Science Laboratory Research Articles

Monte Carlo modelling of cyclotron and radioisotope center (CYRIC) at Tohoku University: a radiation protection study

Protection against ionizing radiations is important in laboratories with radioactive materials and high energy cyclotron beams. The Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center (CYRIC) located in Tohoku University in Miyagi prefecture, Japan and is a well-known nuclear science laboratory with cyclotron beams and substantial number of high activity radioactive materials. Considering this, it is important to perform complete radiation transport computations to ensure the safety of non-occupational and occupational workers. In the present work, we have developed a complete 3-dimensional model of the main cyclotron building and radiation labs using Monte Carlo method. We have found that the dispersed photons and neutrons inside and in the surrounding of the CYRIC building pose no significant risk to occupational and non-occupational workers. The present work and the developed models would be useful in the field of radiation protection.

Revolutionizing Cancer Research with AI: Health Data Science Lab, UT Arlington

Revolutionizing Cancer Research with AI: Health Data Science Lab, UT Arlington

Labs in dispute

Placing scientific laboratories in their local communities poses challenges, says Robert P Crease.

Based on epidemiological parameter data, probe into a stochastically perturbed dominant variant of the COVID-19 pandemic model

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 gene mutation has been rapidly emerging and spreading all over the world. Experts worldwide regularly monitor genetic mutations and variants through genome-sequence-based surveillance, laboratory testing, outbreak investigation, and epidemiological probing. Clinical pathologists and medical laboratory scientists prefer developing or endorsing COVID-19 vaccines with a broader immune response involving various antibodies and cells to protect against mutations or new variants. Randomness plays an enormous role in pathology and epidemiology. Hence, based on epidemiological parameter data, we construct and probe a stochastically perturbed dominant variant of the coronavirus epidemic model with three nonlinear saturated incidence rates. We reveal the existence of a unique global positive solution to the constructed stochastic COVID-19 model. The Lyapunov function method is used to determine the presence of a stationary distribution of positive solutions. We derive sufficient conditions for the coronavirus to be eradicated. Eventually, numerical simulations validate the effectiveness of our theoretical outcomes.

SARS-CoV-2 Catastrophe and aftermath in 3800 Indian patients with comorbidities: A retrospective study

Introduction: The severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections on the basis of hospitalization, ventilation support, oxygen therapy, and morbidity has been a major challenge witnessed by the medical fraternity during 2020 due to the global pandemic. The correlation and effects of the severity caused by the disease outcome due to SARS-CoV-2 infections along with co-morbid factors and lifestyle habits in the diverse Indian population are of greater interest to evaluate. Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between various co-morbid factors, addiction habits, and their contribution towards disease severity, and the need for hospitalisation in a retrospective manner in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients from the eastern part of India. Methodology: Swab samples from a total of 75000 individuals were screened by RT-PCR technology between the months of July-November, 2020 at the inDNA Life Sciences laboratory as per ICMR guidelines. Out of 75000 individuals, 3800 SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals were included in this study. Retrospectively, the positive cases were considered for follow-up investigations. Clinical correlation between the severity of the disease and co-morbid factors along with addiction habits were performed. Results: We observed that the young age group of 20-30 had the highest incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and the majority of infected individuals were males (66%). Disease transmission was high with the majority of asymptomatic patients presenting with low-grade fever. It was also observed that disease severity, mortality, and average recovery time (>14 days) were higher in patients with co-morbid conditions as compared to patients without co-morbidity. In addition, patients with a history of addiction exhibited higher severity of the disease and longer hospitalization with comparatively high mortality. Conclusion: In this retrospective study we found, that co-morbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, COPD, asthma, liver disorder, and kidney disorder contributed to the severity or had detrimental outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Addiction to alcohol and smoking/chewing tobacco also results in poor clinical outcomes of the disease. Therefore, understanding the relationship between these risk factors and their association with disease outcomes can further assist the medical fraternity in managing the current patients in the clinic/ hospitals with a prior history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Years after the outbreak, COVID-19 still remains a gray area with probably a lot of answers to be given to mankind.

