key cells in allergic diseases. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a class of antibody (or immunoglobulin "isotype") that has only been found in mammals. It plays an important role in allergy, and is especially associated with type 1 hypersensitivity. There are receptors (FcεR) for the constant region of IgE, the Fc region, on several types of cells, including Mast cells and Basophils. Basophils contain many granules inside the cell, which are filled with a variety of active substance triggering an allergic response upon degranulation. The cells are activated and start degranulation when the IgE antibody, bound to an allergen which can bind to the specific variable region of the IgE, the Fab region, bind to the Fc receptor In most cases, a positive skin test is used in identification of allergies, but the activation of basophilic granulocytes with anti-IgE, the expression of the CD63 antigen on the cell surface (plasma membrane) allows identification of the allergen responsible for the hypersensitivity reaction without performing the common scratch test. Only a little amount of blood is needed for this experiment, which makes it comfortable to use since one can perform it in parallel to a normal blood checkup. It can be used for different allergies (e.g

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18571243

Basophil activation

Basophil activation bee venom, drugs, contrast media). Degranulated cell expose CD63 molecules on their outer cell membrane, hence the granules, which contain CD63 molecules on their inner surface, merged with the cell membrane. The inner cell surface of the granules becomes the outer cell surface of the basophil /mast cell during degranulation process. As flow cytometry is a valuable tool for analyzing large numbers of cells and for identifying cell populations, even at low concentrations, the percentage of basophils activated after in vitro stimulation by allergens and expressing the CD63 marker can be determined. The CD63 marker is a fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled antigen which can bind to an CD63 protein and is used to sort the cells via FACS(Fluorescence activated cell sorting/sorter). This FITC labeled antigen emits light at a wavelength of 530 nm. As the emitted fluorescence intensity is proportional to the binding sites of each single cell, the intensity will increase according to the number of FITC- conjugated antibodies bound to CD63 expressing cells. A test tube is prepared with basophil stimulation buffer (BSB) including Interleukin 3 and an allergen which is to be tested. The blood sample is added and the tube is incubated at 37 °C for several minutes, to ensure that the allergens can bind to the IgE. By adding EDTA to the test tube, the degranulation process is stopped immediately. After degranulation a CD63 marker (labeled antibodies) is added to the test tube

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18571243

Basophil activation

Basophil activation Several minutes at room temperature gives the marker time to bind to the CD63 proteins on the cell membrane of the basophil. A lysing step is performed to lyse the red blood cells. Because they outnumber by far the leucocytes they need to be removed to do a FACS analysis of the basophils.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18571243

Basophil activation

Histolysis is the decay and dissolution of organic tissues or of blood. It is sometimes referred to as histodialysis. In cells, histolysis may be caused by uracil-DNA degradation. Origin: New Latin, from Greek (histos) tissue + (lusis) dissolution from to loosen, dissolve. Increase in histolysis has been found to correspond with the phase of insect metamorphosis in which metabolism is decreasing. in this context is thought to be initiated by a changed hormonal balance presumably by causing a disturbed respiratory metabolism.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18571333

Histolysis

Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center The (VBRC) is an online resource providing access to a database of curated viral genomes and a variety of tools for bioinformatic genome analysis. This resource was one of eight BRCs (Bioinformatics Resource Centers) funded by NIAID with the goal of promoting research against emerging and re-emerging pathogens, particularly those seen as potential bioterrorism threats. The VBRC is now supported by Dr. Chris Upton at the University of Victoria. The curated VBRC database contains all publicly available genomic sequences for poxviruses and African Swine Fever Viruses (ASFV). A unique aspect of this resource relative to other genomic databases is its grouping of all annotated genes into ortholog groups (i.e. protein families) based on pre-run BLASTP sequence similarity searches. The curated database is accessed through VOCS (Viral Orthologous Clusters), a downloadable Java-based user interface, and acts as the central information source for other programs of the VBRC workbench. These programs serve a variety of bioinformatic analysis functions (whole- or subgenome alignments, genome display, and several types of gene/protein sequence analysis). The majority of these tools are programmed to take user-supplied input as well. The VBRC covers the following viruses: The VBRC database stores viral bioinformatic data on three levels: VBRC provides researchers with a wide variety of database-linked tools. Of these, the central four programs are VOCs, VGO, BBB, and JDotter

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18571946

Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center

Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center VBRC provides a number of additional Java-based analysis tools on its website. The tools in this category are each designed to perform a very specific task (e.g. regular expression searches, DNA skew plotting) and, though they can be accessed as stand-alone programs with user-supplied input, most have increased utility when launched from the central VOCS application with VBRC-supplied data. These additional tools are as follows:

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18571946

Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center

Terminal cisternae are enlarged areas of the sarcoplasmic reticulum surrounding the transverse tubules. These discrete regions within the muscle cell store calcium (increasing the capacity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum to release calcium) and release it when an action potential courses down the transverse tubules, eliciting muscle contraction. Because terminal cisternae ensure rapid calcium delivery, they are well developed in muscles that contract quickly, such as fast twitch skeletal muscle. then go on to release calcium, which binds to troponin. This releases tropomyosin, exposing active sites of the thin filament, actin. There are several mechanisms directly linked to the terminal cisternae which facilitate Excitation-Contraction coupling. When Excitation of the membrane arrives at the T-tubule nearest the muscle fiber, a Dihydropyridine (DHP) channel is activated. This is similar to a voltage gated calcium channel, but is not actually an ionotropic channel. Instead, it serves to activate Ryanodine, which will let calcium ions pass into the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and triggers calcium release to the muscle fiber itself. A T-tubule surrounded by two terminal cisternae is referred to as a " triad" in physiology. As previously explained, the terminal cisternae along with the transverse tubules are the mechanisms of transduction from a nervous impulse to an actual muscle contraction.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18575266

