Contemporary Laboratory Research Articles

Colombia as the ‘Laboratory’ for Transitional Justice: Consolidation and Innovation of Global Formulas

ABSTRACT∞ This article examines the standardization of transitional justice, using Colombia—regarded by international observers as a contemporary laboratory—as a case. It investigates the extent to which transitional justice, as a global blueprint for addressing past atrocities, is being embraced in Colombia and how Colombian experiences contribute to both innovation and advancement of transitional justice internationally. Colombia offers a unique perspective on how transitional justice experts and institutions engage in and construct national, regional and international networks experimentally, under the guidance of international lab certifiers and informal standardizers. Drawing on a study focused on the justice pillar of transitional justice, the article argues that the significant level of local agency, coupled with international recognition and involvement, has contributed to strengthening, rather than weakening, the international transitional justice standard through innovation and localization.

Is it the people or the place? The remarkable 30-year period of integrative physiology research in the Carlson Gymnasium at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Historically, programs of physical education and sport were housed in gymnasium buildings on academic campuses. As physical education evolved to the more scientifically focused successor departments of exercise science and kinesiology, faculty specialization developed in the physiology of exercise. With time, some faculty broadened their research to study the integrative physiology of other biological states and stressors. Through this series of events, a small group of integrative physiologists was formed in the Carlson Gymnasium at the University of Colorado Boulder during the 1990s with the goal of conducting novel biomedical research. The challenges were daunting: no contemporary core laboratory facilities, lack of temperature control, piercing external noise, pests, regular flooding, electrical power outages, and lack of funds for renovation. Despite these obstacles, the group established an innovative program of translational physiological research ranging from high-throughput molecular analyses to cell models to rodent studies to clinical trials in humans. These investigators supported their work with grant awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), American Heart Association, and private research foundations totaling ∼$80 M in direct costs from the late 1980s to 2020. Collectively, the faculty and their laboratory personnel published ∼950 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Over that period, 379 undergraduate students, 340 graduate students, 84 postdoctoral fellows, and dozens of junior research faculty received scientific training in Carlson, supported by >$21 M in extramural funding. What was accomplished by this handful of integrative physiologists speaks to the importance of the qualities of the investigators rather than their research facilities in determining scientific success.

The impact of incorporating waste materials on the mechanical and physical characteristics of tile adhesive materials

Abstract The goal of the investigation is to produce a cement mortar for building units and a high-performance ceramic tile adhesive by using V autoclaved aerated concrete as a partial substitute for cement. The combination consists of sand, crushed limestone, and polymeric additives. The experimental procedures were conducted utilizing contemporary laboratory equipment to facilitate the manufacturing of the product and the subsequent investigation of its characteristics, in accordance with the standards outlined in EN12004 and ASTM C1660. The laboratory tests carried out, which included splitting tensile strength, bonding strength, and open application duration, have demonstrated conformity to the product standards. The raw materials undergo many examinations prior to their utilization in the preparation process. The conducted tests encompassed chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, and viscosity evaluation. These experiments aimed to ascertain the mixing ratios and determine the optimal quantity of water required for the preparation procedure. A thickness of 3 mm was employed, rendering it very cost-effective and environmentally sustainable due to the utilization of recycled resources. This particular adhesive possesses supplementary characteristics, such as its self-sufficiency on the site, since it is readily used without the need for extra materials, requiring only the addition of the necessary amount of water. Extensive research has been conducted on a range of mix designs and particle sizes for raw materials, together with varying proportions of additives, to determine the optimal ratio that satisfies both criteria and cost considerations. The adhesion strength of the building units was determined to be 7 N/mm2, surpassing the specified value in ASTM C1660. This indicates that the material is deemed successful and meets the required specifications for its application as a mortar for building units, as per the standard stating that an adhesion strength test exceeding 5 N/mm2 is necessary. The evaluation of the characteristics of the material employed as tile adhesive mortar was conducted in accordance with the EN1348 standard, revealing satisfactory compliance with all specified criteria. The application duration of the tile adhesive exceeds 25 min, while its tensile strength surpasses 10 N/mm2, thereby meeting the criteria for classification as a Class A tile adhesive.

