Digital Commons Network^™

Imperfect Tools: Google Scholar Vs. Traditional Commercial Library Databases, Julie Arendt

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No abstract provided.

Rethinking Indivisibility: Towards A Theory Of Supporting Relations Between Human Rights, James W. Nickel

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No abstract provided.

Re-Annotation Of The Physical Map Of Glycine Max For Polyploid-Like Regions By Bac End Sequence Driven Whole Genome Shotgun Read Assembly, Navinder Saini, Jeffry Shultz, David A. Lightfoot

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Background
Many of the world's most important food crops have either polyploid genomes or homeologous regions derived from segmental shuffling following polyploid formation. The soybean (Glycine max) genome has been shown to be composed of approximately four thousand short interspersed homeologous regions with 1, 2 or 4 copies per haploid genome by RFLP analysis, microsatellite anchors to BACs and by contigs formed from BAC fingerprints. Despite these similar regions,, the genome has been sequenced by whole genome shotgun sequence (WGS). Here the aim was to use BAC end sequences (BES) derived from three minimum tile paths (MTP) to examine the …

The Multigeneic Rhg1 Locus: A Model For The Effects On Root Development, Nematode Resistance And Recombination Suppression, David A. Lightfoot, Ali Srour, Jawad Afzal, Navinder Saini

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Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) resistance to populations (HgType) of Heterodera glycines I., the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), requires a functional allele at rhg1. An apoptosis-like response in the giant cells formed around the nematode results 24-48 h after feeding commences. This study aimed to identify the role of the three genes within the rhg1 locus, a receptor like kinase (RLK), a laccase and an ion anti-porter. Used were near isogeneic lines (NILs) that contrasted at their rhg1 alleles. Features of the rhg1 locus, the candidate genes and their nascent transcripts and proteins in roots were elucidated. First, evidence for …

Laboratory Diagnosis Of Clostridium Difficile In The Republic Of Ireland: A Survey Of Irish Microbiology Laboratories., Denise Drudy, F. Fitzpatrick, A. Oza, A. Gilleece, A. M. O’Byrne

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The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) established a group to produce national guidelines for Clostridium difficile in Ireland in 2006. A laboratory questionnaire was distributed to determine current C. difficile diagnostic practices. Twenty-nine out of 44 laboratories providing C. difficile diagnostic services to 34 hospitals responded. Twenty-five out of 29 (86%) laboratories processed specimens for C. difficile and four (13.8%) forwarded specimens to another laboratory. Sixteen laboratories (64%) processed specimens for other healthcare facilities. None routinely examined stool for C. difficile, seven (28%) examined specimens only when requested to do so and 18 (72%) used specific selection criteria, including testing …

Use Of Neutral Electrolysed Water (Ew) For Quality Maintenance And Shelf-Life Extension Of Minimally Processed Lettuce, Daniel Rico, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Jesus Maria Frias, Gary Henehan, José Barat

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Experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of different treatments based on the use of neutral electrolysed water (EW) on fresh-cut lettuce. EW was diluted to obtain different free chlorine concentrations (120, 60 and 12 ppm) and compared with standard washing treatment of 120 ppm chlorine solution. Shelf-life quality and safety markers were studied at the beginning and at the end of the 7-day storage at 4 ºC. The use of EW decreased the respiration rate of the samples which might be related with the observed reduction in microbial spoilage. The use of EW also increased the activity of a …

Regulated Expression Of Adenoviral Vectors-Based Gene Therapies: Therapeutic Expression Of Toxins And Immune-Modulators, James Curtin, Marianela Candolfi, Mariana Puntel, Weidong Xiong, Akm Ghulam Muhammad, Kurt Kroeger, Sonali Mondkar, Chunyan Liu, Niyati Bondale, Pedro Lowenstein, Maria Castro

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Regulatable promoter systems allow gene expression to be tightly controlled in vivo. This is highly desirable for the development of safe, efficacious adenoviral vectors that can be used to treat human diseases in the clinic. Ideally, regulatable cassettes should have minimal gene expression in the "OFF" state, and expression should quickly reach therapeutic levels in the "ON" state. In addition, the components of regulatable cassettes should be non-toxic at physiological concentrations and should not be immunogenic, especially when treating chronic illness that requires long-lasting gene expression. In this chapter, we will describe in detail protocols to develop and validate first …

Editorial: Nutrition Research Reviews, Katherine Younger

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We are all familiar with the dietary guideline exhorting us to eat so many portions of oily fish per week in order to boost our intakes of n-3 long-chain PUFA, but it is perhaps not so widely realised that the fish must themselves be provided with dietary n-3 long-chain PUFA or, possibly, their precursors (though, as in humans, the ability of carnivorous fish to elongate and desaturate n-3 PUFA appears to be limited).