Terminal cisternae

Lymphatic disease is a class of disorders which directly affect the components of the lymphatic system. Examples include Castleman's disease and lymphedema. Diseases and disorder Hodgkin's Disease/Hodgkin's Lymphoma This is a type of cancer of the lymphatic system. It can start almost anywhere in the body. It is believed to be caused by HIV, Epstein-Barr Syndrome, age, and family history. Symptoms include weight gain, fever, swollen lymph nodes, night sweats, itchy skin, fatigue, chest pain, coughing, or trouble swallowing. Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Lymphoma is usually malignant cancer. It is caused by the body producing too many abnormal white blood cells. It is not the same as Hodgkin's Disease. Symptoms usually include painless, enlarged lymph node or nodes in the neck, weakness, fever, weight loss, and anemia. Lymphadenitis Lymphadenitis is an infection of the lymph nodes usually caused by a virus, bacteria or fungi. Symptoms include redness or swelling around the lymph node. Lymphangitis Lymphangitis is an inflammation of the lymph vessels. Symptoms usually include swelling, redness, warmth, pain or red streaking around the affected area. Lymphedema Lymphedema is the chronic pooling of lymph fluid in the tissue. It usually starts in the feet or lower legs. It's also a side-effect of some surgical procedures. Lymphocytosis Lymphocytosis is a high lymphocyte count. It can be caused by an infection, blood cancer, lymphoma, or autoimmune disorders that are accompanied by chronic swelling.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18587701

Lymphatic disease

Frozen tissue array consists of fresh frozen tissues in which up to 50 separate tissue cores are assembled in array fashion to allow simultaneous histological analysis. Paraffin tissue array was developed during late years in the 1980s; this array can help scientists high throughput analyze gene and protein expressions in multiple tissue samples, especially analyze different protein levels with antibodies by immunohistochemistry. Various paraffin tissue arrays are now commercially available from many biotech companies. Most of the arrays can be easily made by microarraying instrument (Beecher Instruments Inc.). However, paraffin embedded tissues have limitations. Buffered formalin solutions cross link proteins and nucleic acids when they are used for fix tissues. The DNA, RNA, and protein within the tissues are damaged in various levels during the fixation. Therefore, lots of scientific experimental results from formalin fixed tissues are not reliable. Since frozen tissue sections don’t go through any fixation procedures, and therefore, the DNA, RNA, and protein in frozen tissues retain their native characteristics much more than in paraffin embedded tissues. Scientists who have been developing antibodies for therapeutic purpose all need their preliminary results from frozen tissues to get approval from FDA. Consequently, frozen tissue array should be the best tool for high throughput analysis on this purpose

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18589852

Frozen tissue array

Frozen tissue array Frozen tissue cores with 2 mm diameter from the regions of interest are removed from frozen tissue OCT blocks at different freezing temperature since each tissue type has their own temperature preference at frozen stage. Then all the frozen tissue cores are inserted in a recipient OCT frozen block in a precisely spaced, array pattern. Sections from this block are cut using a cryostat, mounted on a microscope slide and then analyzed by any method of standard histological analysis. Each frozen tissue array block can be cut into 100–500 sections, which can be subjected to independent tests. Tests commonly employed in frozen tissue array include immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybridization.

Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18589852

Frozen tissue array

Neurobioengineering In 1995, professor Massimo Grattarola of the Biophysics and Electrical Engineering Department (DIBE) at the University of Genoa, in Genoa, Italy, created an undergraduate and graduate program named neurobioengineering (also referred to as neuroengineering). The program was designed to amalgamate anthropomorphic robotics, artificial intelligence, bioelectronics, electrical engineering, molecular biology, physics, and medicine, into a single program with the aim of developing advanced bio-compatible neuro-prosthetic implants (man-machine interfacing) for a variety applications (e.g. nervous system interaction with artificial limbs, central and peripheral nervous system implants, directional neural grafting (neural engineering), electron harvesting from biological processes to power implanted devices, neural arrays cultured on CMOS sensors, etc.). deals with the study and application of bio-compatible neuro-prosthetic implants, neural sensors and interfaces with the nervous system. The goal of that branch is to develop a bio-artificial brain of cultured neurons capable of replicating human behaviour in an artificial robotic system. The European Union F.E.T. funded the neurobioengineering department to pursue this ambitious project. The neurobioengineering program spawned numerous journal publications by the departmental scientific pioneers (Dr. Marco Bove, Dr. Sergio Martinoia, Dr

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Neurobioengineering

Neurobioengineering Renato Zaccaria, and many others) and a university course textbook Bioelectronics, MOSFETS, Biosensors and Neurons published by Massimo Grattarola. Members of the department were collaborating with researchers throughout the European Union, Japan and North America. Students from throughout the European Union and Canada enrolled in the program. At the time (1995), a small number of universities offered specialized bioelectronics and/or implantable neuro-prostheses-related research (but no specialized undergraduate programs) internationally for example: University of Utah, MIT, UCSF (United States); McGill University (Canada), among others. In 2003, following professor Grattarola's death, the University of Genova announced Europe's first neurobioengineering conference in his honour. The First European School on Neuroengineering 'Massimo Grattarola' was also founded in 2004, with the goal of establishing a long-term formal educational program to foster future pioneers in neurobioengineering. In a state of transition, the neurobioengineering department renamed itself the neuroengineering and bio-nanotechnology group in 2005. By 2008, the core researchers of the original department had formalized the educational process into a formal long-term program at the University of Genova named School of Neuroengineering, fulfilling Massimo Grattarola's original ambitions, offering degrees in Humanoid Technologies

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Neurobioengineering

Neurobioengineering The current and former neurobioengineering (or neuroengineering) students continue his research interests throughout Europe and North America, some of whom have established related businesses, or hold positions of authority in neuroscience/biomedical institutions worldwide.

