WorldWideScience

Sample records for meets regulatory biology

  1. 77 FR 34379 - Notice of Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. AD06-6-000] Notice of Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a joint meeting...

  2. 4th IEA International CCS Regulatory Network Meeting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-01

    On 9 and 10 May 2012, the IEA International CCS Regulatory Network (Network), launched in Paris in May 2008 to provide a neutral forum for CCS regulators, policy makers and stakeholders to share updates and views on CCS regulatory developments, held its fourth meeting at the International Energy Agency (IEA) offices in Paris, France. The aim of the meeting was to: provide an update on government efforts to develop and implement carbon capture and storage (CCS) legal and regulatory frameworks; and consider ways in which governments are dealing with some of the more difficult or complex aspects of CCS regulation. This report summarises the proceedings of the meeting.

  3. 78 FR 53138 - South Carolina Public Service Authority; Notice of Meeting to Discuss Santee-Cooper Biological...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 199-205] South Carolina Public Service Authority; Notice of Meeting to Discuss Santee-Cooper Biological Opinion On July 15, 2010, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) filed its Biological Opinion (BO) on the relicensing of...

  4. 75 FR 11166 - Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-10

    ... the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Notice of Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission March 2, 2010. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold...

  5. Meeting the regulatory information needs of users of radioactive materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacDurmon, G.W.

    1996-01-01

    The use of radioactive materials is one of the most regulated areas of research. Researchers face ever increasing regulatory requirements and issues involving the disposal of radioactive material, while meeting the demands of higher productivity. Radiation safety programs must maximize regulatory compliance, minimize barriers, provide services and solutions, and effectively communicate with users of radioactive materials. This talk will discuss methods by which a radiation safety program can meet the needs of both the research staff and regulatory compliance staff

  6. Meeting the regulatory information needs of users of radioactive materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    MacDurmon, G.W. [American Cyanamid Company, Princeton, NJ (United States)

    1996-10-01

    The use of radioactive materials is one of the most regulated areas of research. Researchers face ever increasing regulatory requirements and issues involving the disposal of radioactive material, while meeting the demands of higher productivity. Radiation safety programs must maximize regulatory compliance, minimize barriers, provide services and solutions, and effectively communicate with users of radioactive materials. This talk will discuss methods by which a radiation safety program can meet the needs of both the research staff and regulatory compliance staff.

  7. Regulatory activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    This publication, compiled in 8 chapters, presents the regulatory system developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) of the Argentine Republic. The following activities and developed topics in this document describe: the evolution of the nuclear regulatory activity in Argentina; the Argentine regulatory system; the nuclear regulatory laws and standards; the inspection and safeguards of nuclear facilities; the emergency systems; the environmental systems; the environmental monitoring; the analysis laboratories on physical and biological dosimetry, prenatal irradiation, internal irradiation, radiation measurements, detection techniques on nuclear testing, medical program on radiation protection; the institutional relations with national and international organization; the training courses and meeting; the technical information

  8. Regulatory activities; Actividades regulatorias

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-07-01

    This publication, compiled in 8 chapters, presents the regulatory system developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) of the Argentine Republic. The following activities and developed topics in this document describe: the evolution of the nuclear regulatory activity in Argentina; the Argentine regulatory system; the nuclear regulatory laws and standards; the inspection and safeguards of nuclear facilities; the emergency systems; the environmental systems; the environmental monitoring; the analysis laboratories on physical and biological dosimetry, prenatal irradiation, internal irradiation, radiation measurements, detection techniques on nuclear testing, medical program on radiation protection; the institutional relations with national and international organization; the training courses and meeting; the technical information.

  9. Summary of the first meeting of ASEAN Network of Regulatory Bodies on Atomic Energy (ASEANTOM)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siriratana Biramontri, Pantip Ampornrat

    2013-01-01

    The 1st Meeting of ASEAN Network of Regulatory Bodies on Atomic Energy (ASEANTOM) was organized in Phuket, Thailand on 3 - 4 September, 2013. The meeting was held on annually basis following the Meeting to Finalize the Term of Reference (TOR) in Bangkok, Thailand on 29 August, 2012. The objective of the meeting is to review and finalize TOR, and to set up the action plan of ASEANTOM. The action plan is an expected outcome of the meeting. The Meeting consisted of 41 participants from IAEA and ASEAN Member States (AMS), namely, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. Only Brunei Darussalam could not attend the Meeting. Participant's organizations were regulatory body or relevant authorities, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  10. 77 FR 19740 - Biological Sciences Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-02

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Biological Sciences Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L., 92- 463, as amended), the National Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: Biological Sciences Advisory Committee ( 1110). Date and...

  11. Use of prioritization in meeting regulatory requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowling, M.L.; Sommers, D.A.; Girvin, L.M.

    1993-01-01

    The use of prioritization in the allocation of resources is certainly not a new idea. However, the degree to which prioritization must now be used is much greater than ever before. In the past, utilities generally allocated the necessary resources to meet all regulatory requirements and commitments. Prioritization was then applied to the remaining nonregulatory but required needs. This approach to resource allocation is no longer appropriate for the current and projected economic and operating environment. Key reasons for this conclusion are discussed in this paper by staff from Virginia Power

  12. Synthetic biology and regulatory networks: where metabolic systems biology meets control engineering

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    He, F.; Murabito, E.; Westerhoff, H.V.

    2016-01-01

    Metabolic pathways can be engineered to maximize the synthesis of various products of interest. With the advent of computational systems biology, this endeavour is usually carried out throughin silicotheoretical studies with the aim to guide and complement furtherin vitroandin vivoexperimental

  13. Recombinant biologic products versus nutraceuticals from plants - a regulatory choice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drake, Pascal M W; Szeto, Tim H; Paul, Mathew J; Teh, Audrey Y-H; Ma, Julian K-C

    2017-01-01

    Biotechnology has transformed the potential for plants to be a manufacturing source of pharmaceutical compounds. Now, with transgenic and transient expression techniques, virtually any biologic, including vaccines and therapeutics, could be manufactured in plants. However, uncertainty over the regulatory path for such new pharmaceuticals has been a deterrent. Consideration has been given to using alternative regulatory paths, including those for nutraceuticals or cosmetic agents. This review will consider these possibilities, and discuss the difficulties in establishing regulatory guidelines for new pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies. © 2016 The British Pharmacological Society.

  14. Strategies of bringing drug product marketing applications to meet current regulatory standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yan; Freed, Anita; Lavrich, David; Raghavachari, Ramesh; Huynh-Ba, Kim; Shah, Ketan; Alasandro, Mark

    2015-08-01

    In the past decade, many guidance documents have been issued through collaboration of global organizations and regulatory authorities. Most of these are applicable to new products, but there is a risk that currently marketed products will not meet the new compliance standards during audits and inspections while companies continue to make changes through the product life cycle for continuous improvement or market demands. This discussion presents different strategies to bringing drug product marketing applications to meet current and emerging standards. It also discusses stability and method designs to meet process validation and global development efforts.

  15. Synthetic biology and regulatory networks: where metabolic systems biology meets control engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Fei; Murabito, Ettore; Westerhoff, Hans V

    2016-04-01

    Metabolic pathways can be engineered to maximize the synthesis of various products of interest. With the advent of computational systems biology, this endeavour is usually carried out through in silico theoretical studies with the aim to guide and complement further in vitro and in vivo experimental efforts. Clearly, what counts is the result in vivo, not only in terms of maximal productivity but also robustness against environmental perturbations. Engineering an organism towards an increased production flux, however, often compromises that robustness. In this contribution, we review and investigate how various analytical approaches used in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology are related to concepts developed by systems and control engineering. While trade-offs between production optimality and cellular robustness have already been studied diagnostically and statically, the dynamics also matter. Integration of the dynamic design aspects of control engineering with the more diagnostic aspects of metabolic, hierarchical control and regulation analysis is leading to the new, conceptual and operational framework required for the design of robust and productive dynamic pathways. © 2016 The Author(s).

  16. Use of PSA in the regulatory process. Report of the specialist's meeting. Working material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The objective of this meeting was to focus on the role of the regulator in relation to PSA, to give a picture of the present status, and near term plans, of the requirements placed on licensees and of the uses, formal and informal, made of PSA in regulatory decision making. One such use, in which there is currently much interest, is known as Risk-Based Regulation. This term has various connotations but essentially refers to a more flexible and efficient application of Technical Specifications in the interests of gains in both economy and safety. The position in many countries is one of change in the use of PSA by regulators, and hence any report can only give a snapshot in time. It has to be noted that a number of countries, with important nuclear power programmes, were not represented at the meeting, and so the overall picture is not as comprehensive as might have been hoped. The field of the discussion in the meeting was divided into three areas, progressed in three working groups, namely: Regulatory requirements related to PSA, Regulatory uses of PSA, and Risk-Based Regulation. The outcomes are covered in the next three sections. The fifth section of this report gives the overall conclusions of the meeting and the final section makes some recommendations for future IAEA activities in these areas. Refs, figs, tabs

  17. Recombinant biologic products versus nutraceuticals from plants – a regulatory choice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drake, Pascal M. W.; Szeto, Tim H.; Paul, Mathew J.; Teh, Audrey Y.‐H.

    2016-01-01

    Biotechnology has transformed the potential for plants to be a manufacturing source of pharmaceutical compounds. Now, with transgenic and transient expression techniques, virtually any biologic, including vaccines and therapeutics, could be manufactured in plants. However, uncertainty over the regulatory path for such new pharmaceuticals has been a deterrent. Consideration has been given to using alternative regulatory paths, including those for nutraceuticals or cosmetic agents. This review will consider these possibilities, and discuss the difficulties in establishing regulatory guidelines for new pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies. PMID:27297459

  18. Regulatory surveillance of safety related maintenance at nuclear power plants. Report of a technical committee meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-08-01

    The operational safety and reliability of a nuclear power plant as well as its availability for electricity generation depend on, among other things, its maintenance programme. Regulatory bodies therefore have considerable interest in maintenance activities. There are several approaches to maintenance, i.e. reliability centered maintenance or risk focused maintenance, aimed at optimizing maintenance by focusing on important components or systems. These approaches may result in significant changes to maintenance activities and therefore have to be considered for regulatory acceptance. In order to review and discuss the status of maintenance regulation in participating countries, the IAEA convened a Technical Committee Meeting on Regulatory Oversight of Maintenance Activities at Nuclear Power Plants in Vienna from 9 to 13 October 1995. The meeting was attended by 16 experts from 11 countries. In addition to the consideration of papers that were presented and which are reproduced here, extensive group and panel discussions took place during the meeting. These covered three main topics: general features and basic characteristics of maintenance regulation, regulatory acceptance of maintenance optimization and use of PSA for maintenance optimization. The discussion are summarized in Section 2. Section 3 discusses the following three additional topics: regulatory involvement in the maintenance programme, modifications to the maintenance programme and personnel related aspects of maintenance. The conclusions are presented in Section 4. Figs, tabs

  19. A Systems’ Biology Approach to Study MicroRNA-Mediated Gene Regulatory Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin Lai

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available MicroRNAs (miRNAs are potent effectors in gene regulatory networks where aberrant miRNA expression can contribute to human diseases such as cancer. For a better understanding of the regulatory role of miRNAs in coordinating gene expression, we here present a systems biology approach combining data-driven modeling and model-driven experiments. Such an approach is characterized by an iterative process, including biological data acquisition and integration, network construction, mathematical modeling and experimental validation. To demonstrate the application of this approach, we adopt it to investigate mechanisms of collective repression on p21 by multiple miRNAs. We first construct a p21 regulatory network based on data from the literature and further expand it using algorithms that predict molecular interactions. Based on the network structure, a detailed mechanistic model is established and its parameter values are determined using data. Finally, the calibrated model is used to study the effect of different miRNA expression profiles and cooperative target regulation on p21 expression levels in different biological contexts.

  20. Biological data warehousing system for identifying transcriptional regulatory sites from gene expressions of microarray data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsou, Ann-Ping; Sun, Yi-Ming; Liu, Chia-Lin; Huang, Hsien-Da; Horng, Jorng-Tzong; Tsai, Meng-Feng; Liu, Baw-Juine

    2006-07-01

    Identification of transcriptional regulatory sites plays an important role in the investigation of gene regulation. For this propose, we designed and implemented a data warehouse to integrate multiple heterogeneous biological data sources with data types such as text-file, XML, image, MySQL database model, and Oracle database model. The utility of the biological data warehouse in predicting transcriptional regulatory sites of coregulated genes was explored using a synexpression group derived from a microarray study. Both of the binding sites of known transcription factors and predicted over-represented (OR) oligonucleotides were demonstrated for the gene group. The potential biological roles of both known nucleotides and one OR nucleotide were demonstrated using bioassays. Therefore, the results from the wet-lab experiments reinforce the power and utility of the data warehouse as an approach to the genome-wide search for important transcription regulatory elements that are the key to many complex biological systems.

  1. A reverse engineering approach to optimize experiments for the construction of biological regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaomeng; Shao, Bin; Wu, Yangle; Qi, Ouyang

    2013-01-01

    One of the major objectives in systems biology is to understand the relation between the topological structures and the dynamics of biological regulatory networks. In this context, various mathematical tools have been developed to deduct structures of regulatory networks from microarray expression data. In general, from a single data set, one cannot deduct the whole network structure; additional expression data are usually needed. Thus how to design a microarray expression experiment in order to get the most information is a practical problem in systems biology. Here we propose three methods, namely, maximum distance method, trajectory entropy method, and sampling method, to derive the optimal initial conditions for experiments. The performance of these methods is tested and evaluated in three well-known regulatory networks (budding yeast cell cycle, fission yeast cell cycle, and E. coli. SOS network). Based on the evaluation, we propose an efficient strategy for the design of microarray expression experiments.

  2. News from the Biological Stain Commission no. 12

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lyon, H O

    2012-01-01

    In this 12(th) issue of News from the Biological Stain Commission (BSC) under the heading of Regulatory affairs, the Biological Stain Commission's International Affairs Committee presents information from the meetings of ISO/TC 212/WG 1 Quality and competence in the medical laboratory and ISO....../TC 212/WG 3 In vitro diagnostic products both held on 2 - 3 June 2010, plus information on the second plenary meeting of ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems held on 4 June 2010. All meetings took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Finally, information is provided...

  3. 77 FR 63839 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-17

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug...: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function of the Committee: To provide...) Virus Monovalent Vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. On November 15, 2012, the committee will meet...

  4. Synthetic Biology and the U.S. Biotechnology Regulatory System: Challenges and Options

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carter, Sarah R. [J. Craig Venter Inst., Rockville, MD (United States); Rodemeyer, Michael [Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Garfinkel, Michele S. [EMBO, Heidelberg (Germany); Friedman, Robert M. [J. Craig Venter Inst., Rockville, MD (United States)

    2014-05-01

    Synthetic Biology and the U.S. Biotechnology Regulatory System: Challenges and Options Sarah R. Carter, Ph.D., J. Craig Venter Institute; Michael Rodemeyer, J.D., University of Virginia; Michele S. Garfinkel, Ph.D., EMBO; Robert M. Friedman, Ph.D., J. Craig Venter Institute In recent years, a range of genetic engineering techniques referred to as “synthetic biology” has significantly expanded the tool kit available to scientists and engineers, providing them with far greater capabilities to engineer organisms than previous techniques allowed. The field of synthetic biology includes the relatively new ability to synthesize long pieces of DNA from chemicals, as well as improved methods for genetic manipulation and design of genetic pathways to achieve more precise control of biological systems. These advances will help usher in a new generation of genetically engineered microbes, plants, and animals. The JCVI Policy Center team, along with researchers at the University of Virginia and EMBO, examined how well the current U.S. regulatory system for genetically engineered products will handle the near-term introduction of organisms engineered using synthetic biology. In particular, the focus was on those organisms intended to be used or grown directly in the environment, outside of a contained facility. The study concludes that the U.S. regulatory agencies have adequate legal authority to address most, but not all, potential environmental, health and safety concerns posed by these organisms. Such near-term products are likely to represent incremental changes rather than a marked departure from previous genetically engineered organisms. However, the study also identified two key challenges for the regulatory system, which are detailed in the report. First, USDA’s authority over genetically engineered plants depends on the use of an older engineering technique that is no longer necessary for many applications. The shift to synthetic biology and other newer genetic

  5. Perceived success/failure and attributions associated with self-regulatory efficacy to meet physical activity recommendations for women with arthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spink, Kevin S; Brawley, Lawrence R; Gyurcsik, Nancy C

    2016-10-01

    The relationship between attributional dimensions women assign to the cause of their perceived success or failure at meeting the recommended physical activity dose and self-regulatory efficacy for future physical activity was examined among women with arthritis. Women (N = 117) aged 18-84 years, with self-reported medically-diagnosed arthritis, completed on-line questions in the fall of 2013 assessing endurance physical activity, perceived outcome for meeting the recommended levels of endurance activity, attributions for one's success or failure in meeting the recommendations, and self-regulatory efficacy to schedule/plan endurance activity over the next month. The main theoretically-driven finding revealed that the interaction of the stability dimension with perceived success/failure was significantly related to self-regulatory efficacy for scheduling and planning future physical activity (β = 0.35, p = .002). Outcomes attributed to more versus less stable factors accentuated differences in self-regulatory efficacy beliefs following perceived success and failure at being active. It appears that attributional dimensions were associated with self-regulatory efficacy in women with arthritis. This suggests that rather than objectively observed past mastery experience, women's subjective perceptions and explanations of their past experiences were related to efficacy beliefs, especially following a failure experience.

  6. Proceedings of the tenth annual general meeting of BIOMINET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gould, W D; Lortie, L; Rodrigue, D [eds.

    1994-01-01

    At a meeting held on the subject of applications of biotechnology in the mineral industry, papers were presented on bioleaching, metals recovery, biotechnology applications in the fossil fuel sector, biodegradation of organic compounds, bioremediation of contaminated sites, treatment of fugitive emissions by biological means, biofilters used in treating toxic substances, and the environmental and regulatory dimensions of biotechnology. Separate abstracts have been prepared for five papers from this meeting.

  7. Automatic compilation from high-level biologically-oriented programming language to genetic regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beal, Jacob; Lu, Ting; Weiss, Ron

    2011-01-01

    The field of synthetic biology promises to revolutionize our ability to engineer biological systems, providing important benefits for a variety of applications. Recent advances in DNA synthesis and automated DNA assembly technologies suggest that it is now possible to construct synthetic systems of significant complexity. However, while a variety of novel genetic devices and small engineered gene networks have been successfully demonstrated, the regulatory complexity of synthetic systems that have been reported recently has somewhat plateaued due to a variety of factors, including the complexity of biology itself and the lag in our ability to design and optimize sophisticated biological circuitry. To address the gap between DNA synthesis and circuit design capabilities, we present a platform that enables synthetic biologists to express desired behavior using a convenient high-level biologically-oriented programming language, Proto. The high level specification is compiled, using a regulatory motif based mechanism, to a gene network, optimized, and then converted to a computational simulation for numerical verification. Through several example programs we illustrate the automated process of biological system design with our platform, and show that our compiler optimizations can yield significant reductions in the number of genes (~ 50%) and latency of the optimized engineered gene networks. Our platform provides a convenient and accessible tool for the automated design of sophisticated synthetic biological systems, bridging an important gap between DNA synthesis and circuit design capabilities. Our platform is user-friendly and features biologically relevant compiler optimizations, providing an important foundation for the development of sophisticated biological systems.

  8. 78 FR 60884 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-02

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function... Immunoregulation, Division of Viral Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review, Center for Biologics...

  9. 76 FR 44016 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-22

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function... Allergenic Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research...

  10. 77 FR 3780 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-25

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function... Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA. The...

  11. 78 FR 20663 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-05

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function..., Office of Vaccines Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA. FDA intends to...

  12. Review of the 25th annual scientific meeting of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balwit, James M; Kalinski, Pawel; Sondak, Vernon K; Coulie, Pierre G; Jaffee, Elizabeth M; Gajewski, Thomas F; Marincola, Francesco M

    2011-05-12

    Led by key opinion leaders in the field, the 25th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc, recently renamed the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, SITC) provided a scientific platform for ~500 attendees to exchange cutting-edge information on basic, clinical, and translational research in cancer immunology and immunotherapy. The meeting included keynote addresses on checkpoint blockade in cancer therapy and recent advances in therapeutic vaccination against cancer induced by Human Papilloma Virus 16. Participants from 29 countries interacted through oral presentations, panel discussions, and posters on topics that included dendritic cells and cancer, targeted therapeutics and immunotherapy, innate/adaptive immune interplay in cancer, clinical trial endpoints, vaccine combinations, countering negative regulation, immune cell trafficking to tumor microenvironment, and adoptive T cell transfer. In addition to the 50 oral presentations and >180 posters on these topics, a new SITC/iSBTc initiative to create evidence-based Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines was announced. The SITC/iSBTc Biomarkers Taskforce announced the release of recommendations on immunotherapy biomarkers and a highly successful symposium on Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers that took place on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) immediately prior to the Annual Meeting. At the Annual Meeting, the NIH took the opportunity to publicly announce the award of the U01 grant that will fund the Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN). In summary, the Annual Meeting gathered clinicians and scientists from academia, industry, and regulatory agencies from around the globe to interact and exchange important scientific advances related to tumor immunobiology and cancer immunotherapy.

  13. Abstracts of the 10. Annual meeting of the Federation of the Experimental Biological Societies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-01-01

    The meeting was about experimental biology and it was discussed topics related to medicine, pharmacology, cellular biology, biophysics, toxicology, physiology, immunology, radiobiology, photobiology, natural products and environment

  14. Review of the 25th annual scientific meeting of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaffee Elizabeth M

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Led by key opinion leaders in the field, the 25th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc, recently renamed the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, SITC provided a scientific platform for ~500 attendees to exchange cutting-edge information on basic, clinical, and translational research in cancer immunology and immunotherapy. The meeting included keynote addresses on checkpoint blockade in cancer therapy and recent advances in therapeutic vaccination against cancer induced by Human Papilloma Virus 16. Participants from 29 countries interacted through oral presentations, panel discussions, and posters on topics that included dendritic cells and cancer, targeted therapeutics and immunotherapy, innate/adaptive immune interplay in cancer, clinical trial endpoints, vaccine combinations, countering negative regulation, immune cell trafficking to tumor microenvironment, and adoptive T cell transfer. In addition to the 50 oral presentations and >180 posters on these topics, a new SITC/iSBTc initiative to create evidence-based Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines was announced. The SITC/iSBTc Biomarkers Taskforce announced the release of recommendations on immunotherapy biomarkers and a highly successful symposium on Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers that took place on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH immediately prior to the Annual Meeting. At the Annual Meeting, the NIH took the opportunity to publicly announce the award of the U01 grant that will fund the Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN. In summary, the Annual Meeting gathered clinicians and scientists from academia, industry, and regulatory agencies from around the globe to interact and exchange important scientific advances related to tumor immunobiology and cancer immunotherapy.

  15. Technical Memory 2010. Nuclear Regulatory Authority

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-01-01

    The technical memory 2010 of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Argentine Republic, compile the papers published in the subject on radiation protection and nuclear safety presented in journals, technical reports, congress or meetings of these subjects by the ARN personnel during 2010. In this edition the documents are presented on: environmental protection; safety transport of radioactive materials; regulations; licensing of medical installations; biological radiation effects; therapeutic uses of ionizing radiation and radioprotection of patients; internal dosimetry; radioactive waste management [es

  16. Technical Memory 2011. Nuclear Regulatory Authority

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    The technical memory 2011 of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Argentine Republic, compile the papers published in the subject on radiation protection and nuclear safety presented in journals, technical reports, congress or meetings of these subjects by the ARN personnel during 2011. In this edition the documents are presented on: environmental protection; safety transport of radioactive materials; regulations; licensing of medical installations; biological radiation effects; therapeutic uses of ionizing radiation and radioprotection of patients; internal dosimetry; radioactive waste management [es

  17. 76 FR 13646 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-14

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function... Polysaccharides, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic, and Allergenic Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review...

  18. 76 FR 72724 - Advisory Committee For Biological Sciences; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-25

    ... Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. Type of Meeting: Open. Contact Person: Chuck... research that is the basis for the 21st century bio-economy and the undergraduate and graduate biology...

  19. Low doses of ionizing radiation: Biological effects and regulatory control. Contributed papers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-11-01

    The International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization, in cooperation with the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, organized an international conference on Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Biological Effects and Regulatory Control, held in seville, Spain, from 17 to 21 November 1997. This technical document contains concise papers submitted to the conference

  20. 77 FR 42319 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-18

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug...: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function of the Committee: To provide... consideration of the appropriateness of cell lines derived from human tumors for vaccine manufacture. FDA...

  1. 75 FR 59729 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-28

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function... vaccines for a post-exposure prophylaxis indication using the animal rule. On November 17, 2010, the...

  2. 76 FR 55397 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-07

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug... public. Name of Committee: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function... Laboratory of Method Development, Division of Viral Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review, Center...

  3. Integrating external biological knowledge in the construction of regulatory networks from time-series expression data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lo Kenneth

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Inference about regulatory networks from high-throughput genomics data is of great interest in systems biology. We present a Bayesian approach to infer gene regulatory networks from time series expression data by integrating various types of biological knowledge. Results We formulate network construction as a series of variable selection problems and use linear regression to model the data. Our method summarizes additional data sources with an informative prior probability distribution over candidate regression models. We extend the Bayesian model averaging (BMA variable selection method to select regulators in the regression framework. We summarize the external biological knowledge by an informative prior probability distribution over the candidate regression models. Conclusions We demonstrate our method on simulated data and a set of time-series microarray experiments measuring the effect of a drug perturbation on gene expression levels, and show that it outperforms leading regression-based methods in the literature.

  4. 75 FR 2876 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-19

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug...: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function of the Committee: To provide... virus vaccine for the 2010 - 2011 influenza season. FDA intends to make background material available to...

  5. 76 FR 3639 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-20

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug...: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function of the Committee: To provide... the influenza virus vaccine for the 2011-2012 influenza season. The committee will also hear an update...

  6. 78 FR 5465 - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-25

    ...] Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug...: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. General Function of the Committee: To provide... virus vaccine for the 2013- 2014 influenza season. FDA intends to make background material available to...

  7. Low doses of ionizing radiation: Biological effects and regulatory control. Contributed papers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-11-01

    The International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization, in cooperation with the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, organized an international conference on Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Biological Effects and Regulatory Control, held in seville, Spain, from 17 to 21 November 1997. This technical document contains concise papers submitted to the conference. Refs, figs, tabs.

  8. Abstracts of the 27. Annual meeting of the Brazilian Society on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    This meeting was about biochemistry and molecular biology. It was discussed topics related to bio energetic, channels, transports, biotechnology, metabolism, cellular biology, immunology, toxicology, photobiology and pharmacology

  9. Abstracts of the 26. Annual meeting of the Brazilian Society on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    This meeting was about biochemistry and molecular biology. It was discussed topics related to bio energetic, channels, transports, biotechnology, metabolism, cellular biology, immunology, toxicology, photobiology and pharmacology

  10. Technical Memory 2008. Nuclear Regulatory Authority

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    The technical memory 2008 of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Argentine Republic, compile the papers published in the subject on radiation protection and nuclear safety, and presented in journals, technical reports, congress or meetings of these specialties by personnel of the mentioned institution during 2008. In this edition the documents are presented on: environmental protection; transport of radioactive materials; regulations; research reactors and nuclear power plants; biological radiation effects; therapeutic uses of ionizing radiation and radioprotection of patients; internal dosimetry; physical dosimetry; knowledge management; radioactive waste management. [es

  11. Neutrons in Biology. A satellite meeting of the IUPAB/EBSA biophysics congress

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koji, Yoshida; Longeville, St.; Motomu, Tanaka; Blackledge, M.; Ebel, Ch.; Cooper, J.B.; Curmi, P.; Ferrand, M.; Gutberlet, T.; Huang, Huey Hang; Haub, T.; Mitsuhiro, Hirai; Geoff, Kneale; Langan, P.; Masahisa, Wada; Junji, Sugiyama; Yoshiharu, Nishiyama; Chanzy, H.; Leckband, D.; Meilleur, F.; Nawroth, Th.; Paciaroni, A.; Parak, F.; Gaede, H.C.; Soubias, O.; Luckett, K.M.; Polozov, I.V.; Wong, K.K.Y.; Yeliseev, A.A.; Gawrisch, K.; Deme, B.; Marchal, D.; Hanson, L.; Podjarny, A.; Mitschler, A.; Hazemann, I.; Blakeley, M.; Dauvergne, M.T.; Meilleur, F.; Budayova-Spano, M.; Van Zandt, M.; Ginell, S.; Joachimiak, A.; Myles, D.; Timmins, P.A.; Pebay-Peyroula, E; Welte, W.; Prince, S.M.; Howard, T.D.; Myles, D.A.A.; Wilkinson, C.; Papiz, M.Z.; Freer, A.A.; Cogdell, R.J.; Isaacs, N.W.; Papiz, M.Z.; Prince, S.M.; Howard, T.D.; Cogdell, R.J.; Isaacs, N.W.; Rheinstaedter, M.; Sapede, D.; Svergun, D.; Tarek, M.; Tehei, M.; Trewhella, J.; Watts, A.; Zaccai, G.J

    2005-07-01

    This meeting focussed on the study of the structure and dynamics of biological molecules, with particular emphasis on neutron and complementary methods as well as related enabling technologies. The program covered biological problems that are being addressed by neutron scattering and those where there is the potential to do so in the future. This document provides the abstracts of the different presentations. (A.L.B.)

  12. Neutrons in Biology. A satellite meeting of the IUPAB/EBSA biophysics congress

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koji, Yoshida; Longeville, St.; Motomu, Tanaka; Blackledge, M.; Ebel, Ch.; Cooper, J.B.; Curmi, P.; Ferrand, M.; Gutberlet, T.; Huang, Huey Hang; Haub, T.; Mitsuhiro, Hirai; Geoff, Kneale; Langan, P.; Masahisa, Wada; Junji, Sugiyama; Yoshiharu, Nishiyama; Chanzy, H.; Leckband, D.; Meilleur, F.; Nawroth, Th.; Paciaroni, A.; Parak, F.; Gaede, H.C.; Soubias, O.; Luckett, K.M.; Polozov, I.V.; Wong, K.K.Y.; Yeliseev, A.A.; Gawrisch, K.; Deme, B.; Marchal, D.; Hanson, L.; Podjarny, A.; Mitschler, A.; Hazemann, I.; Blakeley, M.; Dauvergne, M.T.; Meilleur, F.; Budayova-Spano, M.; Van Zandt, M.; Ginell, S.; Joachimiak, A.; Myles, D.; Timmins, P.A.; Pebay-Peyroula, E; Welte, W.; Prince, S.M.; Howard, T.D.; Myles, D.A.A.; Wilkinson, C.; Papiz, M.Z.; Freer, A.A.; Cogdell, R.J.; Isaacs, N.W.; Papiz, M.Z.; Prince, S.M.; Howard, T.D.; Cogdell, R.J.; Isaacs, N.W.; Rheinstaedter, M.; Sapede, D.; Svergun, D.; Tarek, M.; Tehei, M.; Trewhella, J.; Watts, A.; Zaccai, G.J.

    2005-01-01

    This meeting focussed on the study of the structure and dynamics of biological molecules, with particular emphasis on neutron and complementary methods as well as related enabling technologies. The program covered biological problems that are being addressed by neutron scattering and those where there is the potential to do so in the future. This document provides the abstracts of the different presentations. (A.L.B.)

  13. Chinese Herbal Medicine Meets Biological Networks of Complex Diseases: A Computational Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuo Gu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid development of cheminformatics, computational biology, and systems biology, great progress has been made recently in the computational research of Chinese herbal medicine with in-depth understanding towards pharmacognosy. This paper summarized these studies in the aspects of computational methods, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM compound databases, and TCM network pharmacology. Furthermore, we chose arachidonic acid metabolic network as a case study to demonstrate the regulatory function of herbal medicine in the treatment of inflammation at network level. Finally, a computational workflow for the network-based TCM study, derived from our previous successful applications, was proposed.

  14. Chinese Herbal Medicine Meets Biological Networks of Complex Diseases: A Computational Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Shuo; Pei, Jianfeng

    2017-01-01

    With the rapid development of cheminformatics, computational biology, and systems biology, great progress has been made recently in the computational research of Chinese herbal medicine with in-depth understanding towards pharmacognosy. This paper summarized these studies in the aspects of computational methods, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) compound databases, and TCM network pharmacology. Furthermore, we chose arachidonic acid metabolic network as a case study to demonstrate the regulatory function of herbal medicine in the treatment of inflammation at network level. Finally, a computational workflow for the network-based TCM study, derived from our previous successful applications, was proposed.

  15. 78 FR 19492 - Draft Guidance for Industry on Formal Meetings Between FDA and Biosimilar Biological Product...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-01

    ..., or Office of Communication, Outreach, and Development (HFM-40), Center for Biologics Evaluation and... biological product. This draft guidance describes the Agency's current thinking on how it intends to... review of biosimilar biological products. Because these meetings often will represent critical points in...

  16. Regulatory Oversight of Cell and Gene Therapy Products in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ridgway, Anthony; Agbanyo, Francisca; Wang, Jian; Rosu-Myles, Michael

    2015-01-01

    Health Canada regulates gene therapy products and many cell therapy products as biological drugs under the Canadian Food and Drugs Act and its attendant regulations. Cellular products that meet certain criteria, including minimal manipulation and homologous use, may be subjected to a standards-based approach under the Safety of Human Cells, Tissues and Organs for Transplantation Regulations. The manufacture and clinical testing of cell and gene therapy products (CGTPs) presents many challenges beyond those for protein biologics. Cells cannot be subjected to pathogen removal or inactivation procedures and must frequently be administered shortly after final formulation. Viral vector design and manufacturing control are critically important to overall product quality and linked to safety and efficacy in patients through concerns such as replication competence, vector integration, and vector shedding. In addition, for many CGTPs, the value of nonclinical studies is largely limited to providing proof of concept, and the first meaningful data relating to appropriate dosing, safety parameters, and validity of surrogate or true determinants of efficacy must come from carefully designed clinical trials in patients. Addressing these numerous challenges requires application of various risk mitigation strategies and meeting regulatory expectations specifically adapted to the product types. Regulatory cooperation and harmonisation at an international level are essential for progress in the development and commercialisation of these products. However, particularly in the area of cell therapy, new regulatory paradigms may be needed to harness the benefits of clinical progress in situations where the resources and motivation to pursue a typical drug product approval pathway may be lacking.