Book Review J. Mann & A. S. Truswell (Editors). Essentials Of Human Nutrition., Daniel Mccartney

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Essentials of Human Nutrition is the third edition of this excellent text originally published in 1998. This comprehensively updated version contains many chapters that have been completely rewritten since the last volume in 2002, while the others have been meticulously revised. The content is presented in a readily accessible manner and addresses the issues of greatest pertinence to contemporary nutritional science and therapeutics, with sections covering foods, macro- and micronutrients, nutrition-related disorders, public health nutrition and clinical nutrition. Eminent researchers and teachers from around the world have been commissioned to write these specialist chapters, with the judicious editorial style permitting …

Update Of Clostridium Difficile Infection Due To Pcr Ribotype 027 In Europe, 2008, Denise Drudy, E. J. Kuijper, F. Barbut, J. S. Brazier

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Since the emergence of a new virulent strain of Clostridium difficile characterised as toxinotype III, North American pulsedfield type 1 (NAP1), restriction-endonuclease analysis group type BI and PCR-ribotype 027 (Type 027), multiple outbreaks have been reported in North America and Europe [1-9]. The increased virulence of C. difficile Type 027 is thought to be associated with a 1 base pair deletion at position 117 of the tcdC gene which leads to an increased or prolonged production of toxins A and B, and possibly the production of a binary toxin [1-3]. However, these virulence factors are not unique for Type 027 …

Editorial: Nutrition Research Reviews, Katherine Younger

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With world attention now focusing on the Olympics, the question as to the extent to which nutrient intakes can affect athletic performance is highly topical; in this context, the article

Business As Usual: The Roberts Court's Continued Neglect Of Adequacy And Equity Concerns In American Education, Osamudia R. James

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No abstract provided.

Contextualising Nanotechnology In Chemistry Education, Christine O'Connor, Hugh Hayden

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This paper will give an example of a pedagogical approach taken in integrating nanotechnology into a chemistry degree course. In recent years nanotechnology has widely become part of the course content for undergraduate chemistry and physics degree curriculum. How contextualised the delivery of the subject matter may vary. The role of contextualisation of nanotechnology in the delivery of the content is the main focus of this paper, as to date in Ireland and many other countries nanotechnology has not been integrated into many chemistry degree courses but is slowly becoming the case. An evaluative methodology of the pedagogical approach for …

Nanocomposites For Novel Holographic Applications, Izabela Naydenova, Svetlana Mintova, Suzanne Martin, Vincent Toal

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Nanozeolites incorporated into photopolymerizable holographic recording materials can be used for holographic sensing, data storage, and optical systems design.

Subordination And The Fortuity Of Our Circumstances, Sergio J. Campos

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The antisubordination principle exists at the margins of equality law. This Article seeks to revive the antisubordination principle by taking a fresh look at its structure and underlying justification. First, the Article provides an account of the harm of subordination that focuses on one's position in society, rejecting the focus on groups popular in the existing antisubordination literature. Second, it argues for a theory of state obligation that goes beyond both the existing state action doctrine of the Equal Protection Clause and the failure to protect doctrine associated with Charles Black. The Article argues instead that the antisubordination principle mandates …

Towards Flow Cytometry Data Clustering On Graphics Processing Units, Jeremy Espenshade, Doug Roberts, James Cavenaugh

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Like many modern techniques for scientific analysis, flow cytometry produces massive amounts of data that must be analyzed and clustered intelligently to be useful. Current manual binning techniques are cumbersome and limited in both the quality and quantity of analyses produced. To address the quality of results, a new framework applying two different sets of clustering algorithms and inference methods are implemented. The two methods investigated are fuzzy c-means and minimum description length inference and k-medoids with BIC. These approaches lend themselves to large scale parallel processing. To address the computational demands, the Nvidia CUDA framework and Tesla architecture are …

The Impact Of Traumatic Stress And Alcohol Exposure On Youth: Implications For Lawyers, Judges, And Courts, Frank E. Vandervort

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Since its inception in the late nineteenth century, the juvenile court has been concerned with the legal problems of children and their families. From the court’s earliest days, it has sought to address child abuse and neglect and juvenile delinquency as social problems that result from familial and community breakdown. Over the decades, researchers from various disciplines have provided varying explanations of how and why family systems break down, why some parents fail to nurture their children, why some physically or sexually abuse their children, and why some children become delinquent.

Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes Induce Indirect Cytotoxicity By Medium Depletion In A549 Lung Cells, Gordon Chambers, Alan Casey, Fiona Lyng, Maria Davoren, Eva Herzog (Thesis), Hugh Byrne

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The ability of two types of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), namely Arc Discharge (AD) and HiPco® single walled carbon nanotubes, to induce an indirect cytotoxicity in A549 lung cells by means of medium depletion was investigated. The nanotubes were dispersed in a commercial cell culture medium and subsequently removed by centrifugation and filtration. Spectroscopic analysis confirmed the removal of the nanotubes and showed differing degrees of alteration of the composition of the medium upon the removal of the nanotubes. The ability to induce an indirect cytotoxic effect by altering the medium was evaluated using two endpoints, namely the Alamar …

Hearts, Minds, Hands: A Dream Team For Mental Health, Julianne Gold Brunson, Judy Molner, Miriam Nathan Lerner

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Interpreting in a mental health setting with hearing staff members and deaf clientele, the ethical situations fly fast and furious, providing the interpreter with a wealth of war stories with which to regale neophyte students of this dynamic profession. Much has been written to improve the many and varied mental health services being extended to deaf populations. The most commonly described dyads are that of hearing therapist and deaf patient. However, consider the case of a deaf psychologist treating hearing clients. In this instance, the interpreter becomes the liaison between the deaf professional and the hearing patient. When an interpreter …

Session 1: Public Health Nutrition Breast-Feeding Practices In Ireland, Roslyn Tarrant, John Kearney

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Breast-feeding is the superior infant feeding method from birth, with research consistently demonstrating its numerous short- and long-term health benefits for both mother and infant. As a global recommendation the WHO advises that mothers should exclusively breast-feed for the first 6-months of life, thus delaying the introduction of solids during this time. Historically, Irish breast-feeding initiation rates have remained strikingly low in comparison with international data and there has been little improvement in breast-feeding duration rates. There is wide geographical variation in terms of breast-feeding initiation both internationally and in Ireland. Some of these differences in breast-feeding rates may be …

Novel Functions Of Acyl-Coa Thioesterases And Acyltransferases As Auxiliary Enzymes In Peroxisomal Lipid Metabolism., Mary Hunt, Stefan Alexson

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Peroxisomes are single membrane bound organelles present in almost all eukaryotic cells, and to date have been shown to contain approximately 60 identified enzymes involved in various metabolic pathways, including the oxidation of a variety of lipids. These lipids include very long-chain fatty acids, methyl branched fatty acids, prostaglandins, bile acid precursors, and xenobiotics that are either β-oxidized or α-oxidized in peroxisomes. The recent identification of several acyl-CoA thioesterases and acyltransferases in peroxisomes has revealed their various functions in acting as auxiliary enzymes in α- and β-oxidation in this organelle. To date, 9 functional acyl-CoA thioesterases and acyltransferases have been …

The Nudix Hydrolase 7 Is An Acyl-Coa Diphosphatase Involved In Regulating Peroxisomal Coenzyme A Homeostasis., Sarah-Jayne Reilly, Veronica Tillander, Rob Ofman, Stefan Alexson, Mary Hunt

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Coenzyme A (CoASH) is an obligate cofactor for lipids undergoing β-oxidation in peroxisomes. Although the peroxisomal membrane appears to be impermeable to CoASH, peroxisomes contain their own pool of CoASH. It is believed that CoASH enters peroxisomes as acyl-CoAs, but it is not known how this pool is regulated. The mouse nudix hydrolase 7 (NUDT7α) was previously identified in peroxisomes as a CoAdiphosphatase, and therefore suggested to be involved in regulation of peroxisomal CoASH levels. Here we show that mouse NUDT7α mainly acts as an acyl-CoA diphosphatase, with highest activity towards medium chain acyl-CoAs, and much lower activity with CoASH. …

Consensus Mutagenesis Reveals That Non-Helical Regions Influence Thermal Stability Of Horseradish Peroxidase., Barry Ryan, CiaráN Fagan

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The enzyme horseradish peroxidase has many uses in biotechnology but a stabilized derivative would have even wider applicability. To enhance thermal stability, we applied consensus mutagenesis (used successfully with other proteins) to recombinant horseradish peroxidase and generated five single-site mutants. Unexpectedly, these mutations had greater effects on steady-state kinetics than on thermal stability. Only two mutants (T102A, T110V) marginally exceeded the wild type’s thermal stability (4% and 10% gain in half- life at 50oC respectively); the others (Q106R, Q107D, I180F) were less stable than wild type. Stability of a five-fold combination mutant matched that of Q106R, the least-stable single mutant. …

Noncompliance, Nonenforcement, Nonproblem? Rethinking The Anticommons In Biomedical Research, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