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Neurobioengineering

Bioelectronics is a field of research in the convergence of biology and electronics. At the first C.E.C. Workshop, in Brussels in November 1991, bioelectronics was defined as 'the use of biological materials and biological architectures for information processing systems and new devices'. Bioelectronics, specifically bio-molecular electronics, were described as 'the research and development of bio-inspired (i.e. self-assembly) inorganic and organic materials and of bio-inspired (i.e. massive parallelism) hardware architectures for the implementation of new information processing systems, sensors and actuators, and for molecular manufacturing down to the atomic scale'. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, defined bioelectronics in a 2009 report as "the discipline resulting from the convergence of biology and electronics". Sources for information about the field include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) with its Elsevier journal Biosensors and published since 1990. The journal describes the scope of bioelectronics as seeking to : "... exploit biology in conjunction with electronics in a wider context encompassing, for example, biological fuel cells, bionics and biomaterials for information processing, information storage, electronic components and actuators. A key aspect is the interface between biological materials and micro- and nano-electronics

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Bioelectronics

Bioelectronics " The first known study of bioelectronics took place in the 18th century, when scientist Luigi Galvani applied a voltage to a pair of detached frog legs. The legs moved, sparking the genesis of bioelectronics. Electronics technology has been applied to biology and medicine since the pacemaker was invented and with the medical imaging industry. In 2009, a survey of publications using the term in title or abstract suggested that the center of activity was in Europe (43 percent), followed by Asia (23 percent) and the United States (20 percent). Organic bioelectronics is the application of organic electronic material to the field of bioelectronics. Organic materials (i.e. containing carbon) show great promise when it comes to interfacing with biological systems. Current applications focus around neuroscience and infection. Conducting polymer coatings, an organic electronic material, shows massive improvement in the technology of materials. It was the most sophisticated form of electrical stimulation. It improved the impedance of electrodes in electrical stimulation, resulting in better recordings and reducing "harmful electrochemical side reactions." Organic Electrochemical Transistors (OECT) were invented in 1984 by Mark Wrighton and colleagues, which had the ability to transport ions. This improved signal-to-noise ratio and gives for low measured impedance

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Bioelectronics

Bioelectronics The Organic Electronic Ion Pump (OEIP), a device that could be used to target specific body parts and organs to adhere medicine, was created by Magnuss Berggren. As one of the few materials well established in CMOS technology, titanium nitride (TiN) turned out as exceptionally stable and well suited for electrode applications in medical implants. is used to help improve the lives of people with disabilities and diseases. For example, the glucose monitor is a portable device that allows diabetic patients to control and measure their blood sugar levels. Electrical stimulation used to treat patients with epilepsy, chronic pain, Parkinson's, deafness, Essential Tremor and blindness. Magnuss Berggren and colleagues created a variation of his OEIP, the first bioelectronic implant device that was used in a living, free animal for therapeutic reasons. It transmitted electric currents into GABA, an acid. A lack of GABA in the body is a factor in chronic pain. GABA would then be dispersed properly to the damaged nerves, acting as a painkiller. Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) is used to activate the Cholinergic Anti-inflammatory Pathway (CAP) in the Vagus Nerve, ending in reduced inflammation in patients with diseases like arthritis. Since patients with depression and epilepsy are more vulnerable to having a closed CAP, VNS can aid them as well.

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Bioelectronics

Bioelectronics At the same time, not all the systems that have electronics used to help improving the lives of people are necessarily bioelectronic devices, but only those which involve an intimate and directly interface of electronics and biological systems . The improvement of standards and tools to monitor the state of cells at subcellular resolutions is lacking funding and employment. This is a problem because advances in other fields of science are beginning to analyze large cell populations, increasing the need for a device that can monitor cells at such a level of sight. Cells cannot be used in many ways other than their main purpose, like detecting harmful substances. Merging this science with forms of nanotechnology could result in incredibly accurate detection methods. The preserving of human lives like protecting against bioterrorism is the biggest area of work being done in bioelectronics. Governments are starting to demand devices and materials that detect chemical and biological threats. The more the size of the devices decrease, there will be an increase in performance and capabilities.

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Bioelectronics

List of antibiotics The following is a list of antibiotics. The highest division between antibiotics is bactericidal and bacteriostatic. Bactericidals kill bacteria directly, whereas bacteriostatics prevent them from dividing. However, these classifications are based on laboratory behavior. In practice, both can effectively treat a bacterial infection. The following are lists of antibiotics for specific microbial coverage. Antibiotics that cover methicillin-resistant "Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA): Antibiotics that cover "Pseudomonas aeruginosa": Antibiotics that cover vancomycin-resistant "Enterococcus" (VRE): "See also pathogenic bacteria for a list of antibiotics sorted by target bacteria. These are antibiotic candidates, and known antibiotics that are not yet mass-produced.

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List of antibiotics

Will to live The will to live or "Wille zum Leben" is a psychological force to fight for self-preservation seen as an important and active process of conscious and unconscious reasoning (Hynes, 2019). The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer was the first to give name to this force. There are significant correlations between the will to live and existential, psychological, social, and physical sources of distress. Many, who overcome near-death experiences with no explanation, have described the will to live as a direct component of their survival. The difference between the wish to die versus the wish to live is also a unique risk factor for suicide. In psychology, the will to live is the drive for self-preservation, usually coupled with expectations for future improvement in one's state in life. The will to live is an important concept when attempting to understand and comprehend why we do what we do in order to stay alive, and for as long as we can. This can be related to either one's push for survival on the brink of death, or someone who is just trying to find a meaning to continuing their life. Some researchers say that people who have a reason or purpose in life during such dreadful and horrific experiences will often appear to fare better than those that may find such experiences overwhelming. Everyday, people undergo countless types of negative experiences, some of which may be demoralizing, hurtful, or tragic. An ongoing question continues to be what keeps the will to live in these situations

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Will to live

Will to live Some people that claim to have experienced instances of the will to live, have many different explanations behind it. The will to live is considered to be a very basic drive in humans; but not necessarily the main driving force. In psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud termed the pleasure principle, which is the seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain. Viktor Frankl, after spending time in a German concentration camp, developed psychotherapy called logotherapy, or the "will to meaning". Maslow's hierarchy of needs highlights the innate appetite that people possess for love and belonging but before all this there is the very basic and powerful will to live. Psychologists have established that human beings are a goal-oriented species. In assessing the will to live, it should be borne in mind that it could be augmented or diminished by the relative strength of other simultaneously existent drives. Psychologists generally agree that there is the will to live, the will to pleasure, the will to superiority and the will to connection. There are also usually varying degrees of curiosity with regard to what may be termed the will to identity or establishing meaningful personal responses. The will to live is a platform without which it would not be possible to satisfy the other drives. However, this overlooks the possibility that there is a commonality among all creatures that drives all others urges. Self-preservation is a behavior that ensures the survival of an organism. Pain and fear are integral parts of this mechanism