  17. Program and abstracts of the 25. Annual meeting of the Brazilian Society on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The meeting was about biochemistry and molecular biology.In this meeting it was also discussed the following subjects: biotechnology, metabolism, enzymes, proteins, immunology, drugs and others related topics

  18. proceedings of the 11. Annual meeting of the Federation of Societies on Experimental Biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The proceedings of the 11. Annual meeting of the Federation of Societies on Experimental Biology contains 1850 abstracts, which include the following topics: neuroscience and behaviour; biophysics; pharmacology; comparative physiology; nervous regulation; endocrinology; nefrology; vascular biology; toxicity; molecular biophysics; radiobiology and others. Among these, 169 abstracts have been indexed separately for the INIS database

  19. 75 FR 5355 - Sunshine Act; Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-02

    ...). (Contact: Dominick Orlando, 301-415-6749.) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address, http://www... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0002] Sunshine Act; Meeting Notice AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETINGS: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. DATES: Weeks of February 1, 8, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2010. PLACE...

  20. Proceedings of the Scientific Meeting on Application of Isotopes and Radiation, Book I, Agricultural, Animal and Biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suhadi, F.; Sisworo, E.L.; Maha, M.; Ismachin, M.; Hilmy, N.; Sumatra, M.; Mugiono; Wandowo; Soebianto, Y.S

    1998-01-01

    The aim of the 10 t h Meeting of the Isotope and Radiation Application is to disseminate the result of research on application of nuclear techniques on agriculture, animal, biology, chemistry, environment, radiation process and industry. The meeting was held in Jakarta, 18-19 February 1998, and there were 6 invited papers and 52 papers indexed individually. This proceeding is divided by two volumes. Volume I and volume II consists of agriculture, animal, biology and chemistry, environment, radiation process and industry, respectively.(ID)

  1. RNAi technologies in agricultural biotechnology: The Toxicology Forum 40th Annual Summer Meeting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherman, James H; Munyikwa, Tichafa; Chan, Stephen Y; Petrick, Jay S; Witwer, Kenneth W; Choudhuri, Supratim

    2015-11-01

    During the 40th Annual Meeting of The Toxicology Forum, the current and potential future science, regulations, and politics of agricultural biotechnology were presented and discussed. The meeting session described herein focused on the technology of RNA interference (RNAi) in agriculture. The general process by which RNAi works, currently registered RNAi-based plant traits, example RNAi-based traits in development, potential use of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) as topically applied pesticide active ingredients, research related to the safety of RNAi, biological barriers to ingested dsRNA, recent regulatory RNAi science reviews, and regulatory considerations related to the use of RNAi in agriculture were discussed. Participants generally agreed that the current regulatory framework is robust and appropriate for evaluating the safety of RNAi employed in agricultural biotechnology and were also supportive of the use of RNAi to develop improved crop traits. However, as with any emerging technology, the potential range of future products, potential future regulatory frameworks, and public acceptance of the technology will continue to evolve. As such, continuing dialogue was encouraged to promote education of consumers and science-based regulations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. An Integrated Biological Control System At Hanford

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, A.R.; Caudill, J.G.; Giddings, R.F.; Rodriguez, J.M.; Roos, R.C.; Wilde, J.W.

    2010-01-01

    In 1999 an integrated biological control system was instituted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. Successes and changes to the program needed to be communicated to a large and diverse mix of organizations and individuals. Efforts at communication are directed toward the following: Hanford Contractors (Liquid or Tank Waste, Solid Waste, Environmental Restoration, Science and Technology, Site Infrastructure), General Hanford Employees, and Hanford Advisory Board (Native American Tribes, Environmental Groups, Local Citizens, Washington State and Oregon State regulatory agencies). Communication was done through direct interface meetings, individual communication, where appropriate, and broadly sharing program reports. The objectives of the communication efforts was to have the program well coordinated with Hanford contractors, and to have the program understood well enough that all stakeholders would have confidence in the work performed by the program to reduce or elimate spread of radioactive contamination by biotic vectors. Communication of successes and changes to an integrated biological control system instituted in 1999 at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site have required regular interfaces with not only a diverse group of Hanford contractors (i.e., those responsible for liquid or tank waste, solid wastes, environmental restoration, science and technology, and site infrastructure), and general Hanford employees, but also with a consortium of designated stake holders organized as the Hanford Advisory Board (i.e., Native American tribes, various environmental groups, local citizens, Washington state and Oregon regulatory agencies, etc.). Direct interface meetings, individual communication where appropriate, and transparency of the biological control program were the methods and outcome of this effort.

  3. AN INTEGRATED BIOLOGICAL CONTROL SYSTEM AT HANFORD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    JOHNSON AR; CAUDILL JG; GIDDINGS RF; RODRIGUEZ JM; ROOS RC; WILDE JW

    2010-02-11

    In 1999 an integrated biological control system was instituted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. Successes and changes to the program needed to be communicated to a large and diverse mix of organizations and individuals. Efforts at communication are directed toward the following: Hanford Contractors (Liquid or Tank Waste, Solid Waste, Environmental Restoration, Science and Technology, Site Infrastructure), General Hanford Employees, and Hanford Advisory Board (Native American Tribes, Environmental Groups, Local Citizens, Washington State and Oregon State regulatory agencies). Communication was done through direct interface meetings, individual communication, where appropriate, and broadly sharing program reports. The objectives of the communication efforts was to have the program well coordinated with Hanford contractors, and to have the program understood well enough that all stakeholders would have confidence in the work performed by the program to reduce or elimated spread of radioactive contamination by biotic vectors. Communication of successes and changes to an integrated biological control system instituted in 1999 at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site have required regular interfaces with not only a diverse group of Hanford contractors (i.e., those responsible for liquid or tank waste, solid wastes, environmental restoration, science and technology, and site infrastructure), and general Hanford employees, but also with a consortium of designated stake holders organized as the Hanford Advisory Board (i.e., Native American tribes, various environmental groups, local citizens, Washington state and Oregon regulatory agencies, etc.). Direct interface meetings, individual communication where appropriate, and transparency of the biological control program were the methods and outcome of this effort.

  4. Summary of the primer on tumor immunology and the biological therapy of cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margolin Kim

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc is one of the "premier destinations for interaction and innovation in the cancer biologics community". It provides a primer course each year during the annual meeting to address the most important areas of tumor immunology and immunotherapy. The course has been given by prominent investigators in the area of interest, covering the core principles of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. The target audience for this program includes investigators from academic, regulatory, and biopharmaceutical venues. The program goal is to enable the attendees to learn the current status and the most recent advances in biologic therapies, and to leverage this knowledge towards the improvement of cancer therapy. The 2008 immunologic primer course was held on October 30 at the 23rd Annual meeting of iSBTc in San Diego, CA. Nine internationally renowned investigators gave excellent presentations on different topics. The topics covered in this primer included: (1 cytokines in cancer immunology; (2 anti-angiogenic therapy; (3 end stage: immune killing of tumors; (4 blocking T cell checkpoints; (5 approach to identification and therapeutic exploitation of tumor antigens; (6 T regulatory cells; (7 adoptive T cell therapy; (8 immune monitoring of cancer immunotherapy; and (9 immune adjuvants. We summarized the topics in this primer for public education. The related topic slides and schedule can be accessed online http://www.isbtc.org/meetings/am08/primer08.

  5. Epidemiologic studies of occupational pesticide exposure and cancer: regulatory risk assessments and biologic plausibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acquavella, John; Doe, John; Tomenson, John; Chester, Graham; Cowell, John; Bloemen, Louis

    2003-01-01

    Epidemiologic studies frequently show associations between self-reported use of specific pesticides and human cancers. These findings have engendered debate largely on methodologic grounds. However, biologic plausibility is a more fundamental issue that has received only superficial attention. The purpose of this commentary is to review briefly the toxicology and exposure data that are developed as part of the pesticide regulatory process and to discuss the applicability of this data to epidemiologic research. The authors also provide a generic example of how worker pesticide exposures might be estimated and compared to relevant toxicologic dose levels. This example provides guidance for better characterization of exposure and for consideration of biologic plausibility in epidemiologic studies of pesticides.

  6. Spatiotemporal network motif reveals the biological traits of developmental gene regulatory networks in Drosophila melanogaster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Man-Sun

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Network motifs provided a “conceptual tool” for understanding the functional principles of biological networks, but such motifs have primarily been used to consider static network structures. Static networks, however, cannot be used to reveal time- and region-specific traits of biological systems. To overcome this limitation, we proposed the concept of a “spatiotemporal network motif,” a spatiotemporal sequence of network motifs of sub-networks which are active only at specific time points and body parts. Results On the basis of this concept, we analyzed the developmental gene regulatory network of the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. We identified spatiotemporal network motifs and investigated their distribution pattern in time and space. As a result, we found how key developmental processes are temporally and spatially regulated by the gene network. In particular, we found that nested feedback loops appeared frequently throughout the entire developmental process. From mathematical simulations, we found that mutual inhibition in the nested feedback loops contributes to the formation of spatial expression patterns. Conclusions Taken together, the proposed concept and the simulations can be used to unravel the design principle of developmental gene regulatory networks.

  7. 75 FR 76472 - Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009; Meetings on User Fee Program for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0602] Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009; Meetings on User Fee Program for Biosimilar and Interchangeable Biological Product Applications; Request for Notification of Stakeholder Intention To Participate...

  8. Regulatory approaches for addressing dissolved oxygen concerns at hydropower facilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peterson, Mark J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Cada, Glenn F. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Sale, Michael J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Eddlemon, Gerald K. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2003-03-01

    Low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations are a common water quality problem downstream of hydropower facilities. At some facilities, structural improvements (e.g. installation of weir dams or aerating turbines) or operational changes (e.g., spilling water over the dam) can be made to improve DO levels. In other cases, structural and operational approaches are too costly for the project to implement or are likely to be of limited effectiveness. Despite improvements in overall water quality below dams in recent years, many hydropower projects are unable to meet state water quality standards for DO. Regulatory agencies in the U.S. are considering or implementing dramatic changes in their approach to protecting the quality of the Nation’s waters. New policies and initiatives have emphasized flexibility, increased collaboration and shared responsibility among all parties, and market-based, economic incentives. The use of new regulatory approaches may now be a viable option for addressing the DO problem at some hydropower facilities. This report summarizes some of the regulatory-related options available to hydropower projects, including negotiation of site-specific water quality criteria, use of biological monitoring, watershed-based strategies for the management of water quality, and watershed-based trading. Key decision points center on the health of the local biological communities and whether there are contributing impacts (i.e., other sources of low DO effluents) in the watershed. If the biological communities downstream of the hydropower project are healthy, negotiation for site-specific water quality standards or biocriteria (discharge performance criteria based on characteristics of the aquatic biota) might be pursued. If there are other effluent dischargers in the watershed that contribute to low DO problems, watershed-scale strategies and effluent trading may be effective. This report examines the value of regulatory approaches by reviewing their use in

  9. Root Systems Biology: Integrative Modeling across Scales, from Gene Regulatory Networks to the Rhizosphere1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Kristine; Porco, Silvana; Lobet, Guillaume; Zappala, Susan; Mooney, Sacha; Draye, Xavier; Bennett, Malcolm J.

    2013-01-01

    Genetic and genomic approaches in model organisms have advanced our understanding of root biology over the last decade. Recently, however, systems biology and modeling have emerged as important approaches, as our understanding of root regulatory pathways has become more complex and interpreting pathway outputs has become less intuitive. To relate root genotype to phenotype, we must move beyond the examination of interactions at the genetic network scale and employ multiscale modeling approaches to predict emergent properties at the tissue, organ, organism, and rhizosphere scales. Understanding the underlying biological mechanisms and the complex interplay between systems at these different scales requires an integrative approach. Here, we describe examples of such approaches and discuss the merits of developing models to span multiple scales, from network to population levels, and to address dynamic interactions between plants and their environment. PMID:24143806

  10. A canonical correlation analysis-based dynamic bayesian network prior to infer gene regulatory networks from multiple types of biological data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baur, Brittany; Bozdag, Serdar

    2015-04-01

    One of the challenging and important computational problems in systems biology is to infer gene regulatory networks (GRNs) of biological systems. Several methods that exploit gene expression data have been developed to tackle this problem. In this study, we propose the use of copy number and DNA methylation data to infer GRNs. We developed an algorithm that scores regulatory interactions between genes based on canonical correlation analysis. In this algorithm, copy number or DNA methylation variables are treated as potential regulator variables, and expression variables are treated as potential target variables. We first validated that the canonical correlation analysis method is able to infer true interactions in high accuracy. We showed that the use of DNA methylation or copy number datasets leads to improved inference over steady-state expression. Our results also showed that epigenetic and structural information could be used to infer directionality of regulatory interactions. Additional improvements in GRN inference can be gleaned from incorporating the result in an informative prior in a dynamic Bayesian algorithm. This is the first study that incorporates copy number and DNA methylation into an informative prior in dynamic Bayesian framework. By closely examining top-scoring interactions with different sources of epigenetic or structural information, we also identified potential novel regulatory interactions.

  11. The core to regulatory reform

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Partridge, J.W. Jr.

    1993-01-01

    Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Orders 436, 500, and 636, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Public Utility Holding Company Act reform, and the 1992 Energy Policy Act all can have significant effects on an LDC's operations. Such changes in an LDC's environments must be balanced by changes within the utility, its marketplace, and its state regulatory environment. The question is where to start. For Columbia Gas Distribution Cos., based in Columbus, OH, the new operating foundation begins with each employee. Internal strength is critical in designing initiatives that meet the needs of the marketplace and are well-received by regulators. Employees must understand not only the regulatory environment in which the LDC operates, but also how their work contributes to a positive regulatory relationship. To achieve this, Columbia initiated the COntinuing Regulatory Education program, or CORE, in 1991. CORE is a regulatory-focused, information-initiative program coordinated by Columbia's Regulatory Policy, Planning, and Government Affairs Department. The CORE programs can take many forms, such as emerging issue discussions, dialogues with regulators and key parties, updates on regulatory fillings, regulatory policy meetings, and formal training classes. The speakers and discussion facilitators can range from human resource department trainers to senior officers, from regulatory department staff members to external experts, or from state commissioners to executives from other LDCs. The goals of CORE initiatives are to: Support a professional level of regulatory expertise through employee participation in well-developed regulatory programs presented by credible experts. Encourage a constructive state regulatory environment founded on communication and cooperation. CORE achieves these goals via five program levels: introductory basics, advanced learning, professional expertise, crossfunctional dialogues, and external idea exchanges

  12. Biology experiments at UNILAC. Reports from the biology user meeting, GSI, 3 October 1985

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-10-01

    On 3 Oct 1985, an internal Biology User Meeting of the groups working at GSI was arranged for the purpose of exchanging information and having discussions. It was found that the experimental data obtained so far are quite complex, and that the attempts at a theoretical treatment are still in a very early stage. To keep the discussion going, this report therefore presents the contributions of the various groups as far as these have been available. Most of the information was not in finished reports but in the form of diagrams and tables with explanations, sometimes even in the form of handwritten notes or sketches. Separate records are available for 13 contributions. (orig./MG) [de

  13. IFPA meeting 2015 workshop report III: nanomedicine applications and exosome biology, xenobiotics and endocrine disruptors and pregnancy, and lipid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albrecht, C; Caniggia, I; Clifton, V; Göhner, C; Harris, L; Hemmings, D; Jawerbaum, A; Johnstone, E; Jones, H; Keelan, J; Lewis, R; Mitchell, M; Murthi, P; Powell, T; Saffery, R; Smith, R; Vaillancourt, C; Wadsack, C; Salomon, C

    2016-12-01

    Workshops are an important part of the IFPA annual meeting, as they allow for discussion of specialized topics. At the IFPA meeting 2015 there were twelve themed workshops, three of which are summarized in this report. These workshops were related to various aspects of placental biology but collectively covered areas of pregnancy pathologies and placental metabolism: 1) nanomedicine applications and exosome biology; 2) xenobiotics and endocrine disruptors and pregnancy; 3) lipid mediators and placental function. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  14. 12 CFR 567.2 - Minimum regulatory capital requirement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Minimum regulatory capital requirement. 567.2... Regulatory Capital Requirements § 567.2 Minimum regulatory capital requirement. (a) To meet its regulatory capital requirement a savings association must satisfy each of the following capital standards: (1) Risk...

  15. KWOC [Key-Word-Out-of-Context] Index of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide Series

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jennings, S.D.

    1990-04-01

    To meet the objectives of the program funded by the Department of Energy (DOE)-Nuclear Energy (NE) Technology Support Programs, the Performance Assurance Project Office (PAPO) administers a Performance Assurance Information Program that collects, compiles, and distributes program-related information, reports, and publications for the benefit of the DOE-NE program participants. THE ''KWOC Index of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide Series'' is prepared as an aid in searching for specific topics in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Regulatory Guide Series

  16. Proteome-wide Structural Analysis of PTM Hotspots Reveals Regulatory Elements Predicted to Impact Biological Function and Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Matthew P; Dewhurst, Henry; Sundararaman, Niveda

    2016-11-01

    Post-translational modifications (PTMs) regulate protein behavior through modulation of protein-protein interactions, enzymatic activity, and protein stability essential in the translation of genotype to phenotype in eukaryotes. Currently, less than 4% of all eukaryotic PTMs are reported to have biological function - a statistic that continues to decrease with an increasing rate of PTM detection. Previously, we developed SAPH-ire (Structural Analysis of PTM Hotspots) - a method for the prioritization of PTM function potential that has been used effectively to reveal novel PTM regulatory elements in discrete protein families (Dewhurst et al., 2015). Here, we apply SAPH-ire to the set of eukaryotic protein families containing experimental PTM and 3D structure data - capturing 1,325 protein families with 50,839 unique PTM sites organized into 31,747 modified alignment positions (MAPs), of which 2010 (∼6%) possess known biological function. Here, we show that using an artificial neural network model (SAPH-ire NN) trained to identify MAP hotspots with biological function results in prediction outcomes that far surpass the use of single hotspot features, including nearest neighbor PTM clustering methods. We find the greatest enhancement in prediction for positions with PTM counts of five or less, which represent 98% of all MAPs in the eukaryotic proteome and 90% of all MAPs found to have biological function. Analysis of the top 1092 MAP hotspots revealed 267 of truly unknown function (containing 5443 distinct PTMs). Of these, 165 hotspots could be mapped to human KEGG pathways for normal and/or disease physiology. Many high-ranking hotspots were also found to be disease-associated pathogenic sites of amino acid substitution despite the lack of observable PTM in the human protein family member. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that the functional relevance of a PTM can be predicted very effectively by neural network models, revealing a large but testable

  17. 75 FR 64306 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-19

    ... Transmission System. Hydro H-1 P-12107-005 Granite County, Montana. H-2 P-2496-222 Eugene Water and Electric... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Sunshine Act Meeting Notice October 14... Sunshine Act (Pub. L. 94-409), 5 U.S.C. 552b: Agency Holding Meeting: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

  18. Services of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority Library

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carregado, M.A.; Wallingre, G.V.

    2011-01-01

    Full text; The main of this work is to present the services and activities of the ARN (Autoridad Regulatoria Nuclear) Library to potential users from the biological dosimetry area in the framework of the intercomparison Meeting of the Latin American Biological Dosimetry Network held in Buenos Aires from October 27-30 of 2008. It makes a short chronology of the library; the services offered to each type of users and the tasks related to technical and international cooperation with other organizations such as: the terminology Committee of IRAM (Instituto Argentino de Normalizacion y Certificacion); the input of national literature to the INIS Database of the IAEA; the retrospective digitalisation, indexing and bibliographic description of institutional publications to be submitted to the repository of the Ibero American Forum of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Regulatory Organizations and the participation in nuclear information networks. Finally it shown some relevant data from the internal statistics. (authors)

  19. L-Lake fish: L-Lake/Steel Creek Biological Monitoring Program, January 1986--December 1991

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sayers, R.E. Jr.; Mealing, H.G. III

    1992-04-01

    The L Lake Biological Monitoring Program was designed to meet environmental regulatory requirements associated with the re-start of L-Reactor and address portions of Section 316(a) of the Clean Water Act, which requires an applicant for a discharge permit to provide scientific evidence that the discharge causes no significant impact on the indigenous ecosystem. The Department of Energy (DOE) must demonstrate that the discharge of L-Reactor effluent into L Lake will not inhibit the eventual establishment of a ''Balanced Biological Community'' (BBC) in at least 50% of the lake

  20. L-Lake fish: L-Lake/Steel Creek Biological Monitoring Program, January 1986--December 1991

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sayers, R.E. Jr.; Mealing, H.G. III [Normandeau Associates, Inc., New Ellenton, SC (United States)

    1992-04-01

    The L Lake Biological Monitoring Program was designed to meet environmental regulatory requirements associated with the re-start of L-Reactor and address portions of Section 316(a) of the Clean Water Act, which requires an applicant for a discharge permit to provide scientific evidence that the discharge causes no significant impact on the indigenous ecosystem. The Department of Energy (DOE) must demonstrate that the discharge of L-Reactor effluent into L Lake will not inhibit the eventual establishment of a ``Balanced Biological Community`` (BBC) in at least 50% of the lake.

  1. 75 FR 9451 - Sunshine Act Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-02

    ... Tuesday, March 2, 2010 9:30 a.m. Briefing on Uranium Recovery (Public Meeting). (Contact: Dominick Orlando, 301-415-6749.) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- http://www.nrc.gov , Week of... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0002] Sunshine Act Meetings Agency Holding the Meetings...

  2. Proteome-wide Structural Analysis of PTM Hotspots Reveals Regulatory Elements Predicted to Impact Biological Function and Disease*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewhurst, Henry; Sundararaman, Niveda

    2016-01-01

    Post-translational modifications (PTMs) regulate protein behavior through modulation of protein-protein interactions, enzymatic activity, and protein stability essential in the translation of genotype to phenotype in eukaryotes. Currently, less than 4% of all eukaryotic PTMs are reported to have biological function - a statistic that continues to decrease with an increasing rate of PTM detection. Previously, we developed SAPH-ire (Structural Analysis of PTM Hotspots) - a method for the prioritization of PTM function potential that has been used effectively to reveal novel PTM regulatory elements in discrete protein families (Dewhurst et al., 2015). Here, we apply SAPH-ire to the set of eukaryotic protein families containing experimental PTM and 3D structure data - capturing 1,325 protein families with 50,839 unique PTM sites organized into 31,747 modified alignment positions (MAPs), of which 2010 (∼6%) possess known biological function. Here, we show that using an artificial neural network model (SAPH-ire NN) trained to identify MAP hotspots with biological function results in prediction outcomes that far surpass the use of single hotspot features, including nearest neighbor PTM clustering methods. We find the greatest enhancement in prediction for positions with PTM counts of five or less, which represent 98% of all MAPs in the eukaryotic proteome and 90% of all MAPs found to have biological function. Analysis of the top 1092 MAP hotspots revealed 267 of truly unknown function (containing 5443 distinct PTMs). Of these, 165 hotspots could be mapped to human KEGG pathways for normal and/or disease physiology. Many high-ranking hotspots were also found to be disease-associated pathogenic sites of amino acid substitution despite the lack of observable PTM in the human protein family member. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that the functional relevance of a PTM can be predicted very effectively by neural network models, revealing a large but testable

  3. Regulatory Challenges for Cartilage Repair Technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGowan, Kevin B; Stiegman, Glenn

    2013-01-01

    In the United States, few Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved options exist for the treatment of focal cartilage and osteochondral lesions. Developers of products for cartilage repair face many challenges to obtain marketing approval from the FDA. The objective of this review is to discuss the necessary steps for FDA application and approval for a new cartilage repair product. FDA Guidance Documents, FDA Panel Meetings, scientific organization recommendations, and clinicaltrials.gov were reviewed to demonstrate the current thinking of FDA and the scientific community on the regulatory process for cartilage repair therapies. Cartilage repair therapies can receive market approval from FDA as medical devices, drugs, or biologics, and the specific classification of product can affect the nonclinical, clinical, and regulatory strategy to bring the product to market. Recent FDA guidance gives an outline of the required elements to bring a cartilage repair product to market, although these standards are often very general. As a result, companies have to carefully craft their study patient population, comparator group, and clinical endpoint to best showcase their product's attributes. In addition, regulatory strategy and manufacturing process validation need to be considered early in the clinical study process to allow for timely product approval following the completion of clinical study. Although the path to regulatory approval for a cartilage repair therapy is challenging and time-consuming, proper clinical trial planning and attention to the details can eventually save companies time and money by bringing a product to the market in the most expeditious process possible.

  4. 11th IUBMB Focused Meeting on the Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases: Sailing a New Sea of Complex Functions in Human Biology and Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francklyn, Christopher; Roy, Herve; Alexander, Rebecca

    2018-05-01

    The 11th IUBMB Focused Meeting on Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases was held in Clearwater Beach, Florida from 29 October⁻2 November 2017, with the aim of presenting the latest research on these enzymes and promoting interchange among aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS) researchers. Topics covered in the meeting included many areas of investigation, including ARS evolution, mechanism, editing functions, biology in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and their organelles, their roles in human diseases, and their application to problems in emerging areas of synthetic biology. In this report, we provide a summary of the major themes of the meeting, citing contributions from the oral presentations in the meeting.

  5. 78 FR 69141 - Sunshine Act Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-18

    ... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION Sunshine Act Meeting TIME AND DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 2013, at.... STATUS: Part of this meeting will be open to the public. The rest of the meeting will be closed to the... December 11, 2013 meeting includes the items identified below. PORTIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: 1. Report from...

  6. Instream sand and gravel mining: Environmental issues and regulatory process in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meador, M.R.; Layher, A.O.

    1998-01-01

    Sand and gravel are widely used throughout the U.S. construction industry, but their extraction can significantly affect the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of mined streams. Fisheries biologists often find themselves involved in the complex environmental and regulatory issues related to instream sand and gravel mining. This paper provides an overview of information presented in a symposium held at the 1997 midyear meeting of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss environmental issues and regulatory procedures related to instream mining. Conclusions from the symposium suggest that complex physicochemical and biotic responses to disturbance such as channel incision and alteration of riparian vegetation ultimately determine the effects of instream mining. An understanding of geomorphic processes can provide insight into the effects of mining operations on stream function, and multidisciplinary empirical studies are needed to determine the relative effects of mining versus other natural and human-induced stream alterations. Mining regulations often result in a confusing regulatory process complicated, for example, by the role of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has undergone numerous changes and remains unclear. Dialogue among scientists, miners, and regulators can provide an important first step toward developing a plan that integrates biology and politics to protect aquatic resources.

  7. 75 FR 4428 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-27

    ....m. Briefing on Uranium Recovery (Public Meeting). (Contact: Dominick Orlando, 301-415-6749.) This... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0002] Sunshine Act Meeting Notice DATES: Weeks of January... Plans (Public Meeting). (Contact: Quynh Nguyen, 301-415-5844.) This meeting will be webcast live at the...

  8. 75 FR 4882 - Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-29

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee On Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Notice of Meeting The ACRS U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) Subcommittee will hold a... with Open Items concerning the U.S. EPR Design Certification (DCD) Application and the Calvert Cliffs...

  9. Use of probabilistic safety assessment in the regulatory process. Report of the technical committee meeting. Working material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    A Technical Committee Meeting (TCM) was organized between 5-8 December 1994 to discuss and review the international situation in connection with the use made, whether formally or informally, by regulatory bodies of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) in the course of their work, and the related question of the use and value of adopting probabilistic safety criteria (PSC) as an aid to judging the results of PSAs. The document includes the output from the four working groups, as well as 11 papers from the 12 papers presented to the TCM. A separate abstract was prepared for each paper. Refs, figs, tabs

  10. L-Lake zooplankton: L-Lake/Steel Creek Biological Monitoring Program, November 1985--December 1991

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bowers, J.A. [Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States); Bowen, M. [Normandeau Associates, Inc., New Ellenton, SC (United States)

    1992-03-01

    The L- Lake Biological Monitoring Program was designed to meet environmental regulatory requirements associated with the restart of L-Reactor and address portions of Section 316(a) of the Clean Water Act, which requires an applicant for a discharge permit to provide scientific evidence that the discharge causes no significant impact on the indigenous ecosystem. The Department of Energy (DOE) must demonstrate that the discharge of L-Reactor affluent into L Lake will not inhibit the eventual establishment of a ``Balanced Biological Community`` (BBC) in at least 50% of the lake. This report details results of monitoring zooplankton populations in L-Lake.

  11. L-Lake zooplankton: L-Lake/Steel Creek Biological Monitoring Program, November 1985--December 1991

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowers, J.A.; Bowen, M.

    1992-03-01

    The L- Lake Biological Monitoring Program was designed to meet environmental regulatory requirements associated with the restart of L-Reactor and address portions of Section 316(a) of the Clean Water Act, which requires an applicant for a discharge permit to provide scientific evidence that the discharge causes no significant impact on the indigenous ecosystem. The Department of Energy (DOE) must demonstrate that the discharge of L-Reactor affluent into L Lake will not inhibit the eventual establishment of a ''Balanced Biological Community'' (BBC) in at least 50% of the lake. This report details results of monitoring zooplankton populations in L-Lake

  12. Logical knowledge representation of regulatory relations in biomedical pathways

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zambach, Sine; Hansen, Jens Ulrik

    2010-01-01

    Knowledge on regulatory relations, in for example regulatory pathways in biology, is used widely in experiment design by biomedical researchers and in systems biology. The knowledge has typically either been represented through simple graphs or through very expressive differential equation...... simulations of smaller parts of a pathway. In this work we suggest a knowledge representation of the most basic relations in regulatory processes regulates, positively regulates and negatively regulates in logics based on a semantic analysis. We discuss the usage of these relations in biology and in articial...... intelligence for hypothesis development in drug discovery....

  13. IAEA meeting: International conference of national regulatory authorities with competence in the safety of radiation sources and the security of radioactive materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Englefield, Chris [UK INTERPOL Environmental Crime (Radioactive Substances) Sub-Group, Environment Agency (United Kingdom)

    2001-06-01

    The meeting was the outcome of one of the actions arising from an IAEA sponsored meeting held in Dijon in 1998 on these issues. The action plan included inter alia the production of a 'Code of Conduct' (published December 2000), the production of a scheme for the 'Categorisation of Sources' (published December 2000) and a meeting to share experience and knowledge about the issues of illicit or inadvertent movements of radioactive materials across international borders. This was the major focus of the meeting held in Buenos Aires. The meeting was attended by 130 delegates representing 70 countries, the EU and the IAEA. This means that over half of the 131 IAEA Member States were present, a measure of the level of significance that is attached to the initiating issue of 'illicit trafficking'.The meeting was chaired by Dan Beninson (Argentina) and the Technical Secretariat was led by Alfonso Bilbao of IAEA. I attended as the UK delegate, in my capacity as Chairman of the UK INTERPOL Environmental Crime (Radioactive Substances) Sub-Group. The national papers were so numerous that it is not practicable to try to summarise them all here. However, a general impression will be given. The majority of papers submitted explained the regulatory structures extant in the speakers' home countries. It was useful to understand the level of development of regulatory arrangements in the Member States represented. These ranged from the highly developed such as those of EU Member States, the US and some South American states, to the very simple. In some cases, speakers frankly admitted that regulatory systems were virtually non-existent, but that as IAEA Members, their countries were ready and willing to improve their arrangements, with the assistance of IAEA . Some general conclusions may be derived: (i) A personal view is that IAEA and Member States have not clarified their risk assessment thinking: as RP practitioners we tend to concentrate on

  14. 75 FR 6413 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-09

    ... a.m. Briefing on Uranium Recovery (Public Meeting). (Contact: Dominick Orlando, 301-415-6749.) This... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0002] Sunshine Act Meeting Notice DATES: Weeks of February.... Briefing on Regional Programs--Programs, Performance, and Future Plans (Public Meeting). (Contact: Richard...

  15. 75 FR 70955 - Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-19

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting Notice AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear... the draft safety culture policy statement for medical licensees. A copy of the agenda for the meeting...

  16. Where Synthetic Biology Meets ET

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothschild, Lynn J.

    2016-01-01

    Synthetic biology - the design and construction of new biological parts and systems and the redesign of existing ones for useful purposes - has the potential to transform fields from pharmaceuticals to fuels. Our lab has focused on the potential of synthetic biology to revolutionize all three major parts of astrobiology: Where do we come from? Where are we going? and Are we alone? For the first and third, synthetic biology is allowing us to answer whether the evolutionary narrative that has played out on planet earth is likely to have been unique or universal. For example, in our lab we are re-evolving the biosynthetic pathways of amino acids in order to understand potential capabilities of an early organism with a limited repertoire of amino acids and developing techniques for the recovery of metals from spent electronics on other planetary bodies. And what about the limits for life? Can we create organisms that expand the envelope for life? In the future synthetic biology will play an increasing role in human activities both on earth, in fields as diverse as human health and the industrial production of novel bio-composites. Beyond earth, we will rely increasingly on biologically-provided life support, as we have throughout our evolutionary history. In order to do this, the field will build on two of the great contributions of astrobiology: studies of the origin of life and life in extreme environments.

