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Want to Live a Sustainable Life? 4 Tips for Growing Your Own Food
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogGrowing your food is enjoyable, rewarding, satisfying, and has many benefits. Besides getting fresh farm produce, growing your food also saves money and limits waste in the garden. Many people utilize the spaces in their homes to set up a garden no matter the size, and the results are breathtaking. However, it needs dedication and the right knowledge for a successful process. Find the Space Finding the perfect spot for gardening doesn't have to make you sweat. Even with the smallest space in your garden, you can grow your food. Start with a small portion so that you watch out on the progress, and if it goes well, you can add more plants with time. You can also install raised beds or use containers. You don't need big containers, any small or medium ones will do, but you'll need to punch holes to create a drainage system. You can start with micro-seedlings, and you'll need to re-sow them every one or two weeks. Don't forget to check the seedling package when buying the seeds and go for one with the most. Plan Ahead It would be best if you established your gardening goals. Most plants have their seasons, and you'll need to find a suitable time before you proceed. Make the right timing within the year to get a good harvest. Mark the dates in the calendar or write down in a diary to stick to the appointed time. Also, create a budget for the seedlings, and determine the quantity that you'd like to plant. Once you have goals, you can go ahead with the process, but you can always make additions if things go well. Know your soil Soil type is a crucial factor to consider when planning to grow your food. Do a simple residential drilling test and determine whether you need to make the soil better and suitable for your desirable crop. If you go ahead without doing a soil test, the crops might grow unhealthy. Mix it No matter the size of your garden, you can mix up seedlings to maximize the available space. It doesn't stop the growth of the seedlings. You can grow in a couple of containers. You may need to start with a particular seedling before planting the rest. For instance, you can start with beans and mix up vegetables after the germination. Most of the food you buy from grocery stores or supermarkets stay longer before getting to your doorstep. However, you'll be safe with your garden since you will have fresh produce and will save you the time you would spend going to the grocery store.
- Last week
LizzieWeakley started following How to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Older Car
How to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Older Car
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogKeeping an older car for many years can be great for your budget. As your car ages, you'll be able to pay it off, leaving you with less debt. The problem, though, is that old cars tend to be a little harder on the environment than newer vehicles. By taking a few smart steps, though, you can make your vehicle more environmentally friendly. To help you save the planet, here are a few tips on how to reduce the carbon footprint of your older car. Maintain Your Tires Since your tires are constantly moving, any changes in your tires can have a big effect on your car's fuel economy. By properly maintaining your tires, you can help shrink your vehicle's carbon footprint. One important step is to make sure that your tires are properly inflated at all times. This will help to prevent excess friction that can decrease your fuel economy. Maintain Your Air Conditioner During the summer, there is no larger user of fuel in your vehicle than the air conditioner. It's vital, then, that you keep it properly maintained. If the refrigerant levels are too low, it will cause your air conditioner to work harder, resulting in higher fuel use. When your air conditioner has reached the end of its life, it's important to make plans for a new AC system installation so that you can keep your vehicle cool without having to open your windows, which can increase drag. Change the Oil Your vehicle depends on clean oil to keep all of its internal components properly lubricated. As your engine oil ages, it will begin to lose its effectiveness as it collects microscopic byproducts of combustion. This causes the engine to have to work harder to produce the same amount of power, which causes your fuel consumption to increase. By regularly checking and replacing your oil, you can help your car last longer and ensure it's easy on the environment. Reduce the Weight One simple step you can take to improve your car's fuel economy is to reduce the excess weight that you carry around. If your vehicle has a lot of trash in it or if you're constantly hauling around clothes, toys, or other items, you can make surprising gains in fuel economy by simply leaving these items at home. Just be sure not to remove any essential safety items that you might need if you get stuck on the side of the road. Even cars that are well-maintained eventually expire. If your vehicle is becoming less and less efficient, it's important to know when to put it out of its misery so that your carbon footprint isn't unnecessarily large. Though it can be hard to say goodbye to an older vehicle, it's also exciting to experience the thrill of all the features that a new vehicle has to offer.
LizzieWeakley started following How to go Paperless With all Your Business Transactions
How to go Paperless With all Your Business Transactions
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogTechnology has changed the way of doing things in this modern age. The conventional way of doing things was very tiring and full of inconveniences. Over the years, technology has been able to facilitate business transactions, and it is possible to transact online without paperwork. In this piece, we have outlined several ways a business can be able to transact without going through endless paper works. Electronic Payments Electronic payments have made it easier to do business transactions. At the same time, the electronic mode of payment has proven to be more efficient than the conventional way of making payments. For instance, Paypal has made it easier to buy goods that are sold online, without having to be physically present in the store. The platform has incredibly increased the number of sales for businesses. It is because of how convenient buyers find payments to be and how easy it is to make payments. Moreover, the online payment method makes it easy for a business to make payments because of its exceptional payment tracking system. Also, a business can pay its employees directly through their Paypal accounts if they want to avoid paperwork that are associated with bank payments. Furthermore, businesses can also be able to transact through the business to business system where businesses can be able to do b2b payments without involving any paperwork. E-Signing Solutions E-signing solutions, enable you to sign legal payment documents without having to go through the processes of dealing with papers. You can send your documents securely, and get the appropriate signatures quickly and efficiently using the system. It is very efficient because it saves businesses from going to unnecessary meetings to sign off documents. Blockchain Technology Blockchain for business is an efficient way of making business payments because it has a distributed ledger technology. The ledger allows both parties involved in the transaction to view the information simultaneously, which builds trust. Today, businesses also allow their customers to make payments through blockchain technology. The technology uses digital coins such as bitcoins, for instance, in making the transactions. Blockchain has revolutionized how business is done today by eliminating all the paperwork done during transactions. Every person using blockchain has a cryptocurrency wallet. When making payments, all they do is transfer funds from their wallet to the recipient's wallet. It is a fast and convenient way of transacting in business today. Generally, technology has simplified transactions in business today by providing efficient ways of transacting without paper works. Paperless transactions are a growing trend that has facilitated the growth of businesses. Follow this link to learn more about electronic commerce, and how to go paperless doing business transactions.
- Earlier
AnitaGinsburg started following Roofing Materials That Are Better for the Environment and You
Roofing Materials That Are Better for the Environment and You
AnitaGinsburg posted a blog entry in Anita Ginsburg's BlogWhen it comes to protecting your home, your roof is the true hero. But if your roof is over 20 years old, it might not be as eco-friendly as you'd like. Thankfully, many roofing materials are now designed to be better for you and the environment. If you're trying to go green, here are four different roofing materials you should consider. Wooden Shingles If you want to make your roof more eco-friendly, there's no better place to start than by adding wooden shingles. Shingles are the material that covers the exterior of the roof and prevents things from infiltrating the interior. The most common type of shingles you see are asphalt. While these are primarily eco-friendly, asphalt shingles may give off toxic fumes should they be heated. Alternatively, wooden shingles are very durable and can even be any color you want. However, wooden shingles are a bit on the pricey side and require ongoing maintenance. A Metal Roof Metal roofs may be something you'd least expect to be on this list, but the truth is that they are a very eco-friendly roofing option. Metal roofs are incredibly low maintenance and can last as long as 70 years. Additionally, because they reflect sun's rays instead of absorbing them, you lower your energy usages for heating and cooling. Metal roofs can also come in many different styles, so you can find one to match your home. Keep in mind that metal roofs are one of the most expensive options at your disposal. Metal roofs may also be more susceptible to hail damage as hail can leave it dented. Tile Roofing Tile roofing is another eco-friendly, versatile roofing option. There are many types of tiles to choose from including: Copper Concrete Ceramic Stone Composite Clay Polymer-Sand Metal Each of these tiles come with their own benefits. For example, clay tiles are energy efficient, which means that it's easier to insulate your home. Depending on the type of tile you choose, you may need to add support to your home. Tiles can weigh more, so you need to have adequate support if you choose to install tile roofing. Solar Panels Lastly, consider solar panels. While they won't cover the entirety of your roof and you will need a traditional roofing option under the panels, they are a great investment for eco-conscious homeowners. Solar panels absorb sunlight and use it to power your home. Solar panels are one of the most energy efficient materials you can add. However, like everything else that's listed here, they can be expensive. When it comes to making your home eco-friendly, you should never leave your roof out of the equation. It could end up playing the biggest role when it comes to being more eco-friendly. Remember these roofing materials in mind if you decide to replace your roof.
4 Ways Your Roof Can Be Preventing Your Home From Being Eco-Friendly
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogGreen living is a trend in 2020. However, parts of your home might be holding you back from this goal. Let us take a very close look at four ways your roof can be preventing your home from being eco-friendly. Clogged gutter To start things off, a clogged gutter is not good for the environment. This will accumulate leaves, bird droppings, and other debris and create a mess. Fortunately, it's very easy to unclog a gutter and restore the ecosystem. Moreover, it simply leads to better drainage on top of and around your home. No solar panels Next in line, your roof might not be suitable for solar panels. Roofs that are situated at steep angles can't really feature solar panels that collect the rays of the sun. Alternatively, you may have simply never gotten around to going solar. Either way, it's an obstacle to becoming completely eco-friendly. Aging roof In the grand scheme of things, an aging roof isn't friendly to the environment either. Older roofs are made of hazardous materials that don't mesh well with the greenery around your home. Consider a roof replacement service to switch to a greener roof. They can swap out your old roof for one that is sustainable for years to come. Not only will this be better for the environment, but a new roof looks amazing as well. Eroding tiles Last but not least, eroding tiles are not eco-friendly. Certain tiles don't disintegrate into the ground, and instead you're left with a pile of rubble. It's all about reducing your carbon footprint, and these tiles certainly don't help. Look to replace the tiles in some shape or form. When all is said and done, these are a couple of ways your roof can be preventing your home from being eco-friendly. The roof is often an unlikely place that should not be overlooked. By addressing your roof, you can finally achieve green living.