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A decade ago the biomedical research community was sounding alarm bells about the impact of intellectual property (IP) rights on the ability of scientists to do their work. Controversies and delays in negotiating terms of access to patented mice and genes, databases of scientific information, and tangible research materials all pointed toward the same conclusion: that IP claims were undermining traditional sharing norms to the detriment of science. Michael Heller and I highlighted one dimension of this concern: that too many IP rights in "upstream" research results could paradoxically restrict "downstream" research and product development by making it too costly …

Biodiversity, Baking And Boiling, Endangered Species Act Turning Down The Heat, Anna T. Moritz, Kassie R. Siegel, Brendan R. Cummings, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

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Today the Earth faces an extinction event on a scale second only to Earth's largest mass extinction, the Permian-Triassic event, which occurred 250 million years ago. Upwards of 70 percent of the Earth's species could be at risk of extinction with a 3.5°C (6.3°F) rise in temperature, which could occur by the end of this century.

The driver is global warming, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. As such, a rational climate policy is needed immediately to prevent the complete collapse of biodiversity. Yet, the United States—the world's largest cumulative contributor to emissions—is in a state of paralysis when it …

A Model Compound Study: The Ecotoxicological Evaluation Of Five Organic Contaminants With A Battery Of Marine Bioassays, Ailbhe Macken, Michelle Giltrap, Barry Foley, Evin Mcgovern, Brendan Mchugh, Maria Davoren

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This paper describes the ecotoxicological evaluation of five organic contaminants frequently detected in marine sediments (tributyltin, triphenyltin, benzo[a]pyrene, fluoranthene, and PCB 153) using three marine species (Vibrio fischeri, Tetraselmis suecica, and Tisbe battagliai). The sensitivity of each species varied for all compounds. The triorganotins were consistently the most toxic to all species. The applicability of each test system to assess the acute toxicity of environmental contaminants and their use in Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) is discussed. Suitability of the Microtox and T. battagliai tests for employment in TIE studies were further assessed through spiking experiments with tributyltin. Results demonstrated that …

Object Detection And Classification With Applications To Skin Cancer Screening, Jonathan Blackledge, Dmitryi Dubovitskiy

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This paper discusses a new approach to the processes of object detection, recognition and classification in a digital image. The classification method is based on the application of a set of features which include fractal parameters such as the Lacunarity and Fractal Dimension. Thus, the approach used, incorporates the characterisation of an object in terms of its texture.

The principal issues associated with object recognition are presented which includes two novel fast segmentation algorithms for which C++ code is provided. The self-learning procedure for designing a decision making engine using fuzzy logic and membership function theory is also presented and …

The Use Of Cellomics To Study Enterocyte Cytoskeletal Proteins In Coeliac Disease Patients, Bashir M. Mohamed, Conleth Feighery, Yvonne Williams, Anthony Davies, Dermot Kelleher, Yuri Volkov, Jacinta Kelly, Mohamed Abuzakouk

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Coeliac disease is characterised by inflammation of small intestinal mucosa accompanied by abnormal villous architecture. It is now accepted that some patients with positive coeliac serology tests may have minor mucosal lesions that may not be apparent on routine histopathological analysis. The aim of the study was to perform detailed examination of enterocyte morphology and cytoskeletal structures using a high content analysis technology. Duodenal biopsies from 14 untreated and 10 treated coeliac patients and from 20 non-coeliac controls were examined. Tissue sections from six patients (study group subjects) before and after the development of gluten-sensitive enteropathy were also investigated. Immunohistochemical …

A Presumption Against Agency Preemption, Nina A. Mendelson

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Federal agencies are increasingly taking aim at state law, even though state law is not expressly targeted by the statutes the agencies administer. Starting in 2001, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued several notices saying that state laws would apply to national bank operating subsidiaries (incorporated under state law) to the same extent as those laws applied to the parent national bank. In 2003, the OCC specifically mentioned state consumer protection laws and took the position that the state laws were preempted and did not apply to mortgage lenders owned by national banks. In December 2006, …

Advocating For The Constitutional Rights Of Nonresident Fathers, Vivek Sankaran

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Months after a child welaare case is petitioned, a nonresident father appears in court and requests custody of his children who are living in foster care. Little is known about the father, and immediately, the system-judge, caseworkers, and attorneys view him with suspicion and caution, inquiring about his whereabouts and his prior involvement in the children's lives. Those doubts, in turn, raise complicated questions about his legal rights to his children. As a practioner working in the child welfare system, you're likely to face this scenario. The largest percentage of child victims of abuse and neglect come from households headed …