  17. Antibody-drug conjugates for cancer therapy: The technological and regulatory challenges of developing drug-biologic hybrids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Gregory S

    2015-09-01

    Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a new class of therapeutic agents that combine the targeting ability of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with small molecule drugs. The combination of a mAb targeting a cancer-specific antigen with a cytotoxin has tremendous promise as a new type of targeted cancer therapy. Two ADCs have been approved and many more are in clinical development, suggesting that this new class of drugs is coming to the forefront. Because of their unique nature as biologic-small drug hybrids, ADCs are challenging to develop, from both the scientific and regulatory perspectives. This review discusses both these aspects in current practice, and surveys the current state of the art of ADC drug development. Copyright © 2015 The International Alliance for Biological Standardization. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Transcriptional regulatory programs underlying barley germination and regulatory functions of Gibberellin and abscisic acid

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Seed germination is a complex multi-stage developmental process, and mainly accomplished through concerted activities of many gene products and biological pathways that are often subjected to strict developmental regulation. Gibberellins (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) are two key phytohormones regulating seed germination and seedling growth. However, transcriptional regulatory networks underlying seed germination and its associated biological pathways are largely unknown. Results The studies examined transcriptomes of barley representing six distinct and well characterized germination stages and revealed that the transcriptional regulatory program underlying barley germination was composed of early, late, and post-germination phases. Each phase was accompanied with transcriptional up-regulation of distinct biological pathways. Cell wall synthesis and regulatory components including transcription factors, signaling and post-translational modification components were specifically and transiently up-regulated in early germination phase while histone families and many metabolic pathways were up-regulated in late germination phase. Photosynthesis and seed reserve mobilization pathways were up-regulated in post-germination phase. However, stress related pathways and seed storage proteins were suppressed through the entire course of germination. A set of genes were transiently up-regulated within three hours of imbibition, and might play roles in initiating biological pathways involved in seed germination. However, highly abundant transcripts in dry barley and Arabidopsis seeds were significantly conserved. Comparison with transcriptomes of barley aleurone in response to GA and ABA identified three sets of germination responsive genes that were regulated coordinately by GA, antagonistically by ABA, and coordinately by GA but antagonistically by ABA. Major CHO metabolism, cell wall degradation and protein degradation pathways were up-regulated by both GA and seed

  19. Transcriptional regulatory programs underlying barley germination and regulatory functions of Gibberellin and abscisic acid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Li

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Seed germination is a complex multi-stage developmental process, and mainly accomplished through concerted activities of many gene products and biological pathways that are often subjected to strict developmental regulation. Gibberellins (GA and abscisic acid (ABA are two key phytohormones regulating seed germination and seedling growth. However, transcriptional regulatory networks underlying seed germination and its associated biological pathways are largely unknown. Results The studies examined transcriptomes of barley representing six distinct and well characterized germination stages and revealed that the transcriptional regulatory program underlying barley germination was composed of early, late, and post-germination phases. Each phase was accompanied with transcriptional up-regulation of distinct biological pathways. Cell wall synthesis and regulatory components including transcription factors, signaling and post-translational modification components were specifically and transiently up-regulated in early germination phase while histone families and many metabolic pathways were up-regulated in late germination phase. Photosynthesis and seed reserve mobilization pathways were up-regulated in post-germination phase. However, stress related pathways and seed storage proteins were suppressed through the entire course of germination. A set of genes were transiently up-regulated within three hours of imbibition, and might play roles in initiating biological pathways involved in seed germination. However, highly abundant transcripts in dry barley and Arabidopsis seeds were significantly conserved. Comparison with transcriptomes of barley aleurone in response to GA and ABA identified three sets of germination responsive genes that were regulated coordinately by GA, antagonistically by ABA, and coordinately by GA but antagonistically by ABA. Major CHO metabolism, cell wall degradation and protein degradation pathways were up

  20. Low doses of ionizing radiation: Biological effects and regulatory control. Invited papers and discussions. Proceedings of an international conference

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    The levels and biological effects resulting from exposure to ionizing radiation are continuously reviewed by the United Nations Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). Since its creation in 1928, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has issued recommendations on protection against ionizing radiation. The UNSCEAR estimates and the ICRP recommendations have served as the basis for national and international safety standards on radiation safety, including those developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Concerning health effects of low doses of ionizing radiation, the international standards are based on the plausible assumption that, above the unavoidable background radiation dose, the probability of effects increases linearly with dose, i.e. on a 'linear, no threshold' (LNT) assumption. However, in recent years the biological estimates of health effects of low doses of ionizing radiation and the regulatory approach to the control of low level radiation exposure have been much debated. To foster information exchange on the relevant issues, an International Conference on Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Biological Effects and Regulatory Control, jointly sponsored by the IAEA and WHO in co-operation with UNSCEAR, was held from 17-21 November 1997 at Seville, Spain. These Proceedings contain the invited special reports, keynote papers, summaries of discussions, session summaries and addresses presented at the opening and closing of the Conference

  1. Proceedings of the Scientific Meeting on Application of Isotopes and Radiation, Book I, Agricultural, Animal and Biology; Risalah Pertemuan Ilmiah Penelitian Dan Pengembangan Aplikasi Isotop Dan Radiasi. Buku 1, Pertanian, Peternakan dan Biologi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suhadi, F; Sisworo, E L; Maha, M; Ismachin, M; Hilmy, N; Sumatra, M; Mugiono,; Wandowo,; Soebianto, Y S [Center for Application of Isotopes and Radiation, National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia)

    1998-07-01

    The aim of the 10{sup t}h Meeting of the Isotope and Radiation Application is to disseminate the result of research on application of nuclear techniques on agriculture, animal, biology, chemistry, environment, radiation process and industry. The meeting was held in Jakarta, 18-19 February 1998, and there were 6 invited papers and 52 papers indexed individually. This proceeding is divided by two volumes. Volume I and volume II consists of agriculture, animal, biology and chemistry, environment, radiation process and industry, respectively.(ID)

  2. Identification and Characterization of 5′ Untranslated Regions (5′UTRs in Zymomonas mobilis as Regulatory Biological Parts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seung Hee Cho

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Regulatory RNA regions within a transcript, particularly in the 5′ untranslated region (5′UTR, have been shown in a variety of organisms to control the expression levels of these mRNAs in response to various metabolites or environmental conditions. Considering the unique tolerance of Zymomonas mobilis to ethanol and the growing interest in engineering microbial strains with enhanced tolerance to industrial inhibitors, we searched natural cis-regulatory regions in this microorganism using transcriptomic data and bioinformatics analysis. Potential regulatory 5′UTRs were identified and filtered based on length, gene function, relative gene counts, and conservation in other organisms. An in vivo fluorescence-based screening system was developed to confirm the responsiveness of 36 5′UTR candidates to ethanol, acetate, and xylose stresses. UTR_ZMO0347 (5′UTR of gene ZMO0347 encoding the RNA binding protein Hfq was found to down-regulate downstream gene expression under ethanol stress. Genomic deletion of UTR_ZMO0347 led to a general decrease of hfq expression at the transcript level and increased sensitivity for observed changes in Hfq expression at the protein level. The role of UTR_ZMO0347 and other 5′UTRs gives us insight into the regulatory network of Z. mobilis in response to stress and unlocks new strategies for engineering robust industrial strains as well as for harvesting novel responsive regulatory biological parts for controllable gene expression platforms in this organism.

  3. The IAEA Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) - Information Meeting Dublin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al Khatibeh, Ahmad

    2014-05-01

    IRRS is developed to help States evaluate the current status of compliance of their regulatory infrastructures for safety with IAEA Standards. This report discusses the function of IRRS missions as a tool for evaluating the regulatory structure for Member States. It was presented to RPII staff in a Powerpoint document in preparation for the IRRS Mission to Ireland in August 2015

  4. Regulatory and biosafety issues in relation to transgenic animals in food and agriculture, feeds containing genetically modified organisms (GMO) and veterinary biologics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kochhar, H.P.S.; Gifford, G.A.; Kahn, S.

    2005-01-01

    Development of an effective regulatory system for genetically engineered animals and their products has been the subject of increasing discussion among researchers, industry and policy developers, as well as the public. Since transgenesis and cloning are relatively new scientific techniques, transgenic animals are new organisms for which there is limited information. The issues associated with the regulation and biosafety of transgenic animals pertain to environmental impact, human food safety, animal health and welfare, trade and ethics. To regulate this new and powerful technology predicated on limited background information is a challenge not only for the regulators, but also for the developers of such animals, who strive to prove that the animals are safe and merit bio-equivalency to their conventional counterparts. In principle, an effective regulatory sieve should permit safe products while forming a formidable barrier for those assessed of posing an unacceptable risk. Adoption of transgenic technology for use in agriculture will depend upon various factors that range from perceived benefits for humans and animals, to safe propagation, animal welfare considerations and integrity of species, as well as effects on bio-diversity. A regulatory framework designed to address the concerns connected with the environmental release of transgenic animals needs to also take into account the ability of genetically modified animals to survive and compete with conventional populations. Regulatory initiatives for biotechnology-derived animals and their products should ensure high standards for human and animal health; a sound scientific basis for evaluation; transparency and public involvement; and maintenance of genetic diversity. Feeds obtained by use of biotechnology have to be evaluated for animal and human safety by using parameters that define their molecular characterization, nutritional qualities and toxicological aspects, while veterinary biologics derived from

  5. Regulatory inspection of nuclear facilities and enforcement by the regulatory body. Safety guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    The purpose of this Safety Guide is to provide recommendations for regulatory bodies on the inspection of nuclear facilities, regulatory enforcement and related matters. The objective is to provide the regulatory body with a high level of confidence that operators have the processes in place to ensure compliance and that they do comply with legal requirements, including meeting the safety objectives and requirements of the regulatory body. However, in the event of non-compliance, the regulatory body should take appropriate enforcement action. This Safety Guide covers regulatory inspection and enforcement in relation to nuclear facilities such as: enrichment and fuel manufacturing plants; nuclear power plants; other reactors such as research reactors and critical assemblies; spent fuel reprocessing plants; and facilities for radioactive waste management, such as treatment, storage and disposal facilities. This Safety Guide also covers issues relating to the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, the closure of waste disposal facilities and site rehabilitation. Section 2 sets out the objectives of regulatory inspection and enforcement. Section 3 covers the management of regulatory inspections. Section 4 covers the performance of regulatory inspections, including internal guidance, planning and preparation, methods of inspection and reports of inspections. Section 5 deals with regulatory enforcement actions. Section 6 covers the assessment of regulatory inspections and enforcement activities. The Appendix provides further details on inspection areas for nuclear facilities

  6. 75 FR 8155 - Sunshine Act; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-23

    ....m. Briefing on Uranium Recovery (Public Meeting) (Contact: Dominick Orlando, 301-415-6749). This... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0002] Sunshine Act; Notice of Meeting DATES: Weeks of....m. Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative). Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Indian Point...

  7. Guidelines on how to meet the requirement to keep all exposures as low as reasonably achievable. Regulatory guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    The purpose of Regulatory Guide G-129 (E) is to provide Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) licensees with guidelines on how to meet the forthcoming AECB regulatory requirement to keep doses received by workers and members of the public As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA), social and economic factors taken into account. it is realized that the scope for realistic dose reductions will vary depending on the nature of the licensed activity. Therefore, criteria are given in section D for determining if doses can be deemed to be as low as reasonably achievable without further evaluation. The elements that the AECB considers to be essential in the approach to ALARA are described in section E and are summarized as follows: a demonstrated management commitment to the ALARA principle; the implementation of ALARA through a licensee's organization and management, provision of resources, training, establishment of action levels, documentation and other measures; and regular operational reviews. The above elements will be the focus of any AECB assessment to verify compliance with the requirement to keep radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable. (author)

  8. Report of the consultant meeting for review of procedure for NPP operational events reporting and investigation for the nuclear regulatory administration of Ukraine in Vienna, Austria 18-20 December 1995

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lipar, M.; Koltakov, V.; Rodionov, A.; Razzell, R.; Tolstykh, V.; Kriz, Z.

    1995-12-01

    In response to a request from the Nuclear Regulatory Administration of Ukraine, the IAEA carried out an expert review of the Procedure for NPP Operational Events Reporting and Investigation developed by the Scientific and Technical Centre on Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the Nuclear Regulatory Administration. This report contains the recommendations and suggestions made by experts as a result of the Consultants Meeting held in Vienna between 18-20 December 1995

  9. Recent regulatory issues in Finland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laaksonen, J.; Tiipana, P.

    2001-01-01

    This paper presents general regulatory issues from Finland since the last WWER Regulators Forum meeting in Odessa 11-13 October 2000. More specific issues concerning Loviisa NPP are described in the Annex of this paper. (author)

  10. Regulatory inhibition of biological tissue mineralization by calcium phosphate through post-nucleation shielding by fetuin-A

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Joshua C., E-mail: joshchang@ucla.edu [Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA and Mathematical Biosciences Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States); Miura, Robert M., E-mail: miura@njit.edu [Department of Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey 07102 (United States)

    2016-04-21

    In vertebrates, insufficient availability of calcium and inorganic phosphate ions in extracellular fluids leads to loss of bone density and neuronal hyper-excitability. To counteract this problem, calcium ions are usually present at high concentrations throughout bodily fluids—at concentrations exceeding the saturation point. This condition leads to the opposite situation where unwanted mineral sedimentation may occur. Remarkably, ectopic or out-of-place sedimentation into soft tissues is rare, in spite of the thermodynamic driving factors. This fortunate fact is due to the presence of auto-regulatory proteins that are found in abundance in bodily fluids. Yet, many important inflammatory disorders such as atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis are associated with this undesired calcification. Hence, it is important to gain an understanding of the regulatory process and the conditions under which it can go awry. In this manuscript, we extend mean-field continuum classical nucleation theory of the growth of clusters to encompass surface shielding. We use this formulation to study the regulation of sedimentation of calcium phosphate salts in biological tissues through the mechanism of post-nuclear shielding of nascent mineral particles by binding proteins. We develop a mathematical description of this phenomenon using a countable system of hyperbolic partial differential equations. A critical concentration of regulatory protein is identified as a function of the physical parameters that describe the system.

  11. Social insect colony as a biological regulatory system: modelling information flow in dominance networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nandi, Anjan K; Sumana, Annagiri; Bhattacharya, Kunal

    2014-12-06

    Social insects provide an excellent platform to investigate flow of information in regulatory systems since their successful social organization is essentially achieved by effective information transfer through complex connectivity patterns among the colony members. Network representation of such behavioural interactions offers a powerful tool for structural as well as dynamical analysis of the underlying regulatory systems. In this paper, we focus on the dominance interaction networks in the tropical social wasp Ropalidia marginata-a species where behavioural observations indicate that such interactions are principally responsible for the transfer of information between individuals about their colony needs, resulting in a regulation of their own activities. Our research reveals that the dominance networks of R. marginata are structurally similar to a class of naturally evolved information processing networks, a fact confirmed also by the predominance of a specific substructure-the 'feed-forward loop'-a key functional component in many other information transfer networks. The dynamical analysis through Boolean modelling confirms that the networks are sufficiently stable under small fluctuations and yet capable of more efficient information transfer compared to their randomized counterparts. Our results suggest the involvement of a common structural design principle in different biological regulatory systems and a possible similarity with respect to the effect of selection on the organization levels of such systems. The findings are also consistent with the hypothesis that dominance behaviour has been shaped by natural selection to co-opt the information transfer process in such social insect species, in addition to its primal function of mediation of reproductive competition in the colony. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  12. Regional and International Networking to Support the Energy Regulatory Commission of Thailand

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lavansiri, Direk; Bull, Trevor

    2010-09-15

    The Energy Regulatory Commission of Thailand is a new regulatory agency. The structure of the energy sector; the tradition of administration; and, the lack of access to experienced personnel in Thailand all pose particular challenges. The Commission is meeting these challenges through regional and international networking to assist in developing policies and procedures that allow it to meet international benchmarks.

  13. Materials of 4. international meeting on pulse investigations in physics, chemistry and biology. PULS'94

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    4. International Meeting on Pulse Investigations in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, PULS'94 has been organized in honor of Professor Jerzy Kroh, the precursor of radiation chemistry in Poland. The meeting has been divided into three sessions: the historical session (H) with four review lectures, lecture session (L) collected 23 papers and poster session (P) with 39 posters. The fundamental studies on early stages of radiolysis have been presented for different systems being irradiated. The pulse radiolysis and flash photolysis methods has been predominantly used in reported experimental works. The reaction of intermediate products of radiolysis and photolysis such a trapped and solvated electrons, ions and radicals has been extensively studied. The reaction mechanisms and kinetics have been also discussed

  14. The PLOS ONE Synthetic Biology Collection: Six Years and Counting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peccoud, Jean; Isalan, Mark

    2012-01-01

    Since it was launched in 2006, PLOS ONE has published over fifty articles illustrating the many facets of the emerging field of synthetic biology. This article reviews these publications by organizing them into broad categories focused on DNA synthesis and assembly techniques, the development of libraries of biological parts, the use of synthetic biology in protein engineering applications, and the engineering of gene regulatory networks and metabolic pathways. Finally, we review articles that describe enabling technologies such as software and modeling, along with new instrumentation. In order to increase the visibility of this body of work, the papers have been assembled into the PLOS ONE Synthetic Biology Collection (www.ploscollections.org/synbio). Many of the innovative features of the PLOS ONE web site will help make this collection a resource that will support a lively dialogue between readers and authors of PLOS ONE synthetic biology papers. The content of the collection will be updated periodically by including relevant articles as they are published by the journal. Thus, we hope that this collection will continue to meet the publishing needs of the synthetic biology community. PMID:22916228

  15. Regulatory inspection of nuclear power plants in NEA member countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gronow, W.S.; Ilani, O.

    1977-01-01

    The increasing use of nuclear power and public interest in the safety controls led to the proposal by the sub-Committe on Licensing of the NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations for a specialist meeting on regulatory inspection practices. This report which was prepared at the request of the sub-Committee to assist in the exchange of views and experience at the meeting reviews the response to a questionnaire on the systems employed, the scope and objectives and the effort involved in regulatory inspection throughout all stages of the life of a nuclear power plant. Other aspects of regulatory inspection activities are discussed including documentation, procedures for changes in technical specification and modifications to plant, powers and duties of regulatory inspection personnel and actions to be taken in the event of an accident or emergency. The report concludes with some comments on those aspects of regulatory inspection practices where further information and an exchange of experience might prove to be beneficial to Member countries. (author)

  16. 78 FR 3041 - Notice of Sunshine Act Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-15

    ..., 2013--Tentative Thursday, January 31, 2013 9:00 a.m. Briefing on Public Participation in NRC Regulatory Decision-Making (Public Meeting) (Contact: Lance Rakovan, 301-415-2589). This meeting will be webcast live...

  17. Nuclear regulatory decision making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    The fundamental objective of all nuclear safety regulatory bodies is to ensure that nuclear utilities operate their plants at all times in an acceptably safe manner. In meeting this objective, the regulatory body should strive to ensure that its regulatory decisions are technically sound, consistent from case to case, and timely. In addition, the regulator must be aware that its decisions and the circumstances surrounding those decisions can affect how its stakeholders, such as government policy makers, the industry it regulates, and the public, view it as an effective and credible regulator. In order to maintain the confidence of those stakeholders, the regulator should make sure that its decisions are transparent, have a clear basis in law and regulations, and are seen by impartial observers to be fair to all parties. Based on the work of a Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) expert group, this report discusses some of the basic principles and criteria that a regulatory body should consider in making decisions and describes the elements of an integrated framework for regulatory decision making. (author)

  18. 75 FR 80083 - Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-21

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting Notice AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of Meeting. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear... the draft safety culture policy statement for medical licensees. Contingent upon the outcome of the...

  19. Using systems and structure biology tools to dissect cellular phenotypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floratos, Aris; Honig, Barry; Pe'er, Dana; Califano, Andrea

    2012-01-01

    The Center for the Multiscale Analysis of Genetic Networks (MAGNet, http://magnet.c2b2.columbia.edu) was established in 2005, with the mission of providing the biomedical research community with Structural and Systems Biology algorithms and software tools for the dissection of molecular interactions and for the interaction-based elucidation of cellular phenotypes. Over the last 7 years, MAGNet investigators have developed many novel analysis methodologies, which have led to important biological discoveries, including understanding the role of the DNA shape in protein-DNA binding specificity and the discovery of genes causally related to the presentation of malignant phenotypes, including lymphoma, glioma, and melanoma. Software tools implementing these methodologies have been broadly adopted by the research community and are made freely available through geWorkbench, the Center's integrated analysis platform. Additionally, MAGNet has been instrumental in organizing and developing key conferences and meetings focused on the emerging field of systems biology and regulatory genomics, with special focus on cancer-related research.

  20. 77 FR 2286 - Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 12717-002] Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Meeting a. Date and Time of Meeting: Thursday, January 26, 2012 from 11... Meeting: Commission staff will meet with Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC to discuss potentially moving...

  1. Quantum physics meets biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, Markus; Juffmann, Thomas; Vedral, Vlatko

    2009-12-01

    Quantum physics and biology have long been regarded as unrelated disciplines, describing nature at the inanimate microlevel on the one hand and living species on the other hand. Over the past decades the life sciences have succeeded in providing ever more and refined explanations of macroscopic phenomena that were based on an improved understanding of molecular structures and mechanisms. Simultaneously, quantum physics, originally rooted in a world-view of quantum coherences, entanglement, and other nonclassical effects, has been heading toward systems of increasing complexity. The present perspective article shall serve as a "pedestrian guide" to the growing interconnections between the two fields. We recapitulate the generic and sometimes unintuitive characteristics of quantum physics and point to a number of applications in the life sciences. We discuss our criteria for a future "quantum biology," its current status, recent experimental progress, and also the restrictions that nature imposes on bold extrapolations of quantum theory to macroscopic phenomena.

  2. Regulatory issues associated with the Multi-Purpose (MPC) system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roberts, J.P.; Desell, L.J.; Birch, M.L.; Morgan, R.G.

    1994-01-01

    The US Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management is developing a Multi-Purpose Canister system to promote compatibility between the waste program elements of storage, transportation, and disposal. The development of a Multi-Purpose Canister system requires meeting various regulatory requirements. These regulatory requirements are set forth in environmental and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations. This paper discusses the more significant regulatory issues that must be addressed in the development of a Multi-Purpose Canister system by the Department of Energy

  3. Abstracts of the 10. Annual meeting of the Federation of the Experimental Biological Societies; Resumos da 10. Reuniao anual da Federacao de Sociedades de Biologia Experimental

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-12-31

    The meeting was about experimental biology and it was discussed topics related to medicine, pharmacology, cellular biology, biophysics, toxicology, physiology, immunology, radiobiology, photobiology, natural products and environment.

  4. The impact of biology on risk assessment -- Workshop of the National Research Council's board on radiation effects research. Meeting report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fry, R.J.M.; Grosovsky, A.; Hanawalt, P.C.; Ullrich, R.L.

    1997-01-01

    The linear, nonthreshold extrapolation from a dose-response relationship for ionizing radiation derived at higher doses to doses for which regulatory standards are proposed is being challenged by some scientists and defended by others. It appears that the risks associated with exposures to doses of interest are below the risks that can be measured with epidemiologic studies. Therefore, many have looked to biology to provide information relevant to risk assessment. The workshop reported here, ''The Impact of biology on Risk Assessment,'' was planned to address the need for further information by bringing together scientists who have been working in key fields of biology and others who have been contemplating the issues associated specifically with this question. The goals of the workshop were to summarize and review the status of the relevant biology, to determine how the reported biologic data might influence risk assessment, and to identify subjects on which more data is needed

  5. Formal modeling and analysis of ER-α associated Biological Regulatory Network in breast cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samra Khalid

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Background Breast cancer (BC is one of the leading cause of death among females worldwide. The increasing incidence of BC is due to various genetic and environmental changes which lead to the disruption of cellular signaling network(s. It is a complex disease in which several interlinking signaling cascades play a crucial role in establishing a complex regulatory network. The logical modeling approach of René Thomas has been applied to analyze the behavior of estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-α associated Biological Regulatory Network (BRN for a small part of complex events that leads to BC metastasis. Methods A discrete model was constructed using the kinetic logic formalism and its set of logical parameters were obtained using the model checking technique implemented in the SMBioNet software which is consistent with biological observations. The discrete model was further enriched with continuous dynamics by converting it into an equivalent Petri Net (PN to analyze the logical parameters of the involved entities. Results In-silico based discrete and continuous modeling of ER-α associated signaling network involved in BC provides information about behaviors and gene-gene interaction in detail. The dynamics of discrete model revealed, imperative behaviors represented as cyclic paths and trajectories leading to pathogenic states such as metastasis. Results suggest that the increased expressions of receptors ER-α, IGF-1R and EGFR slow down the activity of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs such as BRCA1, p53 and Mdm2 which can lead to metastasis. Therefore, IGF-1R and EGFR are considered as important inhibitory targets to control the metastasis in BC. Conclusion The in-silico approaches allow us to increase our understanding of the functional properties of living organisms. It opens new avenues of investigations of multiple inhibitory targets (ER-α, IGF-1R and EGFR for wet lab experiments as well as provided valuable insights in the treatment of cancers

  6. Synthetic biology meets tissue engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Jamie A; Cachat, Elise

    2016-06-15

    Classical tissue engineering is aimed mainly at producing anatomically and physiologically realistic replacements for normal human tissues. It is done either by encouraging cellular colonization of manufactured matrices or cellular recolonization of decellularized natural extracellular matrices from donor organs, or by allowing cells to self-organize into organs as they do during fetal life. For repair of normal bodies, this will be adequate but there are reasons for making unusual, non-evolved tissues (repair of unusual bodies, interface to electromechanical prostheses, incorporating living cells into life-support machines). Synthetic biology is aimed mainly at engineering cells so that they can perform custom functions: applying synthetic biological approaches to tissue engineering may be one way of engineering custom structures. In this article, we outline the 'embryological cycle' of patterning, differentiation and morphogenesis and review progress that has been made in constructing synthetic biological systems to reproduce these processes in new ways. The state-of-the-art remains a long way from making truly synthetic tissues, but there are now at least foundations for future work. © 2016 Authors; published by Portland Press Limited.

  7. Proceedings of the specialists' meeting on regulatory inspection practices in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-01-01

    The sessions and contributions of this conference are dealing with: the general problems of regulatory inspection of nuclear power plants and overall national practices (in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States), specific problems and practical experience of regulatory inspection during site study, evaluation, design, manufacturing and construction of nuclear plants (in Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Great-Britain, United States), quality insurance issues, pressure component regulations, specific problems and practical experience of regulatory inspection during commissioning (in Spain, Sweden, Great-Britain and United States), specific problems and practical experience of regulatory inspection during operation (in Spain, Great-Britain, Unites States, Italy and Sweden), special aspects of regulatory inspection (notably public information issues in Sweden and in Great-Britain, inspection of nuclear fuel transportation in Spain, enforcement programme in the USA)

  8. Mutational robustness of gene regulatory networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aalt D J van Dijk

    Full Text Available Mutational robustness of gene regulatory networks refers to their ability to generate constant biological output upon mutations that change network structure. Such networks contain regulatory interactions (transcription factor-target gene interactions but often also protein-protein interactions between transcription factors. Using computational modeling, we study factors that influence robustness and we infer several network properties governing it. These include the type of mutation, i.e. whether a regulatory interaction or a protein-protein interaction is mutated, and in the case of mutation of a regulatory interaction, the sign of the interaction (activating vs. repressive. In addition, we analyze the effect of combinations of mutations and we compare networks containing monomeric with those containing dimeric transcription factors. Our results are consistent with available data on biological networks, for example based on evolutionary conservation of network features. As a novel and remarkable property, we predict that networks are more robust against mutations in monomer than in dimer transcription factors, a prediction for which analysis of conservation of DNA binding residues in monomeric vs. dimeric transcription factors provides indirect evidence.

  9. A systems biology approach to construct the gene regulatory network of systemic inflammation via microarray and databases mining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lan Chung-Yu

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Inflammation is a hallmark of many human diseases. Elucidating the mechanisms underlying systemic inflammation has long been an important topic in basic and clinical research. When primary pathogenetic events remains unclear due to its immense complexity, construction and analysis of the gene regulatory network of inflammation at times becomes the best way to understand the detrimental effects of disease. However, it is difficult to recognize and evaluate relevant biological processes from the huge quantities of experimental data. It is hence appealing to find an algorithm which can generate a gene regulatory network of systemic inflammation from high-throughput genomic studies of human diseases. Such network will be essential for us to extract valuable information from the complex and chaotic network under diseased conditions. Results In this study, we construct a gene regulatory network of inflammation using data extracted from the Ensembl and JASPAR databases. We also integrate and apply a number of systematic algorithms like cross correlation threshold, maximum likelihood estimation method and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC on time-lapsed microarray data to refine the genome-wide transcriptional regulatory network in response to bacterial endotoxins in the context of dynamic activated genes, which are regulated by transcription factors (TFs such as NF-κB. This systematic approach is used to investigate the stochastic interaction represented by the dynamic leukocyte gene expression profiles of human subject exposed to an inflammatory stimulus (bacterial endotoxin. Based on the kinetic parameters of the dynamic gene regulatory network, we identify important properties (such as susceptibility to infection of the immune system, which may be useful for translational research. Finally, robustness of the inflammatory gene network is also inferred by analyzing the hubs and "weak ties" structures of the gene network

  10. Regulatory Anatomy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoeyer, Klaus

    2015-01-01

    This article proposes the term “safety logics” to understand attempts within the European Union (EU) to harmonize member state legislation to ensure a safe and stable supply of human biological material for transplants and transfusions. With safety logics, I refer to assemblages of discourses, le...... they arise. In short, I expose the regulatory anatomy of the policy landscape....

  11. Mammalian synthetic biology for studying the cell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathur, Melina; Xiang, Joy S; Smolke, Christina D

    2017-01-02

    Synthetic biology is advancing the design of genetic devices that enable the study of cellular and molecular biology in mammalian cells. These genetic devices use diverse regulatory mechanisms to both examine cellular processes and achieve precise and dynamic control of cellular phenotype. Synthetic biology tools provide novel functionality to complement the examination of natural cell systems, including engineered molecules with specific activities and model systems that mimic complex regulatory processes. Continued development of quantitative standards and computational tools will expand capacities to probe cellular mechanisms with genetic devices to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the cell. In this study, we review synthetic biology tools that are being applied to effectively investigate diverse cellular processes, regulatory networks, and multicellular interactions. We also discuss current challenges and future developments in the field that may transform the types of investigation possible in cell biology. © 2017 Mathur et al.

  12. Meeting regulatory standards with BeO ceramic TLD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gammage, R.B.; Christian, D.J.

    1978-01-01

    Measurements of exposures below 1 mR are possible with BeO ceramic TLD by signal recording that discriminates against an interfering pyroelectric incandescence. Performance under environmental monitoring conditions is considered in light of current regulatory criteria. Factors such as reproducibility and batch uniformity are satisfactory. An anomalous energy dependence causes an over-response that will probably require use of an energy compensation shield

  13. Molecular ferroelectrics: where electronics meet biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jiangyu; Liu, Yuanming; Zhang, Yanhang; Cai, Hong-Ling; Xiong, Ren-Gen

    2013-12-28

    In the last several years, we have witnessed significant advances in molecular ferroelectrics, with the ferroelectric properties of molecular crystals approaching those of barium titanate. In addition, ferroelectricity has been observed in biological systems, filling an important missing link in bioelectric phenomena. In this perspective, we will present short historical notes on ferroelectrics, followed by an overview of the fundamentals of ferroelectricity. The latest developments in molecular ferroelectrics and biological ferroelectricity will then be highlighted, and their implications and potential applications will be discussed. We close by noting molecular ferroelectric as an exciting frontier between electronics and biology, and a number of challenges ahead are also described.

  14. 78 FR 4476 - Sunshine Act; Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-22

    ...: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. STATUS: Public and Closed. Week of... live at the Web address--www.nrc.gov. 9:00 a.m. Briefing on Public Participation in NRC Regulatory Decision- Making (Public Meeting) (Contact: Lance Rakovan, 301-415-2589). This meeting will be webcast live...

  15. Synthetic biology as it relates to CAM photosynthesis: challenges and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DePaoli, Henrique C; Borland, Anne M; Tuskan, Gerald A; Cushman, John C; Yang, Xiaohan

    2014-07-01

    To meet future food and energy security needs, which are amplified by increasing population growth and reduced natural resource availability, metabolic engineering efforts have moved from manipulating single genes/proteins to introducing multiple genes and novel pathways to improve photosynthetic efficiency in a more comprehensive manner. Biochemical carbon-concentrating mechanisms such as crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), which improves photosynthetic, water-use, and possibly nutrient-use efficiency, represent a strategic target for synthetic biology to engineer more productive C3 crops for a warmer and drier world. One key challenge for introducing multigene traits like CAM onto a background of C3 photosynthesis is to gain a better understanding of the dynamic spatial and temporal regulatory events that underpin photosynthetic metabolism. With the aid of systems and computational biology, vast amounts of experimental data encompassing transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics can be related in a network to create dynamic models. Such models can undergo simulations to discover key regulatory elements in metabolism and suggest strategic substitution or augmentation by synthetic components to improve photosynthetic performance and water-use efficiency in C3 crops. Another key challenge in the application of synthetic biology to photosynthesis research is to develop efficient systems for multigene assembly and stacking. Here, we review recent progress in computational modelling as applied to plant photosynthesis, with attention to the requirements for CAM, and recent advances in synthetic biology tool development. Lastly, we discuss possible options for multigene pathway construction in plants with an emphasis on CAM-into-C3 engineering. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. Removal of regulatory controls for materials and sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    Issues with the removal of regulatory controls are very important on the agenda of the regulatory authorities dealing with radioactive waste management (RWM). These issues arise prominently in decommissioning and in site remediation, and decisions can be very wide ranging having potentially important economic impacts and reaching outside the RWM area. The RWMC Regulators Forum started to address these issues by holding a topical discussion at its meeting in March 2003. Ths present document collates the national regulatory positions in the area of removal of regulatory controls. A summary of the national positions is also provided. The document is up to date to April 2004. (authors)

  17. 75 FR 65485 - Sunshine Act Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-25

    ... Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation-- 33rd Transportation Working Group Meeting. 2. Commission Review of... Agreement, FMC Agreement No. 011223. 3. Staff Briefing Regarding China Maritime Regulatory Issues. Contact...

  18. Prediction of regulatory elements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sandelin, Albin

    2008-01-01

    Finding the regulatory mechanisms responsible for gene expression remains one of the most important challenges for biomedical research. A major focus in cellular biology is to find functional transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) responsible for the regulation of a downstream gene. As wet......-lab methods are time consuming and expensive, it is not realistic to identify TFBS for all uncharacterized genes in the genome by purely experimental means. Computational methods aimed at predicting potential regulatory regions can increase the efficiency of wet-lab experiments significantly. Here, methods...

  19. 76 FR 6094 - FAA Public Forum To Conduct Regulatory Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-03

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Parts 27 and 29 FAA Public Forum To Conduct Regulatory Review AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The FAA announces an informal meeting to discuss the FAA rotorcraft rules, 14...