Eco-Friendly Alternatives to a Water-Wasting Lawn
BrookeChaplan posted a blog entry in Brooke Chaplan's Green BlogThere's nothing quite like a thick, green lawn to represent the arrival of summer. Unfortunately, keeping a lawn perfectly green requires a major investment of resources that makes this American institution quite harmful to the environment. Fortunately, there are options other than grass that you can use for your home's exterior. To figure out where to begin, here are a few ideas for eco-friendly alternatives to a water-wasting lawn. Moss The green, fuzzy plant that often appears by itself in shady spots around your home can make a great alternative to the grass you have to work so hard to cultivate. Moss helps to prevent erosion, can thrive without much upkeep, and can stand up to light foot traffic. Given that it can retain its green color far more easily than grass, you won't have to invest nearly as many natural resources to keep your lawn looking great. Stone Stone isn't merely a lawn covering for yards in desert locations. As a low-maintenance option, nothing beats a stone lawn, no matter where you live. By using crushed stone as a foundation and dressing it up with natural stone tiles, you can create a fun and functional yard that requires no water, no fertilizer, and, when installed correctly, very few pesticides. Artificial Turf If you don't want to sacrifice the look of a perfectly green lawn, then artificial turf might be a great option for you. Since it's pre-manicured, you won't have to use any water, fertilizer, or pesticides. You also won't have to cut your grass or fill in any bare spots that often occur. Newer artificial turf is designed to last for a long time and is great at preventing erosion while providing excellent drainage. Plus, it can be easily shaped to fit in any space, making it uniquely versatile. Grow Wild While it may not ever make it on the cover of a magazine, there is something to be said for the beauty of a wild lawn. By letting your lawn grow with whatever seeds happen to be dropped by birds and other animals, you provide a great habitat for wildlife to thrive. Plus, since most natural lawns tend to grow an abundance of clover, you will help to provide an excellent food source for the local bee population. Aside from regular cuts to keep growth under control, a wild lawn is an eco-friendly and easy-to-maintain option. Think of the Future If you live in a suburban area, it can be tempting to try and "keep up with the Joneses" when it comes to your lawn. However, following this route is typically a short-sighted approach that doesn't consider the long-term implications of this major investment of resources. By considering the future of the environment, you can make a small contribution to its health by opting for one of these eco-friendly lawn options.
BrookeChaplan started following Eco-Friendly Alternatives to a Water-Wasting Lawn
An Overview of Oncolytic Virus Therapy (Part One)
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineOncolytic virus (OV) is a kind of natural or genetically modified virus that can specifically infect and kill tumor cells without causing too many harmful effects on normal cells. Initially, the world authoritative medical journal TheLancet reported that influenza viruses will cause tumors in patients to regress, resulting in the oncolytic virus, and then researchers around the world have carried out a series of studies on this, and now there are more than 160 different oncolytic viruses preclinical research and clinical trials are underway. However, due to the strong immunogenicity of oncolytic viruses, when injected into the body intravenously, it will trigger the body to produce different degrees of immune responses, which will quickly clear the virus by the body. In addition, the tumor targeting of oncolytic viruses is limited, resulting in their inability to specifically reach the tumor site through the blood circulation, which seriously affects the tumor suppressive effect of oncolytic viruses, and produces different degrees of adverse reactions. In order to solve the above drawbacks, researchers construct different types of vectors to load oncolytic viruses to block their immunogenicity, extend their blood circulation time, and further combine oncolytic viruses with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy and other combination of treatment means to improve its tumor treatment effect. Construction of oncolytic virus vectors based on biological materials Biomaterials can be used to load oncolytic viruses to achieve the purpose of blocking viral immunogenicity and achieving targeted delivery of tumors. The biomaterials currently used for oncolytic virus loading mainly include liposomes, cells or extracellular vesicles. Liposome expressing oncolytic virus Cationic liposomes constructed with (2,3-dioleoyl-propyl)-trimethylamine (2,3-dioleoy-loxy-propy)-trimethylammonium (DOTAP) encapsulate oncolytic adenovirus, which can block the surface of adenovirus, reduces its immunogenicity, and allows the oncolytic adenovirus to enter the Coxsackie virus-adenovirus receptor (CAR) low-expressing tumor cells to replicate through endocytosis. However, after entering the body, cationic liposomes will adsorb some negatively charged serum proteins, causing the liposome nanoparticles to agglomerate, which seriously affects their access to the tumor site through the enhanced permeability and retention effect (EPR effect). Anionic liposomes are endogenous components of eukaryotic cell membranes. Compared with cationic liposomes, they have the advantages of low toxicity and low immunogenicity. They have been widely used in recent years. At the same time, there are studies that claim that anionic liposomes can undergo a phase change under the action of calcium ions, which is conducive to the liposomes encapsulating oncolytic viruses through electrostatic adsorption. PEG (polyethylene glycol) anionic liposome based on matrix metalloproteinase and substrate peptide/cholesterol, successfully encapsulated oncolytic adenovirus, its research team confirmed the high gene expression efficiency of the material in vitro, while the safety of the material was confirmed by C57BL/6N mice. Cell or extracellular vesicles expressing oncolytic virus Commonly used cell carriers such as stem cells, lymphocytes, and tumor-related cells have good tumor chemotaxis. Coupling the oncolytic virus on the surface of the cell or loading it into the cell can not only effectively block the immunogenicity of the virus, but also improve its targeted enrichment effect on tumors. Studies showed that stem cells have a tendency to affect the tumor microenvironment and have a low immunogenicity. On this basis, JOSIAH and others used adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC) from healthy mice for the first time to load myxoma oncolytic virus, then it was injected into tumor-bearing mice to achieve the targeted delivery of the virus to glioma. In addition, some researchers used mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) expressing Newcastle discase virus (NDV). The results found that in vitro MSC can not only improve the targeting of NDV to glioma cells, but also the secretion of TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), which significantly improve the oncolytic effect of the virus on glioma stem cells. In addition, there are studies used immature dendritic cells (iDC) and lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK) to coordinately transport reovirus, which killed ovarian cancer cells in vitro by resisting neutralizing antibodies in patients' ascites. LANKOV et al. reported for the first time that using tumor-associated macrophages as a carrier of oncolytic measles virus to delivery mice ovarian cancer, this strategy allows the virus to evade the neutralization of antibodies and complement, and then the virus can be transferred to tumor cells through in situ cell fusion. Extracellular vesicles are a subcellular structure with membrane components secreted by almost all cells, including exosomes, microvesicles, and membrane particles, which also play an important role in drug delivery. LV et al. designed an engineered cell membrane nanovesicle containing targeting ligands for delivery of oncolytic adenoviruses (OA@BCMNs). This system showed strong resistance in a variety of tumor-bearing mouse models. The tumor effect can significantly prolong the survival time of mice without major adverse reactions. Tumor extracellular vesicles with a similar membrane structure to tumor cells can also be used as an ideal carrier for oncolytic viruses. Due to their homologous targeting, this system can also achieve tumor-targeted delivery of oncolytic viruses. A study used tumor cell-derived microparticles (T-MP) to deliver oncolytic adenovirus, and the constructed nanoparticles (oncolytic adenovirus-microparticle (OA-MP) can not only make the virus escape the body's resistance viral effect, and can make the oncolytic virus enter into the nucleus of tumor cells or tumor stem cells to self-replicate without relying on the receptor-mediated infection. Therefore, this system is also more effective for tumor cells with low CAR receptor expression, such as human chronic myeloid leukemia cells (K562 cells). Construction of oncolytic virus vectors based on non-biological materials The non-biological carrier material mainly encapsulates the virus through two reaction modes: covalent action and non-covalent action. Covalent modification is to use amino acid residues on the envelope or capsid protein of the virus surface to couple with other molecules through covalent action, and non-covalent modification is to use electrostatic adsorption, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals force, or antigen-antibody action. The modification is coupled to the virus. Oncolytic viruses with high molecular polymers Due to the ease of preparation and good biocompatibility of high molecular polymers, they have the advantages of being metabolizable and degradable in the body, which has attracted extensive attention in the medical field, such as drug loading, delivery and release. Since most viral proteins are negatively charged under physiological conditions, many cationic polymer complexes can be adsorbed on the virus surface by electrostatic action. TESFAY et al. encapsulated FSL-PEG2000 on the surface of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) through electrostatic adsorption; therefore, the virus surface protein was effectively blocked, thereby effectively reducing the antibody neutralization effect in mouse serum and the effect of mice liver and spleen on virus storage. However, because virus infection depends on the specific recognition of its surface proteins and host cell surface receptors, and the coating of FSL-PEG2000 affects the recognition and infection of viruses and tumor cells, the follow-up research aims to find some controllable polymer, which allows the oncolytic virus to be released in a targeted manner when it reaches the host cell without affecting its ability to infect. Environmental stimuli-responsive polymer can respond to small changes in the outside world, so this feature can be used to achieve on-site release of oncolytic viruses. CHOI et al. used physical adsorption method to wrap the pH-sensitive polymer (mPEG-b-pHis) on the surface of adenovirus to prepare a stable oncolytic adenovirus complex, which not only reduces the immune response of adenovirus, but also release the oncolytic virus under the slight acid environment of the tumor, and then restore the virus to the tumor cells. Based on the same principle as above, LEE et al. utilized biodegradable macromolecular polymer cholic acid coupled polyvinylamide [bileacid-conjugated Poly(ethylencimine), DA3] encapsulates adenovirus, and the constructed viral nanocomposite particles (Ad/DA3) can also effectively increase the effect of virus in vitro to a variety of tumor cells. To be continued in Part Two…
Line and VISA team up to take their payments from the mobile to the whole world
Guest posted a topic in Contributors LoungeThe popular messaging app Line and VISA have reached an agreement that will allow them to expand their mobile payment service. With this agreement, Line Pay will be compatible with the 54 million establishments that are VISA's commercial partners around the world. Line and VISA will allow payments through a virtual card With this agreement between Line and Visa, the app will be able to boost its multifaceted business model outside of Japan, a country where it is currently the leader among messaging applications and currently has 80 million users. Although Line is not a well-known brand outside of Japan and East Asia, it has gradually been permeating in some western countries . And it is that beyond the functions that we can find in any messaging app, Line has integrated more services among which is Line Pay. With this function, Line and Visa will allow users to use the app's payment system even when the establishment does not accept Line Pay, since it will integrate a VISA "virtual card" that will appear in the chat app. Skymarketing has all the properties you need for a productive investment including top of the line housing and commercial projects like Blue world city, smart city and park view city islamabad, that are located at the highest spots of Residential Zones. But beyond enabling this new payment system, Line and VISA said they will explore "new ways for merchants to interact with the Line Pay service and their digital wallet." The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: the momentum Line hopes to reach new markets There is an element that stands out in the agreement between Line and VISA that involves the mytopcompares. Although Line has integrated this technology into its platform through its own cryptocurrency called Link , now the company assures that it will work with VISA around "new experiences based on blockchain" that could include international money transfers . This doesn't tell us much yet, but perhaps this is finally an element that will give Line a boost outside Asia. At the moment the three main markets for the application are Thailand (44 million users), Taiwan (21 million users) and Indonesia (19 million users). And it is that the arrival of the next Olympic games in Tokyo scheduled for the summer of 2020 could boost the use of Line as a payment method both in its national market and for tourists who will be visiting the country. The mobile payments are one of the main focuses of the previous Japanese government to the Olympic Games: the power to pay taxis, food and souvenirs without cash or change currency is one of the key objectives to improve service to tourists, and this Sense Line and VISA assured that they plan to promote their alliance to make "cashless" payments before 2020. Other platforms have already reached agreements with banks to allow mobile payments Line and Visa were not the first to combine technology with traditional payment methods. India's mobile payments app Paytm and local Uber rival Ola have also launched cards in association with banks, while some cross-border payment companies like TransferWise, Monzo and others already have links to both VISA and MasterCard to allow payments via this means. .
