Tracking Nature Inscribed : Nature in rights and bureaucratic

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Insektlarver som proteinfôr til fisk og husdyr

I dette prosjektet ble det gjennomført et dyrkningsforsøk av fluelarver for å undersøke muligheten for å bruke insektproteiner som fôr til fisk og husdyr. Larvene som ble produsert ble kjemisk analysert for å vurdere larvenes egnethet til fôr. Det ble også gjennomført en markedsundersøkelse blant fôrprodusenter og husdyrbrukere for å se på responsen for fôrprodukter laget av insektproteiner. Dyrkningsforsøkene viste at det er mulig å dyrke fluelarver, men at prosessen må optimaliseres for at det ikke skal bli for arbeidskrevende. Kvaliteten på vekstsubstratet for fluelarvene ser ut til å være avgjørende for å få en god larvevekst. Fluelarvene ser ut til å inneholde tilfredsstillende mengde næringsstoffer for at det kan brukes som fôr til fisk og husdyr. Markedsanalysen viste en generell positiv holdning til bruk av insektlarver som ingrediens i fôr og fôrprodukter blant fôrprodusenter, fiskeoppdrettere, husdyrprodusenter og representanter fra myndigheter/forvaltning. De var mest positive til bruk av larver i fôr til fisk

Annexin A2 is regulated by ovarian cancer-peritoneal cell interactions and promotes metastasis

Our recent research identified the protein annexin A2 to be regulated by ovarian cancer-peritoneal cell interactions. This study investigated the role of annexin A2 in ovarian cancer metastasis and its potential utility as a novel therapeutic target, using in vitro and in vivo ovarian cancer models. Annexin A2 expression was examined by qRT-PCR and western blotting in ovarian cancer cell lines and immunohistochemistry in serous ovarian carcinoma tissues. Annexin A2 siRNAs were used to evaluate the effects of annexin A2 suppression on ovarian cancer cell adhesion, motility, and invasion. Furthermore, annexin A2 neutralizing antibodies were used to examine the role of annexin A2 in tumor invasion and metastasis in vivo using a chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and an intraperitoneal xenograft mouse model. Strong annexin A2 immunostaining was observed in 90% (38/42) of the serous ovarian cancer cells and was significantly increased in the cancer-associated stroma compared to non-malignant ovarian tissues. Annexin A2 siRNA significantly inhibited the motility and invasion of serous ovarian cancer cells and adhesion to the peritoneal cells. Annexin A2 neutralizing antibodies significantly inhibited OV-90 cell motility and invasion in vitro and in vivo using the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay. The growth of SKOV-3 cells and their peritoneal dissemination in nude mice was significantly inhibited by annexin A2 neutralizing antibodies. Annexin A2 plays a critical role in ovarian cancer metastasis and is therefore a potential novel therapeutic target against ovarian cancer.Noor A. Lokman, Alison SF. Elder, Miranda P Ween, Carmen E. Pyragius, Peter Hoffmann, Martin K. Oehler, and Carmela Ricciardell

Keratin 5 overexpression is associated with serous ovarian cancer recurrence and chemotherapy resistance

This study investigated the clinical significance of keratin 5 and 6 expression in serous ovarian cancer progression and chemotherapy resistance. KRT5 and KRT6 (KRT6A, KRT6B & KRT6C) gene expression was assessed in publically available serous ovarian cancer data sets, ovarian cancer cell lines and primary serous ovarian cancer cells. Monoclonal antibodies which detect both K5/6 or only K5 were used to assess protein expression in ovarian cancer cell lines and a cohort of high grade serous ovarian carcinomas at surgery (n = 117) and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n = 21). Survival analyses showed that high KRT5 mRNA in stage III/IV serous ovarian cancers was significantly associated with reduced progression-free (HR 1.38, P < 0.0001) and overall survival (HR 1.28, P = 0.013) whilst high KRT6 mRNA was only associated with reduced progression-free survival (HR 1.2, P = 0.031). Both high K5/6 (≥ 10%, HR 1.78 95% CI; 1.03−2.65, P = 0.017) and high K5 (≥ 10%, HR 1.90, 95% CI; 1.12−3.19, P = 0.017) were associated with an increased risk of disease recurrence. KRT5 but not KRT6C mRNA expression was increased in chemotherapy resistant primary serous ovarian cancer cells compared to chemotherapy sensitive cells. The proportion of serous ovarian carcinomas with high K5/6 or high K5 immunostaining was significantly increased following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. K5 can be used to predict serous ovarian cancer prognosis and identify cancer cells that are resistant to chemotherapy. Developing strategies to target K5 may therefore improve serous ovarian cancer survival.Carmela Ricciardelli, Noor A Lokman, Carmen E Pyragius, Miranda P Ween, Anne M Macpherson, Andrew Ruszkiewicz, Peter Hoffmann, Martin K Oehle

Treatment of urinary incontinence after stroke in adults

Background: Urinary incontinence can affect 40-60% of people admitted to hospital after a stroke, with 25% still having problems on hospital discharge and 15% remaining incontinent at one year. Objectives: To determine the optimal methods for treatment of urinary incontinence after stroke in adults. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Incontinence and Stroke Groups specialised registers (searched 15 March 2007 and 5 March 2007 respectively), CINAHL (January 1982 to January 2007), national and international trial databases for unpublished data, and the reference lists of relevant articles. Selection criteria: Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials evaluating the effects of interventions designed to promote continence in people after stroke. Data collection and analysis: Data extraction and quality assessment were undertaken by two reviewers working independently. Disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer. Main results: Twelve trials with a total of 724 participants were included in the review. Participants were from a mixture of settings, age groups and phases of stroke recovery. Behavioural interventions Three trials assessed behavioural interventions, such as timed voiding and pelvic floor muscle training. All had small sample sizes and confidence intervals were wide

Timing is everything: Within-plant flowering phenology impacts fruit production in the Arctic-Alpine cushion plant Silene acaulis (L.) Jacq.