The University As Infrastructure of Becoming: Re-Activating Academic Freedom Through Humility in Times of Radical Uncertainty

ABSTRACT Traditionally, the field of science and technology studies (STS) considered the scientific laboratory as the central site of knowledge production and technological development. While providing rich analyses of the social construction of scientific knowledge and the role of non-human actors, STS scholars have often neglected the university – the very context in which laboratories themselves are embedded – as a relevant object of research. In this paper, we argue for re-introducing the university as a relevant category and object of analysis by using the notion of epistemic virtues to link epistemic culture – traditionally the focus of STS – and epistemic structure – traditionally the focus of higher education studies. Advancing this line of argumentation, we make three analytical moves. First, we explore academic freedom as a specific version of negative liberty that extends beyond disciplinary boundaries. We suggest that academics continuously negotiate academic freedom considering culturally and socially situated epistemic virtues such as objectivity and neutrality. Second, we introduce the notion of humility to revisit scientific knowledge production more generally and academic freedom in particular. Finally, we argue that practicing humility leads to enacting the university as an infrastructure of becoming otherwise, thereby enriching our understanding of universities as distinct and highly complex social spaces with a logic of their own.

The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray Diffractometer on the MSL Curiosity Rover: A Decade of Mineralogy from Gale Crater, Mars

For more than a decade, the CheMin X-ray diffraction instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been returning definitive and quantitative mineralogical and mineral–chemistry data from ~3.5-billion-year-old (Ga) sediments in Gale crater, Mars. To date, 40 drilled rock samples and three scooped soil samples have been analyzed during the rover’s 30+ km transit. These samples document the mineralogy of over 800 m of flat-lying fluvial, lacustrine, and aeolian sedimentary rocks that comprise the lower strata of the central mound of Gale crater (Aeolis Mons, informally known as Mt. Sharp) and the surrounding plains (Aeolis Palus, informally known as the Bradbury Rise). The principal mineralogy of the sedimentary rocks is of basaltic composition, with evidence of post-depositional diagenetic overprinting. The rocks in many cases preserve much of their primary mineralogy and sedimentary features, suggesting that they were never strongly heated or deformed. Using aeolian soil composition as a proxy for the composition of the deposited and lithified sediment, it appears that, in many cases, the diagenetic changes observed are principally isochemical. Exceptions to this trend include secondary nodules, calcium sulfate veining, and rare Si-rich alteration halos. A surprising and yet poorly understood observation is that nearly all of the ~3.5 Ga sedimentary rocks analyzed to date contain 15–70 wt.% of X-ray amorphous material. Overall, this >800 m section of sedimentary rock explored in lower Mt. Sharp documents a perennial shallow lake environment grading upward into alternating lacustrine/fluvial and aeolian environments, many of which would have been habitable to microbial life.

Experiences of Teachers and Students in Science Laboratories with Reference to Problems and Facilities: A Study of Secondary Schools (Peshawar)

Experiences of Teachers and Students in Science Laboratories with Reference to Problems and Facilities: A Study of Secondary Schools (Peshawar)

A new chance for online science communication education and learning through TikTok

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The COVID-19 pandemic practice of social distancing has led to an increased usage of social media, which has highlighted the importance and potency of social media for effective science communication. As a result, it is now just as crucial to educate and acquire the skills necessary to use social media for science communication in an accurate and efficient manner. In response, we created a task that models and develops 21st century science communication abilities using the social media site TikTok. During the COVID-19 outbreak, TikTok, a platform for sharing short videos, had a dramatic rise in popularity. We demonstrated efficient social media science communication strategies by employing the condensed, targeted video format of TikTok to instruct students in fundamental science ideas and lab procedures. Students were then given the task of practicing excellent science communication at the conclusion of the semester by making their own educational and entertaining TikToks about the research projects that their teams had been working on. Here, we provide our methodology, a number of TikTok best practices, and sample videos made throughout the process for science communication education that are both effective and interesting.</span></p>

DROPLET MOTION ON HYDROPHOBIC AND HYDROPHILIC SURFACES USING LATTICE BOLTZMANN METHOD WITH BLOOD TEST MICROPAD APPLICATION

Laboratory sciences and disease diagnostics need accelerated medical tests, ease of testing for patients, and lower diagnostic costs. In this respect, one of the most innovative methods is paper-based microfluidic analysis tools, called micro-PAD. Since the chemical-based micro-PADs need sufficient blood to show an accurate blood test, the shape of the micro-PADs, the blood quantity, and the droplet flow to reach the end of the microchannels are important. Therefore, this research showed the liquid droplet motion on a heterogeneous (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) surface using the lattice Boltzmann method, and two star-shaped micro-PADs were modeled to investigate the effect of the droplet size and the droplet deflection from the center of the micro-PAD on liquid flow in microchannels. Based on the obtained results, fluid behavior was similar in two patterns (ten-pointed pattern and four-pointed pattern). This study compared the effects of parallel, convergent, and divergent channels in a four-pointed pattern on fluid velocity. The off-center error of the droplet was considered at the initial moment. The obtained results confirmed the direct relationship between the increased deviation of the center and the lack of uniformity in the fluid penetration. The present simulation results were validated against the laboratory data.

