Mutagenesis screening in mice is an effective means of identifying essential genes in cardiovascular development. The l11Jus8 (L8) mutant mouse line was originally isolated from a region-specific N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) chemical mutagenesis screen and exhibited an autosomal recessive mid-gestational embryonic lethal phenotype characterised by haemorrhage in the thoracic cavity, blood pooling in the heart, right ventricular dysmorphology and yolk sac vascular degeneration. Prior work mapped the L8 mutation to a ~2.77Mb region on mouse chromosome 11. The aim of this study was to further characterise the L8 mutant phenotype and identify the L8 causative mutation. Phenotypic characterisation conducted here confirmed mid-gestational lethality, haemorrhage and yolk sac vascular degeneration in L8 mutants. Histological analysis of L8 mutants demonstrated presence of fragmented cell nuclei and loss of myocardial integrity in embryonic atrial myocardium. Areas of fragmented cell nuclei did not exhibit positive staining for apoptosis. Furthermore, L8 mutants did not appear to experience typical cardiac defects in aspects including myocardial or smooth muscle differentiation, cell proliferation, ECM production, myocardial hypoplasia/hyperplasia, basement membrane components or observable aberrations in cardiac conduction. L8 mutants exhibited atypical cardiac defects including sudden cessation of heartbeat with morphological indicators of necrosis such as swelling of mitochondria and release of microparticles both from atrial myocardial cells. The L8 mutant appears to represent a novel combination of cardiac defects or novel defects with secondary cardiac phenotypes. Sequencing of the coding exons and splice junctions of 22 candidate genes within the ~2.77Mb L8 locus did not identify the causative mutation. The L8 locus was therefore further refined to a ~1.16Mb region including 20 genes. Sanger sequencing of 10 of these genes plus targeted sequence capture and SOLiD sequencing of the region did not identify a potential L8 mutation. Given the refinement of the candidate locus and advances in sequencing technology and analysis, further sequencing will likely identify the L8 mutation and confirm the cause of the embryonic lethal phenotype.

A young man, out of college and work, sets out to make his mark on the world, by winning the endurance sport of the eighties: the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon. As he eats, sleeps and breaths "Ironman," he shuts others out of his life because he feels that he must do it alone for the victory to be genuine; a philosophy that has been dogging him all his life.

Screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) have garnered much attention as sensors due to their simplicity and relatively low cost. However, to impart necessary selectivity and sensitivity for specific applications, modification of the SPCE surface, which can involve time-consuming procedures or costly equipment/materials, is typically required. Here, a simple nitrogen-doping process based on NH4OH was used to modify SPCEs prepared from commercially available ink for electrochemical detection of H2O2, a common target for biosensing strategies and indicator of cell stress. XPS studies showed that NH4OH treatment of SPCEs led to a nearly 5-fold increase in surface nitrogen content (from 0.28% to 1.34%). Compared to SPCEs, nitrogen-doped SPCEs (N-SPCEs) demonstrated enhanced current and lower onset potentials for H2O2 reduction. Amperometric detection of H2O2 at an applied potential of -0.4 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) using N-SPCEs also exhibited a wider linear range, lower detection limit, and higher sensitivity than SPCEs.

Excessive screen time in children is linked to reduced white matter integrity and developmental delays such as reduced vocabulary. Nevertheless, many parents allow their infants and toddlers to have access to screen devices. The current study examined mothers’ awareness of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations, parenting information sources utilized, and motivational and contextual factors associated with screen time exposure in mothers who had a child under the age of two. Results indicated that over 60% of mothers were aware of the recommendations, usually citing educational benefits as their rationale for infant screen time use. Most mothers reported they receive information from medical professionals or online platforms. These findings identify factors that researchers, policy makers, and public health professionals should consider when updating and disseminating information to the public in the near future.

The subject of this these is a preparation and printing of upconversion marks that have been printed by two printing techniques, namely screen printing and pad printing. The makrs were designed to visualize another chemical code identifiable by instrumentation. The impact of chemical code components on the fluorescence intensity of upconversion marks and the impact of individual components on printability and print sustainability were studied. The upconversion pigment was excited by NIR laser.