  20. The impact of biology on risk assessment -- Workshop of the National Research Council`s board on radiation effects research. Meeting report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fry, R.J.M. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Grosovsky, A. [Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States); Hanawalt, P.C. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Biological Sciences; Jostes, R.F. [National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States). Board on Radiation Effects Research; Little, J.B. [Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (United States). Dept. of Cancer Biology; Morgan, W.F. [Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Radiation Oncology; Oleinick, N.L. [Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States); Ullrich, R.L. [Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX (United States). Dept. of Radiation Therapy

    1997-12-31

    The linear, nonthreshold extrapolation from a dose-response relationship for ionizing radiation derived at higher doses to doses for which regulatory standards are proposed is being challenged by some scientists and defended by others. It appears that the risks associated with exposures to doses of interest are below the risks that can be measured with epidemiologic studies. Therefore, many have looked to biology to provide information relevant to risk assessment. The workshop reported here, ``The Impact of biology on Risk Assessment,`` was planned to address the need for further information by bringing together scientists who have been working in key fields of biology and others who have been contemplating the issues associated specifically with this question. The goals of the workshop were to summarize and review the status of the relevant biology, to determine how the reported biologic data might influence risk assessment, and to identify subjects on which more data is needed.

  1. 75 FR 54917 - Criteria for Nominating Materials Licensees for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Agency...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-09

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0294] Criteria for Nominating Materials Licensees for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Agency Action Review Meeting AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Request for comment. SUMMARY: It is the policy of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission...

  2. [NCRP comments on radiation protection related reports, proposed standards, and meetings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    Two NCRP Reports, two Annual Meeting Proceedings and one Commentary have been published during this period. NCRP Report No. 105, Radiation Protection for Medical and Allied Health Personnel is a rewrite and update of NCRP Report No. 48, which had the same title and which it supersedes. The primary objective of the new report is to update the material to include new radiation sources used in medicine. NCRP Report No. 106, Limit for Exposure to ''Hot Particles'' on the Skin was prepared in response to a request from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The report addresses the potential biological effect of microscopic radioactive particles on the skin and reviews the presently available information on the subject. Proceedings No. 10, Radon, is the proceedings of the 24th Annual Meeting of the NCRP. Proceedings No. 11, Radiation Protection Today---The NCRP at Sixty Years is the proceedings of the 25th Annual Meeting of the NCRP. Commentary No. 5, Review of the Publication, Living Without Landfills, was recently released. Also included is a list of NCRP committee reports which were released in the current reporting period

  3. 2017 Midwest Zebrafish Meeting Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandquist, Elizabeth; Petersen, Sarah C; Smith, Cody J

    2017-12-01

    The 2017 Midwest Zebrafish meeting was held from June 16 to 18 at the University of Cincinnati, sponsored by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Divisions of Developmental Biology, Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, and Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. The meeting, organized by Saulius Sumanas, Joshua Waxman, and Chunyue Yin, hosted >130 attendees from 16 different states. Scientific sessions were focused on morphogenesis, neural development, novel technologies, and disease models, with Steve Ekker, Stephen Potter, and Lila Solnica-Krezel presenting keynote talks. In this article, we highlight the results and emerging themes from the meeting.

  4. Managing Regulatory Body Competence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    In 2001, the IAEA published TECDOC 1254, which examined the way in which the recognized functions of a regulatory body for nuclear facilities results in competence needs. Using the systematic approach to training (SAT), TECDOC 1254 provided a framework for regulatory bodies for managing training and developing and their maintaining their competence. It has been successfully used by many regulators. The IAEA has also introduced a methodology and an assessment tool - Guidelines for Systematic Assessment of Regulatory Competence Needs (SARCoN) - which provides practical guidance on analysing the training and development needs of a regulatory body and, through a gap analysis, guidance on establishing competence needs and how to meet them. In 2009, the IAEA established a steering committee (supported by a bureau) with the mission to advise the IAEA on how it could best assist Member States to develop suitable competence management systems for their regulatory bodies. The committee recommended the development of a safety report on managing staff competence as an integral part of a regulatory body's management system. This Safety Report was developed in response to this request. It supersedes TECDOC 1254, broadens its application to regulatory bodies for all facilities and activities, and builds upon the experience gained through the application of TECDOC 1254 and SARCoN and the feedback received from Member States. This Safety Report applies to the management of adequate competence as needs change, and as such is equally applicable to the needs of States 'embarking' on a nuclear power programme. It also deals with the special case of building up the competence of regulatory bodies as part of the overall process of establishing an 'embarking' State's regulatory system

  5. What's the Regulatory Value of a Target Product Profile?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breder, Christopher D; Du, Wenny; Tyndall, Adria

    2017-07-01

    Target product profiles (TPPs) are used as a regulatory tool for dialog on clinical development or manufacturing plans. Drugs and biologics approved by the FDA that mention TPPs are associated with more efficient regulatory review times, perhaps as a result of increased planning or because the TPP promotes well-organized regulatory dialog. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Biomaterials — where biology, physics, chemistry, engineering and medicine meet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hing, K. A.

    2008-03-01

    The success or failure of an implant material in the body depends on a complex interaction between a synthetic 'foreign body' and the 'host tissue'. These interactions occur at many levels from the sub-microscopic level, where subtle changes in the surface physio-chemistry can substantially alter the nature of the biomaterial-host tissue interface, through the microscopical level (e.g. sensitivity to surface topography) to the macrostructural level (e.g. dependence on scaffold porosity). Thus the factors that control these responses are not only biologically determined but also mechanically, physically and chemically mediated, although identifying where one starts and the other finishes can be difficult. Design of a successful medical device has therefore to call on expertise within a wide range of disciplines. In terms of both investigating the basic science behind the factors which orchestrate a biological response and developing research tools that enable study of these responses. However, a medical device must also meet the economic and practical demands of health care professionals who will ultimately be using it in the clinic. Bone graft substitute materials are used in orthopaedics as an alternative or adjunct to autografting, a practice where the patient 'donates' bone from a healthy site to aid bone repair at a damaged or diseased site. These materials are used in a wide range of procedures from total hip revision to spinal fusion and their evolution over the last 10 years illustrates how an interdisciplinary approach has benefited their development and may lead to further innovation in the future.

  7. Assessment of regulatory effectiveness. Peer discussions on regulatory practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-09-01

    This report arises from the seventh series of peer discussions on regulatory practices entitled 'Assessment of Regulatory Effectiveness'. The term 'regulatory effectiveness' covers the quality of the work and level of performance of a regulatory body. In this sense, regulatory effectiveness applies to regulatory body activities aimed at preventing safety degradation and ensuring that an acceptable level of safety is being maintained by the regulated operating organizations. In addition, regulatory effectiveness encompasses the promotion of safety improvements, the timely and cost effective performance of regulatory functions in a manner which ensures the confidence of the operating organizations, the general public and the government, and striving for continuous improvements to performance. Senior regulators from 22 Member States participated in two peer group discussions during March and May 1999. The discussions were focused on the elements of an effective regulatory body, possible indicators of regulatory effectiveness and its assessment. This report presents the outcome of these meetings and recommendations of good practices identified by senior regulators, which do not necessarily reflect those of the governments of the nominating Member States, the organizations they belong to, or the International Atomic Energy Agency. In order to protect people and the environment from hazards associated with nuclear facilities, the main objective of a nuclear regulatory body is to ensure that a high level of safety in the nuclear activities under its jurisdiction is achieved, maintained and within the control of operating organizations. Even if it is possible to directly judge objective safety levels at nuclear facilities, such safety levels would not provide an exclusive indicator of regulatory effectiveness. The way the regulatory body ensures the safety of workers and the public and the way it discharges its responsibilities also determine its effectiveness. Hence the

  8. Abstracts of the 26. Annual meeting of the Brazilian Society on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Resumos da 26. reuniao anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Bioquimica e Biologia Molecular

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-07-01

    This meeting was about biochemistry and molecular biology. It was discussed topics related to bio energetic, channels, transports, biotechnology, metabolism, cellular biology, immunology, toxicology, photobiology and pharmacology.

  9. Abstracts of the 27. Annual meeting of the Brazilian Society on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Resumos da 27. reuniao anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Bioquimica e Biologia Molecular

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-07-01

    This meeting was about biochemistry and molecular biology. It was discussed topics related to bio energetic, channels, transports, biotechnology, metabolism, cellular biology, immunology, toxicology, photobiology and pharmacology.

  10. Using synthetic biology to distinguish and overcome regulatory and functional barriers related to nitrogen fixation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xia Wang

    Full Text Available Biological nitrogen fixation is a complex process requiring multiple genes working in concert. To date, the Klebsiella pneumoniae nif gene cluster, divided into seven operons, is one of the most studied systems. Its nitrogen fixation capacity is subject to complex cascade regulation and physiological limitations. In this report, the entire K. pneumoniae nif gene cluster was reassembled as operon-based BioBrick parts in Escherichia coli. It provided ~100% activity of native K. pneumoniae system. Based on the expression levels of these BioBrick parts, a T7 RNA polymerase-LacI expression system was used to replace the σ(54-dependent promoters located upstream of nif operons. Expression patterns of nif operons were critical for the maximum activity of the recombinant system. By mimicking these expression levels with variable-strength T7-dependent promoters, ~42% of the nitrogenase activity of the σ(54-dependent nif system was achieved in E. coli. When the newly constructed T7-dependent nif system was challenged with different genetic and physiological conditions, it bypassed the original complex regulatory circuits, with minor physiological limitations. Therefore, we have successfully replaced the nif regulatory elements with a simple expression system that may provide the first step for further research of introducing nif genes into eukaryotic organelles, which has considerable potentials in agro-biotechnology.

  11. Exploring self-regulatory strategies for eating behaviour in Danish adolescents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nureeva, Liliya; Brunsø, Karen; Lähteenmäki, Liisa

    2016-01-01

    – Focusing on improving adolescents’ self-regulatory skills in the domain of eating behaviour is a promising approach in developing future interventions. Originality/value – The present article explores self-regulatory strategies for eating behaviour in adolescence and discusses their relevance.......Purpose – Healthy eating behaviour in adolescence may be negatively affected by lack of self-regulation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss strategies for regulating eating behaviour as formulated by adolescents themselves. Design/methodology/approach – Self-regulatory strategies were elicited...... with concept mapping, which is a group-based method. Three meetings were conducted with each of four school classes in Denmark. Participants in the 12-15-year age group were recruited for the study. At the first meeting, participants had to complete the phrase “Things I can do to ensure my healthy eating are...

  12. Twenty-third water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 3, structural and seismic engineering, primary systems integrity, equipment operability and aging, ECCS strainer blockage research and regulatory issues

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Monteleone, S. [comp.] [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

    1996-03-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twenty- Third Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 23-25, 1995. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. This document, Volume 3, presents topics in Structural & Seismic Engineering, Primary Systems Integrity, Equipment Operability and Aging, and ECCS Strainer Blockage Research & Regulatory Issues. Individual papers have been cataloged separately.

  13. Twenty-third water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 3, structural and seismic engineering, primary systems integrity, equipment operability and aging, ECCS strainer blockage research and regulatory issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monteleone, S.

    1996-03-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twenty- Third Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 23-25, 1995. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. This document, Volume 3, presents topics in Structural ampersand Seismic Engineering, Primary Systems Integrity, Equipment Operability and Aging, and ECCS Strainer Blockage Research ampersand Regulatory Issues. Individual papers have been cataloged separately

  14. US Competitiveness in Synthetic Biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gronvall, Gigi Kwik

    2015-01-01

    Synthetic biology is an emerging technical field that aims to make biology easier to engineer; the field has applications in strategically important sectors for the US economy. While the United States currently leads in synthetic biology R&D, other nations are heavily investing in order to boost their economies, which will inevitably diminish the US leadership position. This outcome is not entirely negative--additional investments will expand markets--but it is critical that the US government take steps to remain competitive: There are applications from which the US population and economy may benefit; there are specific applications with importance for national defense; and US technical leadership will ensure that US experts have a leading role in synthetic biology governance, regulation, and oversight. Measures to increase competitiveness in S&T generally are broadly applicable for synthetic biology and should be pursued. However, the US government will also need to take action on fundamental issues that will affect the field's development, such as countering anti-GMO (genetically modified organism) sentiments and anti-GMO legislation. The United States should maintain its regulatory approach so that it is the product that is regulated, not the method used to create a product. At the same time, the United States needs to ensure that the regulatory framework is updated so that synthetic biology products do not fall into regulatory gaps. Finally, the United States needs to pay close attention to how synthetic biology applications may be governed internationally, such as through the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity, so that beneficial applications may be realized.

  15. Molecular biology - Part II: Beneficial liaisons: Radiobiology meets cellular and molecular biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, Mary Ann; Coleman, C. Norman

    1997-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this course is to familiarize radiation oncologists with the concepts and terminology of molecular and cellular biology that are especially relevant to radiation oncology. The ability of radiation oncologists to remain current with the new discoveries of modern biology is essential to the development of improved therapeutic strategies and, importantly, to the proper balance between investment in technology and biology. Objective: This year, this Refresher Course is part of a three-part ''series'' including Drs. McKenna and Dritschilo. The objective is to provide continuing education for the academic and practicing radiation oncologist, physicist and biologist in the modern biologic concepts of cancer and its treatment. An effort will be made to relate these general concepts to the clinic by providing a broad view as to potential new biological treatments which might enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy. The specific focus of this Course will vary from year to year. Some of the classic radiation biology models which form the basis of clinical practice and laboratory research will be examined and 'newer' models will be presented which take into account the emerging knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. A few techniques in molecular and cellular biology will be described to the extent necessary to understand their basic concepts and their applicability. Aspects of radiation biology which will be covered include cell cycle, radiation-induced changes in the cellular phenotype, and considerations of the effect of the tumor microenvironment. It is not the expectation that the attendees will become experts in the particular subjects presented. Rather, it is the intent to increase their curiosity as to the new knowledge that is emerging and to demonstrate that these seemingly complicated areas can be understood and appreciated with a modicum of the effort

  16. Molecular biology - Part II: Beneficial liaisons: Radiobiology meets cellular and molecular biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, Mary Ann; Coleman, C. Norman

    1996-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this course is to familiarize radiation oncologists with the concepts and terminology of molecular and cellular biology that are especially relevant to radiation oncology. The ability of radiation oncologists to remain current with the new discoveries of modern biology is essential to the development of improved therapeutic strategies and, importantly, to the proper balance between investment in technology and biology. Objective: This year, this Refresher Course is part of a three-part 'series' including Drs. Martin Brown and Amato Giaccia. The objective is to provide continuing education for the academic and practicing radiation oncologist, physicist and biologist in the modern biologic concepts of cancer and its treatment. An effort will be made to relate these general concepts to the clinic by providing a broad view as to potential new biological treatments which might enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy. The specific focus of this Course will vary from year to year. Some of the classic radiation biology models which form the basis of clinical practice and laboratory research will be examined and 'newer' models will be presented which take into account the emerging knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. A few techniques in molecular and cellular biology will be described to the extent necessary to understand their basic concepts and their applicability. Aspects of radiation biology which will be covered include cell cycle, radiation-induced changes in the cellular phenotype, and considerations of the effect of the tumor microenvironment. It is not the expectation that the attendees will become experts in the particular subjects presented. Rather, it is the intent to increase their curiosity as to the new knowledge that is emerging and to demonstrate that these seemingly complicated areas can be understood and appreciated with a modicum of the effort

  17. Promoting Regulatory Reform: The African Health Profession Regulatory Collaborative (ARC) for Nursing and Midwifery Year 4 Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, Maureen A; Spangler, Sydney A; Tison, Laura I; Johnson, Carla M; Callahan, Tegan L; Iliffe, Jill; Hepburn, Kenneth W; Gross, Jessica M

    2017-10-01

    As countries across sub-Saharan Africa work towards universal health coverage and HIV epidemic control, investments seek to bolster the quality and relevance of the health workforce. The African Health Profession Regulatory Collaborative (ARC) partnered with 17 countries across East, Central, and Southern Africa to ensure nurses and midwives were authorized and equipped to provide essential HIV services to pregnant women and children with HIV. Through ARC, nursing leadership teams representing each country identify a priority regulatory function and develop a proposal to strengthen that regulation over a 1-year period. Each year culminates with a summative congress meeting, involving all ARC countries, where teams present their projects and share lessons learned with their colleagues. During a recent ARC Summative Congress, a group survey was administered to 11 country teams that received ARC Year 4 grants to measure advancements in regulatory function using the five-stage Regulatory Function Framework, and a group questionnaire was administered to 16 country teams to measure improvements in national nursing capacity (February 2011-2016). In ARC Year 4, eight countries implemented continuing professional development projects, Botswana revised their scope of practice, Mozambique piloted a licensing examination to assess HIV-related competencies, and South Africa developed accreditation standards for HIV/tuberculosis specialty nurses. Countries reported improvements in national nursing leaders' teamwork, collaborations with national organizations, regional networking with nursing leaders, and the ability to garner additional resources. ARC provides an effective, collaborative model to rapidly strengthen national regulatory frameworks, which other health professional cadres or regions may consider using to ensure a relevant health workforce, authorized and equipped to meet the emerging demand for health services.

  18. Prediction of adaptive self-regulatory responses to arthritis pain anxiety in exercising adults: does pain acceptance matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cary, Miranda Ashley; Gyurcsik, Nancy C; Brawley, Lawrence R

    2015-01-01

    Exercising for ≥ 150 min/week is a recommended strategy for self-managing arthritis. However, exercise nonadherence is a problem. Arthritis pain anxiety may interfere with regular exercise. According to the fear-avoidance model, individuals may confront their pain anxiety by using adaptive self-regulatory responses (eg, changing exercise type or duration). Furthermore, the anxiety-self-regulatory responses relationship may vary as a function of individuals' pain acceptance levels. To investigate pain acceptance as a moderator of the pain anxiety-adaptive self-regulatory responses relationship. The secondary objective was to examine whether groups of patients who differed in meeting exercise recommendations also differed in pain-related and self-regulatory responses. Adults (mean [± SD] age 49.75 ± 13.88 years) with medically diagnosed arthritis completed online measures of arthritis pain-related variables and self-regulatory responses at baseline, and exercise participation two weeks later. Individuals meeting (n=87) and not meeting (n=49) exercise recommendations were identified. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that pain acceptance moderated the anxiety-adaptive self-regulatory responses relationship. When pain anxiety was lower, greater pain acceptance was associated with less frequent use of adaptive responses. When anxiety was higher, adaptive responses were used regardless of pain acceptance level. MANOVA findings revealed that participants meeting the recommended exercise dose reported significantly lower pain and pain anxiety, and greater pain acceptance (Pself-regulatory capacity to cope with additional challenges to exercise adherence (eg, busy schedule).

  19. WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization. Sixty-fifth report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    This report presents the recommendations of a WHO Expert Committee commissioned to coordinate activities leading to the adoption of international recommendations for the production and control of vaccines and other biological substances, and the establishment of international biological reference materials. Following a brief introduction, the report summarizes a number of general issues brought to the attention of the Committee. The next part of the report, of particular relevance to manufacturers and national regulatory authorities, outlines the discussions held on the development and adoption of new and revised WHO Recommendations, Guidelines and guidance documents. Following these discussions, a WHO guidance document on the Scientific principles for regulatory risk evaluation on finding an adventitious agent in a marketed vaccine was adopted along with WHO Guidelines on procedures and data requirements for changes to approved vaccines and revised WHO Recommendations to assure the quality, safety and efficacy of poliomyelitis vaccines (inactivated). Subsequent sections of the report provide information on the current status and proposed development of international reference materials in the areas of antibiotics; biotherapeutics other than blood products; blood products and related substances; in vitro diagnostic device reagents; and vaccines and related substances. A series of annexes are then presented which include an updated list of all WHO Recommendations, Guidelines and other documents on biological substances used in medicine (Annex 1) followed by the above three WHO documents adopted on the advice of the Committee (Annexes 2-4). All additions and discontinuations made during the 2014 meeting to the list of International Standards, Reference Reagents and Reference Panels for biological substances maintained by WHO are summarized in Annex 5. The updated full catalogue of WHO International Reference Preparations is available at: http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/catalogue/en/.

  20. SB6.0: The 6th International meeting on Synthetic Biology, July 9-11, 2013

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kahl, Linda J. [BioBricks Foundation

    2015-04-23

    The Synthetic Biology conference series (SBx.0) is the preeminent academic meeting in synthetic biology. Organized by the BioBricks Foundation, the SBx.0 conference series brings together leading researchers, students, industry executives, and policy makers from around the world to share, consider, debate, and plan efforts to make biology easier to engineer. Historically held every two years, the SBx.0 conferences are held in alternating locations in the United States, Europe, and Asia to encourage global participation and collaboration so that the ramifications of synthetic biology research and development are most likely to be safe ethical, and beneficial. On 9-11 July 2013, the 6th installment of the synthetic biology conference series (SB6.0) was held on the campus of Imperial College London (http://sb6.biobricks.org). The SB6.0 conference was attended by over 700 people, and many more were able to participate via video digital conference (http://sb6.biobricks.org/digital-conference/). Over the course of three days, the SB6.0 conference agenda included plenary sessions, workshops, and poster presentations covering topics ranging from the infrastructure needs arising when “Systematic Engineering Meets Biological Complexity” and design-led considerations for “Connecting People and Technologies” to discussions on “Engineering Biology for New Materials,” “Assessing Risk and Managing Biocontainment,” and “New Directions for Energy and Sustainability.” The $10,150 grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-SC0010233) to the BioBricks Foundation was used to provide partial reimbursement for the travel expenses of leading researchers from the United States to speak at the SB6.0 conference. A total of $9,450 was used to reimburse U.S. speakers for actual expenses related to the SB6.0 conference, including airfare (economy or coach only), ground transportation, hotel, and registration fees. In addition, $700 of the grant was used to offset

  1. Radiation and the regulatory landscape of neo2-Darwinism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rollo, C. David

    2006-01-01

    Several recently revealed features of eukaryotic genomes were not predicted by earlier evolutionary paradigms, including the relatively small number of genes, the very large amounts of non-functional code and its quarantine in heterochromatin, the remarkable conservation of many functionally important genes across relatively enormous phylogenetic distances, and the prevalence of extra-genomic information associated with chromatin structure and histone proteins. All of these emphasize a paramount role for regulatory evolution, which is further reinforced by recent perspectives highlighting even higher-order regulation governing epigenetics and development (EVO-DEVO). Modern neo 2 -Darwinism, with its emphasis on regulatory mechanisms and regulatory evolution provides new vision for understanding radiation biology, particularly because free radicals and redox states are central to many regulatory mechanisms and free radicals generated by radiation mimic and amplify endogenous signalling. This paper explores some of these aspects and their implications for low-dose radiation biology

  2. Radiation and the regulatory landscape of neo2-Darwinism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rollo, C David

    2006-05-11

    Several recently revealed features of eukaryotic genomes were not predicted by earlier evolutionary paradigms, including the relatively small number of genes, the very large amounts of non-functional code and its quarantine in heterochromatin, the remarkable conservation of many functionally important genes across relatively enormous phylogenetic distances, and the prevalence of extra-genomic information associated with chromatin structure and histone proteins. All of these emphasize a paramount role for regulatory evolution, which is further reinforced by recent perspectives highlighting even higher-order regulation governing epigenetics and development (EVO-DEVO). Modern neo2-Darwinism, with its emphasis on regulatory mechanisms and regulatory evolution provides new vision for understanding radiation biology, particularly because free radicals and redox states are central to many regulatory mechanisms and free radicals generated by radiation mimic and amplify endogenous signalling. This paper explores some of these aspects and their implications for low-dose radiation biology.

  3. Modeling stochasticity and robustness in gene regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garg, Abhishek; Mohanram, Kartik; Di Cara, Alessandro; De Micheli, Giovanni; Xenarios, Ioannis

    2009-06-15

    Understanding gene regulation in biological processes and modeling the robustness of underlying regulatory networks is an important problem that is currently being addressed by computational systems biologists. Lately, there has been a renewed interest in Boolean modeling techniques for gene regulatory networks (GRNs). However, due to their deterministic nature, it is often difficult to identify whether these modeling approaches are robust to the addition of stochastic noise that is widespread in gene regulatory processes. Stochasticity in Boolean models of GRNs has been addressed relatively sparingly in the past, mainly by flipping the expression of genes between different expression levels with a predefined probability. This stochasticity in nodes (SIN) model leads to over representation of noise in GRNs and hence non-correspondence with biological observations. In this article, we introduce the stochasticity in functions (SIF) model for simulating stochasticity in Boolean models of GRNs. By providing biological motivation behind the use of the SIF model and applying it to the T-helper and T-cell activation networks, we show that the SIF model provides more biologically robust results than the existing SIN model of stochasticity in GRNs. Algorithms are made available under our Boolean modeling toolbox, GenYsis. The software binaries can be downloaded from http://si2.epfl.ch/ approximately garg/genysis.html.

  4. Construction and analysis of the transcription factor-microRNA co-regulatory network response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a view from the blood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yan; Duan, Zipeng; Xu, Feng; Zhang, Jiayuan; Shulgina, Marina V; Li, Fan

    2017-01-01

    Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) infection has been regional outbreak, recently. The traditional focus on the patterns of "reductionism" which was associated with single molecular changes has been unable to meet the demand of early diagnosis and clinical application when current tuberculosis infection happened. In this study, we employed a systems biology approach to collect large microarray data sets including mRNAs and microRNAs (miRNAs) to identify the differentially expressed mRNAs and miRNAs in the whole blood of TB patients. The aim was to identify key genes associated with the immune response in the pathogenic process of tuberculosis by analyzing the co-regulatory network that was consisted of transcription factors and miRNAs as well as their target genes. The network along with their co-regulatory genes was analyzed utilizing Transcriptional Regulatory Element Database (TRED) and Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). We got 21 (19 up-regulated and 2 down-regulated) differentially expressed genes that were co-regulated by transcription factors and miRNAs. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the 21 differentially expressed genes were predominantly involved in Tuberculosis signaling pathway, which may play a major role in tuberculosis biological process. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to verify the over expression of co-regulatory genes ( FCGR1A and CEBPB ). The genetic expression was correlated with clinicopathological characteristics in TB patients and inferences drawn. Our results suggest the TF-miRNA gene co-regulatory network may help us further understand the molecular mechanism of immune response to tuberculosis and provide us a new angle of future biomarker and therapeutic targets.

  5. Synthetic biological networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Archer, Eric; Süel, Gürol M

    2013-01-01

    Despite their obvious relationship and overlap, the field of physics is blessed with many insightful laws, while such laws are sadly absent in biology. Here we aim to discuss how the rise of a more recent field known as synthetic biology may allow us to more directly test hypotheses regarding the possible design principles of natural biological networks and systems. In particular, this review focuses on synthetic gene regulatory networks engineered to perform specific functions or exhibit particular dynamic behaviors. Advances in synthetic biology may set the stage to uncover the relationship of potential biological principles to those developed in physics. (review article)

  6. Computational challenges in modeling gene regulatory events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pataskar, Abhijeet; Tiwari, Vijay K

    2016-10-19

    Cellular transcriptional programs driven by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms could be better understood by integrating "omics" data and subsequently modeling the gene-regulatory events. Toward this end, computational biology should keep pace with evolving experimental procedures and data availability. This article gives an exemplified account of the current computational challenges in molecular biology.

  7. Sieve-based relation extraction of gene regulatory networks from biological literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Žitnik, Slavko; Žitnik, Marinka; Zupan, Blaž; Bajec, Marko

    2015-01-01

    Relation extraction is an essential procedure in literature mining. It focuses on extracting semantic relations between parts of text, called mentions. Biomedical literature includes an enormous amount of textual descriptions of biological entities, their interactions and results of related experiments. To extract them in an explicit, computer readable format, these relations were at first extracted manually from databases. Manual curation was later replaced with automatic or semi-automatic tools with natural language processing capabilities. The current challenge is the development of information extraction procedures that can directly infer more complex relational structures, such as gene regulatory networks. We develop a computational approach for extraction of gene regulatory networks from textual data. Our method is designed as a sieve-based system and uses linear-chain conditional random fields and rules for relation extraction. With this method we successfully extracted the sporulation gene regulation network in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis for the information extraction challenge at the BioNLP 2013 conference. To enable extraction of distant relations using first-order models, we transform the data into skip-mention sequences. We infer multiple models, each of which is able to extract different relationship types. Following the shared task, we conducted additional analysis using different system settings that resulted in reducing the reconstruction error of bacterial sporulation network from 0.73 to 0.68, measured as the slot error rate between the predicted and the reference network. We observe that all relation extraction sieves contribute to the predictive performance of the proposed approach. Also, features constructed by considering mention words and their prefixes and suffixes are the most important features for higher accuracy of extraction. Analysis of distances between different mention types in the text shows that our choice of transforming

  8. 77 FR 77073 - York Haven Power Company, LLC; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-31

    ... Company, LLC; Notice of Meeting On Wednesday, January 9, 2013, Commission staff will meet with York Haven Power Company, LLC (applicant) in Washington, DC. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the required... begin at 10 a.m. at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission headquarters building located at 888 First...

  9. Present and future breast cancer management--bench to bedside and back: a positioning paper of academia, regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartsch, R; Frings, S; Marty, M; Awada, A; Berghoff, A S; Conte, P; Dickin, S; Enzmann, H; Gnant, M; Hasmann, M; Hendriks, H R; Llombart, A; Massacesi, C; von Minckwitz, G; Penault-Llorca, F; Scaltriti, M; Yarden, Y; Zwierzina, H; Zielinski, C C

    2014-04-01

    Insights into tumour biology of breast cancer have led the path towards the introduction of targeted treatment approaches; still, breast cancer-related mortality remains relatively high. Efforts in the field of basic research revealed new druggable targets which now await validation within the context of clinical trials. Therefore, questions concerning the optimal design of future studies are becoming even more pertinent. Aspects such as the ideal end point, availability of predictive markers to identify the optimal cohort for drug testing, or potential mechanisms of resistance need to be resolved. An expert panel representing the academic community, the pharmaceutical industry, as well as European Regulatory Authorities met in Vienna, Austria, in November 2012, in order to discuss breast cancer biology, identification of novel biological targets and optimal drug development with the aim of treatment individualization. This article summarizes statements and perspectives provided by the meeting participants.

  10. A Review on Regulatory Enforcement Policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Ji Han; Lee, Kyung Joo; Choi, Young Sung

    2017-01-01

    This paper examine the meaning and principle of enforcement through examples from other countries. Regulatory enforcement is the last stage of safety regulation and how it is exercised when one failing to meet regulatory requirements can have significant ripple effect across the industry. Thus, right philosophy and principle should be established. It is not recommended to emphasize neither deterrence approach nor behavior modification approach. This should be also taken into consideration when setting up the principle and system of regulatory enforcement. In the process of Vienna Declaration, Europe and the U.S showed the fundamental differences in their approaches to safety regulation. Considering this, it is required to remain cautious at all times on what to be improved in the aspect of internal consistency within our system and also in the aspect of procedure.

  11. Automated Identification of Core Regulatory Genes in Human Gene Regulatory Networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vipin Narang

    Full Text Available Human gene regulatory networks (GRN can be difficult to interpret due to a tangle of edges interconnecting thousands of genes. We constructed a general human GRN from extensive transcription factor and microRNA target data obtained from public databases. In a subnetwork of this GRN that is active during estrogen stimulation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells, we benchmarked automated algorithms for identifying core regulatory genes (transcription factors and microRNAs. Among these algorithms, we identified K-core decomposition, pagerank and betweenness centrality algorithms as the most effective for discovering core regulatory genes in the network evaluated based on previously known roles of these genes in MCF-7 biology as well as in their ability to explain the up or down expression status of up to 70% of the remaining genes. Finally, we validated the use of K-core algorithm for organizing the GRN in an easier to interpret layered hierarchy where more influential regulatory genes percolate towards the inner layers. The integrated human gene and miRNA network and software used in this study are provided as supplementary materials (S1 Data accompanying this manuscript.

  12. 75 FR 41858 - Notice of FERC Staff Attendance at the Southwest Power Pool ICT Stakeholder Policy Committee Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of FERC Staff Attendance at the Southwest Power Pool ICT Stakeholder Policy Committee Meeting July 12, 2010. The Federal Energy Regulatory... is part of the Commission's ongoing outreach efforts. ICT Stakeholder Policy Committee Meeting July...

  13. The Reconstruction and Analysis of Gene Regulatory Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Guangyong; Huang, Tao

    2018-01-01

    In post-genomic era, an important task is to explore the function of individual biological molecules (i.e., gene, noncoding RNA, protein, metabolite) and their organization in living cells. For this end, gene regulatory networks (GRNs) are constructed to show relationship between biological molecules, in which the vertices of network denote biological molecules and the edges of network present connection between nodes (Strogatz, Nature 410:268-276, 2001; Bray, Science 301:1864-1865, 2003). Biologists can understand not only the function of biological molecules but also the organization of components of living cells through interpreting the GRNs, since a gene regulatory network is a comprehensively physiological map of living cells and reflects influence of genetic and epigenetic factors (Strogatz, Nature 410:268-276, 2001; Bray, Science 301:1864-1865, 2003). In this paper, we will review the inference methods of GRN reconstruction and analysis approaches of network structure. As a powerful tool for studying complex diseases and biological processes, the applications of the network method in pathway analysis and disease gene identification will be introduced.

  14. Emotion: The Self-regulatory Sense.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peil, Katherine T

    2014-03-01

    While emotion is a central component of human health and well-being, traditional approaches to understanding its biological function have been wanting. A dynamic systems model, however, broadly redefines and recasts emotion as a primary sensory system-perhaps the first sensory system to have emerged, serving the ancient autopoietic function of "self-regulation." Drawing upon molecular biology and revelations from the field of epigenetics, the model suggests that human emotional perceptions provide an ongoing stream of "self-relevant" sensory information concerning optimally adaptive states between the organism and its immediate environment, along with coupled behavioral corrections that honor a universal self-regulatory logic, one still encoded within cellular signaling and immune functions. Exemplified by the fundamental molecular circuitry of sensorimotor control in the E coli bacterium, the model suggests that the hedonic (affective) categories emerge directly from positive and negative feedback processes, their good/bad binary appraisals relating to dual self-regulatory behavioral regimes-evolutionary purposes, through which organisms actively participate in natural selection, and through which humans can interpret optimal or deficit states of balanced being and becoming. The self-regulatory sensory paradigm transcends anthropomorphism, unites divergent theoretical perspectives and isolated bodies of literature, while challenging time-honored assumptions. While suppressive regulatory strategies abound, it suggests that emotions are better understood as regulating us, providing a service crucial to all semantic language, learning systems, evaluative decision-making, and fundamental to optimal physical, mental, and social health.