Laikmeta komentārs teātra valodā. Latviešu dramaturģija Rīgas Strādnieku teātra repertuārā: modernisma aspekti

The repertoire of the Riga Workers’ Theatre (1926–1934) reflected the trends of the time and leftist progressive ideas. City life as a nodal point of modern reality became inspiration and material for plays, poetry performances, dramatised feuilletons and interludes commenting on current events. The aesthetic programme of the theatre envisaged the creation of a peculiar sovereign artistic style, where the new dramaturgy played an important role. Topical and recently created works by contemporary authors were chosen for the repertoire with an emphasis on the search for novelty. In the first years, while the director was Roberts Dukurs, the dramaturge was Jānis Grots, then Arvīds Grigulis; after this function was taken over by the director Kārlis Dziļleja. The article aims to introduce the main principles of the Riga Workers’ Theatre repertoire policy, focusing on an overview of the contributions of Latvian authors. Rainis, Andrejs Upīts, and Pāvils Gruzna played a dominant role in the ideological decisions of the repertoire. A circle of progressive authors gathered around the theatre, creating a contemporary drama laboratory. Young authors Aleksandrs Čaks, Valdis Grēviņš, Fricis Rokpelnis, Jūlijs Vanags, and others experienced their first works on stage in this theatre. The research object is dramaturgical works and testimonies describing the productions – programme leaflets, reviews, reminiscences, etc. The article discusses innovative trends in drama and the expansion of the concept of dramaturgy to the dynamics of stage set, musical and choreographic action. As a result, the consistently executed repertory policy heralded a new type of drama programme by achieving a synthesis of contemporary content and new visual, musical and choreographic forms. The article concludes that creating innovative drama forms and genre experiments on the Riga Workers’ Theatre stage significantly contributed to the development of Latvian dramaturgy.

The feral film habit of OJOBOCA

This essay examines three films and adjacent performance (The Masked Monkeys 2015; Comfort Stations 2018; and Her Name Was Europa 2020) by the Berlin-based filmmaking duo Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy, who together call themselves OJOBOCA. Drawing on the broadly transdisciplinary scholarly treatments and decolonial imperatives of ferality as a site of human and non-human relationality, I contextualize OJOBOCA’s analogue body of work featuring animal subjects as a feral film habit. In describing a feral film habit through OJOBOCA’s work, I also engage a media archaeological concern with making media histories present in practice alongside the complex of aesthetic, ecological, political and economic sensibilities emergent in contemporary photochemical filmmaking and laboratory culture in the (post-)digital age. Overall, my aim is to clarify an experimental project that points towards possible more-than-human cinema-based forms of collectivity and invites novel forms of cinema-based life.

Observation of Metal–Insulator Transition (MIT) in Vanadium Oxides V2O3 and VO2 in XRD, DSC and DC Experiments

Due to metal–insulator transitions occurring in those compounds, materials and devices based on vanadium (III) and (IV) oxides draw increasing scientific attention. In this paper, we observed the transitions in both oxides using contemporary laboratory equipment. Changes in the crystallographic structure were precisely investigated as a function of the temperature with a step of 2 °C. Thermal effects during transitions were observed using differential scanning calorimetry. The DC conductivity of the materials was measured quasi-continuously as a function of the temperature. All the experiments were consistent and showed considerable hysteresis of the metal–insulator transition in both vanadium oxides.

The Evolving Etiologic and Epidemiologic Portrait of Pericardial Disease.

Pericardial disease includes a variety of pericardial diseases, including inflammatory pericarditis, pericardial effusions, constrictive pericarditis, pericardial cysts, and primary and secondary pericardial neoplasms. The true incidence of this varied condition is not well established, and the causes vary greatly across the world. This review aims to describe the changing pattern of epidemiology of pericardial disease and to provide an overview of causative etiologies. Idiopathic pericarditis (assumed most often to be viral) remains the most common etiology for pericardial disease globally, with tuberculous pericarditis being most common in developing countries. Other important etiologies include fungal, autoimmune, autoinflammatory, neoplastic (both benign and malignant), immunotherapy-related, radiation therapy-induced, metabolic, postcardiac injury, postoperative, and postprocedural causes. Improved understanding of the immune pathophysiological pathways has led to identification and reclassification of some idiopathic pericarditis cases into autoinflammatory etiologies, including immunoglobulin G (IgG)4-related pericarditis, tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS), and familial Mediterranean fever in the current era. Contemporary advances in percutaneous cardiac interventions and the recent COVID-19 pandemic have also resulted in changes in the epidemiology of pericardial diseases. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of the etiologies of pericarditis, using the assistance of contemporary advanced imaging techniques and laboratory testing. Careful consideration of the range of potential causes and local epidemiologic patterns of causality are important for the optimization of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Contemporary Hybrid Laboratory Pedagogy: Construction of a Simple Spectrophotometer with STEM Project-Based Learning to Introduce Systems Thinking Skills