4 Renovations That Have a Huge Impact on Your Home's Energy Efficiency
AnitaGinsburg posted a blog entry in Anita Ginsburg's BlogThere are many reasons to make a home more energy efficient. It is the socially responsible thing to do, as scientists across the world continue to warn of the dangers of unfettered energy use. It is also financially responsible, since energy bills can constitute a large hit to a monthly budget, especially during the height of either winter or summer. Taking even small steps to curb that energy usage can have a big impact. Below are some of the updates that will provide the most savings. Double Pane Windows Old windows leak both heat and air conditioning, essentially leaking money. While an upgrade is a fairly large initial investment, it is one that will pay for itself many times over. Not only that, but double pane windows more effectively block traffic noise and raise the overall value of the home, making it a smart long-term investment. For homeowners on a tighter budget, energy efficient window treatments can also provide some of the same benefits at a reduced cost. Roof Replacement Another huge source of temperature leakage is an older roof. In summer, roofs can soak up heat and radiate it down towards the home, and in winter the heat you want can escape through any cracks or faults. If your roof is older, roof replacement can help reduce your overall energy usage. When selecting roofing material, asphalt shingles often do not rate well in regards to energy efficiency. Tiles, metal roofs, and materials treated with special reflective coating all perform better. Insulation is also key, providing savings from the inside out. Energy Efficient Light Bulbs One of the least costly upgrades, new light bulbs, is also one of the most immediately effective. LED bulbs are the clear winner in the energy wars. While a little more expensive than their less efficient cousins, the incandescent bulb, they very quickly result in lowered monthly bills. Moreover, not only do LEDs consume less electricity, but they also last years longer than incandescents, making that investment more than worth it. New Air Conditioner An energy-efficient air conditioner is particularly necessary in warm climates, but will result in savings just about anywhere in the country. This is an upgrade that can save you money at tax time as well—certain units qualify for a federal HVAC tax credit, which starts the savings in April before the really hot weather even rolls around. Choosing to do an energy makeover has long lasting benefits to the wallet, the home's value, and the planet. Nor is it difficult to do. Light bulbs, roofs, AC units, and windows all need replacing eventually anyway—choosing energy efficient replacements is just common sense.
Starting to Farm on Your Property? Here's 5 Things You'll Need
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogFarming is one of the oldest human pursuits. The ability to produce food at home instead of having to stay on the move to find it has enabled the development of human civilization. If you have some land that you want to start using for this time-honored purpose, here are five things that you'll need. Basic Fencing Whether you have livestock on your farm or not, you will probably need some fencing. Crops of all kinds attract wildlife and the occasional escaped animal from other farms. That's reason enough to build a fence at least around the boundary of your property. If you have cattle, horses, or other animals of your own, you will also need to subdivide their grazing areas for maximum efficiency. Farming Implements Unless you expect to plant and care for all your crops by hand, you'll need some mechanical equipment. Of course, this will start with a tractor of adequate size and horsepower to operate the other things you will use like hay balers, seeding machines, and plows. Use online resources to find used equipment to get you started at a lower cost. Connect with a handy neighbor who can teach you basic maintenance and repair. Appropriate Clothing Dressing for the farm isn't just about looking the part. Heavy boots are to protect your feet and ankles from everything from cow hooves to dropped buckets of feed. Wide-brimmed hats minimize strain on your eyes and protect you from excess UV exposure. Sturdy leather gloves prevent injuries and blisters, and no farmer's pocket should be without a good knife. You'll use it more than you ever imagined. Storage Space Whether it's a barn, a shed, or a shop, you need some type of structure to house your equipment, tools, and implements. You may also need additional space to store large amounts of harvested crops like hay. Keeping these valuable assets indoors will improve crop values, extend the useful life of equipment, and reduce the risk of theft. It doesn't have to be fancy, but you do need a building. Good Management The last thing to put in place is a good business system. Tracking your expenses and revenues is vital to any business, even if it's a farm that you're just operating for fun. Would it be cheaper to buy grain for your cattle or grow it yourself? The only way to know is to document your finances. You'll also need this information at tax time. Farming is a respected and important profession. You can be a part of that, even if you are just dabbling. For it to be a positive experience, though, you'll need these basic things in place.
LizzieWeakley started following Starting to Farm on Your Property? Here's 5 Things You'll Need
LizzieWeakley started following 4 Repairs to Make Around Your Home To Reduce Energy Use
4 Repairs to Make Around Your Home To Reduce Energy Use
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogThe world's natural resources are quickly depleting at an alarming rate, and we are challenged to find ways to do our part to help the environment by reducing our energy consumption. Perhaps you are wondering how you can do your part to help save the environment by reducing energy use and to save money. Here are four repairs to make around your home to reduce energy use. Leaky Pipe A leaky pipe in your home can cause devastating damages and is one of the main culprits in high energy consumption. As the water drips or leaks through your plumbing, your water heater is also constantly operating. This means energy is being wasted, and you are paying for it. Repairing the leaky pipe as soon as possible is a must to help reduce energy use. AC Unit When it comes to your HVAC system, you probably maintain it by routinely replacing the filters around your home. While this is good practice to help save on costs and energy consumption, a full AC service will further your savings. Consider repairing your AC or HVAC system by replacing the insulation around the coolant pipes. This repair is beneficial as it will absorb a significant amount of heat from the outside air, reducing power consumption while saving you money. Cracked or Broken Window Just like a leaky pipe, a cracked or broken window can waste tons of energy which will ultimately affect your energy bill. Even a small crack can allow warm or cold air into your home, causing your AC unit to use more energy. For this reason, repairing any damaged windows around your home is essential to save energy and to save on costs. Insulating Your Home Another repair to make around your home is replacing the old and worn out insulation with new insulating material around your doors and windows. Just like repairing damaged windows, this is also a necessary repair to perform in order to keep the air your HVAC system is producing inside your home. Use less energy and save money by keeping inside air in your home while preventing outside air from entering. These are only to name four essential repairs to make around your home to help reduce your energy use. Remember, repairing leaky pipes, replacing your AC unit's coolant pipe insulation, fixing any damaged windows, and using new insulating material around your doors and windows will help save the environment while saving you money by reducing your energy consumption.
How to Manage Your Bedroom Temperature Without Straining Your HVAC
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogYou likely spend a lot of time in your bedroom. It can be difficult to keep your bedroom comfortable. However, there are some things that you can do in order to keep your bedroom at a comfortable temperature without straining the HVAC. Invest in House Plants There are several ways that house plants can keep your bedroom comfortable. The plants help purify the air, reducing the amount of loose carbon dioxide in your room. Placing plants outside your bedroom window can shade your window from the sun and thereby help in cooling the room itself. Because plants soak in the energy of the sun to use themselves, they provide excellent shade both from heat and UV rays. Install a Ceiling Fan Ceiling fans are effective for keeping your home cool. They do not lower the temperature of the room. However, they will make your room more comfortable, which will reduce the need to use a HVAC system. However, it is important to make sure that the blades are turning the right direction. The blades will need to turn counterclockwise. They will disperse cool air. When circulating clockwise, they disperse warm air, which can be helpful in the winter but awful if you're avoiding summer heat. Upgrade Your Windows Older windows have a tendency to let cool air escape. That is why if you have the windows for several years, then it is time for you to get them replaced. It can be expensive to upgrade your windows. However, you will be able to save a lot of money over time. If getting new windows is out of your budget, then you will need to make sure that your windows are sealed. Sealing the windows will prevent the cold air from escaping. Keep the Doors Open One of the best things that you can do if you are trying to keep your home cool without a HVAC is to keep the doors open. This will increase the ventilation in the room and allow the HVAC to properly circulate air throughout the house. It will also prevent your home from getting too hot. The closer to your central heating, the more important it is to keep your door open. Upgrade Your Lightbulbs The lightbulbs that you use may be keeping your home hotter than it should be. If you have incandescent lightbulbs, then you will need to upgrade them. You can replace them with compact fluorescent lightbulbs or LED lightbulbs. Those lights are not only cooler, but they also use less energy. You do not have to put a strain on your HVAC system to keep your home comfortable. You can use house plants to keep it comfortable. You can also use a ceiling fan and upgrade or seal your windows. It is also a good idea to keep the doors open. Furthermore, you can upgrade your lighting.