Virtual Soil Science Laboratory Sessions: Delivery and Student Perceptions

Laboratory classes effectively enhance student understanding and appreciation of course concepts. With course delivery suddenly shifted into the online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, four laboratory exercises in each of two introductory-level soil science courses were converted into virtual sessions delivered in the form of student-accessible videos. Each laboratory video included a pre-lab discussion, demonstrations of a process or experiment, prompts to answer questions and record data, and/or explanation of relevant calculations. The online link to the video was provided in a laboratory guide which doubled as the report document that students submitted online. Semester-end surveys (n=130) reveal that at least 97% of students agreed or strongly agreed that virtual labs successfully demonstrated key processes and at least 96% thought that the virtual labs enhanced student understanding of soil science concepts. Over 90% of students considered the virtual labs as successful substitutes for hands-on exercises in COVID19-affected semesters. The absence of instructors who could immediately address questions and classmates to discuss results were the two main challenges. Students liked the ability to review the video if things were unclear the first time. While it has its limitations, virtual lab sessions were perceived as successful substitutes to in-person laboratory activities.

Neutron irradiation-induced shutdown dose rate estimation in EU DEMO divertor

The EU DEMO fusion reactor, which is part of the EUROfusion PPPT program and the successor to ITER, aims to facilitate the transition of fusion from the science laboratory to industrial use. Its key objective is net energy production. Its critical component, the divertor, manages power exhaust, ash, and helium removal. The key elements of the divertor include Plasma Facing Components (PFCs), shielding liners, reflector plates, divertor cassettes, and a vacuum vessel locking system. It is imperative that the shutdown dose rates are assessed to ensure workers' radiation protection during maintenance, plan the disposal of radioactive material, and ensure the overall safety of the plant. The shutdown dose rate tool employed in the present study is R2Smesh, which couples MCNP for radiation transport and FISPACT for neutron activation to calculate neutron-induced shutdown dose rates, utilizing an advanced, semi-heterogeneous EU DEMO divertor model, presenting a challenging task in neutron transport calculations.

The prospect of social medicine in South Africa

The term “médecine sociale” (social medicine in English) was first coined in 1848 during the French Revolution by Dr. Jules Guérin. It is a branch of medicine that focuses on the impact of social and economic conditions on health, disease, and the practice of medicine, with the intention of creating a healthier society. It is an interdisciplinary program between medicine and social sciences, expected to equip medicine with the knowledge and skills needed for analyzing the social causes of health and illness, akin to how the alliance between medicine and laboratory sciences provided insights into the biological, chemical, and physical bases of diseases. Social medicine is also interconnected with social determinants of health. While social determinants of health specifically target social and environmental conditions that affect health, social medicine has a broader scope, encompassing the entire social context of health, including societal structures and cultural factors. In the post-apartheid era, social medicine could play an important role in transforming the healthcare system to ensure equity and inclusivity, leading to improved health outcomes. This would require re-engineering the education of health professionals in South Africa at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as practiced in many parts of the world. This will assist South Africa in joining the global movement of social medicine for the promotion of human rights and social justice in medicine, and a better understanding of the impact of social factors on the aetiology and management of medical disorders in the 21st century.

Effect of Garcinia Kola Consumption on Lipid Profile and Body Weight of Rats Fed with High Fat Diet