Hands-on laboratory activities are a vital aspect of chemistry education that can help students strengthen their understanding of chemistry’s core concepts and applications. Nevertheless, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students and teachers could not access laboratories. Thus, innovative pedagogical approaches are required to meet these challenges. The current study, therefore, examines the use of contemporary hybrid laboratory pedagogy to construct a simple spectrophotometer by implementing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning to introduce systems thinking skills and measure the effectiveness of improving attitude. A quantitative approach, with one group pre-post design, was employed in this study. The subjects were 33 chemistry students from a state university in Bandung, Indonesia. A simple Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) was chosen as the topic of an engineering project given to students. The project was implemented over fourteen meetings designed in a hybrid laboratory activity. The students’ worksheets, questionnaires on students’ attitudes toward systems thinking skills, and a questionnaire on student attitudes toward STEM-project-based learning were used as research instruments. Additionally, interviews with selected students further supported the quantitative data. Following the intervention, a RASCH: racking and stacking analysis revealed that two of the eight systems thinking skills indicators showed noticeable results. Other results uncovered that the student-made simple AAS had an accuracy of 95.3% compared to commercial AAS. This study also demonstrated that students had a negative attitude toward implementing STEM project-based learning. In contrast, students’ attitudes towards systems thinking skills indicated positive results. Challenges and opportunities for further research are also discussed in this paper.

A novel simple and safe approach to frozen pacemaker leads

Elective pulse generator replacement remains a mainstay procedure in any contemporary electrophysiology laboratory. Frozen pacemaker leads, where the leads fail to disengage from the pacemaker resulting in lead entrapment within the header, have been well described. We report on 2 cases where the pacemaker (IS-1) bipolar lead failed to detach from the device header and describe a novel solution to this unique and old problem involving the use of a procedural glove to effectively release a frozen lead and avoid the need for mechanical and electrical devices.

Domestic Commons in Mumbai and Auroville

India is a significant contemporary design laboratory for collective housing models in terms of both the construction of housing that experiments with new building materials and technologies and the design of flexible housing in informal contexts. Starting with a historical review of housing models created by B.V. Doshi and Charles Correa in the mid-1900s, this paper compares recent collective housing projects designed by Anupama Kundoo and Bijoy Jain (Studio Mumbai) in Auroville and Mumbai. The chosen projects explore new prototypes for housing and demonstrate the ability to respond in an original way to the growing challenges linked to environmental and social sustainability, opening up to new typological and technological experimentation.

Non-anemic iron deficiency predicts prolonged hospitalisation following surgical aortic valve replacement: a single-centre retrospective study

BackgroundIron deficiency has deleterious effects in patients with cardiopulmonary disease, independent of anemia. Low ferritin has been associated with increased mortality in patients undergoing cardiac surgery, but modern indices of iron deficiency need to be explored in this population.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective single-centre observational study of 250 adults in a UK academic tertiary hospital undergoing median sternotomy for non-emergent isolated aortic valve replacement. We characterised preoperative iron status using measurement of both plasma ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and examined associations with clinical outcomes.ResultsMeasurement of plasma sTfR gave a prevalence of iron deficiency of 22%. Patients with non-anemic iron deficiency had clinically significant prolongation of total hospital stay (mean increase 2.2 days; 95% CI: 0.5–3.9; P = 0.011) and stay within the cardiac intensive care unit (mean increase 1.3 days; 95% CI: 0.1–2.5; P = 0.039). There were no deaths. Defining iron deficiency as a plasma ferritin < 100 µg/L identified 60% of patients as iron deficient and did not predict length of stay. No significant associations with transfusion requirements were evident using either definition of iron deficiency.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that when defined using sTfR rather than ferritin, non-anemic iron deficiency predicts prolonged hospitalisation following surgical aortic valve replacement. Further studies are required to clarify the role of contemporary laboratory indices in the identification of preoperative iron deficiency in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. An interventional study of intravenous iron targeted at preoperative non-anemic iron deficiency is warranted.

Bernstein–Greene–Kruskal and Case–Van Kampen Modes for the Landau–Vlasov Equation

The one-dimensional Landau–Vlasov equation describing ultracold dilute bosonic gases in the mean-field collisionless regime under strong transverse confinement is analyzed using traditional methods of plasma physics. Time-independent, stationary solutions are found using a similar approach as for the Bernstein–Greene–Kruskal nonlinear plasma modes. Linear stationary waves similar to the Case–Van Kampen plasma normal modes are also shown to be available. The new bosonic solutions have no decaying or growth properties, in the same sense as the analog plasma solutions. The results are applied for real ultracold bosonic gases accessible in contemporary laboratory experiments.