This diploma theses is about the study of the effect of individual components of printing compositions intended for material printing of identificaton codes, read by X-ray fluorescence. Two printing technologies were used – screen printing and pad printing. The composition of the print compositions has been optimized in term of visual recognition, print repeatability, a dry matter content providing an X-ray fluorescence signal, as well as optimization of the material print process leading to the creation of invisible identification tags for archive documents.

This thesis is focused on entropy sources and their evaluation. It includes a brief introduction to the information theory, description of entropy sources, their parameters and characteristics and methods of evaluation based on the NIST organisation standard SP 800-90B. The following part of the thesis is dedicated to the description of two created programs and evaluation and comparison of entropy sources. Additionally, the last part describes the usage of hash functions in association with entropy sources.

Tato práce navrhuje dotykové uživatelské rozhraní pro elektromobily. Rozhraní bylo navrženo tak, aby bylo pohodlné na použití pro řidiče a aby bylo snadné z něj vyčíst potřebné informace. Aby bylo možné toto rozhraní integrovat do elektromobilu, tato práce také navrhuje potřebnou softwarovou a systémovou (hardwarovou) architekturu. Nakonec shrnuje co je ještě potřeba udělat, aby bylo možné celý systém integrovat.

Limited or asymmetrical hip mobility can affect movement patterns common to everyday living. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between hip mobility and performance on the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) in apparently healthy older adults. This relationship was evaluated in both males and females. In this observational study, 20 older adults (10 male, 10 female, mean age = 65.65 ± 10.18 years old) completed the Functional Movement Screen and measurements of passive hip range of motion. Separate regression analyses and Pearson Product-Moment Correlations were used to evaluate the relationship between hip mobility measures and FMS composite and FMS individual task scores. All analyses employed a pseudo-Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Significant correlations were found between FMS Shoulder Mobility (left side scoring) and left leg hip flexion (p = 0.002, r = 0.636), Trunk Stability Push-Up and left leg external rotation (p = 0.008, r = 0.568), and Rotary Stability (scoring on the right side) and right leg flexion (p = 0.008, r = 0.571). The only measure of hip mobility that was significantly related to the FMS composite score was left leg hip external rotation (p = 0.006, r = 0.589). An independent t-test revealed a significant difference (p = 0.0002) between men and women on the FMS Trunk Stability Push-Up test. There was no sex difference in any other individual FMS test item or the composite FMS score. All of the participants were able to complete all of the measures of hip mobility and all of the individual FMS test items. Thus, a larger scale study could be conducted in an older group of participants to further evaluate the relationship between measures of hip mobility and the FMS, accounting for confounding variables such as physical activity level, BMI, and age. In this preliminary study, correlations between measures of hip mobility and FMS scores were strong but few in number. The findings of our study suggest that lower measures of hip mobility can lead to a decreased ability to perform task-specific FMS movements. This data gives evidence that hip mobility can influence functional movement patterns which may lead to alterations in functional movement related to activities of daily living.

C. elegans is a commonly used genetic model organism due to the ease of genetic screens, transgenesis, and microscopy. Here, I describe methods that improve transgenesis in C. elegans and the development of a genetic screen to identify genes involved in the piRNA pathway. Transgenesis is commonly used for most laboratories that utilize C. elegans and improvements are therefore likely to facilitate research across many research areas. In the first chapter, I characterized a pan-muscular promoter that drives fluorophore expression to help identify C. elegans transgenesis. This promoter is an improved co-injection marker as it drives bright fluorescence with low toxicity and high efficiency. In the second chapter, I study piRNAs which are a large class of non-coding RNA that play important roles in protecting the genome from transposable elements in most animals. The study of piRNAs has mostly focused on their function in the germline, but recent evidence suggests functions in somatic cells such as neurons. To identify genes involved in the piRNA pathway in C. elegans, I performed a chemical genetic screen. I identified one mutant with a somatic phenotype and six mutants with a germline phenotype. I have focused on the germline and sequenced two strains and identified candidate genes involved in the piRNA pathway. Future work will focus on validating and identifying the remaining mutants.