  15. Emotion: The Self-regulatory Sense

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    While emotion is a central component of human health and well-being, traditional approaches to understanding its biological function have been wanting. A dynamic systems model, however, broadly redefines and recasts emotion as a primary sensory system—perhaps the first sensory system to have emerged, serving the ancient autopoietic function of “self-regulation.” Drawing upon molecular biology and revelations from the field of epigenetics, the model suggests that human emotional perceptions provide an ongoing stream of “self-relevant” sensory information concerning optimally adaptive states between the organism and its immediate environment, along with coupled behavioral corrections that honor a universal self-regulatory logic, one still encoded within cellular signaling and immune functions. Exemplified by the fundamental molecular circuitry of sensorimotor control in the E coli bacterium, the model suggests that the hedonic (affective) categories emerge directly from positive and negative feedback processes, their good/bad binary appraisals relating to dual self-regulatory behavioral regimes—evolutionary purposes, through which organisms actively participate in natural selection, and through which humans can interpret optimal or deficit states of balanced being and becoming. The self-regulatory sensory paradigm transcends anthropomorphism, unites divergent theoretical perspectives and isolated bodies of literature, while challenging time-honored assumptions. While suppressive regulatory strategies abound, it suggests that emotions are better understood as regulating us, providing a service crucial to all semantic language, learning systems, evaluative decision-making, and fundamental to optimal physical, mental, and social health. PMID:24808986

  16. Proceedings of a specialist meeting on boron reactivity transients

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-07-01

    The CSNI Specialist Meeting on Boron Dilution Reactivity Transients was hosted by the Penn State University in collaboration with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the TRAC Users Group. More than 70 experts from 12 OECD countries, as well as experts from Russia and other non-OECD countries attended the meeting. Thirty papers were presented in five technical sessions. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together experts involved in the different activities related to boron dilution transients. The experts came from all involved parties, including research organizations, regulatory authorities, vendors and utilities. Information was openly shared and discussed on the experimental results, plant and systems analysis, numerical analysis of mixing and probability and consequences of these transients. Regulatory background and licensing implications were also included to provide the proper frame work for the technical discussion. Each of these areas corresponded to a separate session. The meeting focused on the thermal-hydraulic aspects because of the current interest in that subject and the significant amount of new technical information being generated. Three papers of the same conference are already available in INIS as individual reports: Potential for boron dilution during small-break LOCAs in PWRs (Ref. number: 27029412); Analysis of boron dilution in a four-loop PWR (Ref. number: 27051651); Probability and consequences of a rapid boron dilution sequence in a PWR (Ref. number: 27029411)

  17. Regulation of the life cycle of nuclear installations. Peer discussions on regulatory practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-06-01

    This report arises from the sixth series of peer discussions on regulatory practices entitled 'Regulation of Life Cycle of Nuclear Installations'. Senior regulators from 18 Member States participated in three peer group discussions during 1997-1998. This report presents the outcome of these meetings and recommendations of good practices identified by senior regulators, which do not necessarily reflect those of the governments of the nominating Member States, the nominating organizations, or the IAEA. The purpose of this report is to disseminate the views which the senior regulators presented at the meetings relating to the policies, principles and requirements imposed by regulatory bodies for the safe management of the life cycle of a nuclear installation. The intention of doing this is to assist Member States in the formulation and enhancement of their regulatory control over PLCM by identifying commonly accepted good practices. This report is structured to cover the subject matter under the following main headings: Policies and Principles for the Life Cycle Management of Nuclear Installations; Responsibilities of the Regulatory Body and the Operating Organization; Requirements and Criteria Imposed by the Regulatory Body; Licensing and Regulatory Assessment for Plant Life Cycle Management; and Good Practices

  18. In silico discovery of transcription regulatory elements in Plasmodium falciparum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Le Roch Karine G

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background With the sequence of the Plasmodium falciparum genome and several global mRNA and protein life cycle expression profiling projects now completed, elucidating the underlying networks of transcriptional control important for the progression of the parasite life cycle is highly pertinent to the development of new anti-malarials. To date, relatively little is known regarding the specific mechanisms the parasite employs to regulate gene expression at the mRNA level, with studies of the P. falciparum genome sequence having revealed few cis-regulatory elements and associated transcription factors. Although it is possible the parasite may evoke mechanisms of transcriptional control drastically different from those used by other eukaryotic organisms, the extreme AT-rich nature of P. falciparum intergenic regions (~90% AT presents significant challenges to in silico cis-regulatory element discovery. Results We have developed an algorithm called Gene Enrichment Motif Searching (GEMS that uses a hypergeometric-based scoring function and a position-weight matrix optimization routine to identify with high-confidence regulatory elements in the nucleotide-biased and repeat sequence-rich P. falciparum genome. When applied to promoter regions of genes contained within 21 co-expression gene clusters generated from P. falciparum life cycle microarray data using the semi-supervised clustering algorithm Ontology-based Pattern Identification, GEMS identified 34 putative cis-regulatory elements associated with a variety of parasite processes including sexual development, cell invasion, antigenic variation and protein biosynthesis. Among these candidates were novel motifs, as well as many of the elements for which biological experimental evidence already exists in the Plasmodium literature. To provide evidence for the biological relevance of a cell invasion-related element predicted by GEMS, reporter gene and electrophoretic mobility shift assays

  19. Meeting Report: Synthetic Biology Jamboree for Undergraduates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, A. Malcolm

    2005-01-01

    The field of synthetic biology (the name is derived from an analogy to synthetic chemistry) has recognized itself as a "field" only since about 2002. Synthetic biology has gotten some high-profile attention recently, but most people are not aware the field even exists. Synthetic biologists apply engineering principles to genomic circuits to…

  20. Radiation and the regulatory landscape of neo{sup 2}-Darwinism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rollo, C. David [Department of Biology, Life Sciences Building, 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8S 4K1 (Canada)]. E-mail: rollocd@mcmaster.ca

    2006-05-11

    Several recently revealed features of eukaryotic genomes were not predicted by earlier evolutionary paradigms, including the relatively small number of genes, the very large amounts of non-functional code and its quarantine in heterochromatin, the remarkable conservation of many functionally important genes across relatively enormous phylogenetic distances, and the prevalence of extra-genomic information associated with chromatin structure and histone proteins. All of these emphasize a paramount role for regulatory evolution, which is further reinforced by recent perspectives highlighting even higher-order regulation governing epigenetics and development (EVO-DEVO). Modern neo{sup 2}-Darwinism, with its emphasis on regulatory mechanisms and regulatory evolution provides new vision for understanding radiation biology, particularly because free radicals and redox states are central to many regulatory mechanisms and free radicals generated by radiation mimic and amplify endogenous signalling. This paper explores some of these aspects and their implications for low-dose radiation biology.

  1. Applying differential dynamic logic to reconfigurable biological networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueiredo, Daniel; Martins, Manuel A; Chaves, Madalena

    2017-09-01

    Qualitative and quantitative modeling frameworks are widely used for analysis of biological regulatory networks, the former giving a preliminary overview of the system's global dynamics and the latter providing more detailed solutions. Another approach is to model biological regulatory networks as hybrid systems, i.e., systems which can display both continuous and discrete dynamic behaviors. Actually, the development of synthetic biology has shown that this is a suitable way to think about biological systems, which can often be constructed as networks with discrete controllers, and present hybrid behaviors. In this paper we discuss this approach as a special case of the reconfigurability paradigm, well studied in Computer Science (CS). In CS there are well developed computational tools to reason about hybrid systems. We argue that it is worth applying such tools in a biological context. One interesting tool is differential dynamic logic (dL), which has recently been developed by Platzer and applied to many case-studies. In this paper we discuss some simple examples of biological regulatory networks to illustrate how dL can be used as an alternative, or also as a complement to methods already used. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Beneficial liaisons: radiobiology meets cellular and molecular biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, Mary Ann; Coleman, C. Norman

    1995-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this course is to familiarize radiation oncologists with the concepts and terminology and molecular and cellular biology that are especially relevant to radiation oncology. The ability of radiation oncologists to remain current with the new discoveries of modern biology is essential to the development of improved therapeutic strategies and, importantly, to the proper balance between investment in technology and biology. Objective: This year, this Refresher Course is part of a three-part ''series'' including Drs. Martin Brown and Amato Giaccia. The objective is to provide continuing education for the academic and practicing radiation oncologist, physicist and biologist in the modern biologic concepts of cancer and its treatment. An effort will be made to relate these general concepts to the clinic by providing a broad view as to potential new biological treatments which might enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy. The specific focus of this Course will vary from year to year. Some of the classic radiation biology models which form the basis of clinical practice and laboratory research will be examined and 'newer' models will be presented which take into account the emerging knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. A few techniques in molecular and cellular biology will be described to the extent necessary to understand their basic concepts and their applicability. Aspects of radiation biology which will be covered include cell cycle, radiation-induced changes in the cellular phenotype, and considerations of the effect of the tumor microenvironment. It is not the expectation that the attendees will become experts in the particular subjects presented. Rather, it is the intent to increase their curiosity as to the new knowledge that is emerging and to demonstrate that these seemingly complicated areas can be understood and appreciated with a modicum of the effort

  3. 78 FR 49750 - FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; Notice of Public Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-15

    ... sequence-specific degradation of an RNA. The EPA is beginning to receive applications for regulatory... impact of regulatory actions on health and the environment. FIFRA SAP is a Federal Advisory Committee... the Agency. B. Public Meeting The use of RNA Interference (RNAi) gene silencing technology...

  4. The iSBTc/SITC primer on tumor immunology and biological therapy of cancer: a summary of the 2010 program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urba Walter J

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, SITC (formerly the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer, iSBTc, aims to improve cancer patient outcomes by advancing the science, development and application of biological therapy and immunotherapy. The society and its educational programs have become premier destinations for interaction and innovation in the cancer biologics community. For over a decade, the society has offered the Primer on Tumor Immunology and Biological Therapy of Cancer™ in conjunction with its Annual Scientific Meeting. This report summarizes the 2010 Primer that took place October 1, 2010 in Washington, D.C. as part of the educational offerings associated with the society's 25th anniversary. The target audience was basic and clinical investigators from academia, industry and regulatory agencies, and included clinicians, post-doctoral fellows, students, and allied health professionals. Attendees were provided a review of basic immunology and educated on the current status and most recent advances in tumor immunology and clinical/translational caner immunology. Ten prominent investigators presented on the following topics: innate immunity and inflammation; an overview of adaptive immunity; dendritic cells; tumor microenvironment; regulatory immune cells; immune monitoring; cytokines in cancer immunotherapy; immune modulating antibodies; cancer vaccines; and adoptive T cell therapy. Presentation slides, a Primer webinar and additional program information are available online on the society's website.

  5. BiologicalNetworks 2.0 - an integrative view of genome biology data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ponomarenko Julia

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A significant problem in the study of mechanisms of an organism's development is the elucidation of interrelated factors which are making an impact on the different levels of the organism, such as genes, biological molecules, cells, and cell systems. Numerous sources of heterogeneous data which exist for these subsystems are still not integrated sufficiently enough to give researchers a straightforward opportunity to analyze them together in the same frame of study. Systematic application of data integration methods is also hampered by a multitude of such factors as the orthogonal nature of the integrated data and naming problems. Results Here we report on a new version of BiologicalNetworks, a research environment for the integral visualization and analysis of heterogeneous biological data. BiologicalNetworks can be queried for properties of thousands of different types of biological entities (genes/proteins, promoters, COGs, pathways, binding sites, and other and their relations (interactions, co-expression, co-citations, and other. The system includes the build-pathways infrastructure for molecular interactions/relations and module discovery in high-throughput experiments. Also implemented in BiologicalNetworks are the Integrated Genome Viewer and Comparative Genomics Browser applications, which allow for the search and analysis of gene regulatory regions and their conservation in multiple species in conjunction with molecular pathways/networks, experimental data and functional annotations. Conclusions The new release of BiologicalNetworks together with its back-end database introduces extensive functionality for a more efficient integrated multi-level analysis of microarray, sequence, regulatory, and other data. BiologicalNetworks is freely available at http://www.biologicalnetworks.org.

  6. Regulatory Activities for Licensee's Safety Culture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Young Sung; Choi, Kwang Sik

    2008-01-01

    Weaknesses in safety culture have contributed to a number of incidents/accidents in the nuclear and other high hazard sectors worldwide in the past. These events have fostered an increasing awareness of the need for licensees to develop a strong safety culture to support successful and sustainable nuclear safety performance. Regulatory bodies are taking a growing interest in this issue, and several are actively working to develop and implement approaches to maintaining regulatory oversight of licensee safety culture. However, these approaches are not yet well-established, and it was considered prudent to share experiences and developing methodologies in order to disseminate good practices and avoid potential pitfalls. This paper presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations of international meetings and other countries' activities on safety culture and gives some suggestions for regulators to consider when planning regulatory oversight for licensee's safety culture

  7. A systems biology approach identified different regulatory networks targeted by KSHV miR-K12-11 in B cells and endothelial cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yajie; Boss, Isaac W; McIntyre, Lauren M; Renne, Rolf

    2014-08-08

    Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpes virus (KSHV) is associated with tumors of endothelial and lymphoid origin. During latent infection, KSHV expresses miR-K12-11, an ortholog of the human tumor gene hsa-miR-155. Both gene products are microRNAs (miRNAs), which are important post-transcriptional regulators that contribute to tissue specific gene expression. Advances in target identification technologies and molecular interaction databases have allowed a systems biology approach to unravel the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) triggered by miR-K12-11 in endothelial and lymphoid cells. Understanding the tissue specific function of miR-K12-11 will help to elucidate underlying mechanisms of KSHV pathogenesis. Ectopic expression of miR-K12-11 differentially affected gene expression in BJAB cells of lymphoid origin and TIVE cells of endothelial origin. Direct miRNA targeting accounted for a small fraction of the observed transcriptome changes: only 29 genes were identified as putative direct targets of miR-K12-11 in both cell types. However, a number of commonly affected biological pathways, such as carbohydrate metabolism and interferon response related signaling, were revealed by gene ontology analysis. Integration of transcriptome profiling, bioinformatic algorithms, and databases of protein-protein interactome from the ENCODE project identified different nodes of GRNs utilized by miR-K12-11 in a tissue-specific fashion. These effector genes, including cancer associated transcription factors and signaling proteins, amplified the regulatory potential of a single miRNA, from a small set of putative direct targets to a larger set of genes. This is the first comparative analysis of miRNA-K12-11's effects in endothelial and B cells, from tissues infected with KSHV in vivo. MiR-K12-11 was able to broadly modulate gene expression in both cell types. Using a systems biology approach, we inferred that miR-K12-11 establishes its GRN by both repressing master TFs and influencing

  8. NTL 11 spent fuel flask - meeting the challenge of regulatory and technological change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cory, A.R.

    2004-01-01

    By June 2005, when shipments of spent fuel for reprocessing from Germany are concluded, the NTL11 flask type will have been responsible for transporting a total of 1500 tonnes of heavy metal in the form of spent fuel. Excluding domestic transports in France and the UK, this represents 25% of the total European spent fuel transported for reprocessing since the flasks came into service in 1977. Approximately 40% of the total for the flask type will have been transported to BNFL's Sellafield facility, the remainder to Cogema at La Hague. The NTL11 flask can justifiably be described as being the workhorse of BNFL's European spent fuel transport business. The NTL11 flask started life under the ownership of Nuclear Transport Limited, an associate company of BNFL, and in recent years the original fleet of five flasks has been absorbed into the BNFL inventory. A recent build programme has seen a further four flasks added to the fleet, an expedient measure to cope with the additional transport requirements imposed by the need to meet the June 2005 deadline for the removal of contracted fuels from Germany. While there have been certain evolutionary changes affecting the package design, there have also been more significant changes in the Design Safety Case. These have sometimes been necessary to meet regulatory changes, or the challenges posed by the regulators. In other cases advantage has been taken of improvements in analytical techniques to demonstrate increased margins of operational safety. Where possible those margins have also been increased by other means, such as taking advantage of commercial trends to reduce package thermal loads. The NTL11 flask was designed around the reactor and fuel characteristics prevailing in the 1970's. Over the lifetime of the flask the responsible engineering teams have faced and met the successive challenges to develop the capability of the Package to face the changing requirements of the industry and the Transport Regulations. Both

  9. Digest: Ant workers might use ancient regulatory pathways to divide labor

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ernst, Ulrich R.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 71, č. 1 (2017), s. 193-194 ISSN 0014-3820 Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : regulatory pathways * social insect * ants Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour OBOR OECD: Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology Impact factor: 4.201, year: 2016

  10. Control theory meets synthetic biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Del Vecchio, Domitilla; Dy, Aaron J; Qian, Yili

    2016-07-01

    The past several years have witnessed an increased presence of control theoretic concepts in synthetic biology. This review presents an organized summary of how these control design concepts have been applied to tackle a variety of problems faced when building synthetic biomolecular circuits in living cells. In particular, we describe success stories that demonstrate how simple or more elaborate control design methods can be used to make the behaviour of synthetic genetic circuits within a single cell or across a cell population more reliable, predictable and robust to perturbations. The description especially highlights technical challenges that uniquely arise from the need to implement control designs within a new hardware setting, along with implemented or proposed solutions. Some engineering solutions employing complex feedback control schemes are also described, which, however, still require a deeper theoretical analysis of stability, performance and robustness properties. Overall, this paper should help synthetic biologists become familiar with feedback control concepts as they can be used in their application area. At the same time, it should provide some domain knowledge to control theorists who wish to enter the rising and exciting field of synthetic biology. © 2016 The Author(s).

  11. Program and abstracts of the 25. Annual meeting of the Brazilian Society on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Programa e resumos da 25. Reuniao anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Bioquimica e Biologia Molecular

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-12-31

    The meeting was about biochemistry and molecular biology.In this meeting it was also discussed the following subjects: biotechnology, metabolism, enzymes, proteins, immunology, drugs and others related topics.

  12. 75 FR 40816 - Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 12626-002; Project No. 12717-002] Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Meeting July 7, 2010. a. Date and Time of Meeting: Thursday, July 22, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. CDT. b. Place: Illinois Historic Preservation...

  13. 77 FR 27451 - Boott Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Section 106 Consultation Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 2790-055] Boott Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Section 106 Consultation Meeting On May 24, 2012, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission... Historic Preservation, Boott Hydropower, Inc., and any other consulting parties for the section 106 process...

  14. Regulatory variation: an emerging vantage point for cancer biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Luolan; Lorzadeh, Alireza; Hirst, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Transcriptional regulation involves complex and interdependent interactions of noncoding and coding regions of the genome with proteins that interact and modify them. Genetic variation/mutation in coding and noncoding regions of the genome can drive aberrant transcription and disease. In spite of accounting for nearly 98% of the genome comparatively little is known about the contribution of noncoding DNA elements to disease. Genome-wide association studies of complex human diseases including cancer have revealed enrichment for variants in the noncoding genome. A striking finding of recent cancer genome re-sequencing efforts has been the previously underappreciated frequency of mutations in epigenetic modifiers across a wide range of cancer types. Taken together these results point to the importance of dysregulation in transcriptional regulatory control in genesis of cancer. Powered by recent technological advancements in functional genomic profiling, exploration of normal and transformed regulatory networks will provide novel insight into the initiation and progression of cancer and open new windows to future prognostic and diagnostic tools. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. The nomenclature of MHC class I gene regulatory regions - the case of two different downstream regulatory elements

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hatina, J.; Jansa, Petr; Forejt, Jiří

    2001-01-01

    Roč. 37, 12-13 (2001), s. 799-800 ISSN 0161-5890 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5052915 Keywords : MHC I gene regulatory elements Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 1.973, year: 2001

  16. Regulatory review of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) level 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-02-01

    Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) is increasingly being used as part of the decision making process to assess the level of safety of nuclear power plants. The methodologies in use are maturing and the insights gained from the PSAs are being used along with those from the deterministic analysis. Many regulatory authorities consider that the current state of the art in PSA (especially Level 1 PSA) is sufficiently well developed that it can be used centrally in the regulatory decision making process - referred to as 'risk informed regulation'. For these applications to be successful, it will be necessary for regulatory authorities to have a high degree of confidence in PSA. However, at the IAEA Technical Committee Meeting on Use of PSA in the Regulatory Process in 1994 and at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Committee for Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) 'Special Issues' Meeting in 1997 on Review Procedures and Criteria for Different Regulatory Applications of PSA, it was recognized that formal regulatory review guidance for PSA did not exist. The senior regulators noted that there was a need to produce some international guidance for reviewing PSAs to establish an agreed basis for assessing whether important technological and methodological issues in PSAs are treated adequately and to verify that conclusions reached are appropriate. In 1997 the IAEA and OECD Nuclear Energy Agency agreed to produce in co-operation a technical document on the regulatory review of PSA. This publication is intended to provide guidance to regulatory authorities on how to review the PSA for a nuclear power plant to gain confidence that it has been carried out to an acceptable standard so that it can be used as the basis for taking risk informed decisions within a regulatory decision making process. The document gives guidance on how to set about reviewing a PSA and on the technical issues that need to be addressed. This publication gives guidance for the review of Level 1 PSA for

  17. 75 FR 54221 - Government/Industry Aeronautical Charting Forum Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-03

    ... Aeronautical Navigation Services (AeroNav Services) Group, Regulatory Support and Coordination Team, AJW-372...: The ACF is separated into two distinct groups. The Instrument Procedures Group (IPG) will meet October 26, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Charting Group will meet October 27 and 28, 2010 from 8:30 a.m...

  18. 76 FR 12211 - Government/Industry Aeronautical Charting Forum Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-04

    ... Aeronautical Navigation Products Group (AeroNav Products), Regulatory Support and Coordination Team, AJV-3B...: The ACF is separated into two distinct groups. The Instrument Procedures Group (IPG) will meet April 26, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Charting Group will meet April 27 and 28, 2011 from 8:30 a.m...

  19. Relating dynamic conditions to the performance of biological rapid sand filters used to remove ammonium, iron, and manganese from drinking water

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lee, Carson; Albrechtsen, Hans-Jørgen; Smets, Barth F.

    consistently meeting regulatory guidelines for compounds like ammonium and reduced forms of iron and manganese. These compounds can cause biological instability in the distribution system and can lead to many problems including the growth of pathogens and aesthetic problems (taste, odor, and color...... and media samples were collected throughout the depth of the column and over the operational cycle of the columns. Substrate analysis included ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, iron, and manganese. Qpcr analysis were also performed to quantify ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOBs), ammonium oxidizing archea ( AOAs...

  20. Towards a predictive theory for genetic regulatory networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tkacik, Gasper

    When cells respond to changes in the environment by regulating the expression levels of their genes, we often draw parallels between these biological processes and engineered information processing systems. One can go beyond this qualitative analogy, however, by analyzing information transmission in biochemical ``hardware'' using Shannon's information theory. Here, gene regulation is viewed as a transmission channel operating under restrictive constraints set by the resource costs and intracellular noise. We present a series of results demonstrating that a theory of information transmission in genetic regulatory circuits feasibly yields non-trivial, testable predictions. These predictions concern strategies by which individual gene regulatory elements, e.g., promoters or enhancers, read out their signals; as well as strategies by which small networks of genes, independently or in spatially coupled settings, respond to their inputs. These predictions can be quantitatively compared to the known regulatory networks and their function, and can elucidate how reproducible biological processes, such as embryonic development, can be orchestrated by networks built out of noisy components. Preliminary successes in the gap gene network of the fruit fly Drosophila indicate that a full ab initio theoretical prediction of a regulatory network is possible, a feat that has not yet been achieved for any real regulatory network. We end by describing open challenges on the path towards such a prediction.

  1. Regulatory review of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) Level 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-07-01

    Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) is increasingly being used as part of the decision making process to assess the level of safety of nuclear power plants. The methodologies in use are maturing and the insights gained from the PSAs are being used along with those from deterministic analysis. Many regulatory authorities consider the current state of the art in PSA to be sufficiently well developed for results to be used centrally in the regulatory decision making process-referred to as risk informed regulation. For these applications to be successful, it will be necessary for the regulatory authority to have a high degree of confidence in the PSA. However, at the 1994 IAEA Technical Committee Meeting on Use of PSA in the Regulatory Process and at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Committee for Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) 'Special Issues' meeting in 1997 on Review Procedures and Criteria for Different Regulatory Applications of PSA, it was recognized that formal regulatory review guidance for PSA did not exist. The senior regulators noted that there was a need to produce some international guidance for reviewing PSAs to establish an agreed basis for assessing whether important technological and methodological issues in PSAs are treated adequately and to verify that conclusions reached are appropriate. In 1997, the IAEA and OECD Nuclear Energy Agency agreed to produce, in cooperation, guidance on Regulatory Review of PSA. This led to the publication of IAEA-TECDOC-1135 on the Regulatory Review of Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) Level 1, which gives advice for the review of Level 1 PSA for initiating events occurring at power plants. This TECDOC extends the coverage to address the regulatory review of Level 2 PSA.These publications are intended to provide guidance to regulatory authorities on how to review the PSA for a nuclear power plant to gain confidence that it has been carried out to an acceptable level of quality so that it can be used as the

  2. FDA Regulation of Follow-On Biologics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-02-24

    opening a pathway for the approval of follow-on biologics. A biologic is a preparation, such as a drug or a vaccine , that is made from living...2006 Drug Trend Report, April 2006, p. 38. C Biologic vs. Follow-on Biologic A biologic is a preparation, such as a drug or a vaccine , that is...doc9496/s1695.pdf. 19 Thijs J. Giezen, Aukje K. Mantel-Teeuwisse, and Sabine M. J. M. Straus, et al., “Safety-related regulatory actions for biologicals

  3. 77 FR 28595 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-15

    ... Power Cooperative; Great River Energy; Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Indiana...-000 National Grid Transmission Services Corporation and Bangor Hydro Electric Company. Hydro H-1 P... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Sunshine Act Meeting Notice The...

  4. Methodology for the Systematic Assessment of the Regulatory Competence Needs (SARCoN) for Regulatory Bodies of Nuclear Installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2015-03-01

    A regulatory body’s competence is dependent, among other things, on the competence of its staff. A necessary, but not sufficient, condition for a regulatory body to be competent is that its staff can perform the tasks related to the functions of the regulatory body. In 2001, the IAEA published TECDOC 1254, Training the Staff of the Regulatory Body for Nuclear Facilities: A Competency Framework, which examines the manner in which the recognized regulatory functions of a nuclear regulatory body results in competence needs. Using the internationally recognized systematic approach to training, TECDOC 1254 provides a framework for regulatory bodies for managing training and developing, and maintaining the competence of its staff. It has been successfully used by many regulatory bodies all over the world, including States embarking on a nuclear power programme. The IAEA has also introduced a methodology and an assessment tool — Guidelines for Systematic Assessment of Regulatory Competence Needs (SARCoN) — which provides practical guidance on analysing the training and development needs of a regulatory body and, through a gap analysis, guidance on establishing competence needs and how to meet them. In 2013, the IAEA published Safety Reports Series No. 79, Managing Regulatory Body Competence, which provides generic guidance based on IAEA safety requirements in the development of a competence management system within a regulatory body’s integrated management system. An appendix in the Safety Report deals with the special case of building up the competence of regulatory bodies as part of the overall process of establishing an embarking State’s regulatory system. This publication provides guidance for the analysis of required and existing competences to identify those required by the regulatory body to perform its functions and therefore associated needs for acquiring competences. Hence, it is equally applicable to the needs of States embarking on nuclear power

  5. Report on the Technical Meeting on Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of the TM was to provide an experts' platform to facilitate exploring the current status and future directions on therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. The invited talks and presentations in the TM were in the following topics: - Radionuclide Production; - Production and availability of alpha emitters and their radiopharmaceuticals; - Therapeutic radiopharmaceutical chemistry; - Targets and biological evaluation; - Medical physics and dosimetry; - Clinical applications including radioimmunotherapy and clinical needs; - Peptide receptor mediated therapy Panel discussions: - Radionuclide therapy using alpha emitters; - Regulatory challenges with therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals; - International activities in radionuclide therapy. he technical meeting generated a large interest among scientists and physicians working in the field of targeted therapy using radiopharmaceuticals. Participants from both developed and developing MS reported on recent developments on the research work and clinical studies going on in the field and provided their views on the future developments in this field. The unexpected high number of participants and the high number of presentations with exceptional quality underlines the great interest of scientists and professionals in therapeutic applications using radiolabelled drugs / biomolecules. The intensive discussions including panels specified the challenges in the future on developing novel agents and to finally use them for the benefit of patients. The IAEA can play as vital role in streamlining developments and to provide tools to overcome scientific, professional and regulatory challenges in the field of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals

  6. Report on the Technical Meeting on Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2009-07-01

    The purpose of the TM was to provide an experts' platform to facilitate exploring the current status and future directions on therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. The invited talks and presentations in the TM were in the following topics: - Radionuclide Production; - Production and availability of alpha emitters and their radiopharmaceuticals; - Therapeutic radiopharmaceutical chemistry; - Targets and biological evaluation; - Medical physics and dosimetry; - Clinical applications including radioimmunotherapy and clinical needs; - Peptide receptor mediated therapy Panel discussions: - Radionuclide therapy using alpha emitters; - Regulatory challenges with therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals; - International activities in radionuclide therapy. he technical meeting generated a large interest among scientists and physicians working in the field of targeted therapy using radiopharmaceuticals. Participants from both developed and developing MS reported on recent developments on the research work and clinical studies going on in the field and provided their views on the future developments in this field. The unexpected high number of participants and the high number of presentations with exceptional quality underlines the great interest of scientists and professionals in therapeutic applications using radiolabelled drugs / biomolecules. The intensive discussions including panels specified the challenges in the future on developing novel agents and to finally use them for the benefit of patients. The IAEA can play as vital role in streamlining developments and to provide tools to overcome scientific, professional and regulatory challenges in the field of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals

  7. 77 FR 46528 - Sunshine Act Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-03

    ...: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. DATES: Week of August 6, 2012. PLACE: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. STATUS: Public and Closed. ADDITIONAL ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED: Week of... Proceeding (June 18, 2012) (Tentative). This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address--www.nrc.gov...

  8. Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee and Pesticide Regulatory Reform Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs will hold a public meeting of the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) on Wednesday, May 3, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., and on Thursday, May 4, from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

  9. Upgrading nuclear regulatory infrastructure in Armenia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martirosyan, A.; Amirjanyan, A.; Kacenelenbogen, S.

    2010-01-01

    Armenia is contemplating an upgrade to its national power generation capacity to meet replacement and future energy needs. Unit 2 of ANPP is scheduled for shutdown after replacement power generation capacities are in place. A recent alternative energy study indicates viability of the nuclear option to replace this capacity. Some technology-specific proposals are being considered by the Ministry of Energy of Armenia. It is likely that the reactor technology decision will be made in the not too distant future. The existing reactor continues to be operated in the regulatory framework developed in the Soviet Union and adopted in Armenia. Given the interest in the new reactor, Armenia launched a project to review the existing system of regulation and to bring it into harmony with modern practice in preparation for the new reactor project development. The new regulatory framework will be needed as a basis for any potential tendering process. The US NRC and ANRA have agreed to perform a review and update nuclear legislation and the system of regulation in this area. The first step in this process was to develop an action plan for such program. The action plan describes the overall strategy of ANRA to modify existing or develop new processes and requirements, identifies the major Laws that need to be reviewed given practical legal considerations to construct and operate the reactor and Armenia's international obligations under various conventions. This work included review of existing models of regulation in different countries with 'small' nuclear program, including IAEA recommendations as well as existing legislation in Armenia in this area and development of a strategy for the regulatory model development. In addition, the plan to develop requirements for ANRA staffing and training needs to meet its regulatory obligations under the new reactor development process was developed

  10. Biology Today symposium | Mid Year Meetings | Events | Indian ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    11.15, D. P. KASBEKAR, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad Neurospora abhors a transposon. 11.45, IMRAN SIDDIQI, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad Meiotic chromosome organization. 12.15, VIDYANAND NANJUNDIAH, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru Social amoebae.

  11. 76 FR 45249 - Fairlawn Hydroelectric Company, LLC; Notice of Public Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 12715-003] Fairlawn Hydroelectric Company, LLC; Notice of Public Meeting On August 5, 2011, Office of Energy Projects staff may participate in a public meeting hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District (Corps) for the...