A novel perspective suggesting high sustained energy expenditure may be net protective against cancer.

Energy expenditure (EE) is generally viewed as tumorigenic, due to production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can damage cells and DNA. On this basis, individuals within a species that sustain high EE should be more likely to develop cancer. Here, we argue the opposite, that high EE may be net protective effect against cancer, despite high ROS production. This is possible because individuals that sustain high EE have a greater energetic capacity (=greater energy acquisition, expenditure and ability to up-regulate output), and can therefore allocate energy to multiple cancer-fighting mechanisms with minimal energetic trade-offs. Our review finds that individuals sustaining high EE have greater antioxidant production, lower oxidative stress, greater immune function and lower cancer incidence. Our hypothesis and literature review suggest that EE may indeed be net protective against cancer, and that individual variation in energetic capacity may be a key mechanism to understand the highly individual nature of cancer risk in contemporary human populations and laboratory animals. Lay summary The process of expending energy generates reactive oxygen species that can lead to oxidative stress, cell and DNA damage, and the accumulation of this damage is thought to be a major contributor to many ageing related diseases that include cancer. Here, we challenge this view, proposing how and why high energy expenditure (EE) may actually be net protective against cancer, and provide literature support for our hypothesis. We find individuals with high sustained EE have greater energetic capacity and thus can invest more in repair to counter oxidative stress, and more in immune function, both of which reduce cancer risk. Our hypothesis provides a novel mechanism to understand the highly individual nature of cancer, why taller individuals are more at risk, why physically active individuals have lower cancer risk, and why regular exercise can reduce cancer risk.

Analysis of Adipokines and some Steroid Hormones in Myocardial Infarction

The most common cause of death is cardiovascular disease (CVD), with ischemic heart disease being the most notable type. There is a propensity to raise the sensitivity of methods in contemporary laboratory for diagnosing of CVD, and assessing key as CVD bio-indicators. The urgent task is to seek for different indicators as a hopeful tool for early detection and monitoring of myocardial infarction in blood samples only. This study comprised 117 Volunteers, recorded with both genders in the age range of 32-64 years old. The volunteers were categorized into two groups: 67patients of myocardial infarction, other group embraced 50 healthy individuals. The samples of blood were collected and directed for biochemical analysis to evaluate estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, adiponectin, leptin, and lipid profile [total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)] levels in each group. The following conclusion can be drawn from this study based on statistical assessment of bio-indicator parameters, significantly reduced of testosterone and HDL (P &lt;0.001) levels in myocardial infarction, within non-significantly elevated P &lt;0.061 of progesterone levels in myocardial infarction patients as compared with healthy individuals. The remaining biochemical tests indicated significantly elevated levels in patients with myocardial infarction such as estradiol (P &lt;0.001), adiponectin (P &lt;0.001), leptin (P &lt;0.001), total cholesterol (P &lt;0.001), triglycerides (P &lt;0.001) and LDL (P &lt;0.001) levels. Adipokines (adiponectin, leptin) and some steroid hormones (estradiol, testosterone) show crucial roles in the improvement of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and may be utilized as bio-pointer for myocardial infarction exposure, medical conduct and severity. This acknowledgment offers early diagnosis of disease and progression.

Powder diffraction

Powder diffraction is a non-destructive technique, which is experimentally simple in principle. Because the physics behind diffraction is well understood, an exceptionally large amount of information can be obtained from a single measurement. The positions and relative intensities of the peaks yield a fingerprint that can be used for qualitative phase analysis. Quantitative phase analysis can be obtained by detailed analysis of the intensities. Unit cells can be derived from the peak positions. Crystal structures can be solved using powder diffraction data and refined by the Rietveld method. The peak profiles contain information about crystallite size, strain and nanostructure. Non-idealities in the intensities give information on texture. Abandoning the crystallographic model provides information about local structure, by pair distribution function analysis. For powder diffraction, everything is a sample; the technique is commonly applied to characterize minerals, ceramics, metals and alloys, catalysts, polymers, pharmaceuticals, organic compounds, environmental and forensic samples, among others. The major features of contemporary laboratory powder diffractometers are described. Methods for obtaining suitable powder specimens are summarized. Major applications of qualitative and quantitative phase analysis, structure solution, size/strain/nanostructure analysis using peak profiles, texture analysis and pair distribution function analysis are introduced. Material characterization by powder diffraction gives quantitative and qualitative insights into the phases present in a specimen. This Primer describes the key considerations during powder diffraction analysis, from data collection and specimen preparation to phase identification and structure solution.

