Monday, December 30, 2019

MIF and Autoinmmune Liver Disease - 1891 Words

MIF and Autoimmune Liver Disease MIF is constitutively expressed in low amounts by hepatocytes and has been shown to be weakly expressed within sinusoidal lining cells as well as biliary epithelial cells of the liver [1, 2]. Previous studies have described an increase in MIF levels being associated with inflammatory hepatic disorders such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma [3], however, to date little is known about MIF and its implications in the pathogenesis of autoimmune liver disease. A recent study by Assis and colleagues evaluated changes in the levels of both circulating MIF and its soluble receptor (CD74) in sera to determine if clinical manifestations correlated with the inflammatory profile observed in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) [4]. Immuno-histological analysis levels of MIF and CD74 protein expression, although varied between mild and severe cases, were more abundantly expressed in liver sections in both AIH and PBC patients compared to control specimens. Serolo gical data collected from patients in this study also confirmed that both AIH and PBC cohorts had significantly higher levels of circulating MIF compared to healthy controls. Further analysis revealed however that PBC patients had higher concentrations of the MIF soluble neutralising receptor CD74 in contrast to both AIH and control cohorts. This finding in respect to disease progression between PCB and AIH cohorts is suggested to correlate with the

Sunday, December 22, 2019

What Constitutes a Spartan in Steven Pressfields Gates...

Steven Pressfields: Gates of fire is based on a true story of how three hundred courageous warrior Spartans led by their king Leonidas and 700 Thespaian allies held off an army of over one million Persian infantrymen on a narrow pass in Thermopylae Greece in 480 B.C. for seven days. The Spartan Warriors were highly disciplined, physically and mentally tough soldiers that were dedicated to their country and way of life. The three hundred Spartan’s left home one day leaving their families behind, on a suicide mission to buy time for their countrymen to organize forces. Their sacrifice was unparalleled and their dedication and battle skill struck fear in the hearts and minds of their enemy. What constitutes a Spartan? According to Steven†¦show more content†¦in Greece. The story evolves around the famous battle of Thermopylae where three hundred Spartan warrior peers, knights and freedmen fought against tens of thousands of enemy Persians that wished to concur all of Greece. Pressfield creates a fictional story around one man, a squire named Xeones who survives the battle and is captured by the Persians and made into a protagonist and scribe to relay to the royal Persian historian Gorbartes. Xeones was a young boy of ten years that lived in Astakiots, a small Greek polis. His parents were prosperous farmers and his closest friend was his cousin Diomache and wise elderly slave Bruxieus. The opening battle in the book was the raiding of Astakiots by their alleged allies Pleuron, Aetolians and Kalydon. Astakiots was completely destroyed as a result of the conflict. Xeones and Diomache happen to be at the local market at the time and later found out that Xeones parents were killed. Xeones undying vengeance to destroy the invaders drove him to find a home and a place to belong. Together the three of them fled to the mountains for they were without a polis. They had to survive of the land and one day Xeones was caught stealing from a farm house and was punished by having nails pierce through both of his hands thus making it nearly impossible to avenge his parents death. Xeones then wanted to end his life but one night the god Apollo comes to him in a dream and shows him tha t he is

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Analysis of Ethanol in Moonshine Free Essays

