14,866 research outputs found
The impact of a major Quaternary river capture on the alluvial sediments of a beheaded river system, the Rio Alias SE Spain
This article is not available through ChesterRep.This article discusses a major river capture event within the Sorbas Basin (c.70 ka) which created a situation whereby the Rio Alias abruptly lost c. 70% of its drainage area and this led to a significant modification of the fluvial system in both upstream and downstream zones on the capturing stream, and downstream on the beheaded system.This article was submitted to the RAE2008 for the University of Chester - Geography & Environmental Studies
Una interpretación de a-ka-na-jo ( a3-ka-na-jo)
The author studies the word a-ka-na-jo in the PY Cn 328 tablet and taking into account some factors she proposes αγναιος as the reading of this word.The author studies the word a-ka-na-jo in the PY Cn 328 tablet and taking into account some factors she proposes αγναιος as the reading of this word
Environmental influences over the last 16 ka on compound-specific δ13C variations of leaf wax n-alkanes in the Hani peat deposit from northeast China
Compound-specific carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of leaf wax n-alkanes (C21-C33 odd carbon numbered n-alkanes) were measured in the Hani peat sequence from northeast China. These data were compared with lipid biomarker compositions to assess changes in local vegetation and paleoclimate for the last 16 ka The δ13C values of n-alkanes range between -36.6 and -30.7‰, showing that the compounds originate from C3 plants. Much larger variations (∼5.4‰) in the n-alkane δ13C values than those of atmospheric CO2 during the last 16 ka (< 0.5‰) indicate that the isotopic values were affected by environmental factors in addition to the postglacial δ13C variations in the atmospheric reservoir. The stratigraphic records of δ13C reveal decoupled fluctuations among the individual n-alkanes, particularly between 15.5 to 11.4 ka. Synchronous excursions in the δ13C offsets among individual n-alkanes (Δδ13C) and lipid biomarker paleoplant proxies (Paq, and C23/C31 and C27/C31) from 14.9 to 13.2 ka and 12.7 to 11.6 ka suggest that vegetational changes are the most likely causes for the decoupled δ13C variations. Parallel fluctuations of the δ13C values of terrestrial higher plant-derived C29 and C31 n-alkanes and the n-alkane average chain-length (ACL) from 11 to 6 ka indicate that the δ13C variations responded to net evaporation changes. Negative shifts in the n-alkane δ13C values coinciding with the ACL decreases at 10.5-9.3 ka and 8.1 ka indicate the short-term onset and fluctuations of the summer monsoon strength in eastern China during the early Holocene
NRF2 and chemoprevention: signaling, epigenetics and role in intestinal carcinogensis
Prevention is better than cure. The carcinogenesis could take as long as 20 to 30 years to develop from initiated cells to malignant tumor, therefore providing us various opportunities to prevent the appearance of tumors with the use of chemopreventive compounds in the early stage. Chemoprevention becomes an increasing important concept and has led to the intense research about the mechanisms of actions of various chemopreventive compounds. They can be generally classified into blocking agents and suppressing agents. The chemopreventive compounds usually prevent or slow progression of cancer by maintaining a low oxidative stress and inflammatory environment in cells. This is brought about by the activation of Nrf2, the key protein being investigated in our lab. In this dissertation, I will be discussing the use of compounds as suppressing agents and blocking agents, how compounds activates Nrf2 signaling, how novel Nrf2 interaction partner IQGAP1 mediates Nrf2-Keap1 signaling axis, how expression level of Nrf2 could be regulated epigenetically, apart from the well-known post-translational control by Keap1-Ubiquitinase-Protesome axis and finally how loss of Nrf2 could enhance intestinal tumorigenesis in Apc(min/+) mice.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Ka Lung Cheun
Nearby fibroblasts' response to multiple acupuncture needle revolutions on fibroblast populated collagen gels
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing practice, and an alternative therapy for alleviating pain and chronic disorders. For over twenty years, research is trying to understand the mechanisms that lead to its therapeutic effect. Our laboratory investigates the cellular and molecular events in the connective tissue that occur by acupuncture needling. An in vitro assay was developed to evaluate some of the potential contributors to acupuncture’s effects using a cellular collagen gel as a loose connective tissue mimic. It was hypothesized besides immediate changes to cells under mechanical loading from an acupuncture needle, there were chemical factors released to nearby cells in acupuncture. This thesis investigates whether mechanically stimulating collagen gels with fibroblasts at different revolutions would release chemical factors to nearby fibroblasts where flow cytometry was used to observe cell proliferation as an indicator. Results reveal mechanically stimulating cellular collagen gels at different revolutions does not cause any changes in cell proliferation to nearby cells. However, dead stained mechanically stimulated cellular collagen gels showed cell death occurs around the acupuncture needle. It is possible there were no effects in cell proliferation because when a cellular collagen gel was needle manipulated, some chemical factors were released into the nearby cells. Then as needle manipulation increased, more chemical factors were released, but restricted by the larger amount of cell death around the needle from the increasing rotation.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Ka Po Ch