  12. Programming Morphogenesis through Systems and Synthetic Biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velazquez, Jeremy J; Su, Emily; Cahan, Patrick; Ebrahimkhani, Mo R

    2018-04-01

    Mammalian tissue development is an intricate, spatiotemporal process of self-organization that emerges from gene regulatory networks of differentiating stem cells. A major goal in stem cell biology is to gain a sufficient understanding of gene regulatory networks and cell-cell interactions to enable the reliable and robust engineering of morphogenesis. Here, we review advances in synthetic biology, single cell genomics, and multiscale modeling, which, when synthesized, provide a framework to achieve the ambitious goal of programming morphogenesis in complex tissues and organoids. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Quantitative inference of dynamic regulatory pathways via microarray data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Bor-Sen

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The cellular signaling pathway (network is one of the main topics of organismic investigations. The intracellular interactions between genes in a signaling pathway are considered as the foundation of functional genomics. Thus, what genes and how much they influence each other through transcriptional binding or physical interactions are essential problems. Under the synchronous measures of gene expression via a microarray chip, an amount of dynamic information is embedded and remains to be discovered. Using a systematically dynamic modeling approach, we explore the causal relationship among genes in cellular signaling pathways from the system biology approach. Results In this study, a second-order dynamic model is developed to describe the regulatory mechanism of a target gene from the upstream causality point of view. From the expression profile and dynamic model of a target gene, we can estimate its upstream regulatory function. According to this upstream regulatory function, we would deduce the upstream regulatory genes with their regulatory abilities and activation delays, and then link up a regulatory pathway. Iteratively, these regulatory genes are considered as target genes to trace back their upstream regulatory genes. Then we could construct the regulatory pathway (or network to the genome wide. In short, we can infer the genetic regulatory pathways from gene-expression profiles quantitatively, which can confirm some doubted paths or seek some unknown paths in a regulatory pathway (network. Finally, the proposed approach is validated by randomly reshuffling the time order of microarray data. Conclusion We focus our algorithm on the inference of regulatory abilities of the identified causal genes, and how much delay before they regulate the downstream genes. With this information, a regulatory pathway would be built up using microarray data. In the present study, two signaling pathways, i.e. circadian regulatory

  14. Risk management of biologicals: a regulatory and clinical perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Giezen, T.J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304823112

    2011-01-01

    Biologicals are a relatively new class of drugs and are important treatment options for a variety of chronic and/or serious conditions. Biologicals have different characteristics as compared to the traditional chemically synthesised drugs, which may result in different risk profiles and the need for

  15. 78 FR 19332 - Sunshine Act Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-29

    ...: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. DATE: Week of April 1, 2013 PLACE: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland STATUS: Public and Closed Week of April 1, 2013--Tentative Tuesday April... the Shaw Group, Inc. (Tentative) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- www.nrc.gov...

  16. LLW Forum meeting report, May 7--9, 1997

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norris, C.; Brown, H.; Lovinger, T.; Scheele, L.; Shaker, M.A.

    1997-05-01

    The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Forum met in Chicago, Illinois, on may 7--9, 1997. Twenty-three Forum Participants, Alternate Forum Participants, and meeting designees representing 20 compacts and states participated. A report on the meeting is given under the following subtitles: New developments in states and compacts; Upgrading an existing disposal facility; Revisions to DOE Order 5820 re DOE waste management; Conference of radiation control program directors: Recent and upcoming activities; National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) low-level radioactive waste working group: Recent and upcoming activities; Executive session; LLW forum business session; Public involvement and risk communication: Success at West Valley, New York; DOE low-level waste management program; impact of the International Atomic Energy Agency's convention on waste; Panel discussion: The environmental justice concept--Past, present and future; New technologies for processing and disposal of LLRW; High-level and low-level radioactive waste: A dialogue on parallels and intersections; Draft agreement re uniform application of manifesting procedures; Regulatory issues focus; LLW forum October 1997 agenda planning; Resolutions; LLW forum regulatory issues discussion group meets; and Attendance

  17. Decontamination issues for chemical and biological warfare agents: how clean is clean enough?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raber, E; Jin, A; Noonan, K; McGuire, R; Kirvel, R D

    2001-06-01

    The objective of this assessment is to determine what level of cleanup will be required to meet regulatory and stakeholder needs in the case of a chemical and/or biological incident at a civilian facility. A literature review for selected, potential chemical and biological warfare agents shows that dose information is often lacking or controversial. Environmental regulatory limits or other industrial health guidelines that could be used to help establish cleanup concentration levels for such agents are generally unavailable or not applicable for a public setting. Although dose information, cleanup criteria, and decontamination protocols all present challenges to effective planning, several decontamination approaches are available. Such approaches should be combined with risk-informed decision making to establish reasonable cleanup goals for protecting health, property, and resources. Key issues during a risk assessment are to determine exactly what constitutes a safety hazard and whether decontamination is necessary or not for a particular scenario. An important conclusion is that cleanup criteria are site dependent and stakeholder specific. The results of a modeling exercise for two outdoor scenarios are presented to reinforce this conclusion. Public perception of risk to health, public acceptance of recommendations based on scientific criteria, political support, time constraints, and economic concerns must all be addressed in the context of a specific scenario to yield effective and acceptable decontamination.

  18. Strengthening Regulatory Competence in Pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sadiq, M.

    2016-01-01

    Capacity building of Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority is considered an essential element in pursuit of its vision to become a world class regulatory body. Since its inception in 2001, PNRA has continuously endeavoured to invest in its people, develop training infrastructure and impart sound knowledge and professional skills with the aim to improve its regulatory effectiveness. The use of nuclear and radioactive material in Pakistan has increased manifold in recent years, thus induction of more manpower was needed for regulatory oversight. PNRA adopted two pronged approach for meeting the manpower demand (a) employment of university graduates through fast track recruitment drive and (b) induction of graduates by offering fellowships for Master degree programs. Although, the newly employed staff was selected on the basis of their excellent academic qualifications in basic and applied sciences, but they required rigorous knowledge and skills in regulatory perspectives. In order to implement a structured training program, PNRA conducted Training Needs Assessment (TNA) and identified competency gaps of the regulatory staff in legal, technical, regulatory practice and behavioural domains. PNRA took several initiatives for capacity building which included establishment of a training centre for sustainability of trainings, initiation of a fellowship scheme for Master program, attachment of staff at local institutes for on-the-job training and placement at foreign regulatory bodies and organizations for technical development with the assistance of IAEA. The above strategies have been very beneficial in competence building of the PNRA staff to perform all regulatory activities indigenously for nuclear power plants, research reactors and radiation facilities. Provision of vibrant technical support to IAEA and Member States in various programs by PNRA is a landmark of these competence development efforts. This paper summarizes PNRA initiatives and the International Atomic

  19. Nonlinear Oscillations in Biology and Chemistry

    CERN Document Server

    1986-01-01

    This volume contains the proceedings of a meeting entitled 'Nonlinear Oscillations in Biology and Chemistry', which was held at the University of Utah May 9-11,1985. The papers fall into four major categories: (i) those that deal with biological problems, particularly problems arising in cell biology, (ii) those that deal with chemical systems, (iii) those that treat problems which arise in neurophysiology, and (iv), those whose primary emphasis is on more general models and the mathematical techniques involved in their analysis. Except for the paper by Auchmuty, all are based on talks given at the meeting. The diversity of papers gives some indication of the scope of the meeting, but the printed word conveys neither the degree of interaction between the participants nor the intellectual sparks generated by that interaction. The meeting was made possible by the financial support of the Department of Mathe­ matics of the University of Utah. I am indebted to Ms. Toni Bunker of the Department of Mathematics for...

  20. Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) - 2015 Annual Meeting (February 9-11, 2015 - Miami Beach, Florida, USA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowman, M

    2015-02-01

    The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) chairman Craig Wheeler (Momenta Pharmaceuticals), welcomed attendees to the 2015 Annual Meeting by reflecting on the contributions of the generic industry over the past year and some of the challenges that lie ahead. In 2014, 86% of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. were generic, contributing to the USD 1.4 trillion savings generated by the industry since its inception; however, there are still many challenges to face, including consolidation of customers, lag in Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approval timelines, restrictive Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) programs and labeling legislations. The continued drive into the branded business by many GPhA member companies has resulted in the association planning a structural division for companies involved in biologic and biosimilar products. During the 3-day meeting, attendees listened to expert panels discuss major business, regulatory and market trends developing in the generic industry, with insights from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and market analysts. The meeting also provided attendees with numerous opportunities to socialize and network with key decision makers in the industry. Copyright 2015 Prous Science, S.A.U. or its licensors. All rights reserved.

  1. Animal testing, 3R models and regulatory acceptance : Technology transition in a risk-averse context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schiffelers, M.J.W.A.

    2016-01-01

    Risk avoidance has resulted in a broad range of regulations to guarantee the safety of products such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Many of these regulations rely on animal tests. About 3 million laboratory animals are used annually in Europe to meet such regulatory requirements.Regulatory animal

  2. MicroRNAs as regulatory elements in psoriasis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Yuan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune, and complex genetic disorder that affects 23% of the European population. The symptoms of Psoriatic skin are inflammation, raised and scaly lesions. microRNA, which is short, nonprotein-coding, regulatory RNAs, plays critical roles in psoriasis. microRNA participates in nearly all biological processes, such as cell differentiation, development and metabolism. Recent researches reveal that multitudinous novel microRNAs have been identified in skin. Some of these substantial novel microRNAs play as a class of posttranscriptional gene regulator in skin disease, such as psoriasis. In order to insight into microRNAs biological functions and verify microRNAs biomarker, we review diverse references about characterization, profiling and subtype of microRNAs. Here we will share our opinions about how and which microRNAs are as regulatory in psoriasis.

  3. Gamete and Embryo Donation and Surrogacy in Australia: The Social Context and Regulatory Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammarberg, Karin; Johnson, Louise; Petrillo, Tracey

    2011-01-01

    The social and legal acceptability of third-party reproduction varies around the world. In Australia, gamete and embryo donation and surrogacy are permitted within the regulatory framework set out by federal and state governments. The aim of this paper is to describe the social context and regulatory framework for third-party reproduction in Australia. This is a review of current laws and regulations related to third-party reproduction in Australia. Although subtle between-state differences exist, third-party reproduction is by and large a socially acceptable and legally permissible way to form a family throughout Australia. The overarching principles that govern the practice of third-party reproduction are altruism; the right of donorconceived people to be informed of their biological origins; and the provision of comprehensive counselling about the social, psychological, physical, ethical, financial and legal implications of third-party reproduction to those considering donating or receiving gametes or embryos and entering surrogacy arrangements. These principles ensure that donors are not motivated by financial gain, donor offspring can identify and meet with the person or persons who donated gametes or embryos, and prospective donors and recipients are aware of and have carefully considered the potential consequences of third-party reproduction. Australian state laws and federal guidelines prohibit commercial and anonymous third-party reproduction; mandate counselling of all parties involved in gamete and embryo donation and surrogacy arrangements; and require clinics to keep records with identifying and non- identifying information about the donor/s to allow donor-conceived offspring to trace their biological origins. PMID:24851179

  4. Gamete and embryo donation and surrogacy in australia: the social context and regulatory framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammarberg, Karin; Johnson, Louise; Petrillo, Tracey

    2011-01-01

    The social and legal acceptability of third-party reproduction varies around the world. In Australia, gamete and embryo donation and surrogacy are permitted within the regulatory framework set out by federal and state governments. The aim of this paper is to describe the social context and regulatory framework for third-party reproduction in Australia. This is a review of current laws and regulations related to third-party reproduction in Australia. Although subtle between-state differences exist, third-party reproduction is by and large a socially acceptable and legally permissible way to form a family throughout Australia. The overarching principles that govern the practice of third-party reproduction are altruism; the right of donorconceived people to be informed of their biological origins; and the provision of comprehensive counselling about the social, psychological, physical, ethical, financial and legal implications of third-party reproduction to those considering donating or receiving gametes or embryos and entering surrogacy arrangements. These principles ensure that donors are not motivated by financial gain, donor offspring can identify and meet with the person or persons who donated gametes or embryos, and prospective donors and recipients are aware of and have carefully considered the potential consequences of third-party reproduction. Australian state laws and federal guidelines prohibit commercial and anonymous third-party reproduction; mandate counselling of all parties involved in gamete and embryo donation and surrogacy arrangements; and require clinics to keep records with identifying and non- identifying information about the donor/s to allow donor-conceived offspring to trace their biological origins.

  5. 75 FR 51996 - Notice of Commission Staff Attendance at Midwest ISO Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-24

    ... Midwest ISO Meetings August 16, 2010. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hereby gives notice that members of the Commission and Commission staff may attend the following Midwest ISO-related meetings...., St. Paul, MN) [cir] September 15 [cir] October 20 [cir] November 17 [cir] December 1 Midwest ISO...

  6. Bioattractors: dynamical systems theory and the evolution of regulatory processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaeger, Johannes; Monk, Nick

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we illustrate how dynamical systems theory can provide a unifying conceptual framework for evolution of biological regulatory systems. Our argument is that the genotype–phenotype map can be characterized by the phase portrait of the underlying regulatory process. The features of this portrait – such as attractors with associated basins and their bifurcations – define the regulatory and evolutionary potential of a system. We show how the geometric analysis of phase space connects Waddington's epigenetic landscape to recent computational approaches for the study of robustness and evolvability in network evolution. We discuss how the geometry of phase space determines the probability of possible phenotypic transitions. Finally, we demonstrate how the active, self-organizing role of the environment in phenotypic evolution can be understood in terms of dynamical systems concepts. This approach yields mechanistic explanations that go beyond insights based on the simulation of evolving regulatory networks alone. Its predictions can now be tested by studying specific, experimentally tractable regulatory systems using the tools of modern systems biology. A systematic exploration of such systems will enable us to understand better the nature and origin of the phenotypic variability, which provides the substrate for evolution by natural selection. PMID:24882812

  7. 76 FR 71013 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-16

    .......... North American Electric Reliability Corporation. E-6 RC11-1-001........ Cedar Creek Wind Energy, LLC...-2576-151........ FirstLight Hydro Generating Company. H-3 P-2601-015........ Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Sunshine Act Meeting Notice November 10...

  8. Understanding how to maintain compliance in the current regulatory climate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bignell, D.T.; Burns, R.

    1995-01-01

    High level radioactive waste facilities must maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements, even those requirements that have been promulgated after the facility was placed into operation. Facilities must aggressively pursue compliance because environmental laws often impose strict liability for violations; therefore, an honest mistake is no defense. Radioactive waste management is constantly under the public microscope, particularly those facilities that handle high-level radioactive waste. The Savannah River Site has effectively met the challenges of regulatory compliance in its HLRW facilities and plans are being formulated to meet future regulatory requirements as well. Understanding, aggressively achieving, and clearly demonstrating compliance is essential for the continued operations of radioactive waste management facilities. This paper examines how HLRW facilities are impacted by regulatory requirements and how compliance in this difficult area is achieved and maintained

  9. Meet-U: Educating through research immersion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdollahi, Nika; Albani, Alexandre; Anthony, Eric; Baud, Agnes; Cardon, Mélissa; Clerc, Robert; Czernecki, Dariusz; Conte, Romain; David, Laurent; Delaune, Agathe; Djerroud, Samia; Fourgoux, Pauline; Guiglielmoni, Nadège; Laurentie, Jeanne; Lehmann, Nathalie; Lochard, Camille; Montagne, Rémi; Myrodia, Vasiliki; Opuu, Vaitea; Parey, Elise; Polit, Lélia; Privé, Sylvain; Quignot, Chloé; Ruiz-Cuevas, Maria; Sissoko, Mariam; Sompairac, Nicolas; Vallerix, Audrey; Verrecchia, Violaine; Delarue, Marc; Guérois, Raphael; Ponty, Yann; Sacquin-Mora, Sophie; Carbone, Alessandra; Froidevaux, Christine; Le Crom, Stéphane; Lespinet, Olivier; Weigt, Martin; Abboud, Samer; Bernardes, Juliana; Bouvier, Guillaume; Dequeker, Chloé; Ferré, Arnaud; Fuchs, Patrick; Lelandais, Gaëlle; Poulain, Pierre; Richard, Hugues; Schweke, Hugo; Laine, Elodie; Lopes, Anne

    2018-03-01

    We present a new educational initiative called Meet-U that aims to train students for collaborative work in computational biology and to bridge the gap between education and research. Meet-U mimics the setup of collaborative research projects and takes advantage of the most popular tools for collaborative work and of cloud computing. Students are grouped in teams of 4-5 people and have to realize a project from A to Z that answers a challenging question in biology. Meet-U promotes "coopetition," as the students collaborate within and across the teams and are also in competition with each other to develop the best final product. Meet-U fosters interactions between different actors of education and research through the organization of a meeting day, open to everyone, where the students present their work to a jury of researchers and jury members give research seminars. This very unique combination of education and research is strongly motivating for the students and provides a formidable opportunity for a scientific community to unite and increase its visibility. We report on our experience with Meet-U in two French universities with master's students in bioinformatics and modeling, with protein-protein docking as the subject of the course. Meet-U is easy to implement and can be straightforwardly transferred to other fields and/or universities. All the information and data are available at www.meet-u.org.

  10. Assessment of compliance with regulatory requirements for a best estimate methodology for evaluation of ECCS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Un Chul; Jang, Jin Wook; Lim, Ho Gon; Jeong, Ik [Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Sim, Suk Ku [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2000-03-15

    Best estimate methodology for evaluation of ECCS proposed by KEPCO(KREM) os using thermal-hydraulic best-estimate code and the topical report for the methodology is described that it meets the regulatory requirement of USNRC regulatory guide. In this research the assessment of compliance with regulatory guide. In this research the assessment of compliance with regulatory requirements for the methodology is performed. The state of licensing procedure of other countries and best-estimate evaluation methodologies of Europe is also investigated, The applicability of models and propriety of procedure of uncertainty analysis of KREM are appraised and compliance with USNRC regulatory guide is assessed.

  11. Modular arrangement of regulatory RNA elements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roßmanith, Johanna; Narberhaus, Franz

    2017-03-04

    Due to their simple architecture and control mechanism, regulatory RNA modules are attractive building blocks in synthetic biology. This is especially true for riboswitches, which are natural ligand-binding regulators of gene expression. The discovery of various tandem riboswitches inspired the design of combined RNA modules with activities not yet found in nature. Riboswitches were placed in tandem or in combination with a ribozyme or temperature-responsive RNA thermometer resulting in new functionalities. Here, we compare natural examples of tandem riboswitches with recently designed artificial RNA regulators suggesting substantial modularity of regulatory RNA elements. Challenges associated with modular RNA design are discussed.

  12. MIRA: An R package for DNA methylation-based inference of regulatory activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawson, John T; Tomazou, Eleni M; Bock, Christoph; Sheffield, Nathan C

    2018-03-01

    DNA methylation contains information about the regulatory state of the cell. MIRA aggregates genome-scale DNA methylation data into a DNA methylation profile for independent region sets with shared biological annotation. Using this profile, MIRA infers and scores the collective regulatory activity for each region set. MIRA facilitates regulatory analysis in situations where classical regulatory assays would be difficult and allows public sources of open chromatin and protein binding regions to be leveraged for novel insight into the regulatory state of DNA methylation datasets. R package available on Bioconductor: http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/MIRA.html. nsheffield@virginia.edu.

  13. IFPA Meeting 2013 Workshop Report II

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ackerman, W E; Adamson, L; Carter, Anthony Michael

    2013-01-01

    Workshops are an important part of the IFPA annual meeting as they allow for discussion of specialized topics. At the IFPA meeting 2013 twelve themed workshops were presented, five of which are summarized in this report. These workshops related to various aspects of placental biology but collecti...

  14. IFPA meeting 2012 workshop report I

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ackerman, W E; Carter, Anthony Michael; De Mestre, A M

    2013-01-01

    Workshops are an important part of the IFPA annual meeting as they allow for discussion of specialized topics. At IFPA meeting 2012 there were twelve themed workshops, three of which are summarized in this report. These workshops related to various aspects of placental biology but collectively...

  15. Communication and Consultation with Interested Parties by the Regulatory Body. General Safety Guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2017-01-01

    This Safety Guide provides recommendations on meeting the safety requirements concerning communication and consultation with the public and other interested parties by the regulatory body about the possible radiation risks associated with facilities and activities, and about processes and decisions of the regulatory body. The Safety Guide can be used by authorized parties in circumstances where there are regulatory requirements placed on them for communication and consultation. It may also be used by other organizations or individuals considering their responsibilities for communication and consultation with interested parties.

  16. On the Interplay between Entropy and Robustness of Gene Regulatory Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bor-Sen Chen

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available The interplay between entropy and robustness of gene network is a core mechanism of systems biology. The entropy is a measure of randomness or disorder of a physical system due to random parameter fluctuation and environmental noises in gene regulatory networks. The robustness of a gene regulatory network, which can be measured as the ability to tolerate the random parameter fluctuation and to attenuate the effect of environmental noise, will be discussed from the robust H∞ stabilization and filtering perspective. In this review, we will also discuss their balancing roles in evolution and potential applications in systems and synthetic biology.

  17. RNA SURVEILLANCE– AN EMERGING ROLE FOR RNA REGULATORY NETWORKS IN AGING

    OpenAIRE

    Montano, Monty; Long, Kimberly

    2010-01-01

    In this review, we describe recent advances in the field of RNA regulatory biology and relate these advances to aging science. We introduce a new term, RNA surveillance, an RNA regulatory process that is conserved in metazoans, and describe how RNA surveillance represents molecular cross-talk between two emerging RNA regulatory systems – RNA interference and RNA editing. We discuss how RNA surveillance mechanisms influence mRNA and microRNA expression and activity during lifespan. Additionall...

  18. Regulatory control of nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    consultants meeting at the end of 2001 by adding updates on the Nuclear Safety Convention and US regulatory practices. The main purpose of the book is to provide written background material to the participants and to support lecturers of the training courses on Regulatory Control of Nuclear Power Plants. The idea is to present general practices recommended by the IAEA in its safety guidance as well as country specific examples of how these general principles and requirements have been implemented in various countries. The examples selected are representative, showing existing and functional practices, and also provide a good selection of different practices adopted by different regulatory organizations. They reflect practices in large and small countries and regulatory bodies. They do not follow any particular regulatory practice but try to offer several alternatives to be useful for many inspectors coming from different types of organizations. The textbook has been compiled from the presentations provided during the training courses on Regulatory Control of Nuclear Power Plants from 1997 to 2001

  19. Standards, Data Exchange and Intellectual Property Rights in Systems Biology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Zimmeren, Esther; Rutz, Berthold; Minssen, Timo

    2016-01-01

    ” of scientists. In 2015, Biotechnology Journal published a report from an expert meeting on “Synthetic Biology & Intellectual Property Rights” organized by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation sponsored by the European Research Area Network (ERA-Net) in Synthetic Biology (ERASynBio), in which...... we provided a number of recommendations for a variety of stakeholders. The current article offers some deeper reflections about the interface between IPRs, standards and data exchange in Systems Biology resulting from an Expert Meeting funded by another ERA-Net, ERASysAPP. The meeting brought...... together experts and stakeholders (e.g. scientists, company representatives, officials from public funding organizations) in systems biology (SysBio) from different countries.  Despite the different profiles of the stakeholders at the meeting and the variety of interests, many concerns and opinions were...

  20. 77 FR 68162 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Regulatory...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-15

    ... discuss Regulatory Guide 1.79, ``Preoperational Testing of Emergency Core Cooling Systems for Pressurized Water Reactors,'' Revision 2, and Regulatory Guide 1.79.1, ``Initial Test Program of Emergency Core...

  1. Transcription regulatory networks analysis using CAGE

    KAUST Repository

    Tegnér, Jesper N.

    2009-10-01

    Mapping out cellular networks in general and transcriptional networks in particular has proved to be a bottle-neck hampering our understanding of biological processes. Integrative approaches fusing computational and experimental technologies for decoding transcriptional networks at a high level of resolution is therefore of uttermost importance. Yet, this is challenging since the control of gene expression in eukaryotes is a complex multi-level process influenced by several epigenetic factors and the fine interplay between regulatory proteins and the promoter structure governing the combinatorial regulation of gene expression. In this chapter we review how the CAGE data can be integrated with other measurements such as expression, physical interactions and computational prediction of regulatory motifs, which together can provide a genome-wide picture of eukaryotic transcriptional regulatory networks at a new level of resolution. © 2010 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Measuring the evolutionary rewiring of biological networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chong Shou

    Full Text Available We have accumulated a large amount of biological network data and expect even more to come. Soon, we anticipate being able to compare many different biological networks as we commonly do for molecular sequences. It has long been believed that many of these networks change, or "rewire", at different rates. It is therefore important to develop a framework to quantify the differences between networks in a unified fashion. We developed such a formalism based on analogy to simple models of sequence evolution, and used it to conduct a systematic study of network rewiring on all the currently available biological networks. We found that, similar to sequences, biological networks show a decreased rate of change at large time divergences, because of saturation in potential substitutions. However, different types of biological networks consistently rewire at different rates. Using comparative genomics and proteomics data, we found a consistent ordering of the rewiring rates: transcription regulatory, phosphorylation regulatory, genetic interaction, miRNA regulatory, protein interaction, and metabolic pathway network, from fast to slow. This ordering was found in all comparisons we did of matched networks between organisms. To gain further intuition on network rewiring, we compared our observed rewirings with those obtained from simulation. We also investigated how readily our formalism could be mapped to other network contexts; in particular, we showed how it could be applied to analyze changes in a range of "commonplace" networks such as family trees, co-authorships and linux-kernel function dependencies.

  3. Information transmission in genetic regulatory networks: a review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tkacik, Gasper; Walczak, Aleksandra M

    2011-01-01

    Genetic regulatory networks enable cells to respond to changes in internal and external conditions by dynamically coordinating their gene expression profiles. Our ability to make quantitative measurements in these biochemical circuits has deepened our understanding of what kinds of computations genetic regulatory networks can perform, and with what reliability. These advances have motivated researchers to look for connections between the architecture and function of genetic regulatory networks. Transmitting information between a network's inputs and outputs has been proposed as one such possible measure of function, relevant in certain biological contexts. Here we summarize recent developments in the application of information theory to gene regulatory networks. We first review basic concepts in information theory necessary for understanding recent work. We then discuss the functional complexity of gene regulation, which arises from the molecular nature of the regulatory interactions. We end by reviewing some experiments that support the view that genetic networks responsible for early development of multicellular organisms might be maximizing transmitted 'positional information'. (topical review)

  4. 76 FR 4104 - Notice of Commission Staff Attendance at Midwest ISO Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-24

    ... Midwest ISO Meetings January 13, 2011. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hereby gives notice that members of the Commission and Commission staff may attend the following Midwest ISO-related meetings...] September 14 [cir] October 19 [cir] November 16 [cir] December 6 Midwest ISO Informational Forum (3 p.m.-5 p...

  5. 75 FR 3228 - Notice of Commission Staff Attendance at Midwest ISO Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-20

    ... Midwest ISO Meetings January 12, 2010. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hereby gives notice that members of the Commission and Commission staff may attend the following Midwest ISO-related meetings...] November 17 [cir] December 1 Midwest ISO Informational Forum (3 p.m.-5 p.m., ET) [cir] January 19 [cir...

  6. Considering public confidence in developing regulatory programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collins, S.J.

    2001-01-01

    In the area of public trust and in any investment, planning and strategy are important. While it is accepted in the United States that an essential part of our mission is to leverage our resources to improving Public Confidence this performance goal must be planned for, managed and measured. Similar to our premier performance goal of Maintaining Safety, a strategy must be developed and integrated with our external stake holders but with internal regulatory staff as well. In order to do that, business is to be conducted in an open environment, the basis for regulatory decisions has to be available through public documents and public meetings, communication must be done in clear and consistent terms. (N.C.)

  7. Semantic Web meets Integrative Biology: a survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Huajun; Yu, Tong; Chen, Jake Y

    2013-01-01

    Integrative Biology (IB) uses experimental or computational quantitative technologies to characterize biological systems at the molecular, cellular, tissue and population levels. IB typically involves the integration of the data, knowledge and capabilities across disciplinary boundaries in order to solve complex problems. We identify a series of bioinformatics problems posed by interdisciplinary integration: (i) data integration that interconnects structured data across related biomedical domains; (ii) ontology integration that brings jargons, terminologies and taxonomies from various disciplines into a unified network of ontologies; (iii) knowledge integration that integrates disparate knowledge elements from multiple sources; (iv) service integration that build applications out of services provided by different vendors. We argue that IB can benefit significantly from the integration solutions enabled by Semantic Web (SW) technologies. The SW enables scientists to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites, resulting into a web of data that is meaningful and understandable to any computers. In this review, we provide insight into how SW technologies can be used to build open, standardized and interoperable solutions for interdisciplinary integration on a global basis. We present a rich set of case studies in system biology, integrative neuroscience, bio-pharmaceutics and translational medicine, to highlight the technical features and benefits of SW applications in IB.

  8. Mathematical models in biological discovery

    CERN Document Server

    Walter, Charles

    1977-01-01

    When I was asked to help organize an American Association for the Advancement of Science symposium about how mathematical models have con­ tributed to biology, I agreed immediately. The subject is of immense importance and wide-spread interest. However, too often it is discussed in biologically sterile environments by "mutual admiration society" groups of "theoreticians", many of whom have never seen, and most of whom have never done, an original scientific experiment with the biolog­ ical materials they attempt to describe in abstract (and often prejudiced) terms. The opportunity to address the topic during an annual meeting of the AAAS was irresistable. In order to try to maintain the integrity ;,f the original intent of the symposium, it was entitled, "Contributions of Mathematical Models to Biological Discovery". This symposium was organized by Daniel Solomon and myself, held during the 141st annual meeting of the AAAS in New York during January, 1975, sponsored by sections G and N (Biological and Medic...

  9. Characterization of noncoding regulatory DNA in the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elkon, Ran; Agami, Reuven

    2017-08-08

    Genetic variants associated with common diseases are usually located in noncoding parts of the human genome. Delineation of the full repertoire of functional noncoding elements, together with efficient methods for probing their biological roles, is therefore of crucial importance. Over the past decade, DNA accessibility and various epigenetic modifications have been associated with regulatory functions. Mapping these features across the genome has enabled researchers to begin to document the full complement of putative regulatory elements. High-throughput reporter assays to probe the functions of regulatory regions have also been developed but these methods separate putative regulatory elements from the chromosome so that any effects of chromatin context and long-range regulatory interactions are lost. Definitive assignment of function(s) to putative cis-regulatory elements requires perturbation of these elements. Genome-editing technologies are now transforming our ability to perturb regulatory elements across entire genomes. Interpretation of high-throughput genetic screens that incorporate genome editors might enable the construction of an unbiased map of functional noncoding elements in the human genome.

  10. Development of measures to assess the safety of existing NPPs and the effectiveness of regulations and regulatory actions (including 'prescriptive' and 'performance based' approaches). Peer discussions on regulatory practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-09-01

    This report arises from the fourth series of peer discussions on regulatory practices entitled D evelopment of measures to assess the safety of existing nuclear power plants and the effectiveness of regulations and regulatory actions (including 'prescriptive' and 'performance based' approaches) . Senior regulators from 23 Member States participated in four peer group discussions during 1995-1996. This report presents the outcome of these meetings and recommendations of good practices identified by these senior regulators. The purpose of this report is to disseminate the views which the senior regulators presented at the meetings relating to measures used for assessing the safety of existing nuclear power plants and evaluating the effectiveness of regulators and regulatory actions. The intention in doing this is to assist Member States in the enhancement of their regulatory practices by identifying commonly accepted good practices. This report is structured so that it covers the subject matter under the following main headings: 'Prescriptive and Performance Based' Approaches to Regulation; Common Features of Regulatory Approaches; Effectiveness of the Regulator and Regulatory Actions; Recommendations of Good Practice. It is important to note that recommendations of good practice are included if they have been identified by at least one of the groups. It does not follow that all of the groups or individual Member States would necessarily endorse all of the recommendations. However, it is considered that if a single group of senior regulators judge that a particular practice is worthy of recommendation then it should be included for serious consideration. In some cases the same recommendations arise from all of the Groups

  11. 77 FR 74696 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on AP-1000...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-17

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on AP-1000; Notice of Meeting The ACRS Subcommittee on AP-1000 will hold a meeting on January 18, 2013, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The entire meeting will be open to public...

  12. 2007 Microbial Population Biology (July 22-26, 2007)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anthony M. Dean

    2008-04-01

    Microbial Population Biology covers a diverse range of cutting edge issues in the microbial sciences and beyond. Firmly founded in evolutionary biology and with a strongly integrative approach, past meetings have covered topics ranging from the dynamics and genetics of adaptation to the evolution of mutation rate, community ecology, evolutionary genomics, altruism, and epidemiology. This meeting is never dull: some of the most significant and contentious issues in biology have been thrashed out here. We anticipate the 2007 meeting being no exception. The final form of the 2007 meeting is yet to be decided, but the following topics are likely to be included: evolutionary emergence of infectious disease and antibiotic resistance, genetic architecture and implications for the evolution of microbial populations, ageing in bacteria, biogeography, evolution of symbioses, the role of microbes in ecosystem function, and ecological genomics.

  13. Bottom-up GGM algorithm for constructing multiple layered hierarchical gene regulatory networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Multilayered hierarchical gene regulatory networks (ML-hGRNs) are very important for understanding genetics regulation of biological pathways. However, there are currently no computational algorithms available for directly building ML-hGRNs that regulate biological pathways. A bottom-up graphic Gaus...

  14. 75 FR 7634 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the Subcommittee on Power Uprates...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-22

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the Subcommittee on Power Uprates; Notice of Meeting The ACRS Subcommittee on Power Uprates will hold a meeting on... arrangements can be made. Thirty-five hard copies of each presentation or handout should be provided to the DFO...

  15. Regulatory Models and the Environment: Practice, Pitfalls, and Prospects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holmes, K. John; Graham, Judith A.; McKone, Thomas; Whipple, Chris

    2008-06-01

    Computational models support environmental regulatory activities by providing the regulator an ability to evaluate available knowledge, assess alternative regulations, and provide a framework to assess compliance. But all models face inherent uncertainties, because human and natural systems are always more complex and heterogeneous than can be captured in a model. Here we provide a summary discussion of the activities, findings, and recommendations of the National Research Council's Committee on Regulatory Environmental Models, a committee funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency to provide guidance on the use of computational models in the regulatory process. Modeling is a difficult enterprise even outside of the potentially adversarial regulatory environment. The demands grow when the regulatory requirements for accountability, transparency, public accessibility, and technical rigor are added to the challenges. Moreover, models cannot be validated (declared true) but instead should be evaluated with regard to their suitability as tools to address a specific question. The committee concluded that these characteristics make evaluation of a regulatory model more complex than simply comparing measurement data with model results. Evaluation also must balance the need for a model to be accurate with the need for a model to be reproducible, transparent, and useful for the regulatory decision at hand. Meeting these needs requires model evaluation to be applied over the"life cycle" of a regulatory model with an approach that includes different forms of peer review, uncertainty analysis, and extrapolation methods than for non-regulatory models.

  16. 76 FR 26775 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Cancellation to...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-09

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Cancellation to May 11, 2011, ACRS Meeting-- Federal Register Notice The Federal Register Notice for the ACRS Subcommittee Meeting on the design certification application review of the U.S...