Biology

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Will to live

Will to live Pain motivates the individual to withdraw from damaging situations, to protect a damaged body part while it heals, and to avoid similar experiences in the future. Most pain resolves promptly once the painful stimulus is removed and the body has healed, but sometimes pain persists despite removal of the stimulus and apparent healing of the body; and sometimes pain arises in the absence of any detectable stimulus, damage or disease. Fear causes the organism to seek safety and may cause a release of adrenaline, which has the effect of increased strength and heightened senses such as hearing, smell, and sight. Self-preservation may also be interpreted figuratively, in regard to the coping mechanisms one needs to prevent emotional trauma from distorting the mind (see: defence mechanism.) Even the most simple of living organisms (for example, the single-celled bacteria) are typically under intense selective pressure to evolve a response that would help avoid a damaging environment, if such an environment exists. Organisms also evolve while adapting - even thriving - in a benign environment (for example, a marine sponge modifies its structure in response to current changes, in order to better absorb and process nutrients). Self-preservation is therefore an almost universal hallmark of life. However, when introduced to a novel threat, many species will have a self-preservation response either too specialised, or not specialised enough, to cope with that particular threat

Biology

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Will to live

Will to live An example is the dodo, which evolved in the absence of natural predators and hence lacked an appropriate, general self-preservation response to heavy predation by humans and rats, showing no fear of them. “Existential, psychiatric, social, and, to a lesser degree, physical variables are highly correlated with the will to live”. Existential issues found to correlate significantly include hopelessness, the desire for death, sense of dignity, and burden to others. Psychiatric issues found to be strongly associated are such as depression, anxiety, and lack of concentration. Physical issues that showed the strongest associations were appetite and appearance which did not show the same consistent degree of correlation. The four main predictor variables of the will to live changing over time are anxiety, shortness of breath, depression, and sense of well-being which correlate with the other variable predictors as well. Social variables and quality of life measures are shown to correlate significantly with the will to live such as support and satisfaction with support from family, friends, and health care providers. Findings on the will to live have suggested that psychological variables are replaced by physical mediators of variation as death draws nearer. The will to live has also proven to be highly unstable. Many studies have been conducted on the theory of the will to live. Among these studies are subject to the difference in gender and the elderly and also in the terminally ill

Biology

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Will to live

Will to live One study focused on a simple question that asked about rating one’s will to live and presented the findings that elderly participants reporting a stronger will to live and strengthened or stable will to live survived longer in comparison to those with a weak will to live. This study found that women were able to cope with life-threatening situations, but suggested that the participants could not have been stable and requires future replication. The second study presented the idea of the will to live in the terminally ill specifically cancer patients termed as older. In this study researchers were able to suggest that patients who had tested as having a low sustained will to live died soonest, as opposed to having a moderate level of the will to live, lived the longest while high will to live could affect individuals in any direction. This study needs future replication that can show the effects of will to live in the terminally ill from different diseases and age categories. Other accounts of the will to live exist in many extreme medical cases, where patients have overcome extraordinary odds to survive. The Holocaust has provided many instances of this phenomenon, and is a good example of this as well. A proposed mechanism for the will to live is the idea that positive mental thinking tends to lower one’s risk for disease and health complications

Biology

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Will to live

Will to live One study showed that women who thought positively were more likely to carry more antibodies against certain strains of the flu, thus having a stronger immune system than those who were told to think negative thoughts. Powerful examples of humans having a will to live can be seen in death records throughout history showing that people were more likely to die right after a major holiday, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, and even birthdays, not actually on or before them, but passing shortly after.

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Will to live

Marker vaccine A marker vaccine is a vaccine which allows for immunological differentiation (or segregation) of infected from vaccinated animals, and is also referred to as a DIVA (or SIVA) vaccine [Differentiation (or Segregation) of infected from vaccinated animals] in veterinary medicine. In practical terms, this is most often achieved by omitting an immunogenic antigen present in the pathogen being vaccinated against, thus creating a negative marker of vaccination. In contrast, vaccination with traditional vaccines containing the complete pathogen, either attenuated or inactivated, precludes the use of serology (e.g. analysis of specific antibodies in body fluids) in epidemiological surveys in vaccinated populations. Apart from the obvious advantage of allowing continued serological monitoring of vaccinated individuals, cohorts or populations; the serological difference between vaccinated individuals and individuals that were exposed to the pathogen, and were contagious, can be used to continuously monitor the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.

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Marker vaccine

Hermaphrodite In biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has complete or partial reproductive organs and produces gametes normally associated with both male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the "female" or "male". For example, the great majority of tunicates, pulmonate snails, opisthobranch snails, earthworms, and slugs are hermaphrodites. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites. Historically, the term "hermaphrodite" has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species, especially human beings. The word "intersex" has come into usage for humans, since the word "hermaphrodite" is considered to be misleading and stigmatizing, as well as "scientifically specious and clinically problematic." A rough estimate of the number of hermaphroditic animal species is 65,000. The percentage of animal species that are hermaphroditic is about 5%. (Although the current estimated total number of animal species is about 7.7 million, the study, which estimated the number, 65,000, used an estimated total number of animal species, 1,211,577 from "Classification phylogénétique du vivant (Vol. 2)" - Lecointre and Le Guyader (2001))

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Hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite Most hermaphroditic species exhibit some degree of self-fertilization. The distribution of self-fertilization rates among animals is similar to that of plants, suggesting that similar processes are operating to direct the evolution of selfing in animals and plants. The term derives from the , from , which derives from Hermaphroditus (Ἑρμαφρόδιτος), the son of Hermes and Aphrodite in Greek mythology. According to Ovid, he fused with the nymph Salmacis resulting in one individual possessing physical traits of male and female sexes; according to the earlier Diodorus Siculus, he was born with a physical body combining male and female sexes. The word "hermaphrodite" entered the English lexicon as early as the late fourteenth century. Alexander ab Alexandro stated, using the term "hermaphrodite," that the people who bore the sexes of both man and woman were regarded by the Athenians and the Romans as monsters, and thrown into the sea at Athens and into the Tiber at Rome. Sequential hermaphrodites (dichogamy) occur in species in which the individual is born as one sex, but can later change into the opposite sex. This contrasts simultaneous hermaphrodites, in which an individual may possess fully functional male and female genitalia. Sequential hermaphroditism is common in fish (particularly teleost fish) and many gastropods (such as the common slipper shell), and some flowering plants. Sequential hermaphrodites can only change sex once

