Considerations for accurate gene expression measurement by reverse transcription quantitative PCR when analysing clinical samples

Reverse transcription quantitative PCR is an established, simple and effective method for RNA measurement. However, technical standardisation challenges combined with frequent insufficient experimental detail render replication of many published findings challenging. Consequently, without adequate consideration of experimental standardisation, such findings may be sufficient for a given publication but cannot be translated to wider clinical application. This article builds on earlier standardisation work and the MIQE guidelines, discussing processes that need consideration for accurate, reproducible analysis when dealing with patient samples. By applying considerations common to the science of measurement (metrology), one can maximise the impact of gene expression studies, increasing the likelihood of their translation to clinical tools

Rebuilding the Ukrainian Navy

Russia’s seizure of many of Ukraine’s naval assets dealt a serious blow to the already-small Ukrainian navy. The Ukrainian government’s ambitions to rebuild a balanced fleet may be unrealizable. The progress already made in building a “mosquito fleet” suggests that redirecting development toward coastal defense would be a wiser course

U.S. Naval Diplomacy in the Black Sea

Naval diplomacy—the use of naval power in peacetime to secure influence by contemporary navies is seen by many as playing a vital and unique role in promoting the international aims of governments. The U.S. Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Mullen, clearly recognizes the diplomatic utility of naval power: “Navies are not only critical, decisive, and enabling in times of war, but they may be even more important in maintaining the peace.

MMP1 bimodal expression and differential response to inflammatory mediators is linked to promoter polymorphisms.

BACKGROUND: Identifying the functional importance of the millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human genome is a difficult challenge. Therefore, a reverse strategy, which identifies functionally important SNPs by virtue of the bimodal abundance across the human population of the SNP-related mRNAs will be useful. Those mRNA transcripts that are expressed at two distinct abundances in proportion to SNP allele frequency may warrant further study. Matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1) is important in both normal development and in numerous pathologies. Although much research has been conducted to investigate the expression of MMP1 in many different cell types and conditions, the regulation of its expression is still not fully understood. RESULTS: In this study, we used a novel but straightforward method based on agglomerative hierarchical clustering to identify bimodally expressed transcripts in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) microarray data from 15 individuals. We found that MMP1 mRNA abundance was bimodally distributed in un-treated HUVECs and showed a bimodal response to inflammatory mediator treatment. RT-PCR and MMP1 activity assays confirmed the bimodal regulation and DNA sequencing of 69 individuals identified an MMP1 gene promoter polymorphism that segregated precisely with the MMP1 bimodal expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments indicated that the transcription factors (TFs) ETS1, ETS2 and GATA3, bind to the MMP1 promoter in the region of this polymorphism and may contribute to the bimodal expression. CONCLUSIONS: We describe a simple method to identify putative bimodally expressed RNAs from transcriptome data that is effective yet easy for non-statisticians to understand and use. This method identified bimodal endothelial cell expression of MMP1, which appears to be biologically significant with implications for inflammatory disease. (271 Words).RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

(Un)Becoming Queer/(Un)Becoming LGBTIC

This article is one result of an ongoing dialogue among a number of members of the LGBTIC/Queer Caucus. The dialogue has taken place primarily through a torrent of e-mails, but also through a number of emotionally charged telephone calls. It began as a friendly, (perhaps naively) simple idea -to turn members\u27 viewpoints about changing the name of our caucus, from Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Issues Caucus to Queer Issues Caucus into an article. What began with good will and a fervent hope for understanding, at times turned into vitriol and contention -volleys of world views, personal identities, and philosophies. Although tempers flared occasionally, we feel each of us came to better understandings of the others\u27 points of view. Editors Debbie and Kim have attempted to distill a bubbling pot of various points of view into an imaginary roundtable dialogue: respecting all stances, without silencing anyone, without hurting anyone\u27s feelings, and without privileging anyone viewpoint. All actors in this drama are named above and identified in the text by their initials. We apologize in advance

Flipped Classroom Information Literacy in Business Management Courses--What Have We Learned?

This presentation reports on a successful cross-department collaboration between the library and the business department at Lehman to conduct information literacy instruction as a flipped classroom. Ways that the flipped design have been tailored to meet the needs of teaching business research will be demonstrated. Evidence of student learning and qualitative evaluation of student and faculty experience will be presented. Practical tips on implementing flipped instruction will be provided

The Ukraine Conflict and the Problems of War Termination

The war in the east of Ukraine is now in its fifth year and, despite the cost-benefit logic for both sides of securing a peace, the chances of terminating this conflict remain remote. Using the theoretical literature on war termination, this article demonstrates that the problems of resolving the conflict in the Donbas lie in complex structural issues that are not easy to resolve. In order to make this argument this article examines the problems of bringing the conflict to an end by framing the problems according to four key questions: is war working for the belligerents; is there a peace to be made; is peace too costly; and, can the war be stopped

“Flipped Classroom” for Teaching Business Research in a Business Management Course

This presentation will report on a cross-department collaboration between the library and the business/economics department at Lehman College to conduct information literacy instruction as a “flipped classroom.