Aims: Bitter kola (Garcinia kola) is commonly consumed as a snack in many localities in Cameroon and is considered to have health properties including weight-reducing agent by many people. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of bitter kola in weight management and prevention of obesity. Study Design: An experimental full 3×3 factorial design was used for this study, with the main responses being the anthropometric and biochemical parameters of the albinos Wistar rats. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the Food Science Laboratory of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Bioresource Technology of the College of Technology, The University of Bamenda, Cameroon, between February and July 2023. Methodology: Three bitter kola cultivars (Bafia, Penja, Widikum) were collected from their production areas, and their phytochemical content and antioxidant activity were analysed. The effect of their dry powder consumption on body weight and lipid profile was investigated on male Wistar rats consuming a high-fat diet. The rats were allocated to 10 groups of 6 rats including one control with the feed containing 0 g/kg of bitter kola powder, and 3 test groups per cultivar having 5 g, 10 g, and 15 g of bitter kola powder per kg of feed respectively. Results: Results revealed that antioxidant activity varies with cultivars and Widikum cultivar has the highest antioxidant activity and the highest phytochemicals content. Consumption of Penja and Widikum bitter kola powder induced the highest fat excretion in rat faeces. The effect of bitter kola consumption on body weight varies with cultivars and incorporation rate, and the highest anti-obesity effect was observed with the consumption of the Widikum cultivar at 10 g/kg of rat feed. The increase in bitter kola powder proportion in rat feed was negatively correlated with the atherogenic index of plasma and atherogenic coefficient. Conclusion: From the overall results, the consumption of feed with 15 g/kg of Widikum bitter kola cultivar had the best anti-obesity activity and hypolipidemic effect. Thus, bitter kola powder can be used to prevent obesity and cardiovascular diseases in high-fat diets.

Does Laboratory Matters in Today’s High School Learning Environment?

The study focused into the relationship between laboratory importance perceptions and academic performance in biology among private and public school students. Study sample involving 165 students from 5 private and 6 public senior high school across South Sulawesi, Indonesia. All private school only possessed an integrated science lab, while all public school owned at least 3 science labs (biology, chemistry, and physics). Evaluation on laboratory importance and biology test results proceed to reveal the importance of having designed laboratory to enhance biology learning outcome in the middle of technological advancement, where learning resource vary across platforms. Surprisingly, private schools, despite having lower scores in laboratory importance perception, achieved superior results in biology tests compared to public schools. This suggests that while laboratory experiences are valuable, they may not be the sole determinants of academic success. Other factors like teaching methods, curriculum depth, and student motivation likely contribute significantly. These findings highlight the complexity of factors influencing student performance in biology and the need for a comprehensive approach to education. Understanding these dynamics can inform educational policies including funds allocation in a school and practices to optimize learning outcomes in biology subjects.

Xpert HIV-1 qual point-of-care testing for HIV early infant diagnosis in Tanzania: experiences and perceptions of health care workers in a 2016 study

BackgroundHIV early infant diagnosis (HEID) at the centralized laboratory faces many challenges that impact the cascade of timely HEID. Point of Care (PoC) HEID has shown to reduce test turnaround times, allow for task shifting and has the potential to reduce infant mortality. We aimed at assessing the feasibility of nurse based PoC-HEID in five facilities of Mbeya region.MethodsWe analysed data from healthcare workers at five obstetric health facilities that participated in the BABY study which enrolled mothers living with HIV and their HIV exposed infants who were followed up until 6 weeks post-delivery. Nurses and laboratory personnel were trained and performed HEID procedures using the Xpert HIV-1 Qual PoC systems. Involved personnel were interviewed on feasibility, knowledge and competency of procedures and overall impression of the use of HIV-1 Qual PoC system in clinical settings.ResultsA total of 28 health care workers (HCWs) who participated in the study between 2014 and 2016 were interviewed, 23 being nurses, 1 clinical officer, 1 lab scientist and 3 lab technicians The median age was 39.5 years. Majority of the nurses (22/24) and all lab staff were confident using Gene Xpert PoC test after being trained. None of them rated Gene Xpert handling as too complicated despite minor challenges. Five HCWs (5/24) reported power cut as the most often occurring problem. As an overall impression, all interviewees agreed on PoC HEID to be used in clinical settings however, about half of them (11/24) indicated that the PoC-HEID procedures add a burden onto their routine workload.ConclusionOverall, health care workers in our study demonstrated very good perceptions and experiences of using PoC HEID. Efforts should be invested on quality training, targeted task distribution at the clinics, continual supportive supervision and power back up mechanisms to make the wide-scale adoption of nurse based PoC HEID testing a possibility.