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Hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite Sequential hermaphroditism can best be understood in terms of behavioral ecology and evolutionary life history theory, as described in the size-advantage mode first proposed by Michael T. Ghiselin which states that if an individual of a certain sex could significantly increase its reproductive success after reaching a certain size, it would be to their advantage to switch to that sex. Sequential hermaphrodites can be divided into three broad categories: Dichogamy can have both conservation-related implications for humans, as mentioned above, as well as economic implications. For instance, groupers are favoured fish for eating in many Asian countries and are often aquacultured. Since the adults take several years to change from female to male, the broodstock are extremely valuable individuals. A simultaneous (or synchronous) hermaphrodite (or homogamous) is an adult organism that has both male and female sexual organs at the same time. Self-fertilization often occurs. When spotted hyenas were first discovered by explorers, they were thought to be hermaphrodites. Early observations of spotted hyenas in the wild led researchers to believe that all spotted hyenas, male and female, were born with what appeared to be a penis. The apparent penis in female spotted hyenas is in fact an enlarged clitoris, which contains an external birth canal. It can be difficult to determine the sex of wild spotted hyenas until sexual maturity, when they may become pregnant

Biology

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Hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite When a female spotted hyena gives birth, they pass the cub through the cervix internally, but then pass it out through the elongated clitoris. "Hermaphrodite" is used in older literature to describe any person whose physical characteristics do not neatly fit male or female classifications, but some people advocate to replace the term with intersex. Intersex describes a wide variety of combinations of what are considered male and female biology. Intersex biology may include, for example, ambiguous-looking external genitalia, karyotypes that include mixed XX and XY chromosome pairs (46XX/46XY, 46XX/47XXY or 45X/XY mosaic). Clinically, medicine currently describes intersex people as having disorders of sex development, a term vigorously contested. This is particularly because of a relationship between medical terminology and medical intervention. Intersex civil society organizations, and many human rights institutions, have criticized medical interventions designed to make intersex bodies more typically male or female. Some people who are intersex, such as some of those with androgen insensitivity syndrome, outwardly appear completely female or male, frequently without realizing they are intersex. Other kinds of intersex conditions are identified immediately at birth because those with the condition have a sexual organ larger than a clitoris and smaller than a penis

Biology

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Hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite Some humans were historically termed true hermaphrodites if their gonadal tissue contained both testicular and ovarian tissue, or pseudohermaphrodites if their external appearance (phenotype) differed from sex expected from internal gonads. This language has fallen out of favor due to misconceptions and pejorative connotations associated with the terms, and also a shift to nomenclature based on genetics. Intersex is in some caused by unusual sex hormones; the unusual hormones may be caused by an atypical set of sex chromosomes. One possible pathophysiologic explanation of intersex in humans is a parthenogenetic division of a haploid ovum into two haploid ova. Upon fertilization of the two ova by two sperm cells (one carrying an X chromosome and the other carrying a Y chromosome), the two fertilized ova are then fused together resulting in a person having dual genitalial, gonadal (ovotestes) and genetic sex. Another common cause of being intersex is the crossing over of the SRY from the Y chromosome to the X chromosome during meiosis. The SRY is then activated in only certain areas, causing development of testes in some areas by beginning a series of events starting with the upregulation of SOX9, and in other areas not being active (causing the growth of ovarian tissues). Thus, testicular and ovarian tissues will both be present in the same individual. Fetuses before sexual differentiation are sometimes described as female by doctors explaining the process. This is technically not true

Biology

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Hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite Before this stage, humans are simply undifferentiated and possess a Müllerian duct, a Wolffian duct, and a genital tubercle. is used in botany to describe a flower that has both staminate (male, pollen-producing) and carpellate (female, ovule-producing) parts. This condition is seen in many common garden plants. A closer analogy to hermaphroditism in botany is the presence of separate male and female flowers on the same individual—such plants are called monoecious. Monoecy is especially common in conifers, but occurs in only about 7% of angiosperm species. The condition also occurs in some algae. In addition, some plants can change their sex throughout their lifetime. This process is called Sequential hermaphroditism. Hermaphroditic life forms in fiction include the Hutts in "Star Wars" (as elaborated in spin-off novels), Hermats in Peter David's "Star Trek: New Frontier" series, and Asari in the "Mass Effect" game. The Trill symbionts in "Star Trek" are also notable as a species that melds with hosts of either sex.

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Hermaphrodite

Tandem exon duplication is defined as duplication of exons within the same gene to give rise to the subsequent exon. A complete exon analysis of all genes in "Homo sapiens", "Drosophila melanogaster", and "Caenorhabditis elegans" has shown 12,291 instances of tandem duplication in exons in human, fly, and worm. Analysis of the intronic region has produced further 4,660 unidentified duplicated exons referred to as unannotated exons. 1,578 of these unannotated exons contained stop codons thus not considered potential exons. 35.1% of the unannotated exons were found in the EST sequence thus confirming the potential of the presence of these exons in protein transcripts.

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Tandem exon duplication

Biomedical waste Biomedical waste/hospital waste is any kind of waste containing infectious (or potentially infectious) materials. It may also include waste associated with the generation of biomedical waste that visually appears to be of medical or laboratory origin (e.g., packaging, unused bandages, infusion kits, etc.), as well research laboratory waste containing biomolecules or organisms that are mainly restricted from environmental release. As detailed below, discarded sharps are considered biomedical waste whether they are contaminated or not, due to the possibility of being contaminated with blood and their propensity to cause injury when not properly contained and disposed of. is a type of biowaste. may be solid or liquid. Examples of infectious waste include discarded blood, sharps, unwanted microbiological cultures and stocks, identifiable body parts (including those as a result of amputation), other human or animal tissue, used bandages and dressings, discarded gloves, other medical supplies that may have been in contact with blood and body fluids, and laboratory waste that exhibits the characteristics described above. Waste sharps include potentially contaminated used (and unused discarded) needles, scalpels, lancets and other devices capable of penetrating skin. is generated from biological and medical sources and activities, such as the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of diseases