  17. International regulatory activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2009-01-01

    In this last part is reviewed international regulatory activities and bilateral agreements including two parts: concerning European atomic energy community with European commission proposal for a council directive setting up a community framework for nuclear safety, update of the nuclear illustrative programme in the context of the second strategic energy review, european commission recommendation on criteria for the export of radioactive waste and spent fuel to third countries and a communication on nuclear non-proliferation and the second part in relation with international atomic energy agency with a joint convention on the safety of spent fuel management and on safety of radioactive waste management (third review meeting). (N.C.)

  18. 76 FR 14003 - International Energy Agency Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-15

    ... Hub? 9. Workshop Scene Setter --Commodity Derivatives Market and Recent Regulatory Trends 10. Other... Financial Market Participants on Energy Futures Markets 1. How do the investment strategies of financial... the Oil Market (SOM) on March 22; and on March 23 and March 24 in connection with a meeting of the SEQ...

  19. Global Acceptance of Biosimilars: Importance of Regulatory Consistency, Education, and Trust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cazap, Eduardo; Jacobs, Ira; McBride, Ali; Popovian, Robert; Sikora, Karol

    2018-05-16

    Globally, biosimilars are expected to have a key role in improving patient access to biological therapies and addressing concerns regarding the escalating cost of health care. Indeed, in Europe, increased use of biologics and reduced drug prices have been observed after the introduction of biosimilars. Recently, several monoclonal antibody biosimilars of anticancer therapies have been approved, and numerous others are in various stages of clinical development. Biosimilars are authorized via a regulatory pathway separate from that used for generic drugs; they are also regulated separately from novel biologics. Biosimilar approval pathways in many major regulatory regions worldwide are, to a broad degree, scientifically aligned. However, owing to regional differences in health care priorities, policies, and resources, some important regulatory inconsistencies are evident. Acceptance of biosimilars by health care systems, health care professionals, and patients will be a key factor in the uptake of these therapies, and such regulatory variations could contribute to confusion and diminished confidence regarding the quality, efficacy, and reliability of these agents. Furthermore, the need for manufacturers to account for regulatory inconsistencies introduces inefficiencies and delays into biosimilar development programs. These issues should be addressed if biosimilars are to attain their maximal global potential. This review summarizes the evolution of the global biosimilar landscape and provides examples of inconsistencies between regulatory requirements in different regions. In addition, we review ongoing efforts to improve regulatory alignment and highlight the importance of education as a crucial factor in generating trust in, and acceptance of, biosimilars on a worldwide scale. Biosimilars of monoclonal antibody anticancer therapies are beginning to emerge, and more are likely to become available for clinical use in the near future. The extent to which biosimilars

  20. 78 FR 62322 - Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013; Notice of Rescheduled Two-Year Licensing Process...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. AD13-9-000] Hydropower... recommendations on the feasibility of a two-year process for the issuance of a license for hydropower development... Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013. The workshop will be held in the Commission Meeting Room at 888...

  1. Fronting Integrated Scientific Web Applications: Design Features and Benefits for Regulatory Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Integrated decision support systems for regulatory applications benefit from standardindustry practices such as code reuse, test-driven development, and modularization. Theseapproaches make meeting the federal government’s goals of transparency, efficiency, and quality assurance ...

  2. 75 FR 27841 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-18

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR The ACRS Subcommittee on EPR will hold a meeting on May 21, 2010, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The entire meeting will be open to public attendance. The agenda for...

  3. Regulatory monitoring systems of fortified salt and wheat flour in selected ASEAN countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Wijngaart, Annoek; Bégin, France; Codling, Karen; Randall, Philip; Johnson, Quentin W

    2013-06-01

    Considerable efforts have been made over the past decade to address vitamin and mineral deficiencies. An increasing number of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are adopting mandatory food fortification as one of the primary strategies to overcome these deficiencies. Experience shows that fortified foods can reach large parts of the population, including the poor, if the fortification is done on a mandatory rather than a voluntary basis and if the food vehicle is widely consumed. To review the importance of regulatory monitoring as an essential component of food fortification efforts in selected ASEAN countries, with special focus on the available information on regulatory monitoring systems for iodized salt and fortified wheat flour. The role of regulatory monitoring in strengthening food fortification programs was discussed during a joint regional meeting of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Flour Fortification Initiative, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, the Micronutrient Initiative, and the World Bank on regulatory monitoring of salt and wheat flour fortification programs in Asia, which took place in Manila, Philippines, on 27-29 September 2011. This paper reviews the regulatory monitoring systems of selected ASEAN countries that participated in this meeting. Problems and challenges in regulatory monitoring systems for iodized salt and fortified wheat flour in selected ASEAN countries are identified, and a description of the role of regulatory monitoring in strengthening food fortification initiatives, particularly of salt and flour, and highlights of areas for improvement are presented. Regulatory monitoring consists of monitoring activities conducted at the production level, at customs warehouses, and at retail stores by concerned regulatory authorities, and at the production level by producers themselves, as part of quality control and assurance efforts. Unless there are appropriate enforcement and quality

  4. Regulatory agencies and regulatory risk

    OpenAIRE

    Knieps, Günter; Weiß, Hans-Jörg

    2008-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to show that regulatory risk is due to the discretionary behaviour of regulatory agencies, caused by a too extensive regulatory mandate provided by the legislator. The normative point of reference and a behavioural model of regulatory agencies based on the positive theory of regulation are presented. Regulatory risk with regard to the future behaviour of regulatory agencies is modelled as the consequence of the ex ante uncertainty about the relative influence of inter...

  5. 76 FR 19355 - Notice of Staff Attendance at Southwest Power Pool Markets Operations Policy Committee Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-07

    ...) Markets Operations Policy Committee (MOPC), as noted below. Their attendance is part of the Commission's... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of Staff Attendance at Southwest Power Pool Markets Operations Policy Committee Meeting The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hereby...

  6. 76 FR 14896 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-18

    ... specific regulatory guidance and information on standards concerning biosafety and biosecurity issues... assessments, biosafety requirements, and security measures. DATES: The meeting will be held on May 10, 2011... meeting to address questions and concerns. Entity registration, security risk assessments, biosafety...

  7. Meeting report: nuclear receptors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tuckermann, Jan; Bourguet, William; Mandrup, Susanne

    2010-01-01

    The biannual European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) conference on nuclear receptors was organized by Beatrice Desvergne and Laszlo Nagy and took place in Cavtat near Dubrovnik on the Adriatic coast of Croatia September 25-29, 2009. The meeting brought together researchers from all over...... the world covering a wide spectrum from fundamental mechanistic studies to metabolism, clinical studies, and drug development. In this report, we summarize the recent and exciting findings presented by the speakers at the meeting....

  8. European Society for Radiation Biology 21. annual meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-01-01

    The volume contains about 100 abstracts of lectures presented to the conference covering a large variety of topics like: Radiobiology as a base for radiotherapy, radiation carcinogenesis and cellular effects, late and secondary effects of radiotherapy, radioprotection and radiosensitization, heavy ions in radiobiology and space research, microdosimetry and biological dosimetry, radiation effects on the mature and the developing central nervous system, DNA damage and repair and cellular mutations, the imact of radiation on the environment, free radicals in radiation biology

  9. Genetics and molecular biology of breast cancer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    King, M.C. [California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States); Lippman, M. [Georgetown Univ. Medical Center, Washington, DC (United States)] [comps.

    1992-12-31

    This volume contains the abstracts of oral presentations and poster sessions presented at the Cold Springs Harbor Meeting on Cancer Cells, this meeting entitled Genetics and Molecular Biology of Breast Cancer.

  10. Correlation between MCAT biology content specifications and topic scope and sequence of general education college biology textbooks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rissing, Steven W

    2013-01-01

    Most American colleges and universities offer gateway biology courses to meet the needs of three undergraduate audiences: biology and related science majors, many of whom will become biomedical researchers; premedical students meeting medical school requirements and preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); and students completing general education (GE) graduation requirements. Biology textbooks for these three audiences present a topic scope and sequence that correlates with the topic scope and importance ratings of the biology content specifications for the MCAT regardless of the intended audience. Texts for "nonmajors," GE courses appear derived directly from their publisher's majors text. Topic scope and sequence of GE texts reflect those of "their" majors text and, indirectly, the MCAT. MCAT term density of GE texts equals or exceeds that of their corresponding majors text. Most American universities require a GE curriculum to promote a core level of academic understanding among their graduates. This includes civic scientific literacy, recognized as an essential competence for the development of public policies in an increasingly scientific and technological world. Deriving GE biology and related science texts from majors texts designed to meet very different learning objectives may defeat the scientific literacy goals of most schools' GE curricula.

  11. Correlation between MCAT Biology Content Specifications and Topic Scope and Sequence of General Education College Biology Textbooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rissing, Steven W.

    2013-01-01

    Most American colleges and universities offer gateway biology courses to meet the needs of three undergraduate audiences: biology and related science majors, many of whom will become biomedical researchers; premedical students meeting medical school requirements and preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); and students completing general education (GE) graduation requirements. Biology textbooks for these three audiences present a topic scope and sequence that correlates with the topic scope and importance ratings of the biology content specifications for the MCAT regardless of the intended audience. Texts for “nonmajors,” GE courses appear derived directly from their publisher's majors text. Topic scope and sequence of GE texts reflect those of “their” majors text and, indirectly, the MCAT. MCAT term density of GE texts equals or exceeds that of their corresponding majors text. Most American universities require a GE curriculum to promote a core level of academic understanding among their graduates. This includes civic scientific literacy, recognized as an essential competence for the development of public policies in an increasingly scientific and technological world. Deriving GE biology and related science texts from majors texts designed to meet very different learning objectives may defeat the scientific literacy goals of most schools’ GE curricula. PMID:24006392

  12. An integer optimization algorithm for robust identification of non-linear gene regulatory networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chemmangattuvalappil Nishanth

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Reverse engineering gene networks and identifying regulatory interactions are integral to understanding cellular decision making processes. Advancement in high throughput experimental techniques has initiated innovative data driven analysis of gene regulatory networks. However, inherent noise associated with biological systems requires numerous experimental replicates for reliable conclusions. Furthermore, evidence of robust algorithms directly exploiting basic biological traits are few. Such algorithms are expected to be efficient in their performance and robust in their prediction. Results We have developed a network identification algorithm to accurately infer both the topology and strength of regulatory interactions from time series gene expression data in the presence of significant experimental noise and non-linear behavior. In this novel formulism, we have addressed data variability in biological systems by integrating network identification with the bootstrap resampling technique, hence predicting robust interactions from limited experimental replicates subjected to noise. Furthermore, we have incorporated non-linearity in gene dynamics using the S-system formulation. The basic network identification formulation exploits the trait of sparsity of biological interactions. Towards that, the identification algorithm is formulated as an integer-programming problem by introducing binary variables for each network component. The objective function is targeted to minimize the network connections subjected to the constraint of maximal agreement between the experimental and predicted gene dynamics. The developed algorithm is validated using both in silico and experimental data-sets. These studies show that the algorithm can accurately predict the topology and connection strength of the in silico networks, as quantified by high precision and recall, and small discrepancy between the actual and predicted kinetic parameters

  13. Proceedings of the OECD/CSNI specialists meeting on boron dilution reactivity transients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-06-01

    The purpose of the meeting was to bring together experts involved in the different activities related to boron dilution transients. The experts came from all involved parties, including research organizations, regulatory authorities, vendors and utilities. Information was openly shared and discussed on the experimental results, plant and systems analysis, numerical analysis of mixing and probability and consequences of these transients. Regulatory background and licensing implications were also included to provide the proper frame work for the technical discussion. Each of these areas corresponded to a separate session. The meeting focused on the thermal-hydraulic aspects because of the current interest in that subject and the significant amount of new technical information being generated

  14. Biology meets Physics: Reductionism and Multi-scale Modeling of Morphogenesis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Green, Sara; Batterman, Robert

    2017-01-01

    A common reductionist assumption is that macro-scale behaviors can be described "bottom-up" if only sufficient details about lower-scale processes are available. The view that an "ideal" or "fundamental" physics would be sufficient to explain all macro-scale phenomena has been met with criticism ...... modeling in developmental biology. In such contexts, the relation between models at different scales and from different disciplines is neither reductive nor completely autonomous, but interdependent....... from philosophers of biology. Specifically, scholars have pointed to the impossibility of deducing biological explanations from physical ones, and to the irreducible nature of distinctively biological processes such as gene regulation and evolution. This paper takes a step back in asking whether bottom......-up modeling is feasible even when modeling simple physical systems across scales. By comparing examples of multi-scale modeling in physics and biology, we argue that the “tyranny of scales” problem present a challenge to reductive explanations in both physics and biology. The problem refers to the scale...

  15. 8. Danish meeting for marine researchers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The publication comprises the programme for the 8th Danish meeting for marine researchers held in Odense (Denmark) on January 25th - 27th, 1994, and the abstracts of the papers that were presented at that meeting. Subjects covered are marine biology, sediments and sedimentation, fish, fishing and fishing regulation, marine processes and the monitoring of Danish straits. (AB)

  16. The 10. Danish marine research meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    The publication comprises the programme for the 10th Danish meeting for marine researchers held in Hirtshals (Denmark) on January 21 - 27, 1998, and the abstracts of the papers that were presented at that meeting. Subjects covered are marine biology, sediments and sedimentation, fish, fishing and fishing regulations, marine processes and the monitoring of Danish straits. (EG)

  17. 77 FR 47628 - Eagle Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project; Eagle Crest Energy; Notice of Meeting...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [P-13123-002-CA] Eagle Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project; Eagle Crest Energy; Notice of Meeting Postponement On July 17, 2012, the...), on the Eagle Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project. However, the meeting has been postponed...

  18. XcisClique: analysis of regulatory bicliques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grene Ruth

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Modeling of cis-elements or regulatory motifs in promoter (upstream regions of genes is a challenging computational problem. In this work, set of regulatory motifs simultaneously present in the promoters of a set of genes is modeled as a biclique in a suitably defined bipartite graph. A biologically meaningful co-occurrence of multiple cis-elements in a gene promoter is assessed by the combined analysis of genomic and gene expression data. Greater statistical significance is associated with a set of genes that shares a common set of regulatory motifs, while simultaneously exhibiting highly correlated gene expression under given experimental conditions. Methods XcisClique, the system developed in this work, is a comprehensive infrastructure that associates annotated genome and gene expression data, models known cis-elements as regular expressions, identifies maximal bicliques in a bipartite gene-motif graph; and ranks bicliques based on their computed statistical significance. Significance is a function of the probability of occurrence of those motifs in a biclique (a hypergeometric distribution, and on the new sum of absolute values statistic (SAV that uses Spearman correlations of gene expression vectors. SAV is a statistic well-suited for this purpose as described in the discussion. Results XcisClique identifies new motif and gene combinations that might indicate as yet unidentified involvement of sets of genes in biological functions and processes. It currently supports Arabidopsis thaliana and can be adapted to other organisms, assuming the existence of annotated genomic sequences, suitable gene expression data, and identified regulatory motifs. A subset of Xcis Clique functionalities, including the motif visualization component MotifSee, source code, and supplementary material are available at https://bioinformatics.cs.vt.edu/xcisclique/.

  19. 75 FR 52046 - Development of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Safety Culture Policy Statement: Public Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-24

    ... is working towards increasing the attention that is given to safety culture as part of its efforts to... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Development of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Safety Culture..., Nevada hearing facility to solicit comments on the revision of its draft safety culture policy statement...

  20. Interchangeability of biosimilar and biological reference product: updated regulatory positions and pre- and post-marketing evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trifirò, Gianluca; Marcianò, Ilaria; Ingrasciotta, Ylenia

    2018-03-01

    Since 2006, biosimilars have been available in several countries worldwide, thus allowing for potential savings in pharmaceutical expenditure. However, there have been numerous debates about the interchangeability of biosimilars and reference products based on concerns of immunogenicity by switching between biological products, which may cause lack of effect and toxicity. Areas covered: The authors provide the reader with an overview of the different positions of regulatory authorities on the interchangeability and automatic substitution of biosimilars and reference products. Presently, the FDA allows automatic substitution without prescriber intervention if the biosimilar is interchangeable with reference products, while the European Medicines Agency delegate to each single EU member state. Expert opinion: Different approaches in defining interchangeability and automatic substitution call for harmonization to increase confidence of healthcare professionals and patients about the clinical impact of switching. Networks of electronic healthcare records and administrative databases, potentially linkable to clinical charts and registries may rapidly assess frequency and benefit-risk profile of different switching patterns in routine care at different levels, thus integrating and strengthening pre-marketing evidence.

  1. 76 FR 47089 - Regulatory Review Schedule; Cancellation of Consultation Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-04

    ... Consultation-- Wild Horse Resort Casino, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Southwest. Scottsdale, AZ. September 19-20, 2011 NIGC Regional Training..... Sky Ute Casino Resort 3, 4, 5 Ignacio, CO. September 27-28, 2011 NIGC Consultation-- Turning Stone Casino, NY... 3, 5 Northeast. November 7-12, 2011 USET Annual Meeting........ Mississippi...

  2. Computational Genetic Regulatory Networks Evolvable, Self-organizing Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Knabe, Johannes F

    2013-01-01

    Genetic Regulatory Networks (GRNs) in biological organisms are primary engines for cells to enact their engagements with environments, via incessant, continually active coupling. In differentiated multicellular organisms, tremendous complexity has arisen in the course of evolution of life on earth. Engineering and science have so far achieved no working system that can compare with this complexity, depth and scope of organization. Abstracting the dynamics of genetic regulatory control to a computational framework in which artificial GRNs in artificial simulated cells differentiate while connected in a changing topology, it is possible to apply Darwinian evolution in silico to study the capacity of such developmental/differentiated GRNs to evolve. In this volume an evolutionary GRN paradigm is investigated for its evolvability and robustness in models of biological clocks, in simple differentiated multicellularity, and in evolving artificial developing 'organisms' which grow and express an ontogeny starting fr...

  3. Regulatory control of the use of contractors by operating organizations. Peer discussions on regulatory practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-09-01

    This report arises from the eighth series of peer discussions on regulatory practices entitled 'Regulatory control of the use of contractors by operating organizations'. Senior regulators from 19 Member States participated in two peer group discussions in March 2000 and May 2000. This report gives an account of the outcomes of these meetings and of practical suggestions put forward by senior regulators. These suggestions do not necessarily reflect the views of the governments of the nominating Member States, the organizations they belong to, or the International Atomic Energy Agency. The objective of this document is to share experience between regulatory bodies and provide practical suggestions for controlling the use of contractors and subcontractors by the operating organizations during all stages, especially operation, of a nuclear power plant, so as to ensure that the quality of work and services delivered is commensurate with the safety importance of the activities and that these are carried out in a manner that will not adversely affect the safe or reliable operation of the facility. These documented practical suggestions and experiences are the result of a series of peer discussions at the IAEA in 2000. It is considered that the manner in which control is exercised, and the various challenges connected to this control, are highly dependent upon the legislative framework, maturity of the nuclear programme, the size of the national nuclear industry and the culture in each country. The report is structured so that it covers the subject matter under the following main headings: Legal Provisions, Regulatory Strategy and Requirements; Regulatory Approaches for Controlling the Use of Contractors; Types of Contracts; Practical Suggestions

  4. Improvement of the effectiveness of regulatory management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    The project ARCAL LXVI has as its objective strengthening the national capabilities of the regulatory authorities to achieve an adequate level of radiation safety by training their staff in the implementation of the safety guidelines developed by a prior TC regional project under the framework of the ARCAL Programme and to measure its effectiveness. Detailed program of activities for the years 2001/2002 is presented at this meeting

  5. Trans meets cis in MADS science

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Folter, de S.; Angenent, G.C.

    2006-01-01

    The interaction between a transcription factor and its binding site at the DNA is an integral part of transcriptional regulatory networks, which is fundamental for an understanding of biological processes. An example is the family of MADS domain transcription factors, which represent key regulators

  6. Gene regulatory and signaling networks exhibit distinct topological distributions of motifs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira, Gustavo Rodrigues; Nakaya, Helder Imoto; Costa, Luciano da Fontoura

    2018-04-01

    The biological processes of cellular decision making and differentiation involve a plethora of signaling pathways and gene regulatory circuits. These networks in turn exhibit a multitude of motifs playing crucial parts in regulating network activity. Here we compare the topological placement of motifs in gene regulatory and signaling networks and observe that it suggests different evolutionary strategies in motif distribution for distinct cellular subnetworks.

  7. Towards medicines regulatory authorities' quality performance improvement: value for public health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pejović, Gordana; Filipović, Jovan; Tasić, Ljiljana; Marinković, Valentina

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to explore the possibility of implementing total quality management (TQM) principles in national medicines regulatory authorities in Europe to achieve all public health objectives. Bearing in mind that medicines regulation is a governmental function that serves societal objectives to protect and promote public health, measuring the effective achievement of quality objectives related to public health is of utmost importance. A generic TQM model for meeting public health objectives was developed and was tested on 10 European national medicines regulatory authorities with different regulatory performances. Participating national medicines regulatory authorities recognised all TQM factors of the proposed model in implemented systems with different degrees of understanding. An analysis of responses was performed within the framework of two established criteria-the regulatory authority's category and size. The value of the paper is twofold. First, the new generic TQM model proposes to integrate four public health objectives with six TQM factors. Second, national medicines regulatory authorities were analysed as public organisations and health authorities to develop a proper tool for assessing their regulatory performance. The paper emphasises the importance of designing an adequate approach to performance measurement of quality management systems in medicines regulatory authorities that will support their public service missions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. 76 FR 76712 - Notice of Staff Attendance at Southwest Power Pool Markets and Operations Policy Committee Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-08

    .... Markets and Operations Policy Committee. Their attendance is part of the Commission's ongoing outreach... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of Staff Attendance at Southwest Power Pool Markets and Operations Policy Committee Meeting The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

  9. Biologic agents in rheumatology: unmet issues after 200 trials and $200 billion sales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ioannidis, John P A; Karassa, Fotini B; Druyts, Eric; Thorlund, Kristian; Mills, Edward J

    2013-11-01

    Anti-TNF agents and other biologic therapies are widely prescribed for a variety of indications, with total sales that exceed $200 billion to date. In rheumatic diseases, biologic agents have now been studied in more than 200 randomized clinical trials and over 100 subsequent meta-analyses; however, the information obtained does not always meet the needs of patients and clinicians. In this Review, we discuss the current issues concerning the evidence derived from such studies: potential biases favouring positive results; a paucity of head-to-head comparisons between biologically active agents; overwhelming involvement of manufacturer sponsors in trials and in the synthesis of the evidence; the preference for trials with limited follow-up; and the potential for spurious findings on adverse events, leading to endless debates about malignancy risk. We debate the responsibilities of regulatory authorities, the pharmaceutical industry and academia in attempting to solve these shortcomings and challenges. We propose that improvements in the evidence regarding biologic treatments that are continually being added to the therapeutic armamentarium for rheumatic diseases might require revisiting the design and conduct of studies. For example, trials with long-term follow-up that are independent of the pharmaceutical industry, head-to-head comparisons of therapeutic agents and the use of rigorous clinical outcomes should be considered, and public availability of raw data endorsed.

  10. 76 FR 28023 - Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, South Carolina Electric & Gas Company; Notice of Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 2232-522; Project No. 516-459] Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, South Carolina Electric & Gas Company; Notice of Meetings On March 18, 2011, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requested a meeting with Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC...

  11. Regulatory and extra-regulatory testing to demonstrate radioactive material packaging safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ammerman, D.J.

    1997-01-01

    Packages for the transportation of radioactive material must meet performance criteria to assure safety and environmental protection. The stringency of the performance criteria is based on the degree of hazard of the material being transported. Type B packages are used for transporting large quantities of radioisotopes (in terms of A 2 quantities). These packages have the most stringent performance criteria. Material with less than an A 2 quantity are transported in Type A packages. These packages have less stringent performance criteria. Transportation of LSA and SCO materials must be in open-quotes strong-tightclose quotes packages. The performance requirements for the latter packages are even less stringent. All of these package types provide a high level of safety for the material being transported. In this paper, regulatory tests that are used to demonstrate this safety will be described. The responses of various packages to these tests will be shown. In addition, the response of packages to extra-regulatory tests will be discussed. The results of these tests will be used to demonstrate the high level of safety provided to workers, the public, and the environment by packages used for the transportation of radioactive material

  12. 78 FR 8202 - Meeting of the Joint ACRS Subcommittees on Thermal Hydraulic Phenomena and Materials, Metallurgy...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-05

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the Joint ACRS Subcommittees on Thermal Hydraulic Phenomena and Materials, Metallurgy and Reactor Fuels; Notice of Meeting The Joint ACRS Subcommittees on Thermal Hydraulic Phenomena and Materials, Metallurgy and...

  13. Semi-supervised prediction of gene regulatory networks using ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2015-09-28

    Sep 28, 2015 ... Use of computational methods to predict gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from gene expression data is a challenging ... two types of methods differ primarily based on whether ..... negligible, allowing us to draw the qualitative conclusions .... research will be conducted to develop additional biologically.

  14. Regulatory Physiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, Helen W.; Whitson, Peggy A.; Putcha, Lakshmi; Baker, Ellen; Smith, Scott M.; Stewart, Karen; Gretebeck, Randall; Nimmagudda, R. R.; Schoeller, Dale A.; Davis-Street, Janis

    1999-01-01

    As noted elsewhere in this report, a central goal of the Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project (EDOMP) was to ensure that cardiovascular and muscle function were adequate to perform an emergency egress after 16 days of spaceflight. The goals of the Regulatory Physiology component of the EDOMP were to identify and subsequently ameliorate those biochemical and nutritional factors that deplete physiological reserves or increase risk for disease, and to facilitate the development of effective muscle, exercise, and cardiovascular countermeasures. The component investigations designed to meet these goals focused on biochemical and physiological aspects of nutrition and metabolism, the risk of renal (kidney) stone formation, gastrointestinal function, and sleep in space. Investigations involved both ground-based protocols to validate proposed methods and flight studies to test those methods. Two hardware tests were also completed.

  15. Recurrent rewiring and emergence of RNA regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilinski, Daniel; Buter, Natascha; Klocko, Andrew D; Lapointe, Christopher P; Selker, Eric U; Gasch, Audrey P; Wickens, Marvin

    2017-04-04

    Alterations in regulatory networks contribute to evolutionary change. Transcriptional networks are reconfigured by changes in the binding specificity of transcription factors and their cognate sites. The evolution of RNA-protein regulatory networks is far less understood. The PUF (Pumilio and FBF) family of RNA regulatory proteins controls the translation, stability, and movements of hundreds of mRNAs in a single species. We probe the evolution of PUF-RNA networks by direct identification of the mRNAs bound to PUF proteins in budding and filamentous fungi and by computational analyses of orthologous RNAs from 62 fungal species. Our findings reveal that PUF proteins gain and lose mRNAs with related and emergent biological functions during evolution. We demonstrate at least two independent rewiring events for PUF3 orthologs, independent but convergent evolution of PUF4/5 binding specificity and the rewiring of the PUF4/5 regulons in different fungal lineages. These findings demonstrate plasticity in RNA regulatory networks and suggest ways in which their rewiring occurs.

  16. Topics raised by the summary report of the first review meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    This document presents the fulfilling of the Brazilian obligations under the Convention on Nuclear Safety. The Chapter 7 of the document contains topics raised by the summary report of the first review meeting. The chapter covers status and position of the regulatory body, collective doses, effluents release trends, adoption of the ICRP 60 and basic safety standards, regulatory strategy, quality assurance, monitoring safety management, international cooperation, probabilistic safety assessment and safety improvement programmes

  17. Regulatory practices for nuclear power plants in India

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bajaj, S.S.

    2013-01-01

    The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is the national authority for ensuring that the use of ionizing radiation and nuclear energy does not cause any undue risk to the health of workers, members of the public and to the environment. AERB is responsible for the stipulation and enforcement of rules and regulations pertaining to nuclear and radiological safety. This paper describes the regulatory process followed by AERB for ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants (NPPs) during their construction as well as operation. This regulatory process has been continuously evolving to cater to the new developments in reactor technology. Some of the recent initiatives taken by AERB in this direction are briefly described. Today, AERB faces new challenges like simultaneous review of a large number of new projects of diverse designs, a fast growing nuclear power program and functioning of operating plants in a competitive environment. This paper delineates how AERB is gearing up to meet these challenges in an effective manner. (author)

  18. 76 FR 37805 - Progress Energy Carolinas; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 2206-030] Progress Energy Carolinas; Notice of Meeting On May 31, 2011, Progress Energy Carolinas (Progress Energy), licensee for the... National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and staff to discuss what is needed to complete formal...

  19. Third International E. coli genome meeting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1994-12-31

    Proceedings of the Third E. Coli Genome Meeting are provided. Presentations were divided into sessions entitled (1) Large Scale Sequencing, Sequence Analysis; (2) Databases; (3) Sequence Analysis; (4) Sequence Divergence in E. coli Strains; (5) Repeated Sequences and Regulatory Motifs; (6) Mutations, Rearrangements and Stress Responses; and (7) Origins of New Genes. The document provides a collection of abstracts of oral and poster presentations.

  20. International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goldberg, Debra; Hibbs, Matthew; Kall, Lukas; Komandurglayavilli, Ravikumar; Mahony, Shaun; Marinescu, Voichita; Mayrose, Itay; Minin, Vladimir; Neeman, Yossef; Nimrod, Guy; Novotny, Marian; Opiyo, Stephen; Portugaly, Elon; Sadka, Tali; Sakabe, Noboru; Sarkar, Indra; Schaub, Marc; Shafer, Paul; Shmygelska, Olena; Singer, Gregory; Song, Yun; Soumyaroop, Bhattacharya; Stadler, Michael; Strope, Pooja; Su, Rong; Tabach, Yuval; Tae, Hongseok; Taylor, Todd; Terribilini, Michael; Thomas, Asha; Tran, Nam; Tseng, Tsai-Tien; Vashist, Akshay; Vijaya, Parthiban; Wang, Kai; Wang, Ting; Wei, Lai; Woo, Yong; Wu, Chunlei; Yamanishi, Yoshihiro; Yan, Changhui; Yang, Jack; Yang, Mary; Ye, Ping; Zhang, Miao

    2009-12-29

    The Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference has provided a general forum for disseminating the latest developments in bioinformatics on an annual basis for the past 13 years. ISMB is a multidisciplinary conference that brings together scientists from computer science, molecular biology, mathematics and statistics. The goal of the ISMB meeting is to bring together biologists and computational scientists in a focus on actual biological problems, i.e., not simply theoretical calculations. The combined focus on "intelligent systems" and actual biological data makes ISMB a unique and highly important meeting, and 13 years of experience in holding the conference has resulted in a consistently well organized, well attended, and highly respected annual conference. The ISMB 2005 meeting was held June 25-29, 2005 at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan. The meeting attracted over 1,730 attendees. The science presented was exceptional, and in the course of the five-day meeting, 56 scientific papers, 710 posters, 47 Oral Abstracts, 76 Software demonstrations, and 14 tutorials were presented. The attendees represented a broad spectrum of backgrounds with 7% from commercial companies, over 28% qualifying for student registration, and 41 countries were represented at the conference, emphasizing its important international aspect. The ISMB conference is especially important because the cultures of computer science and biology are so disparate. ISMB, as a full-scale technical conference with refereed proceedings that have been indexed by both MEDLINE and Current Contents since 1996, bridges this cultural gap.

  1. Opportunities in plant synthetic biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Charis; Martin, Lisa; Bastow, Ruth

    2014-05-01

    Synthetic biology is an emerging field uniting scientists from all disciplines with the aim of designing or re-designing biological processes. Initially, synthetic biology breakthroughs came from microbiology, chemistry, physics, computer science, materials science, mathematics, and engineering disciplines. A transition to multicellular systems is the next logical step for synthetic biologists and plants will provide an ideal platform for this new phase of research. This meeting report highlights some of the exciting plant synthetic biology projects, and tools and resources, presented and discussed at the 2013 GARNet workshop on plant synthetic biology.

  2. 76 FR 15307 - Notice of Staff Attendance at Southwest Power Pool Strategic Planning Committee Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-21

    ... Power Pool Strategic Planning Committee Meeting The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hereby gives notice that members of its staff may attend the meeting of the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) Strategic Planning Committee (SPC), as noted below. Their attendance is part of the Commission's ongoing outreach...

  3. Improving nuclear regulation. NEA regulatory guidance booklets volumes 1-14

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    A common theme throughout the series of NEA regulatory guidance reports, or 'green booklets', is the premise that the fundamental objective of all nuclear safety regulatory bodies is to ensure that nuclear facilities are continuously maintained and operated in an acceptably safe manner. In meeting this objective the regulator must bear in mind that it is the operator that has responsibility for safely operating the nuclear facility; the role of the regulator is to assess and to provide assurance regarding the operator's activities in terms of assuming that responsibility. The full series of these reports was brought together in one edition for the first time in 2009 and was widely found to be a useful resource. This second edition comprises 14 volumes, including the latest on The Nuclear Regulator's Role in Assessing Licensee Oversight of Vendor and Other Contracted Services. The reports address various challenges that could apply throughout the lifetime of a nuclear facility, including design, siting, manufacturing, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning. The compilation is intended to serve as a knowledge management tool both for current regulators and the new nuclear professionals and organisations entering the regulatory field. Contents: Executive Summary; Regulatory Challenges: 1. The Role of the Nuclear Regulator in Promoting and Evaluating Safety Culture; 2. Regulatory Response Strategies for Safety Culture Problems; 3. Nuclear Regulatory Challenges Related to Human Performance; 4. Regulatory Challenges in Using Nuclear Operating Experience; 5. Nuclear Regulatory Review of Licensee Self-assessment (LSA); 6. Nuclear Regulatory Challenges Arising from Competition in Electricity Markets; 7. The Nuclear Regulatory Challenge of Judging Safety Back-fits; 8. The Regulatory Challenges of Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors; 9. The Nuclear Regulator's Role in Assessing Licensee Oversight of Vendor and Other Contracted Services

  4. The future of yogurt: scientific and regulatory needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    German, J Bruce

    2014-05-01

    Lactation biology, microbial selection, and human diversity are central themes that could guide investment in scientific research, industrial innovation, and regulatory policy oversight to propel yogurt into the central role for health-promoting food products. The ability of yogurt to provide the nourishing properties of milk together with the live microorganisms from fermentation provides a unique combination of food assets. Academic research must now define the various targets on which these biological assets act to improve health and develop the metrics that can quantitatively document their benefits. The food industry must reconcile that yogurt and its microorganisms cannot be expected to provide measurable benefits for all consumers, at all doses, and at all times. A supportive regulatory oversight must demand safety and yet encourage innovations that support a value proposition for yogurt in health. Health valuation in the marketplace will be driven by parallel innovations, including accurate assessment technologies, validated microbial ingredients, and health-aware consumers.