Timing is everything for Arctic flowering plants. Early flowers might be destroyed by frost, while late flowers have less time and resources to mature fruit. With climate change, Arctic flowering phenology is shifting. Yet for many species, phenology studies only encompass the onset of flowering and lack baseline data on within-plant flowering times. I used the gynodioecious cushion plant Silene acaulis (L.) Jacq. to investigate how within-plant flowering phenology impacts fruit production in one growing season. In 2019, time-lapse cameras were used to daily observe flowers within two populations in the Low-Arctic (Narsarsuaq, Greenland in the Low-Arctic/Sub-Arctic transition zone; 7851 flowers, 21 plants) and the High-Arctic (Bjørndalen, Svalbard; 1587 flowers, 11 plants). Plants flowered for approximately three weeks, with a positively skewed peak floral display. In the LowArctic site, most investigated individuals were females dependent on pollinator visits for fruit production. Within these Low-Arctic females, flowers blooming during peak floral display had a higher probability of fruit set than flowers blooming outside peak floral display. In addition, flowers blooming before peak flowering were more likely to produce fruit than flowers blooming after peak flowering, both at the individual level and between individuals within the whole population. Hermaphrodites, however, can self-pollinate, and preliminary results indicate higher fruit set outside peak flowering within individuals and populations. In contrast to the Low-Arctic site, all plants in the High-Arctic site were females and a frost event occurred during flowering. Despite the frost event, females in the High-Arctic site had twice as high fruits per flower proportions as females in the Low-Arctic site. For flowers not exposed to frost, similarly to the Low-Arctic site, flowers blooming during peak floral display were more likely to produce fruit than flowers blooming outside peak floral display. Also similar to the Low-Arctic site, early flowers, both within individuals and the population, had a higher probability of fruit set than late flowers. For frost exposed flowers, however, the degree of frost damage was likely more important for fruit set than flower timing, indicating that late flowers can be part of a bet-hedging strategy. Altogether, these results portray how a long flowering period, combined with a peak floral display and early flowering, can be a strategy to ensure fruit production in the unpredictable Arctic growing season

Exploration of LET dependent effects in proton beam therapy using machine learning analysis of TL glow curves from CaSO4:Tm and LTB:Cu

This thesis describes an investigation into the depth-dependent effects in proton radiation, evaluated by the use of Thermoluminescence Dosimetry (TLD) with CaSO4:Tm and LTB:Cu as target materials. Data collected on these target materials from experiments at Aarhus University and the University of Oslo with variable depth positions and dosages were preprocessed and inspected for general distribution and noise. The Linear Energy Transfer (LET) dependent Thermoluminescence (TL) response was investigated, showing a difference for intermediate energy protons between samples irradiated in the Bragg Peak and samples positioned early in the LET curve. A glow curve deconvolution was carried out, extracting TL parameters from the samples. Descriptive statistical features were also extracted from the samples. Statistical features, features extracted through deconvolution and raw glow curves were used to create predictive models of LET. Models based on Random Forest (RF), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Neural Networks (NN) were explored. Binary classification models gave satisfactory results between high and low LET with a validation/test accuracy of 0.93/0.87, and between samples irradiated in the Bragg peak and non Bragg peak with an validation/test f1-score of 0.96/1.0, while a reliable high precision regression model was not found

MS

thesisThe Electrocardiogram (ECG) Department at the Latter-Day-Saints Hospital has used a computerized ECG system for more than 15 years. In this automated system, all the ECG data were analyzed by a set of Health Evaluation Logic Processing (HELP) frames and the resulting interpretations were stored in the patient data base. In 1987, the Department replaced this system with the Marquette Universal System for Electrocardiography (MUSE). As a stand alone system, MUSE stores all its ECG interpretations in its own data base. Since the HELP system serves as the information center for the Hospital, it is necessary to establish an interface between the HELP and the MUSE systems so that the MUSE ECG interpretations can be stored in HELP and become available to the clinical personnel. To integrate the MUSE system to HELP, one first faces the challenge of terminology difference between these two systems. According to the degree of compatibility among the terms used, there exist three categories of the MUSE interpretations. Different strategies were used in defining the Pointer to TeXT (PTXT) codes for these three categories of MUSE interpretations. In the process of constituting the PTXT representations for the MUSE system, care was taken to avoid duplicating existing codes in the HELP data dictionary. The second issue in interfacing the MUSE system to HELP lies in understanding the MUSE statements. A MUSE statement may contain different interpretations. Therefore, if a MUSE statement is to be stored in the HELP system, the interpretations constituting this statement must be understood so that their corresponding PTXT codes can be stored. In order to do this, a parsing algorithm was designed to detect different interpretations used in a statement and store their PTXT representations to HELP. After the implementation of the interface software, it was found that the software was constantly ready to capture the MUSE data into the HELP system. In addition, all the MUSE EGG statements, after being processed by the parsing algorithm, had been transferred to semantically corresponding interpretations. These interpretations were stored as patient records and were available to the reviewing physicians throughout LDS Hospital

Anthropology and STS: Generative interfaces, multiple locations

In this multi-authored essay, nine anthropologists working in different parts of the world take part in a conversation about the interfaces between anthropology and STS (science and technology studies). Through this conversation, multiple interfaces emerge that are heterogeneously composed according to the languages, places, and arguments from where they emerge. The authors explore these multiple interfaces as sites where encounters are also sites of difference&mdash;where complex groupings, practices, topics, and analytical grammars overlap, and also exceed each other, composing irregular links in a conversation that produces connections without producing closure