John W.

Introducing John L. Easter, AGWM's new executive director

Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 10/11/23 The Isolation Pandemic. In May the US Surgeon General issued an advisory on “the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country.” The report asserts that the mortality impact of being socially disconnected is akin to smoking up […]

Central Florida’s best Halloween attraction still sits off Interstate 4, but it’s no longer in Orlando

Anthropogenic eutrophication is a driver of plant community shifts in many grassland ecosystems. Here, the authors use data from a globally distributed experiment to assess how nutrient addition affects multiple facets of grassland ecological stability and their correlations.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Plasma biomarkers are critical for understanding disease mechanisms, treatment effects, and diagnosis. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics is a powerful tool for unbiased biomarker discovery. However, plasma proteomics is significantly hampered by signal interference from high-abundance proteins, low overall protein coverage, and high levels of missing data from data-dependent acquisition (DDA). To achieve quantitative proteomics analysis for plasma samples with a balance of throughput, performance, and cost, we developed a workflow incorporating plate-based high abundance protein depletion and sample preparation, comprehensive peptide spectral library building, and data-independent acquisition (DIA) SWATH mass spectrometry-based methodology. In this study, we analyzed plasma samples from both RA patients and healthy donors. The results showed that the new workflow performance exceeded that of the current state-of-the-art depletion-based plasma proteomic platforms in terms of both data quality and proteome coverage. Proteins from biological processes related to the activation of systemic inflammation, suppression of platelet function, and loss of muscle mass were enriched and differentially expressed in RA. Some plasma proteins, particularly acute-phase reactant proteins, showed great power to distinguish between RA patients and healthy donors. Moreover, protein isoforms in the plasma were also analyzed, providing even deeper proteome coverage. This workflow can serve as a basis for further application in discovering plasma biomarkers of other diseases.

Background: This study aims to present the feasibility of developing a synchrotron-based proton ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) pencil beam scanning (PBS) system. Methods: The RF extraction power in the synchrotron system was increased to generate 142.4 MeV pulsed proton beams for UHDR irradiation at ~100 nA beam current. The charge per spill was measured using a Faraday cup. The spill length and microscopic time structure of each spill was measured with a 2D strip transmission ion chamber. The measured UHDR beam fluence was used to derive the spot dwell time for pencil beam scanning. Absolute dose distributions at various depths and spot spacings were measured using Gafchromic films in a solid-water phantom. Results: For proton UHDR beams at 142.4 MeV, the maximum charge per spill is 4.96 ± 0.10 nC with a maximum spill length of 50 ms. This translates to an average beam current of approximately 100 nA during each spill. Using a 2 × 2 spot delivery pattern, the delivered dose per spill at 5 cm and 13.5 cm depth is 36.3 Gy (726.3 Gy/s) and 56.2 Gy (1124.0 Gy/s), respectively. Conclusions: The synchrotron-based proton therapy system has the capability to deliver pulsed proton UHDR PBS beams. The maximum deliverable dose and field size per pulse are limited by the spill length and extraction charge.

Single-cell analysis reveals the stromal dynamics and tumor-specific characteristics in the microenvironment of ovarian cancer

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Assessing habitat and biodiversity loss in active conflict zones is a major

Abstract Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α (HIF-1α) has presented a new direction for ischemic preconditioning of surgical flaps to promote their survival.

Abstract Vaccination remains our main defence against influenza, which causes substantial annual mortality and poses a serious pandemic threat.