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste Common generators (or producers) of biomedical waste include hospitals, health clinics, nursing homes, emergency medical services, medical research laboratories, offices of physicians, dentists, and veterinarians, home health care, and morgues or funeral homes. In healthcare facilities (i.e., hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices, veterinary hospitals and clinical laboratories), waste with these characteristics may alternatively be called medical or clinical waste. is distinct from normal trash or general waste, and differs from other types of hazardous waste, such as chemical, radioactive, universal or industrial waste. Medical facilities generate waste hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials. While such wastes are normally not infectious, they require proper disposal. Some wastes are considered "multihazardous," such as tissue samples preserved in formalin. Disposal of this waste is an environmental concern, as many medical wastes are classified as "infectious" or "biohazardous" and could potentially lead to the spread of infectious disease. The most common danger for humans is the infection which also affects other living organisms in the region. Daily exposure to the waste (landfill) leads to accumulation of harmful substances or microbes in the person's body. A 1990 report by the United State CountryAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded that the general public is not likely to be adversely affected by biomedical waste generated in the traditional healthcare setting

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste They found, however, that biomedical waste from those settings may pose an injury and exposure risks via occupational contact with medical waste for doctors, nurses, and janitorial, laundry and refuse workers. Further, there are opportunities for the general public to come into contact medical waste, such as needles used illicitly outside healthcare settings, or biomedical waste generated via home health care. must be properly managed and disposed of to protect the environment, general public and workers, especially healthcare and sanitation workers who are at risk of exposure to biomedical waste as an occupational hazard. Steps in the management of biomedical waste include generation, accumulation, handling, storage, treatment, transport and disposal. The development and implementation of a national waste management policy can improve biomedical waste management in health facilities in a country Disposal occurs off-site, at a location that is different from the site of generation. Treatment may occur on-site or off-site. On-site treatment of large quantities of biomedical waste usually requires the use of relatively expensive equipment, and is generally only cost effective for very large hospitals and major universities who have the space, labour and budget to operate such equipment

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste Off-site treatment and disposal involves hiring of a biomedical waste disposal service (also called a truck service) whose employees are trained to collect and haul away biomedical waste in special containers (usually cardboard boxes, or reusable plastic bins) for treatment at a facility designed to handle biomedical waste. should be collected in containers that are leak-proof and sufficiently strong to prevent breakage during handling. Containers of biomedical waste are marked with a biohazard symbol. The container, marking, and labels are often red. Discarded sharps are usually collected in specialized boxes, often called "needle boxes". Specialized equipment is required to meet OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1450 and EPA 40 CFR 264.173. standards of safety. Minimal recommended equipment include a fume hood and primary and secondary waste containers to capture potential overflow. Even beneath the fume hood, containers containing chemical contaminants should remain closed when not in use. An open funnel placed in the mouth of a waste container has been shown to allow significant evaporation of chemicals into the surrounding atmosphere, which is then inhaled by laboratory personnel, and contributes a primary component to the threat of completing the fire triangle. To protect the health and safety of laboratory staff as well as neighboring civilians and the environment, proper waste management equipment, such as the Burkle funnel in Europe and the ECO Funnel in the U.S

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste , should be utilized in any department which deals with chemical waste. It is to be dumped after treatment. Storage refers to keeping the waste until it is treated on-site or transported off-site for treatment or disposal. There are many options and containers for storage. Regulatory agencies may limit the time for which waste can remain in storage. Handling is the act of moving biomedical waste between the point of generation, accumulation areas, storage locations and on-site treatment facilities. Workers who handle biomedical waste must observe "standard precautions." The goals of biomedical waste treatment are to reduce or eliminate the waste's hazards, and usually to make the waste unrecognizable. Treatment should render the waste safe for subsequent handling and disposal. There are several treatment methods that can accomplish these goals.It include secregating the bio waste is often incinerated. An efficient incinerator will destroy pathogens and sharps. Source materials are not recognizable in the resulting ash. Alternative thermal treatment can also include technologies such as gasification and pyrolysis including energy recovery with similar waste volume reductions and pathogen destruction. An autoclave may also be used to treat biomedical waste. An autoclave uses steam and pressure to sterilize the waste or reduce its microbiological load to a level at which it may be safely disposed of. Many healthcare facilities routinely use an autoclave to sterilize medical supplies

Biology

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste If the same autoclave is used to sterilize supplies and treat biomedical waste, administrative controls must be used to prevent the waste operations from contaminating the supplies. Effective administrative controls include operator training, strict procedures, and separate times and space for processing biomedical waste. Microwave disinfection can also be employed for treatment of Biomedical wastes. Microwave irradiation is a type of non-contact heating technologies for disinfection. Microwave chemistry is based on efficient heating of materials by microwave dielectric heating effects. When exposed to microwave frequencies, the dipoles of the water molecules present in cells re-align with the applied electric field. As the field oscillates, the dipoles attempts to realign itself with the alternating electric field and in this process, energy is lost in the form of heat through molecular friction and dielectric loss. Microwave disinfection is a recently developed technology which provides advantage over old existing technologies of autoclaves as microwave based disinfection has less cycle time, power consumption and it requires minimal usage of water and consumables as compared to autoclaves. For liquids and small quantities, a 1–10% solution of bleach can be used to disinfect biomedical waste. Solutions of sodium hydroxide and other chemical disinfectants may also be used, depending on the waste's characteristics. Other treatment methods include heat, alkaline digesters and the use of microwaves

Biology

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste For autoclaves and microwave systems, a shredder may be used as a final treatment step to render the waste unrecognizable. Some autoclaves have built in shredders. In the UK, clinical waste and the way it is to be handled is closely regulated. Applicable legislation includes the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (Part II), Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, and the Hazardous Waste Regulations (England & Wales) 2005, as well as the Special Waste Regulations in Scotland. A scandal erupted in October 2018 when it emerged that Healthcare Environment Services, which had contracts for managing clinical waste produced by the NHS in Scotland and England, was in breach of the environmental permits at four of its six sites by having more waste on site than their permit allows and storing waste inappropriately. 17 NHS trusts in Yorkshire terminated their contracts immediately. The company sued for compensation. Amputated limbs were said to be among 350 tonnes of clinical waste stockpiled instead of incinerated in Normanton. The company maintains that the problem is caused by a reduction in incineration capacity, and the re-classification of clinical waste as “offensive”, which meant more needed incineration. The government's contingency plans include installing temporary storage units at hospitals, but the company say that this is more dangerous than allowing them to exceed their permitted allowances