Model-Free Nonstationary Reinforcement Learning: Near-Optimal Regret and Applications in Multiagent Reinforcement Learning and Inventory Control

We consider model-free reinforcement learning (RL) in nonstationary Markov decision processes. Both the reward functions and the state transition functions are allowed to vary arbitrarily over time as long as their cumulative variations do not exceed certain variation budgets. We propose Restarted Q-Learning with Upper Confidence Bounds (RestartQ-UCB), the first model-free algorithm for nonstationary RL, and show that it outperforms existing solutions in terms of dynamic regret. Specifically, RestartQ-UCB with Freedman-type bonus terms achieves a dynamic regret bound of [Formula: see text], where S and A are the numbers of states and actions, respectively, [Formula: see text] is the variation budget, H is the number of time steps per episode, and T is the total number of time steps. We further present a parameter-free algorithm named Double-Restart Q-UCB that does not require prior knowledge of the variation budget. We show that our algorithms are nearly optimal by establishing an information-theoretical lower bound of [Formula: see text], the first lower bound in nonstationary RL. Numerical experiments validate the advantages of RestartQ-UCB in terms of both cumulative rewards and computational efficiency. We demonstrate the power of our results in examples of multiagent RL and inventory control across related products. This paper was accepted by Omar Besbes, revenue management and market analytics. Funding: The research of D. Simchi-Levi and R. Zhu was supported by the MIT Data Science Laboratory. The research of W. Mao, K. Zhang, and T. Başar was supported in part by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Cooperative Agreement W911NF-17-2-0196, in part by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) [MURI Grant N00014-16-1-2710], and in part by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) [Grant FA9550-19-1-0353]. K. Zhang also acknowledges support from U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) [Grant W911NF-24-1-0085]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.02533 .

CRISPR-Cas12a-mediated colorimetric aptasensor of netilmicin based on enzymes-assisted signal amplification and nanozyme employing a rationally truncated aptamer

Netilmicin (NET) is a typical veterinary antibiotic used in aquaculture and animal husbandry, but its excessive accumulation poses a serious threat to the ecological environment and human health. Therefore, a novel and highly sensitive Crispr-Cas12a-mediated colorimetric aptasensor was developed by combining the enzyme-assisted signal amplification strategy and magnetic NMOF-Pt nanozyme composite material (NPSM) for the visual detection of veterinary antibiotic residues in real samples. A high-affinity truncated aptamer (N-20) targeting NET was evolved from a parental aptamer sequence with the help of comprehensive recognition mechanism studies. Subsequently, N-20 was elaborately designed into the isothermal enzyme-assisted strand displacement amplification reaction. The amplified products (Act-DNAs) activated the trans-cleavage activity in the Crispr Cas12a system. The NMOF-Pt nanozyme was released from NPSM after cleaving the single chain of DNA (ssDNA). The quantity of released nanozyme was positively correlated with the amount of NET to quantitatively achieve the detection with the linear range and limits of detection (LOD) of about 0.003–30 ng/mL and 1.15 pg/mL, respectively. This method was successfully applied to detect NET in Lake water, milk and pork samples with satisfactory recoveries ranging from 89.9 % to 104.3 %. The constructed aptasensor demonstrated superior analytical performance and exhibited enormous application prospects in food supervision, environment monitoring, and medical laboratory science.

Visual Deficits and Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies for Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Bridging Science and Patient-Centered Care.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder primarily affecting children and adolescents characterized by multisystemic clinical manifestations. Mutations in neurofibromin, the protein encoded by the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene, result in dysregulation of the RAS/MAPK pathway leading to uncontrolled cell growth and migration. Neurofibromin is highly expressed in several cell lineages including melanocytes, glial cells, neurons, and Schwann cells. Individuals with NF1 possess a genetic predisposition to central nervous system neoplasms, particularly gliomas affecting the visual pathway, known as optic pathway gliomas (OPGs). While OPGs are typically asymptomatic and benign, they can induce visual impairment in some patients. This review provides insight into the spectrum and visual outcomes of NF1, current diagnostic techniques and therapeutic interventions, and explores the influence of NF1-OPGS on visual abnormalities. We focus on recent advancements in preclinical animal models to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of NF1 pathology and therapies targeting NF1-OPGs. Overall, our review highlights the involvement of retinal ganglion cell dysfunction and degeneration in NF1 disease, and the need for further research to transform scientific laboratory discoveries to improved patient outcomes.

Operational Procedures of Forensic Science Laboratories and Protocols for Sample Collection

This research paper delves into the operational procedures employed within forensic science laboratories, with a specific focus on the protocols governing sample collection. Forensic science plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system, providing evidence and expert analysis to aid investigations and legal proceedings. Effective operational procedures and rigorous protocols for sample collection are essential to maintain the integrity and reliability of forensic evidence. Through an in-depth examination of existing literature, case studies, and expert insights, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the methodologies and guidelines employed in forensic laboratories worldwide. Additionally, it explores the challenges faced by forensic scientists in sample collection and processing, along with recommendations for improving practices and enhancing the quality of forensic evidence.