Matching Items (195)
Description
The known occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the built and natural water environment, including in drinking water supplies, continues to raise concerns over inadvertent exposures and associated potential health risks in humans and aquatic organisms. At the same time, the number and concentrations of new and existing pharmaceuticals in the water environment are destined to increase further in the future as a result of increased consumption of pharmaceuticals by a growing and aging population and ongoing measures to decrease per-capita water consumption. This review examines the occurrence and movement of pharmaceuticals in the built and natural water environment, with special emphasis on contamination of the drinking water supply, and opportunities for sustainable pollution control. We surveyed peer-reviewed publications dealing with quantitative measurements of pharmaceuticals in U.S. drinking water, surface water, groundwater, raw and treated wastewater as well as municipal biosolids. Pharmaceuticals have been observed to reenter the built water environment contained in raw drinking water, and they remain detectable in finished drinking water at concentrations in the ng/L to μg/L range. The greatest promises for minimizing pharmaceutical contamination include source control (for example, inputs from intentional flushing of medications for safe disposal, and sewer overflows), and improving efficiency of treatment facilities.
ContributorsDeo, Randhir P. (Author) / Halden, Rolf (Author) / Biodesign Institute (Contributor)
Created2013-09-11
Description
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths of women in the united states. Traditionally, Breast cancer is predominantly treated by a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. However, due to the significant negative side effects associated with these traditional treatments, there has been substantial efforts to develop alternative therapies to treat cancer. One such alternative therapy is a peptide-based therapeutic cancer vaccine. Therapeutic cancer vaccines enhance an individual's immune response to a specific tumor. They are capable of doing this through artificial activation of tumor specific CTLs (Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes). However, in order to artificially activate tumor specific CTLs, a patient must be treated with immunogenic epitopes derived from their specific cancer type. We have identified that the tumor associated antigen, TPD52, is an ideal target for a therapeutic cancer vaccine. This designation was due to the overexpression of TPD52 in a variety of different cancer types. In order to start the development of a therapeutic cancer vaccine for TPD52-related cancers, we have devised a two-step strategy. First, we plan to create a list of potential TPD52 epitopes by using epitope binding and processing prediction tools. Second, we plan to attempt to experimentally identify MHC class I TPD52 epitopes in vitro. We identified 942 potential 9 and 10 amino acid epitopes for the HLAs A1, A2, A3, A11, A24, B07, B27, B35, B44. These epitopes were predicted by using a combination of 3 binding prediction tools and 2 processing prediction tools. From these 942 potential epitopes, we selected the top 50 epitopes ranked by a combination of binding and processing scores. Due to the promiscuity of some predicted epitopes for multiple HLAs, we ordered 38 synthetic epitopes from the list of the top 50 epitope. We also performed a frequency analysis of the TPD52 protein sequence and identified 3 high volume regions of high epitope production. After the epitope predictions were completed, we proceeded to attempt to experimentally detected presented TPD52 epitopes. First, we successful transduced parental K562 cells with TPD52. After transduction, we started the optimization process for the immunoprecipitation protocol. The optimization of the immunoprecipitation protocol proved to be more difficult than originally believed and was the main reason that we were unable to progress past the transduction of the parental cells. However, we believe that we have identified the issues and will be able to complete the experiment in the coming months.
ContributorsWilson, Eric Andrew (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Borges, Chad (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In an industrialized world that relies heavily on low cost production and packaging produced without a viable end-of-life strategy, the accumulation of non-biodegradable plastics in the environment and particularly the oceans today is an urgent problem of global proportions. Plastics pose a significant threat to marine mammals due to mistaken ingestion as well as potential release of plasticizers and other chemicals. However, the interactions and consequences of ingestion of oceanic plastics by marine mammals have not been thoroughly studied. In this literature review, information regarding plastic ingestion by marine mammals was compiled to estimate the magnitude of adverse impacts and identify major knowledge gaps. Using comprehensive Boolean search terms in Web of Science of literature published between 1960 and 2020, it was determined that there were large discrepancies in the amount of research conducted among 10 different categories of marine mammals, with cetaceans being the primary focus group of most studies (70.3). In addition, different areas of the world, such as southern Africa, were found to have a disproportionately small number of studies on plastic impacts on marine mammalian life in their surrounding marine waters. Differences were found in the amount of plastics ingested by marine animals and a hypothesis of explaining these observations was formulated, attributing potential ingestion of plastic to the debris resembling different food sources in the mammals’ diets as well as different feeding mechanisms.
ContributorsFredette-Roman, Cassidy (Author) / Polidoro, Beth (Thesis director) / Rolsky, Charles (Committee member) / Halden, Rolf (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
Description
Hyperspectral imaging is a novel technology which allows for the collection of reflectance spectra of a sample in-situ and at a distance. A rapidly developing technology, hyperspectral imaging has been of particular interest in the field of art characterization, authentication, and conservation as it avoids the pitfalls of traditional characterization techniques and allows for the rapid and wide collection of data never before possible. It is hypothesized that by combining the power of hyperspectral imaging with machine learning, a new framework for the in-situ and automated characterization and authentication of artworks can be developed. This project, using the CMYK set of inks, began the preliminary development of such a framework. It was found that hyperspectral imaging and machine learning as a combination show significant potential as an avenue for art authentication, though further progress and research is needed to match the reliability of status quo techniques.
ContributorsChowdhury, Tanzil Aziz (Author) / Newman, Nathan (Thesis director) / Tongay, Sefaattin (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are a family of layered crystals with the chemical formula MX2 (M = W, Nb, Mo, Ta and X = S, Se, Te). These TMDs exhibit many fascinating optical and electronic properties making them strong candidates for high-end electronics, optoelectronic application, and spintronics. The layered structure of TMDs allows the crystal to be mechanically exfoliated to a monolayer limit, where bulk-scale properties no longer apply and quantum effects arise, including an indirect-to-direct bandgap transition. Controllably tuning the electronic properties of TMDs like WSe2 is therefore a highly attractive prospect achieved by substitutionally doping the metal atoms to enable n- and p-type doping at various concentrations, which can ultimately lead to more effective electronic devices due to increased charge carriers, faster transmission times and possibly new electronic and optical properties to be probed. WSe2 is expected to exhibit the largest spin splitting size and spin-orbit coupling, which leads to exciting potential applications in spintronics over its similar TMD counterparts, which can be controlled through electrical doping. Unfortunately, the well-established doping technique of ion implantation is unable to preserve the crystal quality leading to a major roadblock for the electronics applications of tungsten diselenide. Synthesizing WSe2 via chemical vapor transport (CVT) and flux method have been previously established, but controllable p-type (niobium) doping WSe2 in low concentrations ranges (<1 at %) by CVT methods requires further experimentation and study. This work studies the chemical vapor transport synthesis of doped-TMD W1-xNbxSe2 through characterization techniques of X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy techniques. In this work, it is observed that excess selenium transport does not enhance the controllability of niobium doping in WSe2, and that tellurium tetrachloride (TeCl4) transport has several barriers in successfully incorporating niobium into WSe2.
ContributorsRuddick, Hayley (Author) / Tongay, Sefaattin (Thesis director) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05