Teaching Small and Thinking Large: Effects of Including Social and Ethical Implications in an Interdisciplinary Nanotechnology Course.

One way to ensure that social and ethical implications (SEI) of nanotechnology research are taken into consideration early in research projects is to incorporate ethical concepts into university science education. In this paper, we describe an interdisciplinary nanotechnology university science course and the ways in which the opinions of students regarding the ethical implications of nanotechnology research were influenced by the course. From an SEI perspective, there is value in scientists being aware of the need to make explicit the uncertainties that always exist in scientific and technological research and development.

Advancing multifocal nonlinear microscopy: development and application of a novel multibeam Yb:KGd(WO4)2 oscillator.

We present a novel Yb:KGd(WO(4))(2) oscillator design that generates six beams of temporally delayed, 253 fs, 11 nJ pulses. This allows multifocal nonlinear microscopy to be performed without the need for complicated optical multiplexers. We demonstrate our design with twelve simultaneously acquired two-photon, second-harmonic and/or third-harmonic images generated from six laterally separated foci.

In vitro strain adaptation of CWD prions by serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification.

We used serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) to amplify the D10 strain of CWD prions in a linear relationship over two logs of D10 dilutions. The resultant PMCA-amplified D10 induced terminal TSE disease in CWD-susceptible Tg(cerPrP)1536 mice with a survival time approximately 80 days shorter than the original D10 inoculum, similar to that produced by in vivo sub-passage of D10 in Tg(cerPrP)1536 mice. Both in vitro-amplified and mouse-passaged D10 produced brain lesion profiles, glycoform ratios and conformational stabilities significantly different than those produced by the original D10 inoculum in Tg(cerPrP)1536 mice.

Altered bone marrow dendritic cell cytokine production to toll-like receptor and CD40 ligation during chronic feline immunodeficiency virus infection.

Impaired dendritic cell (DC) function is thought to be central to human immunodeficiency virus-associated immunodeficiency. In this study, we examined the effect of chronic feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection on DC cytokine production in response to microbial and T-cell stimulation. Cytokine production after either Toll-like receptor (TLR) or CD40 ligation in bone marrow-derived DCs (BM-DCs) was measured in naïve and chronically FIV-infected cats.

Brown Superfund Basic research Program: a multistakeholder partnership addresses real-world problems in contaminated communities.

The NIEHS funds several basic and applied research programs, many of which also require research translation or outreach. This paper reports on a project by the Brown University Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP), in which outreach and research translation teams collaborated with state regulatory agency personnel and community activists on a legislative initiative to mitigate the financial impacts of living in a contaminated community. The Environmentally Compromised Home Ownership (ECHO) program makes home equity loans of up to $25,000 available to qualified applicants.

African American physicians and organized medicine, 1846-1968: origins of a racial divide.

Like the nation as a whole, organized medicine in the United States carries a legacy of racial bias and segregation that should be understood and acknowledged. For more than 100 years, many state and local medical societies openly discriminated against black physicians, barring them from membership and from professional support and advancement. The American Medical Association was early and persistent in countenancing this racial segregation.

Simultaneous multifocal, multiphoton, photon counting microscopy.

We demonstrate a novel multifocal, multiphoton microscope that is capable of simultaneous dynamic imaging of multiple focal planes. We show for the first time that multimodal, multiphoton images excited with orthogonal polarizations can be acquired simultaneously in both the transmission and epi directions.

Early and late changes in the distal forelimb representation of the supplementary motor area after injury to frontal motor areas in the squirrel monkey.

Neuroimaging studies in stroke survivors have suggested that adaptive plasticity occurs following stroke. However, the complex temporal dynamics of neural reorganization after injury make the interpretation of functional imaging studies equivocal. In the present study in adult squirrel monkeys, intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) techniques were used to monitor changes in representational maps of the distal forelimb in the supplementary motor area (SMA) after a unilateral ischemic infarct of primary motor (M1) and premotor distal forelimb representations (DFLs).

Experimental chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the ferret.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease of North American deer, elk and moose, affects both free-ranging and captive cervids. The potential host range for CWD remains uncertain. The susceptibility of the ferret to CWD was examined experimentally by administering infectious brain material by the intracerebral (IC) or oral (PO) route.

Development and application of a quantitative real-time PCR assay to detect feline leukemia virus RNA.

