scholarly journals The Mysterious Murder of Christa Worthington

2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 702-710
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Bonney ◽  
Lori Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Life Science ◽  
Crime Scene ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
True Story ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Evidence Collection ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Dna Profiles

This lesson presents an interrupted case study based on the true story of the 2002 murder of Christa Worthington in Massachusetts. The case was developed for use in an undergraduate non-majors life science course, but would also be appropriate for a high school biology course or a forensic science course. During this lesson, students examine a crime scene diagram and discuss evidence collection. Students then conduct a hands-on activity extracting DNA from wheat germ to simulate how DNA would be isolated from crime scene samples. Lastly the students will analyze simulated DNA profiles produced using STRs, polymerase chain reaction, and gel electrophoresis to help match a crime scene sample to one of five suspects. The pros and cons surrounding the use of a DNA dragnet are also discussed.

scholarly journals A beginner’s guide to RT-PCR, qPCR and RT-qPCR

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Adams
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Messenger Rna ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Quantitative Real Time Pcr ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Mrna Quantitation ◽  
Polymerase Chain

The development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), for which Kary Mullis received the 1992 Novel Prize in Chemistry, revolutionized molecular biology. At around the time that prize was awarded, research was being carried out by Russel Higuchi which led to the discovery that PCR can be monitored using fluorescent probes, facilitating quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). In addition, the earlier discovery of reverse transcriptase (in 1970) laid the groundwork for the development of RT-PCR (used in molecular cloning). The latter can be coupled to qPCR, termed RT-qPCR, allowing analysis of gene expression through messenger RNA (mRNA) quantitation. These techniques and their applications have transformed life science research and clinical diagnosis.

An intensive hands-on course designed to teach molecular biology techniques to physiology graduate students

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea D. Weston ◽  
Sasha Stasko ◽  
Gerald M. Kidder
Keyword(s):  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Rna Expression ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Similar Information ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Intensive Course

To address a growing need to make research trainees in physiology comfortable with the tools of molecular biology, we have developed a laboratory-intensive course designed for graduate students. This course is offered to a small group of students over a three-week period and is organized such that comprehensive background lectures are coupled with extensive hands-on experience. The course is divided into seven modules, each organized by a faculty member who has particular expertise in the area covered by that module. The modules focus on basic methods such as cDNA subcloning, sequencing, gene transfer, polymerase chain reaction, and protein and RNA expression analysis. Each module begins with a lecture that introduces the technique in detail by providing a historical perspective, describing both the uses and limitations of that technique, and comparing the method with others that yield similar information. Most of the lectures are followed by a laboratory session during which students follow protocols that were carefully designed to avoid pitfalls. Throughout these laboratory sessions, students are given an appreciation of the importance of proper technique and accuracy. Communication among the students, faculty, and the assistant coordinator is focused on when and why each procedure would be used, the importance of each step in the procedure, and approaches to troubleshooting. The course ends with an exam that is designed to test the students’ general understanding of each module and their ability to apply the various techniques to physiological questions.

Portable plastic syringe as a self-actuated pump for long-distance uniform delivery of liquid inside a microchannel and its application for flow-through polymerase chain reaction on chip

RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (16) ◽  
pp. 12071-12077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenming Wu ◽  
Kieu The Loan Trinh ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Nae Yoon Lee
Keyword(s):  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Chip Flow ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Plastic Syringe ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
On Chip

A strategy for realizing self-actuated pumping with uniform flow rate over a long distance is introduced using hands-on operation of disposable syringe, and was applied for on-chip flow-through PCR inside a serpentine PMMA microchannel.

scholarly journals Biology Instructional Resources Availability and Extent of their Utilization in Teaching Pre-Service Biology Teachers

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Josiane Mukagihana ◽  
Florien Nsanganwimana ◽  
Catherine Aurah
Keyword(s):  
Science Teachers ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Instructional Resources ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Biology Textbooks ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Descriptive Survey ◽  
Frequency Counts