Clinical application of stem cell therapy (Part Two)
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X Online1.3. Blood system diseases HSC was first used for blood diseases, and it is the most mature. Both autogenous HSC and foreign HSC are used. And they are mainly used for some hematological malignancies, such as acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, aplastic anemia, etc. All have achieved good results and improved the 10-year survival rate of patients, but it is ineffective for some patients, such as low diploid leukemia. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is generally used after chemotherapy. It can differentiate into myeloid progenitor cells, lymphoid progenitor cells, etc. in the human body, and then produce blood cells of various lineages. The treatment of blood system diseases is mainly through cell replacement. Eventually The effect is to rebuild the functional hematopoietic system and immune system. It is now found that multiple myeloma and sickle cell disease can also benefit from HSCs transplantation. For patients with poor conventional treatment or relapse, stem cell transplantation is still effective and can improve the cure rate. However, before transplantation, the patient's physical tolerance, blood system status and human leukocyte antigen typing must be fully considered to avoid the occurrence of GVHD. 1.4. Bone and joint system diseases The human osteoblasts have the ability to proliferate and differentiate. When the damage is not serious, the bone itself can undergo a certain degree of self-repair. For more severe bone and cartilage injuries, especially when there are a large number of bone defects, local blood supply, and oral and maxillofacial fractures that do not heal, stem cell transplantation still plays a very important role. From the source of bone and joint development, mesenchymal stem cells derived from mesoderm are the most widely used in bone and joint diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells can migrate to the site of injury and differentiate into osteoblasts and chondrocytes to repair bone damage. In osteoarthritis and sports injuries, stem cell therapy has been found to reduce pain, repair cartilage degradation, and promote motor function recovery. The mechanism of stem cell treatment of bone and joint diseases is multi-faceted, including paracrine function, improving microenvironment, promoting angiogenesis, replacement repair, etc. It is currently believed that the main role is to improve the local microenvironment of bone injury. 1.5. Eye diseases The application of stem cell transplantation in ophthalmology is mainly to promote the repair of cornea and retina. There are a certain number of stem cells inside the eye tissue, mainly limbal stem cells (LSC), which is also a class of stem cells that are widely used in ophthalmology. It has a certain therapeutic effect on corneal injury and limbal stem cell deficiency, but it faces a limited source and immune rejection during allogeneic transplantation, which limits a large range of clinical applications. Fat or bone marrow-derived MSCs are another ideal cell type, and have certain therapeutic effects on glaucoma, retinal pigment degeneration, and macular atrophic damage combined with retinal yellow spots (Stargardt disease). Animal studies have found that MSCs can differentiate into photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelial cells, secrete neurotrophic factors, and inhibit the apoptosis of optic nerve cells, and transplantation under the retina is more effective than intravitreal. Clinical studies have found that MSCs can migrate into the macular area of the retina and improve the patient's vision, but the effect almost disappears after 1 year. Considering that the cell type is not suitable for growth in the eye, it is only a short-term effect that occurs through the secretion of trophic factors. In addition: ESCs or i PSC-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells and oral mucosal epithelial cells can also be selected, and it has a therapeutic effect on patients with age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Because MSCs and HSCs have a wide range of sources, the preparation difficulty is relatively low, the safety is good, the paracrine and immunomodulatory effects are strong, so they are currently widely used. In addition to the diseases mentioned above, there are many diseases that may benefit from stem cell transplantation. Type 2 diabetes is essentially an autoimmune disease mediated by T cells. Therefore, the use of MSCs or HSCs can regulate immune function, inhibit T cell activation and inflammatory factor production, so as to relieve the symptoms of diabetes and reduce the amount of insulin. In addition, other diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis, burns, skin damage, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, intestinal Crohn's disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome and other diseases have also been studied using mesenchymal stem cell therapy. To ensure the success of stem cell therapy, we must first solve the problem of stem cell survival and migration after transplantation. Many studies have found that the stem cells transplanted into the body have a short survival time and cannot differentiate into target cells and function. Therefore, ensuring the homing, survival, differentiation and normal migration of transplanted stem cells is the key to effective treatment. There have been attempts to combine drugs (sodium ferulate, lithium valproate, erythropoietin), or related physical therapy (shock wave), or pre-treatment of stem cells (endothelial nitric oxide synthase) during the culture stage Enhancer, and embedding stem cells into biological materials (such as hydrogels, fabricated scaffolds) to increase the success rate of stem cell transplantation. For the problem of low cell differentiation efficiency in vivo, direct transplantation of totipotent stem cells should be avoided as far as possible, and high-purity tissue-specific precursor cells can be differentiated in vitro for transplantation, which also reduces the risk of tumorigenesis. Secondly, stem cells exist in many tissues and organs of the human body. Extracting and applying these stem cells is a good choice, but the problem is to obtain sufficient and effective stem cells. During the in vitro expansion process, the characteristics of stem cells may change to some extent, making them no longer suitable for repairing damaged tissues. Moreover, after the occurrence of the disease, the microenvironment of the lesion has undergone tremendous changes, which will also adversely affect the survival and migration of stem cells after transplantation. Finally, the standardization of stem cell preparation and transplantation, including the number and purity of stem cells, cell viability, route of administration, frequency, transplantation site, and the optimal time for treatment, all require careful evaluation and selection. It is important to establish a set of stem cell preparation and expansion standardized procedures for augmentation, storage and transplantation to achieve a stable treatment effect. References [1] Ferraro F,Celso CL,Scadden D. Adult stem cels and their niches[J].Adv Exp Med Biol,2010,695:155-168. [2] Ito Y,Nakamura S,Sugimoto N,et al. Turbulence activates platelet biogenesis to enable clinical scale ex vivo production[J]. Cell,2018,174(3):636-648. [3] Regueiro A,Cuadrado-Godia E,Bueno-Beti C,et al. Mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells in acute cardiovascular events in the PROCELL study:time-course after acute myocardial infarction and stroke[J]. J Mol Cell Cardiol,2015,80:146-155. [4] Bochon B,Kozubska M,Suryga?a G,et al. Mesenchymal stem cells-potential applications in kidney diseases[J]. Int J Mol Sci,2019,20(10):2462. [5] Ming GL,Song H. Adult neurogenesis in the mammalian brain:significant answers and significant questions[J]. Neuron,2011,70(4):687-702.
The technical principle of SNP genotyping technology
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineThe principle of SNP genotyping technology is PCR amplification of genomic fragments containing SNP. The main features are high accuracy, strong flexibility and high throughput. The main method is the TaqMan probe method. Technical principles SNP genotyping First, the SNP-containing genomic fragments are amplified by PCR, and then single-base extension is achieved by sequence-specific primers. Then, the sample analyte and the chip matrix are co-crystallized and then excited by an intense nanosecond (10-9s) intense laser in a vacuum tube. Nucleic acid molecules are desorbed into single-charged ions. Because the flight time of ions in the electric field is inversely proportional to the ion mass, the precise molecular weight of the sample analyte is obtained by detecting the flight time of the nucleic acid molecules in the vacuum tube, thereby detecting SNP site information. Main features The accuracy of SNP detection achieved by time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) can reach 99.9%. In addition to the advantages of high accuracy, flexibility, high throughput, and short detection cycle, the most attractive should be its cost performance. The time-of-flight mass spectrometry platform (MALDI-TOF) is an internationally-used research platform for genetic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). This method has become a new standard in this field with its scientificity and accuracy. Main methods TaqMan probe method Design PCR primers and TaqMan probes for different SNP sites on chromosomes respectively, and perform real-time fluorescent PCR amplification. The 5'-end and 3'-end of the probe are labeled with a reporter fluorescent group and a quenching fluorescent group, respectively. When the PCR product is present in the solution, the probe is annealed to the template, which produces a substrate suitable for exonuclease activity, thereby cleaving the fluorescent molecule attached to the 5'-end of the probe from the probe, destroying the two PRET between fluorescent molecules emits fluorescence. Usually used for small SNP loci analysis. SNaPshot method This technology was developed by American Applied Biology Company (ABI), and it is a typing technology based on the principle of single base extension of fluorescent labeling, also known as small sequencing, which is mainly aimed at medium-throughput SNP typing projects. In a reaction system containing sequencing enzymes, four fluorescently labeled ddNTPs, different length extension primers and PCR product templates immediately adjacent to the 5'-end of the polymorphic site, the primer extension is terminated by one base, and after detection by the ABI sequencer, The SNP site corresponding to the extension product is determined according to the shifting position of the peak, and the type of the incorporated base can be known according to the color of the peak, thereby determining the genotype of the sample. The PCR product template can be obtained by multiple PCR reaction system. Usually used for 10-30 SNP loci analysis. The HRM method high-resolution melting curve analysis (HRM) is a SNP research tool that has emerged in recent years. It detects the presence of SNPs by monitoring the combination of double-stranded DNA fluorescent dyes and PCR amplification products during real-time heating. Moreover, different SNP sites and whether they are heterozygotes will affect the peak shape of the melting curve, so HRM analysis can effectively distinguish between different SNP sites and different genotypes. This detection method is not limited by the location and type of the mutated base. No sequence-specific probes are required. After the PCR is completed, high-resolution melting is run directly to complete the analysis of the sample genotype. The method does not need to design a probe, and the operation is simple, fast, low in cost, accurate in result, and realizes the real closed tube operation. Mass Array method MassARRAY molecular weight array technology is the world's leading gene analysis tool launched by Sequenom. It combines primer extension or cleavage reaction with sensitive and reliable MALDI-TOF-MS technology to achieve genotyping detection. The iPLEX GOLD technology based on the MassARRAY platform can design up to 40-fold PCR reaction and genotype detection, with flexible experimental design and high accuracy of typing results. According to the needs of the application, when testing hundreds to thousands of samples from dozens to hundreds of SNP sites, MassARRAY has the best cost performance, especially suitable for verifying the results of genome-wide research findings, or a limited number of the situation where the research site has been determined. Illumina BeadXpress method uses Illumina's BeadXpress system for batch SNP site detection, which can detect 1-384 SNP sites at the same time. It is often used to confirm the results of genomic chips and is suitable for high-throughput detection. The microbead chip has the characteristics of high density, high repeatability, high sensitivity, low sample load, flexible customization, etc., and extremely high integration density, thus obtaining extremely high detection screening speed, and can significantly reduce costs during high-throughput screening. About us We work hard to offer you the same dependable services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as academia and government agencies for satisfying all your sequencing or array needs. Through nearly ten year's hard working and depend on our professional work team, we are proud of satisfying the needs of our clients both at home and abroad, which across more than 50 countries and districts. We always devote ourselves to providing you with the best and professional service. Here are some: pacific biosciences, Total RNA Sequencing, human genome, gbs sequencing, etc.