Biology

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste The company still has contracts with 30 other trusts in England, and a waste disposal contract with NHS England for primary care and pharmacy. In the United States, biomedical waste is usually regulated as medical waste. In 1988 the U.S. federal government passed The Medical Waste Tracking Act which allowed the EPA to establish rules for management of medical waste in some parts of the country. After the Act expired in 1991, responsibility to regulate and pass laws concerning the disposal of medical waste returned to the individual states. The states vary in their regulations from none to very strict. In addition to on-site treatment or pickup by a biomedical waste disposal firm for off-site treatment, a mail-back disposal option allows generators of waste to return it to the manufacturer. For instance, waste medicines and equipment can be returned. The waste is shipped through the U.S. postal service. While available in all 50 U.S. states, mail-back medical waste disposal is limited by very strict postal regulations (i.e., collection and shipping containers must be approved by the postal service for use). The Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 and further amendments were passed for the regulation of bio-medical waste management. On 28 th Mar 2016 Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016 were also notified by Central Govt. Each state's Pollution Control Board or Pollution control Committee will be responsible for implementing the new legislation

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste In India, though there are a number of different disposal methods, the situation is desultory and most are harmful rather than helpful. If body fluids are present, the material needs to be incinerated or put into an autoclave. Although this is the proper method, most medical facilities fail to follow the regulations. It is often found that biomedical waste is dumped into the ocean, where it eventually washes up on shore, or in landfills due to improper sorting or negligence when in the medical facility. Improper disposal can lead to many diseases in animals as well as humans. For example, animals, such as cows in Pondicherry, India, are consuming the infected waste and eventually, these infections can be transported to humans who consume their meat or milk. Large number of unregistered clinics and institutions also generate bio-medical waste which is not controlled. Due to the competition to improve quality and so as to get accreditation from agencies like ISO, NABH, JCI, many private organizations have initiated proper bio-medical waste disposal but still the gap is huge. Many studies took place in Gujarat, India regarding the knowledge of workers in facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, or home health. It was found that 26% of doctors and 43% of paramedical staff were unaware of the risks related to biomedical wastes. After extensively looking at the different facilities, many were undeveloped in the area regarding biomedical waste

Biology

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste The rules and regulations in India work with The Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules from 1998, yet a large number of health care facilities were found to be sorting the waste incorrectly. Updating this article around 26th March 2020. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has been very stringent on the application of the BMW 2016 over the past 12 months. There are now over 200 licensed Common Bio Medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities (CBWTDF) or Common Treatment Facility (CTF) in the country. The rules have been updated over the years. You can find the BMW 2016 act and the subsequent amendments at this site "https://earthron.com/bmw-act-and-process". The training of Health Care Facility staff and the awareness of the Hazards of Bio Medical waste is still a challenge in most of the country. The compliance is being enforced through penalties and via awareness. The CTF are operational in most Tier 1 cities and Tier 2 cities of India and compliance is high today because of NGT. But lack of awareness lead to issues of improper segregation. In Tier 2 and 3 cities the general waste is also mixed with Bio Medical waste. The latest guidelines for segregation of bio-medical waste recommend the following color coding: The syringe tide environmental disaster of 1987–1988 raised awareness about medical waste as medical syringes washed ashore in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste A similar situation occurred in 2013 at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, and brought about the Floatables Action Plan. The syringes endangered marine species and posed a threat to humans who visited the beach. The crises spurred scientists and lawmakers to create mechanisms, policies, and laws so that health care providers would process their bio-waste in an environmentally friendly way. Improper management of health care waste can have both direct and indirect health consequences for health personnel, community members and on the environment. Indirect consequences in the form of toxic emissions from inadequate burning of medical waste, or the production of millions of used syringes in a period of three to four weeks from an insufficiently well planned mass immunization campaign. is not limited to medical instruments; it includes medicine, waste stored in red biohazard bags, and materials used for patient care, such as cotton and bandaids. The most serious effect that biomedical waste has on our seas is the discharge of poisons into the waters that could then be consumed by ocean life creatures. Toxins would interject into the food chain and eventually reach humans who consume sea creatures. Human exposure to such toxins can stunt human growth development and cause birth defects. The high volume of plastic use in the medical field also poses a dangerous threat to the environment. According to North and Halden, 85% of disposable plastic materials make up all medical equipment

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste Our current reliance on plastic materials is rooted in their unique capabilities to be lightweight, cost-effective, and durable while preserving the sterility of medical equipment. In addition to the serious health implications of releasing harmful toxins in the environment from medical waste deposits, introducing this volume of single-use plastics can catalyze the compounding health detriments caused by macro and microplastics. The three type of medical waste incinerators are controlled air, excess air, and rotary kiln. Controlled air is also known as starved-air incineration, two-stage incineration, or modular combustion. This is the process of which waste is fed to a combustion chamber and combustion air begins to dry and facilitates volatilization of the waste. As a result, carbon dioxide and other excess gases are released into the atmosphere. The second type of incineration is the excess air process. This is similar to the controlled air process, such as the waste being dried, ignited, and combusted by heat provided by the primary chamber burner. However, the main difference is that moisture and volatile components in the waste are vaporized. In a rotary kiln, the process is similar to the two mention above, however, it is more versatile in terms of being able to mix wet and dry waste components and viewed by many waste engineers as being the most environmentally friendly. Post incineration process, toxic ash residue is produced and is often disposed at landfills