We previously defined four categories of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection, designated as abortive, regressive, latent, and progressive. To determine if detectable viral DNA is transcriptionally active in the absence of antigenemia, we developed and validated a real-time viral RNA qPCR assay. This assay proved to be highly sensitive, specific, reproducible, and allowed reliable quantitation.

In vivo CXCR4 expression, lymphoid cell phenotype, and feline immunodeficiency virus infection.

Primary isolates of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) appear to require binding to CD134 in conjunction with CXCR4(X4) to infect IL-2-dependent T-cell-derived cells in culture. However, much less is known about the role of X4 for the infection of cells in vivo. To investigate the correlation between X4 expression and FIV infection in cats acutely infected with FIV-C-Pgmr we used high-speed fluorescence-activated cell sorting and realtime PCR to co-analyze cell phenotypes from lymph node, thymus, bone marrow and blood for FIV infection and X4 expression.

Feline immunodeficiency virus dendritic cell infection and transfer.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) interacts with dendritic cells (DC) during initiation of infection, but whether DC support or transfer FIV infection remains unclear. To address this issue, we studied the susceptibility of feline myeloid DC to FIV infection and assessed potential transfer of infection from DC to CD4(+) T cells. FIV was detected in membrane-bound vesicles of DC within 2 h of inoculation, although only low concentrations of FIV DNA were found in virus-exposed isolated DC.

The elk PRNP codon 132 polymorphism controls cervid and scrapie prion propagation.

The elk prion protein gene (PRNP) encodes either methionine (M) or leucine (L) at codon 132, the L132 allele apparently affording protection against chronic wasting disease (CWD). The corresponding human codon 129 polymorphism influences the host range of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions. To fully address the influence of this cervid polymorphism on CWD pathogenesis, we created transgenic (Tg) mice expressing cervid PrPC with L at residue 132, referred to as CerPrPC-L132, and compared the transmissibility of CWD prions from elk of defined PRNP genotypes, namely homozygous M/M or L/L or heterozygous M/L, in these Tg mice with previously described Tg mice expressing CerPrPC-M132, referred to as Tg(CerPrP) mice.

There is no scientific rationale for race-based research.

For centuries, the colonial governments used a combination of race and ethnic characteristics to subjugate and control people of color, and scientists of the day provided evidence of the "natural order of things" to support national policies of domination, segregation and control. There have been many examples of events in the past 70 years to suggest that achievements by ethnic peoples are not genetically determined and that race and ethnicity are merely terms to describe external features, language, culture, social mores and folklore. BiDil was the first drug in this country approved by the FDA for use in a single "race" after a clinical trial that enrolled only members of that race.

Simultaneous imaging of multiple focal planes using a two-photon scanning microscope.

Despite all the advances in nonlinear microscopy, all existing instruments are constrained to obtain images of one focal plane at a time. In this Letter we demonstrate a two-photon absorption fluorescence scanning microscope capable of imaging two focal planes simultaneously. This is accomplished by temporally demultiplexing the signal coming from two focal volumes at different sample depths.

Efficient in vitro amplification of chronic wasting disease PrPRES.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) of cervids is associated with conversion of the normal cervid prion protein, PrP(C), to a protease-resistant conformer, PrP(CWD). Here we report the use of both nondenaturing amplification and protein-misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) to amplify PrP(CWD) in vitro. Normal brains from deer, transgenic mice expressing cervid PrP(C) [Tg(cerPrP)1536 mice], and ferrets supported amplification.

Charity Hospital: from the beginning to either a new beginning or the end.

Through epidemics, wars, hurricanes, pirates and politics, Charity Hospital has served the indigent population of New Orleans and Louisiana since May 10, 1736 as the second oldest continuing public hospital in the country following Bellevue in New York City, which opened six weeks earlier on March 31, 1736. The first Charity facility was financed by the estate of boat builder Jean Louis, whose will recorded, "a sale shall be made of all that remains, which, together with my small lot, I bequeath to serve in perpetuity to the founding of a hospital for the sick of the City of New Orleans..

Sustained generation of tissue dendritic cells from cats using organ stromal cell cultures.

Currently most dendritic cells (DC) for in vitro study are generated from bone marrow or peripheral blood by culture in high concentrations of GM-CSF and other cytokines. However, in mice it is also possible to generate DC from spleen cells using long-term stromal cell cultures. To determine whether tissue DC could be also be generated from cats, we established stromal cell cultures from a number of different tissues of newborn cats.