E-waste: How eCommsell is tackling the next threat to the environment
greenenergy posted a blog entry in Green EnergyThe evolution of technology as we know it, has always been associated with excitement, social standing, and the ideology of lucrative business. However, as a society, have we truly taken responsibility for the rising demand in technological advancement? We often focus on the wrong questions, which usually focuses on advancing technology rather than sustaining it. For example, why have we not paid attention to the decline of the landline phone? According to Felix Richter, a Statista publisher, in 2004 almost 94.1% of American households included a landline phone. By 2018 that number had decreased by an astonishing 51%. In comparison however, cell phones saw almost a 50% increase. What's even more mind blowing is the fact that in 2018 alone, the average American household owned approximately 24 electronic products per household. These same households, of four, are typically responsible for 176lbs of electronic waste in a single year, while leading the world in 2019 with a predicted $55B annual accumulation of e-waste. Creating change in an industry as lucrative as electronics, isn't easy, as it requires a team of diverse and invested individuals. Most e-retailers are located in cities known for their flourishing markets and potential to expand. In comparison, eCommsell has used a different approach, establishing itself as the Gateway to the Midwest since 2009 when it comes to E-tech retailing. Located in the Heartland of America, eCommsell's strategic location has resulted in the company's ability to rescue over 1.1M technological devices from its neighboring Westlake Landfill. The company's ability to preserve over 1.1M in technology from entering WestLake Landfill, is the equivalent of powering over 24,000 homes in the Greater St.Louis area since 2009.To put things into perspective, these 24,000 homes house 96,000 residents meaning the company has saved enough technology to supply power to over 30% of St. Louis's 318,069 residents! eCommsell's message is clear, "Saving the Planet & Serving the Consumer", as the company's main focus has been to raise the awareness of E-waste pollution, while supplying consumers with cheaper everyday electronic devices. Unlike its competitors, eCommsell doesn't see a difference between customer service and community service. The customer is a part of their community which includes eCommsell, their customer, and the world they all share together. With Asia recently refusing to accept Americans e-waste, eCommsell wants to raise public awareness of America's inability to control its own pollution. eCommsell has not stopped there when it comes to implementing positive change to the global footprint electronics have on the Earth. As a company, their goal is to save over half of a million new devices within the next alone! Along with demanding more from themselves, they have also challenged others to do the same as seen through their relationship with UPS. The company makes sure to raise e-waste pollution awareness via daily interactions with customers and other industries through promoting its brand and its cause through its website and cost-efficient refurbished devices. Work cited ● https://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/e-waste-recycling-legislation.aspx ● https://www.statista.com/chart/2072/landline-phones-in-the-united-states/ ● https://www.thebalancesmb.com/e-waste-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878189 ● https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/12/e-waste-monitor-report-glut/ ● https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2014/10/17/ewaste-a-death-sentence ● https://www.seeker.com/indias-poor-risk-slow-death-recycling-e-waste-discovery-news-1766506237.html ● https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/08/4-trillion-in-tech-spending-in-2019-heres-where-the-money-is-going.html ● https://planetgreenrecycle.com/fundraising/e-waste/the-electronic-waste-crisis-cell- phones-facts-and-figures ● https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-e-waste ● https://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/e-waste-recycling-legislation.aspx
Green Renovation - How to sustainably remodel your home?
Cynthia Madison posted a blog entry in Environmental decline is at an all-time high – what can YOU do about it?Sustainability has already become a trend in home renovation, and there is no wonder why. As more people become enthusiastic about the eco-friendly way of life, sustainable innovations upsurge and become even more accessible for those in need to create a more sustainable home for themselves. When thinking about sustainability, trending items aren't just about what is trendy; it's also about which are doing the most for the environment. With that in mind, when we renovate or build our home, we determine the consumption pattern of that structure for the rest of its life. It's a unique occasion to make such structural improvements to the efficiency of our homes and minimize their continuous drain on the environment. Investing energy, time and money at this point will only give financial and environmental rewards for years to come in terms of reduced water and energy use and increased wellbeing. Buy reclaimed No matter where you want to start, the golden rule in a sustainable renovation is to buy reclaimed. Even though it might be tempting, try as much as possible not to get caught up with having the shiniest and newest. Take some time and think about other materials such as reclaimed wood which isn't only a green sound choice, but sublimely striking and growing in popularity in all kinds of home makeover projects. Reclaimed wood can be an exceptional choice for walls, counter-tops and flooring. Often certified kitchen designers rely on reclaimed materials such as wood around the kitchen area as it can save a lot of energy, time and money that would be necessary to produce likewise and newer products. Deconstruct – don't demolish If you plan on knocking down entire rooms or demolishing, try to walk around your house first to decide on what you can actually reuse and salvage beforehand. This isn't only environmentally friendly, but it will also save money in the end. Consider everything from tiles, light fixtures, flooring, molding and cabinets. For instance, if you plan on replacing the windows in your dining room, instead of throwing it, think about using them in another room- maybe in your dorm, in your son's room, even a bathroom will do. Donate your unwanted items So you really had enough of that living-room chandelier and don't want to see it in any of your rooms. Don't throw it out, instead consider a consignment shop, there are plenty. Maybe you have a crafty family member or friend who most likely will enjoy repurposing or repainting it. Another great option for your unwanted couch or chandelier, as well as other items such as cabinets or appliances, is a donation station. Not only they will happily welcome your old kitchen cabinet, but they will sell every donation, and 100% of the profits from your materials are used to build new homes for those in need. With that in mind, not only are you helping the environment, but you're actually giving back to the community. Think energy-efficient Shopping sometimes is unavoidable, especially when you're renovating. That said, when you're looking around for new appliances like dishwashers, ovens or refrigerators try to look for those that are the most energy-efficient. Why? Energy-efficient appliances are simply meant to utilize minimum energy to complete a required task. An example of energy-saving appliances would be the energy saver bulbs, solar water heaters and booster water heater. Many of these appliances will operate under lower energy and temperature settings which sustain their efficiency until the achievement of tasks. Why should you opt for energy-saving appliances? To save energy Such appliances are built to spend a minimum amount of energy on operating. That said, they enhance energy conservation, energy that can be used for another purpose at home. To save money Bills and bills again. Using energy-saving appliances will reduce your spending at home, money that can be used for other purposes. For instance, from $5,550 you spend annually on energy, you can reduce by $2,500 through using energy-efficient appliances. To conserve our environment It goes without saying that using energy-efficient appliances can only minimize the exploration of natural resources such as oil, water, gas and coal. Not only that but such appliances are imperative in controlling pollution. Energy generation industry today relies a lot on oil, fuels and natural gas that lead to soil, air and water pollution through emission and effluents, but using energy-efficient appliances helps in controlling pollution. Invest in pre-owned materials A very cost-effective and easy way to redo your home is to consider investing in pre-owned materials. This won't be a problem as you can easily find retailers across the country, some even dedicated to high-end products. That said, if that energy-efficient and the fancy fridge is an absolute must-have, you could save a lot purchasing one that has been used for a few years. Moreover, kitchen cabinets can actually be the largest expense when it comes to kitchen renovation, but these salvage retailers regularly have high-quality furniture in great condition. It's an outstanding idea that is honestly worth investing. Visit yard-sales and antique shops Consignment and antique shops are all excellent places to visit for items such as light fixtures, mantels or even doorknobs. Doing so, not only helps you save your budget for something more important, but these charming repurposed items will definitely add a new air to your homes that basically cannot be imitated by their newer counterparts. With that in mind, choosing to makeover your home through an eco-friendly approach not only helps and encourages the environmental movement but also allows you to do it while helping your community and saving serious cash. Being green-minded does not have to cost you a fortune. A well-designed and thoughtful living space that uses repurposed materials, energy-efficient appliances and lights to bring them into sympathy with our environment is the recipe for a fabulous home. Renovating your home in a way that avoids pollution and does not facilitate the decline of our environment will honestly make you smile for years to come.
How to Make Sure You're Using Responsibly Sourced Materials in Your Home
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogThe most common material in your home is wood. Your patio chairs, bed, or even flooring is made up of wood. Like every other industry today, the wood construction industry is shifting towards ethical furniture and the use of sustainable timber. Today, preserving the world's trees and forests is essential for the survival of the human race. Therefore, buying wood is a bit challenging since you have to know where it is coming from and how it was harvested. What is sustainable timber? Many homeowners do not want to take part in deforestation; hence, they want to avoid the 'bad' wood. Sustainable wood is timber from sustainably managed forests. Sustainable wood is renewable as it is grown to prevent damage to wildlife or the ecosystem. Controlled forests last for the long term, meaning they will control carbon emissions for generations to come. On the other hand, unsustainable sources just cut down the trees leaving bare land, thus leading to full destruction. Why buy sustainable timber? Buying timber from unsustainable sources has some severe effects on their places of origin. Without their knowledge, homeowners who purchase unsustainable timber may promote the hunting of endangered species and abuse human rights in those places. Ninety two percent of the earth's forests are not adequately protected from destruction. Thus, buying sustainable timber is a way of preserving the future earth's forests and the coming generations. Which timbers are more sustainable? Timber is usually classified as either softwood or hardwood. Simply because softwoods like pine and fir grow fast, they are sustainable. Buying European timber is a safe choice for homeowners as the EU introduced measures to protect its forests. Today more trees are planted than felled therefore European forests are growing instead of diminishing Here are exotic timbers that you should avoid: • Ebony • Teak • Wenge • Sapelle • Murbau How to identify sustainable wood Here is what homeowners need to do to ensure they spend their money on sustainable timber: Buy reclaimed timber: This is the best way of ensuring you are using responsibly sourced wood as no tree is cut down when homeowners buy reclaimed wood. Buying reclaimed wood prevents unnecessary logging. Look for the FSC logo: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent non-governmental organization that promotes responsible management of the earth's forests. Their certification method provides internationally recognized standards and trademark assurance to homeowners who support responsible forestry. No FSC logo? Inquire more: When homeowners are interested in timber, which is not FSC certified, they should ask questions like the country and region it originated from and the lumber company that harvested it. If the retailers don't have the answers, they should go ahead and ask their suppliers. This will enable them to know the history of the timber. For your home renovations and upgrades, visit a supply company like Old World Lumber Company, for a large selection of reclaimed wood perfect for the environmentally aware homeowner.