Analysis of Ethanol in Moonshine| Using the GC-MS| Jennifer Greene| ————————————————- 4 May 2012 ————————————————- 4 May 2012 Introduction: In this experiment gas chromatography is applied to separate the water-ethanol mixture. This method is often used in the determination of alcohol in blood or urine. One obvious application is when law enforcement agencies need to determine whether or not someone is inebriated. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of Ethanol in Moonshine or any similar topic only for you Order Now In these cases, high sensitivity is required since 0. 1% blood alcohol content is considered to be legally intoxicated in most states. Our own determination will deal with higher concentrations (up to 25% by volume) which are more typical of alcohol levels found in many alcoholic beverages. Chromatography is a physical method of separation in which the components to be separated are distributed between two phases, one of the phases constituting a stationary bed of large surface area, the other being a fluid that percolates through or along the stationary bed Gas chromatography (GC) is a powerful and widely used tool for the separation, identification and quantitation of components in a mixture. In this technique, a sample is converted to the vapor state and a flowing stream of carrier gas (often helium or nitrogen) sweeps the sample into a thermally-controlled column. In the case of gas-liquid chromatography, the column is usually packed with solid particles that are coated with a non-volatile liquid, referred to as the stationary phase. As the sample mixture moves through the column, sample components that interact strongly with the stationary phase spend more time in the stationary phase vs. the moving gas phase and thus require more time to move through the column. The goal of GC is to separate and detect components of a mixture as efficiently as possible and it is thus desirable to have a measure of the efficiency of a given chromatographic column. One common way to express column efficiency is by calculating the height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) which is the length of the column divided by the number of theoretical plates. HETP = l/n The number of theoretical plates (n) of a column with respect to a particular compound can be found using the following equation: N = 16(tr/w)2 = 5. 55(tr/w1/2)2 Where w is the peak width measured in the same units as tr and w1/2 is the peak width measured at half of the peak height. Materials: GC-MS with database| Vials with lids| Cherry moonshine| Disposable pipettes| Ethanol 100%| | Procedure: 1. Set up procedure to: Set â€Å"Detector A† On (Thermal Conductivity Detector) Packed Column Head Pressure: 30 psi Column: Carbowax 20M, 1/8†³ OD, length = 6 feet Oven Temperature: 110 °C Detector Temperature: 150 °C Injection Temperature: 150 °C 2. With the disposable pipette fill separate vials with the cherry moonshine and pure ethanol. . Run the procedure then define the ethanol peak with three additional peaks. This is the chromatograph for Cherry Moonshine. This is the chromatograph for Cherry Moonshine. Data: The blue arrows are pointing to the ethanol peak. The blue arrows are pointing to the ethanol peak. Conclusion: Chromatography is a physical method of separation in which the components to be separated are distributed between two phases, one of the phases constituting a stationary bed of large surface area, the other being a fluid that percolates through or along the stationary bed. Gas chromatography (GC) is a powerful and widely used tool for the separation, identification and quantitation of components in a mixture. In this technique, a sample is converted to the vapor state and a flowing stream of carrier gas (often helium or nitrogen) sweeps the sample into a thermally-controlled column. In the case of gas-liquid chromatography, the column is usually packed with solid particles that are coated with a non-volatile liquid, referred to as the stationary phase. As the sample mixture moves through the column, sample components that interact strongly with the stationary phase spend more time in the stationary phase vs. the moving gas phase and thus require more time to move through the column. This experiment demonstrated how the analysis of an unknown substance can be determined from the separate peaks. If you select an individual peak on the chromatograph, the database will bring up possible matches of the compound. You would need to look at the mass spectrograph of that peak to see if it matches the compound of interest. If it does, then you have confirmed one compound that is present in the substance. If it is not a match, continue to search the database until you confirm the peak’s identity. From this experiment, the peak for ethanol was not determined using the mass spectrograph of the gas chromatography; however, we ran pure ethanol on the GC-MS and compared the two chromatographs to determine the ethanol peak. How to cite Analysis of Ethanol in Moonshine, Papers

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Tribute Speech free essay sample

If you ever wonder why bad things happen to good people, it’s because God knows they’re capable of handling it. † Reading this quote makes me think of someone who was very special in my life, because she was able to handle things anyone else might think are unbearable. That person was my grandma Marilyn Doyle. She had many influences on me, a few are how she had such an open heart, was very accepting, and she was very confident in what she believed in. It’s incredibly difficult to put into words how much she really meant to me. She had a genuine smile, which flashes into my head every time I think of her. She was a very strong-willed, independent, and a loving person. Although I didn’t get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked to, I felt as though we had a very special relationship. We will write a custom essay sample on Tribute Speech or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My grandma was born on October 20th, 1941, and grew up on a farm in Epiphany. She worked at the Canova and Mitchell bank, and was also a substitute teacher. My grandparents lived on a farm outside of Alex. She and my grandpa had 6 children together. She also had 13 grandchildren. She was always doing something if it was from going to her grandchildren’s’ sporting events, to cooking amazing meals. She was a very faithful catholic. My grandma was a member of the Red Hat Club, and was also a CCD teacher. I met my grandma when I was 5 years old, and coming into a new family with my mom I remember her accepting me as her granddaughter right away. She always made me feel like I belonged in the Doyle family. One of my favorite things to do was to go out to her house and help her make supper and spend the night. I could talk to her about anything. When our house was being built we lived with her for a couple months. I loved spending every single day with her. I can remember waking up one morning and walking out into the kitchen where she had been making breakfast. I looked down at my plate and saw some weird looking eggs and toast. I had no idea what it was called but I loved it. She had made me sunny side up eggs and till this day that is my favorite breakfast. One of the most awesome times with her was when we were making homemade spaghetti noodles and she looked over at me and said â€Å"I love you. When she said those three words I felt like I had made a connection with her that would last forever. My grandma loved her life; she loved her family and she loved God. In 2001 doctors had found a cancerous tumor inside her. She had surgery shortly after and was healthy, and cancer free. Then in 2004 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, we later found out that the cancer had spread throughout her body. We visited her almost every day out at her house. When it finally clicked that my grandma had cancer again, I couldn’t fit all the pieces together. The pieces didn’t deserve to be put together, because cancer didn’t deserve to make sense. And the one thing that was running through my head was that cancer wasn’t going to take my grandma. She would fight it and come out on top and she had the same thing in mind, and that was surviving. I had always pictured her screaming â€Å"yes† at the top of her lungs when I made my first shot in a basketball game, just like she did for my older cousins. No matter how she was feeling she wouldn’t show it, she had a smile on her face and acted as though nothing was wrong. She was a very strong person and never showed her weak side. My grandma was the strongest person I have ever met. On May 15th, 2008 my grandma passed away at the age of 66 after a long, courageous fight with cancer. Although we have grieved and cried, wanting her back with us, enjoying just one last day with her, we know that she is home now. She is shining down from heaven, watching over and protecting us. Her life was a life well-lived. We’ll miss her forever.