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste These landfills are not protected by any barrier and the residue has the potential of reaching underground water that is often exposed to human use. The combustion of plastic material releases toxic gases that escapes and joins breathable air. Human and animal exposure to such gases can cause long term breathing and health issues. The rotation of toxic air does not only impact human well-being, but also of animals and plants. Air pollution caused by the incinerators depletes the ozone layer, causes crop and forest damage, and increases climate change. Constant exposure to such toxins and chemicals in the air could be deemed detrimental to trees and plants could eventually lead to extinction of certain plants in specific areas. Pollution and chemical leaks also effect the fruits of trees and would cause them to be poisonous and therefore, inedible. California created the Medical Waste Management Program (Program), which regulates the generation, handling, storage, treatment, and disposal of medical waste by providing oversight for the implementation of the Medical Waste Management Act. Precautions have been taken in California which permits and inspects all medical waste offsite treatment facilities and medical waste transfer stations. In order to dispose waste, the department recommends the following process to make controlled substance waste nonretrievable. Pills containing a controlled substance are crushed before placing the residue into a pharmaceutical waste container

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste Controlled substance that is remaining in a syringe is wasted into a pharmaceutical waste container before disposing of the syringe in a sharps container. Expired medications should be returned through a reverse distributor. Reusable RMW or sharps containers reduce the amount of plastic sent to landfills and CO2 emissions. Non-incineration treatment includes four basic processes: thermal, chemical, irradiative, and biological. The main purpose of the treatment technology is to decontaminate waste by destroying pathogens. Modern technology invented mechanics that would allow medical professionals and hospitals to dispose medical waste in an environmentally friendly way; such as: autoclaving, plasma pyrolysis, gasification, chemical methods, and microwave irradiation. These alternatives are also highly versatile and can be used for all different types of waste. An autoclave, similar to a pressure cooker, uses high-temperature steam to penetrate waste material and kill micro-organisms. Autoclave treatment has been recommended for microbiology and biotechnology waste, waste sharps, soiled and solid wastes. Microwave irradiation is based on the principle of generation of high frequency waves. These waves cause the particles within the waste material to vibrate, generating heat and killing the pathogens from within. A simple yet effective method is chemical disinfection: 1% hypochlorite can kill thriving bacteria

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Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste Plasma pyrolysis is an environment-friendly mechanism, which converts organic waste into commercially useful byproducts. The intense heat generated by the plasma enables it to dispose all types of waste including municipal solid waste, biomedical waste and hazardous waste in a safe and reliable manner. Gasification can offer carbon sequestration and energy generation, reducing the carbon footprint of biomedical waste treatment. Initiative from corporations and hospitals is essential to creating a healthier environment, however, there are various methods in which involves action from the general population and would contribute to a clean air environment. By creating surveillance groups within hospitals, everyone would be held accountable for misconduct and improper disposal of waste. Consequences could be implemented where individuals would be required to pay a fine, or face unpaid suspension from work. Companies and governmental organization should also initiate non-routine checkups and searches, this would place pressure on hospitals to ensure that waste is properly disposed all year round. Voluntary clean-ups would involve hospital staff in assuring that medical waste is not littered around the hospital or thrown into regular garbage bins.

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Biomedical waste

Ligase chain reaction The ligase chain reaction (LCR) is a method of DNA amplification. The ligase chain reaction (LCR) is an amplification process that differs from PCR in that it involves a thermostable ligase to join two probes or other molecules together which can then be amplified by standard PCR cycling (Barany, 1991). Each cycle results in a doubling of the target nucleic acid molecule. A key advantage of LCR is greater specificity as compared to PCR.Thus, LCR requires two completely different enzymes to operate properly: ligase, to join probe molecules together, and a thermostable polymerase (e.g., "Taq" polymerase) to amplify those molecules involved in successful ligation. The probes involved in the ligation are designed such that the 5′ end of one probe is directly adjacent to the 3′ end of the other probe, thereby providing the requisite 3′-OH and 5′-PO4 group substrates for the ligase. LCR was originally developed to detect point mutations; a single base mismatch at the junction of the two probe molecules is all that is need to prevent ligation. By performing the ligation right at the Tm of the oligonucleotide probe, only perfectly matched primer:template duplexes will be tolerated. LCR can also be used to amplify template molecules that have been successfully ligated for the purpose of assessing ligation efficiency and producing a large amount of product with even greater specificity than PCR. Thus, LCR is not necessarily an alternative, but rather a complement, to PCR

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Ligase chain reaction

Ligase chain reaction It has been widely used for the detection of single base mutations, as in genetic diseases. LCR and PCR may be used to detect gonorrhea and chlamydia, and may be performed on first-catch urine samples, providing easy collection and a large yield of organisms. Endogenous inhibitors limit the sensitivity, but if this effect could be eliminated, LCR and PCR would have clinical advantages over any other methods of diagnosing gonorrhea and chlamydia. Among these methods, LCR is emerging as the most sensitive method with high specificity for known SNP detection (20). LCR was first developed by Barany, who used thermostable DNA ligase to discriminate between normal and mutant DNA and to amplify the allele-specific product. A mismatch at the 3′ end of the discriminating primer prevents the DNA ligase from joining the two fragments together. By using both strands of genomic DNA as targets for oligonucleotide hybridization, the products generated from two sets of adjacent oligonucleotide primers, complementary to each target strand in one round of ligation, can become the targets for the next round. The amount of the products can thus be increased exponentially by repeated thermal cycling.

Biology

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Ligase chain reaction

List of parties to the Biological Weapons Convention The list of parties to the Biological Weapons Convention encompasses the states who have signed and ratified or acceded to the international agreement outlawing biological weapons. On 10 April 1972, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), also known as the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) was opened for signature. The Netherlands became the first state to deposit their signature of the treaty that same day. The treaty closed for signature upon coming into force on 26 March 1975 with the deposit of ratification by 22 states. Since then, states that did not sign the treaty can only accede to it. A total of 197 states may become members of the Biological Weapons Convention, including all 193 United Nations member states, the Cook Islands, the Holy See, the State of Palestine and Niue. As of August 2019, 183 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty, most recently Tanzania in August 2019. As well, the Republic of China (Taiwan), which is currently only recognized by , deposited their instruments of ratification of the BWC with the United States government prior to the US's decision to switch their recognition of the sole legitimate government of China from the Republic of China (ROC) to the People's Republic of China (PRC). A further five states have signed but not ratified the treaty

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List of parties to the Biological Weapons Convention