Green Marketing Strategies to Promote Your Small Business
Cynthia Madison posted a blog entry in Environmental decline is at an all-time high – what can YOU do about it?Top companies in nearly every industry- even those from the fossil fuel industry- have recently agreed on their "environmental commitment" as a new selling point for consumers who are becoming progressively troubled about their individual contributions to the deterioration of our natural environment. Environmental awareness is on the rise, and this is only the beginning. Eco-friendly businesses are rapidly becoming industry leaders, and as more individuals become aware of our terrible environmental state, their popularity will only upsurge. What is green marketing? Green marketing isn't only a trend that many companies have chosen to adopt but also a way of doing business. The global tension on our environment, combined with a consumer desire to opt for eco-friendly products for a better living, creates new occasions for companies for marketing themselves as environmentally aware. In short, aligning businesses with green practices can be a successful selling point for small businesses, and, in some circumstances, the "green" notion has shaped a new line of service and product prospects for businesses to explore. Whether you're looking to connect with consumers interested in doing business with green companies or you're running a business entirely focusing on green services and products, green marketing can be an effective strategy for small companies in their overall marketing strategy. In this article, we've gathered some of the most common green marketing ideas for eco-friendly businesses in need to offer green solutions for their customers. Make Sure It's Right Going green ASAP looks and sounds nice on paper, but it's really for everyone. How so? Green marketing can be hugely beneficial only if it's consistent with your business's values and mission. When green marketing is only something you're relying on to be a part of a trend, you won't likely gain the benefits from it. Even more, you can expect some backlash from your clients is they suspect you're promoting it for selfish reasons. That said, before taking necessary steps in adopting Green Marketing, reflect upon the pros and cons to make sure it aligns with the type of service and products you're trying to promote. Green marketing strategy has to be a realistic business strategy and not just a marketing trick. An honest green marketing strategy and idea is actually to develop real eco-friendly selling points for your business. For instance, a strategy can be marketing that your service has a low energy solution. Therefore, a service or a product that produces less waste or uses less energy than a traditional method can be a great differentiator. Brand with Insignias and Green Logos If your business participates in eco-friendly practices or has green offerings, consider using a variety of logos and insignias for branding and company marketing that represents green. This may include your web page, marketing materials, advertising, business cards, packaging, signage and many more. Examples of logos may include various membership logos or the standard recycling arrow logo and Energy Star Rating logo. Businesses can even design personalized logos as an effective tool in communicating their green contribution and separate them from the competition. Print on Recycled Paper Using recycled paper to conserve resources can be both an effective and easy way to subtly validate your business as environmentally aware. Several printing retailers offer an option to have flyers, business cards, marketing brochures printed on recycled paper that is almost as affordable as the regular paper. If you have a business presentation that is strongly focused on green marketing and environmental issues, then spending a few extra bucks on recycled paper can be a very significant step in a green marketing strategy. Ditch Direct Mailers and Opt For Digital Marketing Newspapers and direct mailers are more wasteful than ever. You can switch a lot of your marketing efforts to digital marketing if you want to leave a lower impact in the environment. That said, the elimination of regular paper use and other materials used for advertising can be a huge step in a zero-waste advertising approach. For instance, social media can be a very effective, fast and inexpensive way to promote your campaigns. The best part about marketing your business on social media is that you can play with a wide range of graphics. Not only that, but digital marketing makes it easier for like-minded groups to share your brand's backing to their circle. Promote Local Vendors and Eco-friendly Events Promoting and using local suppliers and vendors is a very green practice as you help to reduce the impact of carbon emission on the environment by encouraging local delivery of supplies and products. Doing so, your customers will see that your business not only promotes the local economy, but it also helps reduce carbon emission and gas consumption by using local vendors. Moreover, if you work in the food industry, using and producing with fresh ingredients from your local farmers can also be a great selling point. Operate Efficient Fuel Vehicles Most probably, you've heard it before, but the vehicle your business uses for delivery, service and sales can have a great impact on your brand image. When your vehicle travels across your local market, they can leave numerous impressions on your local customers and prospects. That said, operating FlexFuel vehicles for sales or delivery and service cars will not only help your business reduce the gas expenses, but it will make it obvious that your business is also green conscious. Environmental Donations and Charities There are dozens of environmental causes that will worth your time and money. Another green marketing idea is to support those initiatives by taking actions that will serve the local environmental purpose and making donations. You clients can also support the cause via environmental incentives for sale- such as donating a part of a sale to an environmentally friendly organization or even planting trees. But before that, be sure you clearly communicate your green marketing action to your customers to strengthen your eco-friendly business practice. These green marketing strategies are small steps that eco-friendly organizations can take to minimize their carbon footprint and prove to their customers that choosing their business can make a difference in today's environmental state.
Status of De Novo Drug Design (I)
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineWhen it comes to R&D of new drug, people would think about high investment, long term, and high risk. Although drug design and screening technology has been improving, the disease is complex. Even if the drug was successfully marketed, it will still face many unknown factors such as adverse reactions, market sales, and national policies. In fact, it is not impossible to solve these problems, which is to design a few good enough drug candidates. Does it easy to find preferable candidates? With the rapid development of X-ray diffraction, NMR, electron microscopy and other technologies, the structural parameters of the target protein are gradually clear. On the other hand, the significant increase in computing performance and the reduction in hardware prices have made computer-aided drug design tools an indispensable helper for scientists. Various computer algorithms can now perform virtual screening or directly give new molecular structures, and help scientists optimize the medicinal properties and physical and chemical properties of seedling compounds. So, can a computer now automatically design a drug molecule from scratch by giving it a chemical structure like artificial intelligence? In the field of drug design, computer programs have assisted researchers in developing some drugs in the last century. The most common method is to use a virtual screening technique such as molecular docking to target a protein with a known structure in a massive chemical structure to find the hit compound. In addition, there are some drug design programs based on the chemical structure of small molecules, such as de novo design programs. Recently, Dr. Gisbert Schneider of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zürich) and others summarized the literature of automatic de novo drug design in recent years and detailed 10 drug target cases so that readers can get an overview of the overall situation or understand the frontier direction. Related papers were published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. β secretase inhibitor BACE-1 is one of the targets of neurodegenerative diseases, but its patentability is quite challenging. Fishwick et al. reported a de novo drug design program SPROUT based on protein structure, and designed a non-polypeptide structure β-secretase BACE-1 inhibitor (J. Med. Chem., 2013, 56, 1843). Through the X-ray structure of the complex of BACE-1 and peptide-like ligands, SPROUT resolved key active sites and designed the original compound 1. After synthesizing Compound 1 and testing its biological activity, it was found that its activity is weak (IC50 = 323 μM). After structural optimization, compound 2 was obtained with moderate activity (IC50 = 27 μM). This case confirmed the feasibility of synthesizable compounds acting on targets based on automatic structural design. Aurora A kinase A inhibitor VX-680 is a pan-Aurora kinase inhibitor with high anti-Aurora activity (Ki = 0.6 nM) and was terminated in clinical trials due to heart problems with prolonged QT intervals. Rodrigues et al. hoped to design a brand new chemical framework (Chem. Sci., 2013, 4, 1229) with the ligand-based de novo drug design program DOGS (Design Of Genuine Structures), which has similar activities as VX-680, but avoid heart problems while breaking through the intellectual property restrictions surrounding this structure. The DOGS program is based on 88 skeletons and produces 172 chemical structures. Since the aromatic sulfonamide structural fragments are often scored high in the scoring system, and the chemical synthesis is highly feasible, the corresponding compounds 3 and 4 were selected for synthesis. Another advantage of DOGS is that it can design synthetic routes, and design algorithms are derived from chemical transformation rules. In vitro experiments found that 100 μM 3 only inhibited 5% of Aurora A. The activity of 4 is IC50 = 10 μM, which is suitable for optimization from seedling compounds to lead compounds. The huge difference in activity between 3 and 4 is likely to come from imidazole structural fragments. Under this guidance, they obtained compound 5 by optimization (IC50 = 2.7 μM). From this case, the following three points can be seen: (1) The structure of compound 5 is completely different from the original VX-680, and it is a completely new structure. (2) The program only needs one inhibitor structure to start the program, not even the protein structure, so this method has a wide range of applications. (3) Most of the designed compounds can be synthesized and used to test the activity. Starting from the crystal structure of the complex of Aurora A and inhibitors, Park et al. used a structure-based virtual screening to find a key fragment structure MPPA in the fragment database. Their secret is to automatically dock and modify the scoring function (J. Chem. Inf. Model., 2018, 58, 700). Using the hinge-binding site as the starting point, the team used LigBuilder to focus on the fragment structure database of Aurora A. Designed new compounds using de novo drug design methods, followed the 5 rules of drug-like drugs in drug design, and finally selected 35 compounds and synthesized 17, the most active compound is 6 (IC50 = 0.012 nM). COX-2 and LTA4H dual inhibitor Multiple pharmacology has also received attention in recent years, that is, a compound achieves a therapeutic effect by acting on more than one target. Shang et al. used a de novo drug design program LigBuilder to design compounds that act on cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)/5-lipid oxidase (5-LOX)/leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H) in order to achieve more Good anti-inflammatory effect (J. Chem. Inf. Model., 2014, 54, 1235). The authors extracted the fragment structure from the known inhibitors of these three targets and obtained 21 compounds, and then tested the activity at a high concentration (1 mM) to obtain 9 seedling compounds. The LigBuilder program performs a variety of binding mode calculations on these structural fragments, designed 1.1 million compounds, selected the first 1,000 of them to continue research, and finally synthesized 6 compounds, of which compound 7 has the best activity, and COX at a concentration of 100 μM The inhibition rate of -1 and COX-2 was 90%, and the inhibition rate of LTA4H was 43%, thus entering the second round of de novo drug design to obtain compound 8, and the third round to obtain compound 9. Compared with COX1, compound 9 has a very good selectivity for COX2 (about 11 times). Helicobacter pylori HtrA inhibitor Helicobacter pylori can cause stomach/duodenal ulcers and even gastric cancer. The serine protease pathogenic factor HtrA (high temperature reguirement A) is the target of Helicobacter pylori and other pathogenic bacteria. The compound currently available is rhodanine derivative 10, but it has weak activity, poor solubility, and the rhodanine skeleton problem. Perna et al. used DOGS software to start at 10 (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015, 54, 10244), designed 1707 compounds, screened by solubility combined with three-dimensional structure, and selected 65 of them for synthesis , Compound 11 best meets the following 4 requirements: solubility and fit rank top; no Michael addition acceptor structure; very different from the structure of Compound 10; a completely new type of chemical structure. 11 can be synthesized through a two-step reaction. Its affinity is similar to compound 10 (KD = 37 μM), but the ligand efficiency LE (ligand efficiency) is better. In the configuration relationship study, its analog 12 had the best activity (KD = 37 μM, LE = 0.3), and all had anti-Helicobacter pylori activity in vitro. To be continued in Part Two…
How Industrial Companies Can Make Their Boilers More Eco-Friendly
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogIndustrial companies have a responsibility to make sure that they do everything that they can to protect the environment. Your boiler can contribute to greenhouse gases. Fortunately, there are several things that you can do to make your boiler more eco-friendly. Insulate the Valves There are many places that will remove the insulation when they perform maintenance and never put it back. However, you can increase the efficiency of your boiler by insulating the valves. Insulating the valves will reduce heat loss. It will also reduce the risk of burns and increase comfort. Make Sure That Your Boiler Receives Maintenance Your boiler requires maintenance just like every other appliance that you have. You will need to have a professional perform maintenance at least once a year. Professionals can ensure that your boiler is working properly. They will also be able to perform a tune-up, which will help your boiler work at its peak. Use SCRS You will need to purchase SCRS for water tube boilers. SCRS is short for selective catalytic reduction system. If you use SCRS, then you will be able to control the flow of energy in the boiler. You will also be able to control the way that the energy is dispensed. There are several other benefits that you can reap from using SCRS. You will be able to reduce carbon emissions. You may also be able to save a lot of money on your utility bill. Furthermore, your boiler may last longer. Clean the Water Side If your boiler is leaking, then it will waste a lot of water. That is why you will need to inspect your water heater on a regular basis. You will also need to clean the water side on a regular basis. Hardened water can turn into scale. If scale builds alongside your boiler, then it can cause your boiler to overheat. This can cause your boiler to start leaking. You may end up needing to get expensive repairs. Boilers can contribute to many of the environmental issues that we have today. However, you can still do your part to make your boiler more eco-friendly. You will need to insulate the valves. You will also need to make sure that your boiler receives regular maintenance. Furthermore, it is a good idea for you to use SCRS and clean the water side on a regular basis.