Duan wei xia mu xie lei de xin xing he nei DNA fen zi xi tong biao ji zhi jian ding
Leung Ka Chun.Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2013.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-110).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 21, September, 2016).Leung Ka Chun
San zhong chao jian dai teng hu dui gao wen de sheng li fan ying ji zhuan lu ti yan jiu
Wong, Ka Wing Karen.Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-157).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 30, November, 2016).Wong, Ka Wing Karen
Age of some Pleistocene interglacial beds and associated fossils in eastern Beringia defined by fission tracks in glass shards of Chester Bluff tephra
AbstractApplication of the glass fission-track dating method to Chester Bluff tephra (CBt), exposed in loess deposits at Chester Bluff along the Yukon River in east-central Alaska, has clarified the age of the immediately underlying fossiliferous interglacial bed. Surprise Creek tephra (SZt), at site CRH47 in the northern Old Crow basin of the Yukon Territory, is a correlative of CBt so that the new age information on CBt can also be applied to the interglacial sediments below SZt. Two independent age determinations were obtained on CBt, 243±28 ka and 249±26 ka, giving a weighted mean age and error of 246±19 ka. Therefore, the closely associated interglacial bed belongs to the early part of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 7. The stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental setting of SZt show that deposition of the tephra occurred soon after interglacial conditions, when the climate became colder, probably between MIS 7.5 and 7.4, that is, slightly younger than the mean fission-track age, but within the 1σ uncertainty. This result tightly constrains the age of the rich mammalian faunal assemblage found at and just below SZt at the CRH47 site.</jats:p
Age of some Pleistocene interglacial beds and associated fossils in eastern Beringia defined by fission tracks in glass shards of Chester Bluff tephra
Application of the glass fission-track dating method to Chester Bluff tephra (CBt), exposed in loess deposits at Chester Bluff along the Yukon River in east-central Alaska, has clarified the age of the immediately underlying fossiliferous interglacial bed. Surprise Creek tephra (SZt), at site CRH47 in the northern Old Crow basin of the Yukon Territory, is a correlative of CBt so that the new age information on CBt can also be applied to the interglacial sediments below SZt. Two independent age determinations were obtained on CBt, 243±28 ka and 249±26 ka, giving a weighted mean age and error of 246±19 ka. Therefore, the closely associated interglacial bed belongs to the early part of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 7. The stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental setting of SZt show that deposition of the tephra occurred soon after interglacial conditions, when the climate became colder, probably between MIS 7.5 and 7.4, that is, slightly younger than the mean fission-track age, but within the 1σ uncertainty. This result tightly constrains the age of the rich mammalian faunal assemblage found at and just below SZt at the CRH47 site
Improved production and purification of recombinant proteins from mammalian expression systems
The biopharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly reliant on recombinant proteins as therapeutic agents. The work presented here details the development of rapid mammalian expression systems and novel capture methods for use in early recombinant protein development. A key aim was to investigate expression of recombinant proteins via cost effective production methods and to compare the resultant products at small scales of manufacture. A model single chain variable fragment Fc conjugate (scFv-Fc) targeted against a clinically relevant glycoprotein, the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), was expressed and characterised using both transient and stable-based expression of transgenic DNA. Transient gene expression in suspension HEK293 cells produced a maximum scFv-Fc level of 72μg/mL, which was used for initial protein characterisation. A stable pool of transfected CHO cells was also generated using a ubiquitous chromatin opening element (UCOE)-based vector achieving increased protein expression and culture periods when combined with a fed-batch regimen. Characterisation of the resulting proteins showed that stability and effector function was maintained across transient and stable production methods at all scales, indicating that preliminary data generated from transient expression in HEK293F cells could be generalised to predict that of protein stably expressed in CHO cell populations. A significant bottleneck in harvesting and purifying proteins from cell containing feed streams is the requirement for solid-liquid separation prior to capture. Therefore, a technique was proposed for direct capture of recombinant protein from unclarified feed streams that can integrate directly into the bioreactor harvest line. The process was demonstrated using immobilised metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) capture of recombinant CEA with a polyhistidine (His6) tag from a bioreactor culture. This provides a basis for direct primary capture of recombinant proteins from unclarified mammalian cell feed streams that could be generalized to other capture methods and proteins
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