Dogs for Life: Beagles, Drugs, and Capital in the Twentieth Century.

This article tracks the transformation of beagle dogs from a common breed in mid-twentieth century American laboratories to the de jure standard in global toxicological research by the turn of the twenty-first. The breed was dispersed widely due to the expanding use of dogs in pharmacology in the 1950s and a worldwide crisis around pharmaceutical safety following the thalidomide scandal of the 1960s. Nevertheless, debates continued for decades over the beagle's value as a model of carcinogenicity, even as the dogs became legislated stand-ins for human beings in multiple countries. Situating beagles as a biocommodity, the article calls for more sustained attention to the "political economy" of laboratory organism breeding, use, and production. The story of American commercial breeder Marshall Farms offers insight into the role of for-profit companies in contemporary laboratory animal provision, as the article makes a case for the value of a global perspective on transnational corporations as key sites of scientific practice and collaboration.

Individual culture leads to decreased blastocyst formation but does not affect pregnancy outcomes in the setting of a single, vitrified-warmed euploid blastocyst transfer.

To evaluate embryology and pregnancy outcomes following individual and group embryo culture in the setting of contemporary laboratory practices and freeze-all cycles. Patients underwent ovarian stimulation followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Embryos proceeded through individual culture and then underwent preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) via trophectoderm biopsy. In a subsequent cycle, participants underwent single embryo transfer of a vitrified-warmed, euploid embryo. Outcomes were compared to controls undergoing group culture during the same time frame. The Mann-Whitney U test and logistic regression models were utilized. Outcomes were assessed for 144 patients whose embryos underwent individual culture and 449 controls whose embryos underwent group culture. There were no significant differences in fertilization rates between groups (81.7% for individual culture vs. 84.1% for group culture, p = 0.22). However, individual culture was associated with a decreased rate of blastocyst formation compared to group culture (43.5% vs. 48.5%, p < 0.01). Following single, vitrified-warmed euploid blastocyst transfer, there were no significant differences between individual culture and group culture, respectively, in rates of positive βhCG (81.9% vs. 81.5%, p = 0.91), sustained implantation (63.9% vs. 65.0%, p = 0.80), biochemical miscarriage (16.7% vs. 12.3%, p = 0.18), or clinical miscarriage (1.4% vs. 4.2%, p = 0.13). While individual culture appears to negatively impact the rate of usable blastocyst formation compared to group culture, there were no significant differences in pregnancy outcomes following transfer of a single, vitrified-warmed euploid blastocyst.

Culturing Human Gut Microbiomes in the Laboratory.

The human gut microbiota is a complex community of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes and viral particles that is increasingly associated with many aspects of host physiology and health. However, the classical microbiology approach of axenic culture cannot provide a complete picture of the complex interactions between microbes and their hosts in vivo. As such, recently there has been much interest in the culture of gut microbial ecosystems in the laboratory as a strategy to better understand their compositions and functions. In this review, we discuss the model platforms and methods available in the contemporary microbiology laboratory to study human gut microbiomes, as well as current knowledge surrounding the isolation of human gut microbes for the potential construction of defined communities for use in model systems.

Quantum three-box paradox: a proposal for atom optics implementation

Quantum three-box paradox is one of the major mysteries revealed through two-state vector formalism of the quantum theory in conjunction with the weak measurements. We suggest a proposal for the experimental implementation of the paradox using time tested tools of Bragg regime atom optics with a two-level atom diffracted from a cavity field in the momentum space. The proposed schematics can be easily executed within the limits of contemporary laboratory resources using either quantized or classical fields.

Kepler Made Me Do It

When our school implemented AP Physics 1, I wanted to include a project that would extend over time, use more advanced data analysis, and teach students about handling experimental error. Using a donated 5-inch Newtonian telescope and an entry-level digital camera, the students gathered data from digital images of the four Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto (see Fig. 1), to verify Kepler’s third law of planetary motion (T2=Kr3). Simulation software could have been used. Among others, Project CLEA (Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy) seems to be a favorite that includes verifying Kepler’s third law using the orbits of the Galilean moons. Galileo measured the moons’ periods with his telescope. My students could do the same with modern equipment. The investigation started with a purely Keplerian analysis of the data, then to a Newtonian analysis leading to accurate orbital properties of the Galilean moons and Jupiter’s mass. Once the images have been obtained, they can be used each year.