Going Green? 4 Ways to Improve Your Home Exterior
LizzieWeakley posted a blog entry in Lizzie Weakley's Green BlogYou can contribute to environmental conservation through the upgrades you install in your home. Eco-friendly installations can also save you a lot of money even though initial costs may be high in some cases. Here are some tips for going green in your home exterior. Install Solar Panels With solar panels you can generate enough energy to use at home, and in some cases even surplus to sell to the grid. Initial installation is high because it takes a few kilowatts before it can generate significant power levels. Solar panels would be economical to install if you are living in your permanent residence. It takes ages for them to show significant returns. Solar option is probably the greenest and safest you can ever go in energy consumption. Adopt Green Roofing Technology The idea here is to have a roof that optimizes sunlight, depending on the climate of your location and climate. In hot places, you can adopt a roofing system that reflects away sunlight and cools faster when there is no sunlight. Installing this technology is costly, but it will help you save so much in terms of energy costs, especially with the air conditioning system. Roof repair will also help you make sure you are reducing your energy use and you may even use different materials in your repair. Some materials for green roofing include: • White tiles • Using metals as roofing materials • A living roof, which uses plants that grow on the roof to help in saving water Consider Using a Natural Fence Do not use lumber in fencing when you can have a line of live trees around your homestead. This live fence can act as a home for fauna and will add to the fresh air supply in your home. It is also less costly than constructing a wall. Besides, you can decide to be more creative and use deciduous trees that shed during winter and flourish in summer. These trees have broad leaves that can act as a shield against sunlight during summer, hence providing a green cooling system. Examples of deciduous trees are: • Oak • Hickory • Maple Adopt Drip Irrigation Drip irrigation is better than sprinklers since water goes into the soil directly. If you use it together with mulching, you achieve a high water-retention rate as opposed to using sprinklers where most of the water goes to waste. There are many other ways of getting a green exterior in your home. The bottom line is that all of them are a futuristic and prudent saving option. Also, contact home improvement experts for more solutions.
Single Cell Sequencing: The Technology, Challenge and Future (IX)
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineWith the continuous maturation of single-cell transcriptomics research technology, it is estimated that in the next few years, single-cell gene expression and regulation research will become a popular topic, and the scientific research community will soon obtain enough quantitative transcript research data. This information can help us answer many important scientific questions and can also lay the foundation for quantitative research on cell types and heterogeneity in the future. Based on this information, the transcriptome of almost all types of cells in a complex multicellular organ can also be determined. Moreover, single-cell transcriptomics information can also help us improve the ability to manually manipulate gene expression regulatory networks, because a large amount of single-cell data truly reflects the biological disturbances faced by cells, and this information can help us deepen our understanding of regulatory networks. Prospects of single cell sequencing technology Usually we will regard a cell with the same phenotype as a whole with a specific function, and call it a tissue or an organ. However, deep DNA and RNA sequencing of a single cell will reveal a variety of cell states that constitute a complex ecosystem, and then such a complex system forms the overall function of tissues and organs. The continuous development of high-information, real-time, multi-mode single-cell detection technology will help us truly understand the function of a single cell in a microenvironment system. Although early morphological studies have clearly identified a variety of cell morphologies, recent studies have unexpectedly discovered many new and different cell states. A standard human cell contains approximately 6 billion DNA base pairs, and 600 million bases of mRNA (an mRNA of this size is already sufficient to provide super coding capacity). Deep sequencing of DNA and RNA of single cells can more fully grasp the functions of cells with unprecedented higher resolution. Scientists' ability to specifically recognize the state of cells helps us better understand the normal functions and abnormalities of cells. Single-cell sequencing can detect differences between cells at a higher resolution, which also raises a series of new problems. The most fundamental problem may be that it is not necessarily meaningful to find and measure such cell-to-cell differences, that is, we do not know which cell state is the truly functional cell state. Since in a typical human cell, there are only dozens of copies of each mRNA on average. How do individual cells interact with each other to achieve functions at the organizational level? This essential study of cellular ecology is a brand-new field that is worth digging into. In addition, if we think that the phenotype of a cell is the function of a local ecosystem formed by multiple cells, then, in a tissue composed of multiple cells, how do so many local ecosystems coexist together? Is there a mutual exchange effect? Although single-cell sequencing technology has brought us many surprises, and we are optimistic for the technology, but the technology is not currently a routine detection technology in the laboratory. Because the continuous advancement of basic technology and data analysis and interpretation technology is the key to improving the accuracy of single cell sequencing technology, and to understand the role of single cells at the system level, it is necessary to conduct single cell sequencing research on a large number of cells. We will comment on these issues next, will also focus on the future development of single-cell sequencing technology, as well as the newly emerging single-cell sequencing supplementary technology, and will introduce the specific functions of single cells in the overall ecological environment. 5.1 Important questions about single cell research There are several important issues that affect the quality of data obtained by the Single Cell Sequencing Institute. Among them, the inevitable problem that needs special attention is that the transcriptome will change according to various stimuli, and this change is more prominent at the single cell level. With this in mind, we should treat single-cell transcriptome data with caution (at least to some extent) as the result of a perturbation experiment unless a less destructive RNA isolation technique can be developed. 5.1.1 Cell separation Single-cell separation technology is almost the technology that needs to be developed most and needs to establish a standardized system. The use of patch pipettes or nanotubes to obtain the cytoplasmic content of individual cells is currently the conventional method of isolating cellular RNA, but this operation is prone to omission of organelle components. Using a microfluidic device can separate cells in individual reaction chambers, but the cells need to be separated from other substrates, and these substrates may interfere with the transcription status of the cells. During the process of cell dissociation, classification and enrichment, whether the transcription state of the cell changes is a question that needs special attention. Scattered cells are very easy to separate, but experiments with such cells require very good experimental design to avoid problems in interpreting the experimental results due to the lack of microenvironment. The most ideal situation is to separate the contents of single cells in a tissue or natural microenvironment. Only in this way, single cell mRNA detection can reflect the most real state of the cell under overall conditions, and only in this way can the effect of human operations on the cell be reduced as much as possible. To be continued in Part X…
The Clinical Significance of Tumor Marker Detection (I)
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineIn recent years, the incidence of cancer patients has been increasing yearly. Tumor markers have become mandatory items in many human examination projects. Among so many tumor indicators, how to identify their clinical significance? Let's learn about the clinical significance of tumor marker detection in this article. Tumor markers are a class of substances that are synthesized or released by tumor cells themselves or generated or elevated by the body's response to tumor cells. Tumor markers are present in blood, cells, tissues or body fluids, reflecting the presence and growth of tumors. Tumor markers are determined by methods such as chemistry, immunology, and genomics, for tumor diagnosis, curative effect and recurrence monitoring, and prognosis judgment Has a certain value. Tumor markers mainly include protein, sugar, enzyme and hormone tumor markers. Protein tumor markers 1.1 Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) determination Alpha-fetoprotein is a serum glycoprotein synthesized early in the fetus. After birth, AFP synthesis is inhibited. When malignant lesions occur in liver cells or gonad embryo tissues, cells capable of synthesizing AFP restart to synthesize, resulting in a marked increase in blood AFP content. Therefore, the detection of AFP concentration has important clinical value for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and trophoblastic malignant tumors. Reference value: <25μg/L Clinical significance: Primary liver cancer; Gonad embryo tumor; Viral hepatitis and cirrhosis (usually <300μg/L). 1.2 Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) determination The CEA content in the body after birth is extremely low and it is a broad-spectrum tumor marker that can be expressed in a variety of tumors. It is mainly used to assist the diagnosis, prognosis, curative effect monitoring and tumor recurrence of malignant tumors. Reference value: <5μg/L Clinical significance: Increased CEA is mainly seen in patients with pancreatic cancer, intestinal cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, etc; The concentration decreases when the dynamic observation improves, and vice versa; CEA increased slightly in smoking patients. 1.3 Tissue peptide antigen (TPA) determination The level of TPA in the blood is closely related to the degree of cell division and proliferation. The higher the level of TPA in the serum, the more commonly used clinically for the auxiliary diagnosis of rapidly proliferating malignant tumors, especially for monitoring the efficacy of known tumors. Reference value: 130U/L Clinical significance: The serum TPA level of patients with malignant tumors can be significantly increased; TPA level decreases after improvement, if it rises again, it indicates relapse; The simultaneous detection of TPA and CEA is conducive to the differential diagnosis of malignant and non-malignant breast tumors. 