Education of pre-service science teachers necessitates inquiry and resource-based instruction to ensure the production of both hands-on and mind-on skilled science teachers. This becomes possible when a variety of instructional resources regularly support the teaching process. This study aimed to identify the types of available biology instructional resources and their extent of use in teaching pre-service biology teachers. The study used a descriptive survey research design and was conducted in three private Universities selected from those offering education in Rwanda. Eighty-two pre-service biology teachers and five biology lecturers participated in the study. Observational checklist of biology instructional resources and questionnaires aided the collection of data analyzed by frequency counts and percentages. The findings revealed that biology instructional resources like classroom chairs, chalkboards, laboratories, microscopes, centrifuge, slide projectors, biology textbooks were available while resources like a class whiteboard, classroom overhead projectors, electrophoresis unit, recorders, Polymerase chain reaction machines, among others, were absent. The findings also revealed low-level use of available biology instructional resources in teaching pre-service biology teachers. The implication is the likelihood of producing less competent future biology teachers. The provision of adequate biology instructional resources, as well as the monitoring of their use in teaching biology, was recommended

scholarly journals Infection inhibiting effect of RT-PCR testing-isolation in COVID-19 - a case study of Hiroshima and Fukuoka in Japan -

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Maki
Keyword(s):  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
The Third ◽  
Inhibiting Effect ◽  
Isolation Measure ◽  
Polymerase Chain

AbstractA simple method of estimating the effect of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing-isolation on the restraint of infection of COVID-19 is proposed. The effect is expressed as the ratio χ of the reproductive number to that in the case that no isolation measure would be taken. The method was applied in the case of the third infection wave (from December, 2020 to February, 2021) of Hiroshima and Fukuoka in Japan. The ratio χ was estimated to be 0.78 to 0.84 and 0.86 to 0.9 in Hiroshima and Fukuoka, respectively. It is also shown that the reduction of χ by 0.07 would have reduced at least 50% of total infected patients during the third infection wave in Fukuoka.

scholarly journals ‘Test, Test, Test!’: Scarcity, Tinkering, and Testing Policy Early in the COVID-19 Epidemic in France

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Claire Beaudevin ◽  
Luc Berlivet ◽  
Soraya Boudia ◽  
Catherine Bourgain ◽  
Maurice Cassier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Clinical Medicine ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Research Article ◽  
National Response ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Testing Practices

This article follows the introduction of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic tests in France. It shows how, at the intersection of science, medicine, politics, and policy-making, the test, trace, and isolate (TTI) strategy played out during the first months of the pandemic against a backcloth of multiple shortages. In so doing, the authors move beyond trite explanations (such as ‘French public health’s backwardness’) to highlight how successive policy inflections affected the national response to the pandemic. The piece analyses the shifting French political discourse surrounding (scarce) COVID-19 tests while exploring ad-hoc regulations and guidelines as well as the intense ‘bricolage’ that they triggered in the field of clinical medicine. The authors contend that the limitations of the testing infrastructure in France during the first half of 2020 shaped the decision to resort to lockdown. The research article sheds light on two coexisting registers of professional uses of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays—a ‘public health use’ and a ‘clinical use’—and highlights the changing political and social relevance of these two registers, with scarcity as a major determinant of these changes. One of the striking aspects of the introduction of COVID-19 tests in France therefore lies in the enduring gap between the dynamics of the epidemic and the dynamics of testing. In this respect, the French situation is neither extreme nor unique, which makes this case study a relevant basis for the international comparison of testing practices in different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Assessment of harmful algal species using different approaches: the case study of the Sardinian coasts

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
C.T. Satta ◽  
B.M. Stacca ◽  
S. Simeone ◽  
G. De Falco ◽  
A. Penna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Algal Species ◽  
Fine Sand ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
High Biomass ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Apparent Relationship ◽  
Beach Sediments ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Pcr Assays

The presence and distribution of harmful algal species were investigated along the coasts of Sardinia in the summer of 2012. Fourteen potentially noxious taxa were identified at 74 beaches. The majority of the recovered taxa were potentially toxic and/or high biomass producers. Alexandrium taylorii, Gymnodinium instriatum, and Ostreopsis cf. ovata were the most frequent and abundant taxa, although Barrufeta bravensis reached the highest density (4.4 × 10<sup>6</sup> cells L<sup>−1</sup>). Barrufeta bravensis, A. taylorii, and G. instriatum were responsible for intense water discoloration at two of the beaches sampled. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses supported the identification of several taxa and decisively identified B. bravensis. PCR assays increased the information available on the species distributions. The locations studied were heterogeneous in their prevailing environmental conditions and their morphodynamic profiles. Statistical analyses indicated that the distributions of harmful algal species correlated with gravel and medium-fine sand substrata. These data provide substantial knowledge on the distributions of harmful algal species on beaches, which have been poorly studied on a global scale. The apparent relationship between noxious species and grain size suggests that vegetative cells may be recruited from cyst beds in beach sediments.

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