1.4 Prostate specific antigen (PSA) determination In prostate cancer, serum PSA levels are elevated. 80% of total serum PSA (t-PSA) exists in bound form, called composite PSA (c-PSA); 20% exists in free form, called free PSA (f-PSA). t-PSA and f-PSA increased, while the ratio of f-PSA/t-PSA decreased, suggesting prostate cancer. Reference: t-PSA<4.0μg/L f-PSA<0.8μg/L f-PSA/t-PSA>0.25 Clinical significance: Prostate cancer; If the concentration of t-PSA does not decrease or rises again after prostate cancer resection, it indicates tumor metastasis or recurrence; PSA will increase after anal finger examination, prostate massage, and cystoscopy. 1.5 Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) determination SCC is a subtype of tumor-associated antigen TA-4, a glycoprotein Reference value: <1.5μg/L Clinical significance: Lung squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer; Some benign diseases such as psoriasis and other skin diseases, renal insufficiency, upper respiratory tract infections, etc. can also cause increased SCC concentration; Contamination of sweat, saliva and other body fluids can cause false positives. 1.6 Cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA 21-1) determination Mainly distributed in tissues or organs rich in epithelial cells, such as lung, breast, bladder, intestine, etc. When these tissues become malignant, the level of CYFRA 21-1 in the blood can be seen to increase. At present, it is mainly used for differential diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of non-small cell lung cancer. Reference value <2μg/L Clinical significance: It is the preferred tumor marker for non-small cell lung cancer; In addition to lung cancer, YFRA 21-1 increased in breast cancer, bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, etc.; Other benign diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal diseases, etc., but their levels are slightly elevated (generally <10μg/L). Glycolipid tumor markers 2.1 Cancer Antigen 50 (CA50) It is a tumor carbohydrate antigen and has no organ specificity for tumor diagnosis. Reference value <20,000 U/L Clinical significance: Increased pancreatic cancer, gallbladder (tract) cancer, primary liver cancer, etc.; Dynamic observation of its level is of great value for the prognosis of cancer tumors and judgment of recurrence monitoring; It is valuable to distinguish benign and malignant pleural and abdominal effusions; In chronic liver disease, pancreatitis, and bile duct disease, CA50 also increases. 2.2 Cancer Antigen 724 (CA724) CA724 is a tumor-associated glycoprotein, which is a marker of gastrointestinal and ovarian cancer. Reference value<6.7μg/L Clinical significance: The increase is seen in ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer; Joint detection with CA125 can improve the detection rate of ovarian cancer; Joint detection with CEA can improve the sensitivity and specificity of gastric cancer. 2.3 Sugar chain antigen 199 (CA199) CA199 is a glycoprotein. Normal human salivary glands, prostate, pancreas, breast and other epithelial cells have a small amount of CA199. Reference value <37,000 U/L Clinical significance: The preferred tumor marker for pancreatic cancer; Can be found in acute pancreatitis, acute hepatitis, gallbladder cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, gastric cancer, colon cancer, etc.; Continuous detection is of great value to the progression of the disease, surgical efficacy, prognosis estimation and diagnosis of recurrence; Combined with CEA detection to improve the diagnosis rate of gastric cancer. To be continued in Part II…
ConvertibleCAR-T—A Rising Star in AIDS Treatment
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineAbstract: Science has made great progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS over the last decade. And a new platform called ConvertibleCAR has shown great potential. AIDS has always been the focus of research in medical circles in various countries, because it is a disease that is relatively difficult to cure at the current medical level, and it also damages the human immune system greatly, and thus is easy to cause complications and eventually lead to death. A study by the Gladstone Institute shows that a new technology based on CAR-T cell immunotherapy shows great hope in multiple therapeutic areas, especially in the fight against HIV. This new technology is called ConvertibleCAR®, and related research results were published in Cell on October 24, 2019. The potential pool of HIV is the main obstacle to cure AIDS, and Dr. Warner C. Greene, who is the director of the Center for HIV Cure Research in Gladstone Institute as well as the corresponding author of the paper, has been hoping to target it and clear the virus. Conventional CAR-T technology is required to transform an immune cell form, that is, cytotoxic T cells, to express antibodies on the surface. The antibody part allows cytotoxic T cells to reside in target cells (such as leukemia cells) and thus to attack and destroy them. Dr. Eytan Herzig of Gladstone Institute, the first author of the paper, said: "The disadvantage of traditional CAR-T is that they are designed to target a single molecule on cancer cells and once injected, they cannot be controlled. In contrast, ConvertibleCAR technology makes it possible to combine cytotoxic "killer" T cells with any number of antibodies. This is essential for resistance to pathogens such as HIV, because there are hundreds of different variants of HIV. In this paper, scientists have overcome shortcomings by separating targeted antibodies from cytotoxic killer cells. The modified NKG2D receptor can turn T cells into an effective killer only if it binds to its partner, which is a protein called MIC-A. The researchers trimmed and modified MIC-A so that it can specifically bind to the NKG2D receptor. Then, they fused it to the base of the targeted antibody and created the so-called MicAbody®. In this way, targeting MicAbody can be tightly combined with ConvertibleCAR-T cells. To eliminate the potential pool of HIV, researchers have been testing a wide range of Broadly Neutralizing HIV-1 Antibodies (bNAb). Herzig explained: "They are called broadly neutralizing antibodies because they can neutralize a large number of strains of virus." But bNAb alone is not enough to kill HIV-infected cells. They need the help of killer T cells, and in HIV-infected patients, the problem is that the killer T cells have been exhausted, or the potential reservoir contains viruses that are resistant to these cells. Herzig and Greene believe that by combining bNAb and ConvertibleCAR-T cells, they may obtain the required lethality. Herzig and Greene tested whether the ConvertibleCAR-Mic-bNAb platform could attack the latent reservoir in the blood of HIV-infected people on antiretroviral therapy (ART). The results prove that the transformable CAR-T cells specifically bind to Mic-bNAbs to kill the infected CD4 T cells, but not the uninfected cells. It was also found that within 48 hours after exposure, more than half of the activated, HIV-expressing cells had been eliminated. Dr. Eytan Herzig will explain more about this technology in the upcoming webinar held at 3:00 p.m. EDT on June 4th, 2020. The webinar entitled "ConvertibleCAR-T, a highly adaptable CAR-T platform to fight HIV" is sponsored by Creative Biolabs, a leading biotech manufacturer focusing on one-stop CAR-T/NK Cell therapy development service. One thing interesting about CAR-T cells is that they first appeared in the late 1990s to fight against HIV, but failed. And then traditional CAR-T cells have achieved great success in relieving blood cancers such as lymphoma and childhood leukemia. Now, it comes back to HIV treatment with greater lethality and may even be the key method to overcome AIDS.
Creative Biolabs Updates the 2020 Scholarship Programme
qxcvbnmy posted a blog entry in The 16 best free PC games,including Hunter X OnlineCreative Biolabs has provided financial support for the young and talented college student in form of yearly scholarship for 4 years in a row and will keep it as a convention, with the aim to help them continue their study into the science-related fields. May—New York, USA Affected by the COVID-19, most American universities have switched their teaching mode from face-to-face to distance learning, hoping to proceed with the education plan of this semester to minimize the influence on graduation. At Creative Biolabs there is a group of Ph.D. level scientists who have been exploring in the field of biology, biochemistry, chemistry and molecular biology. With the professional theoretical framework constructed in their specialties in university for years, plus practical experience gained in hundreds of projects, the experts deeply realize the longer they get involved in their fields, the more they love. Therefore, they firmly believe that encouraging the younger generation to discover in their interested scientific fields is of vital importance, which is also the original intention to set up the Creative Biolabs Scholarship Program. The scholarship application procedure is just like those of American universities that students should submit an application form, transcripts, recommendation letter (from a lecturer, school counselor or community leader), an essay, or a PPT over certain topics. Previously, reference letter was not a must but an additional material since the scholarship committee mainly evaluate the academic ability of candidates according to their academic records and propositional essays. This year, application materials from any one of the candidates without a reference letter with the designated format will be considered incomplete, and result in disqualification automatically. "We think the comprehensive ability of a candidate is also important, " said the head of the Scholarship Committee at Creative Biolabs, "the evaluation from others can be a good reference." Another significant material other than the academic transcript is the essay, or the PowerPoint document that must be totally original and grammatically right, reflecting the real insight of students in their fields. The topics include: l Overview on Clinical Applications of Oncolytic Viruses l Novel Gene Delivery Systems for Gene Therapy l Applications of Protac Technology in Disease Treatment l Overview on Clinical Applications of Stem Cell Therapy Considering the current situation that many students may have limited access to library resources or their referrers, Creative Biolabs modifies the submission deadline of all applications. "Not like last year, we extend the application to September 15," said the head of the Scholarship Committee, "to ensure the students have enough time to finish their essays, or find a referrer." As a leading custom service provider specialized in the field of antibody production and engineering, Creative Biolabs is always happy to support young and ambitious talents in the medical and science-related field. More details about the application procedures and requirements can be accessed at https://www.creative-biolabs.com/scholarship-program.html. Company profile: Creative Biolabs is a US based biotechnology company with specialties in antibody discovery, engineering and providing relative custom solutions.