  5. Regulatory requirements of the integrated technology demonstration program, Savannah River Site (U)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergren, C.L.

    1992-01-01

    The integrated demonstration program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) involves demonstration, testing and evaluation of new characterization, monitoring, drilling and remediation technologies for soils and groundwater impacted by organic solvent contamination. The regulatory success of the demonstration program has developed as a result of open communications between the regulators and the technical teams involved. This open dialogue is an attempt to allow timely completion of applied environmental restoration demonstrations while meeting all applicable regulatory requirements. Simultaneous processing of multiple regulatory documents (satisfying RCRA, CERCLA, NEPA and various state regulations) has streamlined the overall permitting process. Public involvement is achieved as various regulatory documents are advertised for public comment consistent with the site's community relations plan. The SRS integrated demonstration has been permitted and endorsed by regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. EPA headquarters and regional offices are involved in DOE's integrated Demonstration Program. This relationship allows for rapid regulatory acceptance while reducing federal funding and time requirements. (author)

  6. Safeguards inventory and process monitoring regulatory comparison

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cavaluzzi, Jack M. [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); Gibbs, Philip W. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

    2013-06-27

    Detecting the theft or diversion of the relatively small amount of fissile material needed to make a nuclear weapon given the normal operating capacity of many of today’s running nuclear production facilities is a difficult task. As throughput increases, the ability of the Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) Program to detect the material loss decreases because the statistical measurement uncertainty also increases. The challenge faced is the ability of current accounting, measurement, and material control programs to detect small yet significant losses under some regulatory approaches can decrease to the point where it is extremely low if not practically non-existent at normal operating capacities. Adding concern to this topic is that there are variations among regulatory bodies as far as what is considered a Significant Quantity (SQ). Some research suggests that thresholds should be lower than those found in any current regulation which if adopted would make meeting detection goals even more difficult. This paper reviews and compares the current regulatory requirements for the MA elements related to physical inventory, uncertainty of the Inventory Difference (ID), and Process Monitoring (PM) in the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Rosatom of the Russian Federation and the Chinese Atomic Energy Agency (CAEA) of China. The comparison looks at how the regulatory requirements for the implementation of various MA elements perform across a range of operating capacities in example facilities.

  7. Reliability programs for nuclear power plants. Regulatory standard S-98 revision 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-07-01

    The purpose of this regulatory standard is to help assure, in accordance with the purpose of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act (NSCA), that a licensee who constructs or operates a nuclear power plant (NPP) develops and implements a reliability program that assures that the systems important to safety at the plant can and will meet their defined design and performance specifications at acceptable levels of reliability throughout the lifetime of the facility. This regulatory standard describes the requirements of a reliability program for a nuclear power plant. The licensee shall implement the requirements described in this regulatory standard when a condition of a licence or other legally enforceable instrument so requires.(author)

  8. Inference of cancer-specific gene regulatory networks using soft computing rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaosheng; Gotoh, Osamu

    2010-03-24

    Perturbations of gene regulatory networks are essentially responsible for oncogenesis. Therefore, inferring the gene regulatory networks is a key step to overcoming cancer. In this work, we propose a method for inferring directed gene regulatory networks based on soft computing rules, which can identify important cause-effect regulatory relations of gene expression. First, we identify important genes associated with a specific cancer (colon cancer) using a supervised learning approach. Next, we reconstruct the gene regulatory networks by inferring the regulatory relations among the identified genes, and their regulated relations by other genes within the genome. We obtain two meaningful findings. One is that upregulated genes are regulated by more genes than downregulated ones, while downregulated genes regulate more genes than upregulated ones. The other one is that tumor suppressors suppress tumor activators and activate other tumor suppressors strongly, while tumor activators activate other tumor activators and suppress tumor suppressors weakly, indicating the robustness of biological systems. These findings provide valuable insights into the pathogenesis of cancer.

  9. Regulatory challenges associated with conducting multicountry clinical trials in resource-limited settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ndebele, Paul; Blanchard-Horan, Christina; Shahkolahi, Akbar; Sanne, Ian

    2014-01-01

    International public health and infectious diseases research has expanded to become a global enterprise transcending national and continental borders in organized networks addressing high-impact diseases. In conducting multicountry clinical trials, sponsors and investigators have to ensure that they meet regulatory requirements in all countries in which the clinical trials will be conducted. Some of these requirements include review and approval by national drug regulatory authorities and recognized research ethics committees. A limiting factor to the efficient conduct of multicountry clinical trials is the regulatory environment in each collaborating country, with significant differences determined by various factors including the laws and the procedures used in each country. The long regulatory processes in resource-limited countries may hinder the efficient implementation of multisite clinical trials, delaying research important to the health of populations in these countries and costing millions of dollars a year.

  10. In silico analysis of cis-acting regulatory elements in 5' regulatory regions of sucrose transporter gene families in rice (Oryza sativa Japonica) and Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibraheem, Omodele; Botha, Christiaan E J; Bradley, Graeme

    2010-12-01

    The regulation of gene expression involves a multifarious regulatory system. Each gene contains a unique combination of cis-acting regulatory sequence elements in the 5' regulatory region that determines its temporal and spatial expression. Cis-acting regulatory elements are essential transcriptional gene regulatory units; they control many biological processes and stress responses. Thus a full understanding of the transcriptional gene regulation system will depend on successful functional analyses of cis-acting elements. Cis-acting regulatory elements present within the 5' regulatory region of the sucrose transporter gene families in rice (Oryza sativa Japonica cultivar-group) and Arabidopsis thaliana, were identified using a bioinformatics approach. The possible cis-acting regulatory elements were predicted by scanning 1.5kbp of 5' regulatory regions of the sucrose transporter genes translational start sites, using Plant CARE, PLACE and Genomatix Matinspector professional databases. Several cis-acting regulatory elements that are associated with plant development, plant hormonal regulation and stress response were identified, and were present in varying frequencies within the 1.5kbp of 5' regulatory region, among which are; A-box, RY, CAT, Pyrimidine-box, Sucrose-box, ABRE, ARF, ERE, GARE, Me-JA, ARE, DRE, GA-motif, GATA, GT-1, MYC, MYB, W-box, and I-box. This result reveals the probable cis-acting regulatory elements that possibly are involved in the expression and regulation of sucrose transporter gene families in rice and Arabidopsis thaliana during cellular development or environmental stress conditions. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. 75 FR 71122 - Erie Boulevard Hydropower L.P.; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 7518-012--New York] Erie Boulevard Hydropower L.P.; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review November 15, 2010. Commission staff will be conducting two public scoping meetings and an environmental site review in support...

  12. Review of Biological Network Data and Its Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donghyeon Yu

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Studying biological networks, such as protein-protein interactions, is key to understanding complex biological activities. Various types of large-scale biological datasets have been collected and analyzed with high-throughput technologies, including DNA microarray, next-generation sequencing, and the two-hybrid screening system, for this purpose. In this review, we focus on network-based approaches that help in understanding biological systems and identifying biological functions. Accordingly, this paper covers two major topics in network biology: reconstruction of gene regulatory networks and network-based applications, including protein function prediction, disease gene prioritization, and network-based genome-wide association study.

  13. Proceedings of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission twentieth water reactor safety information meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiss, A.J.

    1993-03-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twentieth Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, during the week of October 21--23, 1992. The papers describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included 10 different papers presented by researchersfrom CEC, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Taiwan

  14. European regulatory tools for advanced therapy medicinal products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flory, Egbert; Reinhardt, Jens

    2013-12-01

    Increasing scientific knowledge and technical innovations in the areas of cell biology, biotechnology and medicine resulted in the development of promising therapeutic approaches for the prevention and treatment of human diseases. Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) reflect a complex and innovative class of biopharmaceuticals as these products are highly research-driven, characterised by innovative manufacturing processes and heterogeneous with regard to their origin, type and complexity. This class of ATMP integrates gene therapy medicinal products, somatic cell therapy medicinal products and tissue engineering products and are often individualized and patient-specific products. Multiple challenges arise from the nature of ATMPs, which are often developed by micro, small and medium sized enterprises, university and academia, for whom regulatory experiences are limited and regulatory requirements are challenging. Regulatory guidance such as the reflection paper on classification of ATMPs and guidelines highlighting product-specific issues support academic research groups and pharmaceutical companies to foster the development of safe and effective ATMPs. This review provides an overview on the European regulatory aspects of ATMPs and highlights specific regulatory tools such as the ATMP classification procedure, a discussion on the hospital exemption for selected ATMPs as well as borderline issues towards transplants/transfusion products.

  15. Prediction of transcriptional regulatory sites in the complete genome sequence of Escherichia coli K-12.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thieffry, D; Salgado, H; Huerta, A M; Collado-Vides, J

    1998-06-01

    As one of the best-characterized free-living organisms, Escherichia coli and its recently completed genomic sequence offer a special opportunity to exploit systematically the variety of regulatory data available in the literature in order to make a comprehensive set of regulatory predictions in the whole genome. The complete genome sequence of E.coli was analyzed for the binding of transcriptional regulators upstream of coding sequences. The biological information contained in RegulonDB (Huerta, A.M. et al., Nucleic Acids Res.,26,55-60, 1998) for 56 different transcriptional proteins was the support to implement a stringent strategy combining string search and weight matrices. We estimate that our search included representatives of 15-25% of the total number of regulatory binding proteins in E.coli. This search was performed on the set of 4288 putative regulatory regions, each 450 bp long. Within the regions with predicted sites, 89% are regulated by one protein and 81% involve only one site. These numbers are reasonably consistent with the distribution of experimental regulatory sites. Regulatory sites are found in 603 regions corresponding to 16% of operon regions and 10% of intra-operonic regions. Additional evidence gives stronger support to some of these predictions, including the position of the site, biological consistency with the function of the downstream gene, as well as genetic evidence for the regulatory interaction. The predictions described here were incorporated into the map presented in the paper describing the complete E.coli genome (Blattner,F.R. et al., Science, 277, 1453-1461, 1997). The complete set of predictions in GenBank format is available at the url: http://www. cifn.unam.mx/Computational_Biology/E.coli-predictions ecoli-reg@cifn.unam.mx, collado@cifn.unam.mx

  16. Synthetic Biology: Tools to Design, Build, and Optimize Cellular Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Eric; Alper, Hal

    2010-01-01

    The general central dogma frames the emergent properties of life, which make biology both necessary and difficult to engineer. In a process engineering paradigm, each biological process stream and process unit is heavily influenced by regulatory interactions and interactions with the surrounding environment. Synthetic biology is developing the tools and methods that will increase control over these interactions, eventually resulting in an integrative synthetic biology that will allow ground-up cellular optimization. In this review, we attempt to contextualize the areas of synthetic biology into three tiers: (1) the process units and associated streams of the central dogma, (2) the intrinsic regulatory mechanisms, and (3) the extrinsic physical and chemical environment. Efforts at each of these three tiers attempt to control cellular systems and take advantage of emerging tools and approaches. Ultimately, it will be possible to integrate these approaches and realize the vision of integrative synthetic biology when cells are completely rewired for biotechnological goals. This review will highlight progress towards this goal as well as areas requiring further research. PMID:20150964

  17. Synthetic Biology: Tools to Design, Build, and Optimize Cellular Processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Young

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The general central dogma frames the emergent properties of life, which make biology both necessary and difficult to engineer. In a process engineering paradigm, each biological process stream and process unit is heavily influenced by regulatory interactions and interactions with the surrounding environment. Synthetic biology is developing the tools and methods that will increase control over these interactions, eventually resulting in an integrative synthetic biology that will allow ground-up cellular optimization. In this review, we attempt to contextualize the areas of synthetic biology into three tiers: (1 the process units and associated streams of the central dogma, (2 the intrinsic regulatory mechanisms, and (3 the extrinsic physical and chemical environment. Efforts at each of these three tiers attempt to control cellular systems and take advantage of emerging tools and approaches. Ultimately, it will be possible to integrate these approaches and realize the vision of integrative synthetic biology when cells are completely rewired for biotechnological goals. This review will highlight progress towards this goal as well as areas requiring further research.

  18. Synthetic biology: tools to design, build, and optimize cellular processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Eric; Alper, Hal

    2010-01-01

    The general central dogma frames the emergent properties of life, which make biology both necessary and difficult to engineer. In a process engineering paradigm, each biological process stream and process unit is heavily influenced by regulatory interactions and interactions with the surrounding environment. Synthetic biology is developing the tools and methods that will increase control over these interactions, eventually resulting in an integrative synthetic biology that will allow ground-up cellular optimization. In this review, we attempt to contextualize the areas of synthetic biology into three tiers: (1) the process units and associated streams of the central dogma, (2) the intrinsic regulatory mechanisms, and (3) the extrinsic physical and chemical environment. Efforts at each of these three tiers attempt to control cellular systems and take advantage of emerging tools and approaches. Ultimately, it will be possible to integrate these approaches and realize the vision of integrative synthetic biology when cells are completely rewired for biotechnological goals. This review will highlight progress towards this goal as well as areas requiring further research.

  19. 77 FR 10786 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-23

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and PRA; Notice of Meeting The ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and PRA will hold a... Modeling Application Guide.'' The Subcommittee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with the NRC...

  20. 75 FR 7633 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Notice...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-22

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Notice of Meeting The ACRS U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) Subcommittee will hold a....S. EPR Design Certification Document Review. The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze...

  1. International regulatory activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2010-01-01

    Concerning International regulatory activities, we find for the european atomic energy community an entry into force of the lisbon treaty (2009), it amends the treaty on European union and replaces the treaty establishing the European Community by the new treaty on the functioning of the European Union; more, an amendment to council regulation on the conditions governing imports of agricultural products originating in third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (2009). About International atomic energy agency is reported an open-ended meeting of technical and legal experts for sharing of information on states implementation of the code of conduct on the safety and security of radioactive sources and its supplementary guidance on the import and export of radioactive sources (2010). (N.C.)

  2. European Society for Radiaton Biology - 19th annual meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-01-01

    The proceedings contain 313 abstracts of papers. The topics covered include: biological radiation effects on lipids, hormones, fibroblasts, on bone healing, DNA repair, DNA synthesis, tumor cells, giant cell formation, on the lymphatic system, central nervous system and the hematopoietic system; determination of RBE; radioprotective agents; radiotherapy; dosimetry; radiation induced mutations; oxygen effects; radiosensitivity of tumor cells; hyperthermia and hypoxia effects on radiosensitivity; biological radiation effects on the growth of plants. (J.P.)

  3. Steel Creek water quality: L-Lake/Steel Creek Biological Monitoring Program, November 1985--December 1991

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowers, J.A.; Kretchmer, D.W.; Chimney, M.J.

    1992-04-01

    The Savannah River Site (SRS) encompasses 300 sq mi of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in west-central South Carolina. The Savannah River forms the western boundary of the site. Five major tributaries of the Savannah River -- upper Three Runs Creek, Four Mile Creek, Pen Branch, Steel Creek, and Lower Three Runs Creek -- drain the site. All but Upper Three Runs Creek receive, or in the past received, thermal effluents from nuclear production reactors. In 1985, L Lake, a 400-hectare cooling reservoir, was built on the upper reaches of Steel Creek to receive effluent from the restart of L-Reactor, and protect the lower reaches from thermal impacts. The Steel Creek Biological Monitoring Program was designed to meet envirorunental regulatory requirements associated with the restart of L-Reactor and complements the Biological Monitoring Program for L Lake. This extensive program was implemented to address portions of Section 316(a) of the Clean Water Act. The Department of Energy (DOE) must demonstrate that the operation of L-Reactor will not significantly alter the established aquatic ecosystems

  4. Proceedings of the CSNI specialists meeting on fuel-coolant interactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1994-03-01

    A specialists meeting on fuel-coolant interactions was held in Santa Barbara, CA from January 5-7, 1993. The meeting was sponsored by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in collaboration with the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installation (CSNI) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the University of California at Santa Barbara. The objectives of the meeting are to cross-fertilize on-going work, provide opportunities for mutual check points, seek to focus the technical issues on matters of practical significance and re-evaluate both the objectives as well as path of future research. Individual papers have been cataloged separately.

  5. Proceedings of the CSNI specialists meeting on fuel-coolant interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-03-01

    A specialists meeting on fuel-coolant interactions was held in Santa Barbara, CA from January 5--7, 1993. The meeting was sponsored by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in collaboration with the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installation (CSNI) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the University of California at Santa Barbara. The objectives of the meeting are to cross-fertilize on-going work, provide opportunities for mutual check points, seek to focus the technical issues on matters of practical significance and re-evaluate both the objectives as well as path of future research. Individual papers have been cataloged separately

  6. An algebra-based method for inferring gene regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vera-Licona, Paola; Jarrah, Abdul; Garcia-Puente, Luis David; McGee, John; Laubenbacher, Reinhard

    2014-03-26

    The inference of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from experimental observations is at the heart of systems biology. This includes the inference of both the network topology and its dynamics. While there are many algorithms available to infer the network topology from experimental data, less emphasis has been placed on methods that infer network dynamics. Furthermore, since the network inference problem is typically underdetermined, it is essential to have the option of incorporating into the inference process, prior knowledge about the network, along with an effective description of the search space of dynamic models. Finally, it is also important to have an understanding of how a given inference method is affected by experimental and other noise in the data used. This paper contains a novel inference algorithm using the algebraic framework of Boolean polynomial dynamical systems (BPDS), meeting all these requirements. The algorithm takes as input time series data, including those from network perturbations, such as knock-out mutant strains and RNAi experiments. It allows for the incorporation of prior biological knowledge while being robust to significant levels of noise in the data used for inference. It uses an evolutionary algorithm for local optimization with an encoding of the mathematical models as BPDS. The BPDS framework allows an effective representation of the search space for algebraic dynamic models that improves computational performance. The algorithm is validated with both simulated and experimental microarray expression profile data. Robustness to noise is tested using a published mathematical model of the segment polarity gene network in Drosophila melanogaster. Benchmarking of the algorithm is done by comparison with a spectrum of state-of-the-art network inference methods on data from the synthetic IRMA network to demonstrate that our method has good precision and recall for the network reconstruction task, while also predicting several of the

  7. Fiscal 1998 achievement report on regional consortium research and development project. Regional consortium of venture business fostering type--Creation of key industries (Development of technologies for manufacturing and utilizing various biological regulatory substances using Hokkaido-produced biomasses as materials); 1998 nendo Dosan biomass wo genryo to shita kakushu seitai chosetsu kino busshitsu no seisan riyo gijutsu kaihatsu seika hokokusho

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-03-01

    The efforts aim to meet consumers' needs for products that will prevent lifestyle diseases or the like. For this purpose, substances answering the purpose are extracted from Hokkaido-produced agricultural and aquatic biomasses, and prepared for testing. Researches are conducted on how they behave in the enzyme, cell, and biological systems, and active substances are isolated and identified. In relation to the aquatic biomass, a technology is established of extracting and separating DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), taurine, etc., which are multivalent unsaturated fatty acids effective in preventing lifestyle diseases, from the unused parts of the squid. In relation to the agricultural biomass, antimicrobial active substances are extracted and separated from small fruit plants such as the chicory. Long-keeping foods are tentatively produced by the addition of dried powder of the chicory root tuber. In the elucidation of various biological regulatory substances contained in the Hokkaido-produced biomasses, they are tested for their abilities to resist microbes and active oxygen. Furthermore, verification tests are conducted by administering the substances to the senescence-accelerated mouse (SAM). (NEDO)

  8. Systems Biology of the Fluxome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel A. Aon

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The advent of high throughput -omics has made the accumulation of comprehensive data sets possible, consisting of changes in genes, transcripts, proteins and metabolites. Systems biology-inspired computational methods for translating metabolomics data into fluxomics provide a direct functional, dynamic readout of metabolic networks. When combined with appropriate experimental design, these methods deliver insightful knowledge about cellular function under diverse conditions. The use of computational models accounting for detailed kinetics and regulatory mechanisms allow us to unravel the control and regulatory properties of the fluxome under steady and time-dependent behaviors. This approach extends the analysis of complex systems from description to prediction, including control of complex dynamic behavior ranging from biological rhythms to catastrophic lethal arrhythmias. The powerful quantitative metabolomics-fluxomics approach will help our ability to engineer unicellular and multicellular organisms evolve from trial-and-error to a more predictable process, and from cells to organ and organisms.

  9. 75 FR 6651 - Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee AGENCY: Department... meeting of the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC). Federal Advisory.... Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, SC-23/Germantown...

  10. Nuclear regulatory organisations: Learning from stakeholders to enhance communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lorin, Aurelie

    2015-01-01

    Since its creation 15 years ago, the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) Working Group on Public Communication of Nuclear Regulatory Organisations (WGPC) has been addressing a broad range of communication issues, with two reports recently issued on Nuclear Regulatory Organisations, the Internet and Social Media: The What, How and Why of Their Use as Communication Tools and on Nuclear Regulatory Organisations and Communication Strategies. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011, nuclear regulatory organisations around the world reaffirmed the need to strengthen stakeholder outreach and communication, and to create more robust avenues for stakeholder involvement in regulatory matters. The WGPC proposed a means for stakeholders to play a more active role in the group by holding one-day workshops in conjunction with regular meetings. These workshops offer a platform for stakeholder exchange with communication experts from nuclear regulatory organisations (NROs). The objective is to stimulate co-operation and improve communication by better understanding stakeholder perceptions, needs and expectations, and by discussing how to use traditional and social media more effectively. While nuclear regulatory organisations may have a common willingness to improve their communication methods and to build constructive relationships with stakeholders, every country has its own practices and cultural background, and thus its own challenges. Following the first workshop in Paris, which brought together European stakeholders, and the second in North America, the NEA is now organising a third workshop in Asia (Japan) to be held in April 2016. This third workshop will enable the NEA to gather stakeholder views from a third continent. A report on the workshops' findings will be issued after the completion of this third workshop, thus giving a broader idea of how to improve the overall communication methods of nuclear regulatory

  11. Improvement of the regulatory system by implementation new safety demands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iglesias, R.; Alfonso, C.

    1996-01-01

    The work describes in broad terms, the analysis that is being performed aiming at the adoption of a regulatory system that could meet the current safety demands, but which, at the same time, could be a general system that might allow different safety assessments to be done by making use of more specific technical standards of the technology supplier

  12. Improving nuclear regulation. Compilation of Nea regulatory guidance booklets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    A common theme throughout the series of NEA regulatory guidance reports, or 'green booklets', is the premise that the fundamental objective of all nuclear safety regulatory bodies is to ensure that nuclear facilities are operated at all times and later decommissioned in an acceptably safe manner. In meeting this objective the regulator must keep in mind that it is the operator that has responsibility for safely operating a nuclear facility; the role of the regulator is to oversee the operator's activities as related to assuming that responsibility. For the first time, the full series of these reports have been brought together in one edition. As such, it is intended to serve as a knowledge management tool both for current regulators and the younger generation of nuclear experts entering the regulatory field. While the audience for this publication is primarily nuclear regulators, the information and ideas may also be of interest to nuclear operators, other nuclear industry organisations and the general public. (author)

  13. Regulatory Guide 1.79 safety injection recirculation test requirements, fact or fiction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roberts, J.K.

    1976-01-01

    The overwhelming concern of the general public in this day of state nuclear initiatives is the basic question, ''is nuclear power safe.'' Much of this concern has focused on the emergency core cooling systems. This public attention spotlights the testing organization's responsibility during startup of proving the operation and reliability of the emergency core cooling systems. The standard established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for testing emergency core cooling systems is Regulatory Guide 1.79 ''Preoperational Testing of Emergency Core Cooling Systems for Pressurized Water Reactors''. The nuclear industry must satisfy the testing requirements of Regulatory Guide 1.79 to meet their responsibility to the public; and to prevent future embarrassment when questioned on the adequacy of emergency core cooling systems

  14. International Conference on Effective Nuclear Regulatory Systems: Sustaining Improvements Globally. Book of Abstracts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this conference is to review and assess ways of further improving the effectiveness of regulatory systems for nuclear facilities and activities for both nuclear safety and nuclear security. The action items in the summary presented by the President of the conference held in 2013 in Ottawa, the lessons of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, the discussions at other international conferences and at international experts’ meetings conducted within the framework of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety, as well as the CNS and the principles outlined in the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety, will continue to have a significant impact on regulatory systems. All the aforementioned need to be taken into account to sustain improvements to regulatory systems. The expected outcomes of the conference are: - Enhanced safety and security of nuclear installations worldwide; - Challenges in regulating radiation sources and radioactive waste addressed; - Enhanced international cooperation for sustaining regulatory effectiveness; - Strengthened and sustained regulatory competence for nuclear safety and security; and - Strategies and actions for the future identified, as well as issues for consideration by governments, regulatory bodies and international organizations.

  15. 77 FR 4028 - Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee AGENCY: Department... meeting of the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC). The Federal Advisory.... Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, SC-23/Germantown...

  16. Tracking of time-varying genomic regulatory networks with a LASSO-Kalman smoother

    OpenAIRE

    Khan, Jehandad; Bouaynaya, Nidhal; Fathallah-Shaykh, Hassan M

    2014-01-01

    It is widely accepted that cellular requirements and environmental conditions dictate the architecture of genetic regulatory networks. Nonetheless, the status quo in regulatory network modeling and analysis assumes an invariant network topology over time. In this paper, we refocus on a dynamic perspective of genetic networks, one that can uncover substantial topological changes in network structure during biological processes such as developmental growth. We propose a novel outlook on the inf...

  17. Genetic control of mammalian T-cell proliferation with synthetic RNA regulatory systems

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Yvonne Y.; Jensen, Michael C.; Smolke, Christina D.

    2010-01-01

    RNA molecules perform diverse regulatory functions in natural biological systems, and numerous synthetic RNA-based control devices that integrate sensing and gene-regulatory functions have been demonstrated, predominantly in bacteria and yeast. Despite potential advantages of RNA-based genetic control strategies in clinical applications, there has been limited success in extending engineered RNA devices to mammalian gene-expression control and no example of their application to functional res...

  18. NRC review of passive reactor design certification testing programs: Overview, progress, and regulatory perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Levin, A.E.

    1995-09-01

    New reactor designs, employing passive safety systems, are currently under development by reactor vendors for certification under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (NRC`s) design certification rule. The vendors have established testing programs to support the certification of the passive designs, to meet regulatory requirements for demonstration of passive safety system performance. The NRC has, therefore, developed a process for the review of the vendors` testing programs and for incorporation of the results of those reviews into the safety evaluations for the passive plants. This paper discusses progress in the test program reviews, and also addresses unique regulatory aspects of those reviews.

  19. Regulatory challenges in using nuclear operating experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    The fundamental objective of all nuclear safety regulatory bodies is to ensure that nuclear utilities operate their plants in an acceptably safe manner at all times. Learning from experience has been a key element in meeting this objective. It is therefore very important for nuclear power plant operators to have an active programme for collecting, analysing and acting on the lessons of operating experience that could affect the safety of their plants. NEA experts have noted that almost all of the recent, significant events reported at international meetings have occurred earlier in one form or another. Counteractions are usually well-known, but information does not always seem to reach end users, or corrective action programmes are not always rigorously applied. Thus, one of the challenges that needs to be met in order to maintain good operational safety performance is to ensure that operating experience is promptly reported to established reporting systems, preferably international in order to benefit from a larger base of experience, and that the lessons from operating experience are actually used to promote safety. This report focuses on how regulatory bodies can ensure that operating experience is used effectively to promote the safety of nuclear power plants. While directed at nuclear power plants, the principles in this report may apply to other nuclear facilities as well. (author)

  20. Principles for the exemption of radiation sources and practices from regulatory control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-01-01

    Radiation sources, including equipment and installations, which emit ionizing radiations, are potentially harmful to health and their use should therefore be regulated. Some types of radiation source, however, do not need to be subject to regulatory control, because they present such a low hazard that it would be a needless waste of time and effort to exercise control by a regulatory process and they can therefore be exempted from it. An Advisory Group Meeting was convened in Vienna in March 1988 sponsored jointly by the IAEA and NEA. This Safety Guide is the result of that meeting and represents a first international consensus on the subject of exemption principles. This document is issued as an IAEA Safety Guide since it recommends a procedure which might be followed in implementing the Basic Safety Standards (BSS) for Radiation Protection. Its purpose is to recommend a policy on exemptions from the BSS system of notification, registration and licensing. 15 refs

  1. The future of yogurt: scientific and regulatory needs1234

    Science.gov (United States)

    German, J Bruce

    2014-01-01

    Lactation biology, microbial selection, and human diversity are central themes that could guide investment in scientific research, industrial innovation, and regulatory policy oversight to propel yogurt into the central role for health-promoting food products. The ability of yogurt to provide the nourishing properties of milk together with the live microorganisms from fermentation provides a unique combination of food assets. Academic research must now define the various targets on which these biological assets act to improve health and develop the metrics that can quantitatively document their benefits. The food industry must reconcile that yogurt and its microorganisms cannot be expected to provide measurable benefits for all consumers, at all doses, and at all times. A supportive regulatory oversight must demand safety and yet encourage innovations that support a value proposition for yogurt in health. Health valuation in the marketplace will be driven by parallel innovations, including accurate assessment technologies, validated microbial ingredients, and health-aware consumers. PMID:24695899

  2. Metabolic engineering of Bacillus subtilis fueled by systems biology: Recent advances and future directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yanfeng; Li, Jianghua; Du, Guocheng; Chen, Jian; Liu, Long

    By combining advanced omics technology and computational modeling, systems biologists have identified and inferred thousands of regulatory events and system-wide interactions of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, which is commonly used both in the laboratory and in industry. This dissection of the multiple layers of regulatory networks and their interactions has provided invaluable information for unraveling regulatory mechanisms and guiding metabolic engineering. In this review, we discuss recent advances in the systems biology and metabolic engineering of B. subtilis and highlight current gaps in our understanding of global metabolism and global pathway engineering in this organism. We also propose future perspectives in the systems biology of B. subtilis and suggest ways that this approach can be used to guide metabolic engineering. Specifically, although hundreds of regulatory events have been identified or inferred via systems biology approaches, systematic investigation of the functionality of these events in vivo has lagged, thereby preventing the elucidation of regulatory mechanisms and further rational pathway engineering. In metabolic engineering, ignoring the engineering of multilayer regulation hinders metabolic flux redistribution. Post-translational engineering, allosteric engineering, and dynamic pathway analyses and control will also contribute to the modulation and control of the metabolism of engineered B. subtilis, ultimately producing the desired cellular traits. We hope this review will aid metabolic engineers in making full use of available systems biology datasets and approaches for the design and perfection of microbial cell factories through global metabolism optimization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. A waste package strategy for regulatory compliance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stahl, D.; Cloninger, M.O.

    1990-01-01

    This paper summarizes the strategy given in the Site Characterization Plan for demonstrating compliance with the post closure performance objectives for the waste package and the Engineered Barrier System contained in the Code of Federal Regulations. The strategy consists of the development of a conservative waste package design that will meet the regulatory requirements with sufficient margin for uncertainty using a multi-barrier approach that takes advantage of the unsaturated nature of the Yucca Mountain site. 7 refs., 1 fig

  4. Expert Views on Regulatory Preparedness for Managing the Risks of Nanotechnologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaudrie, Christian E. H.; Satterfield, Terre; Kandlikar, Milind; Harthorn, Barbara H.

    2013-01-01

    The potential and promise of nanotechnologies depends in large part on the ability for regulatory systems to assess and manage their benefits and risks. However, considerable uncertainty persists regarding the health and environmental implications of nanomaterials, hence the capacity for existing regulations to meet this challenge has been widely questioned. Here we draw from a survey (N=254) of US-based nano-scientists and engineers, environmental health and safety scientists, and regulatory scientists and decision-makers, to ask whether nano experts regard regulatory agencies as prepared for managing nanomaterial risks. We find that all three expert groups view regulatory agencies as unprepared. The effect is strongest for regulators themselves, and less so for scientists conducting basic, applied, or health and safety work on nanomaterials. Those who see nanotechnology risks as novel, uncertain, and difficult to assess are particularly likely to see agencies as unprepared. Trust in regulatory agencies, views of stakeholder responsibility regarding the management of risks, and socio-political values were also found to be small but significant drivers of perceived agency preparedness. These results underscore the need for new tools and methods to enable the assessment of nanomaterial risks, and to renew confidence in regulatory agencies’ ability to oversee their growing use and application in society. PMID:24244662

  5. Expert views on regulatory preparedness for managing the risks of nanotechnologies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian E H Beaudrie

    Full Text Available The potential and promise of nanotechnologies depends in large part on the ability for regulatory systems to assess and manage their benefits and risks. However, considerable uncertainty persists regarding the health and environmental implications of nanomaterials, hence the capacity for existing regulations to meet this challenge has been widely questioned. Here we draw from a survey (N=254 of US-based nano-scientists and engineers, environmental health and safety scientists, and regulatory scientists and decision-makers, to ask whether nano experts regard regulatory agencies as prepared for managing nanomaterial risks. We find that all three expert groups view regulatory agencies as unprepared. The effect is strongest for regulators themselves, and less so for scientists conducting basic, applied, or health and safety work on nanomaterials. Those who see nanotechnology risks as novel, uncertain, and difficult to assess are particularly likely to see agencies as unprepared. Trust in regulatory agencies, views of stakeholder responsibility regarding the management of risks, and socio-political values were also found to be small but significant drivers of perceived agency preparedness. These results underscore the need for new tools and methods to enable the assessment of nanomaterial risks, and to renew confidence in regulatory agencies' ability to oversee their growing use and application in society.

  6. Inference of Cancer-specific Gene Regulatory Networks Using Soft Computing Rules

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaosheng Wang

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Perturbations of gene regulatory networks are essentially responsible for oncogenesis. Therefore, inferring the gene regulatory networks is a key step to overcoming cancer. In this work, we propose a method for inferring directed gene regulatory networks based on soft computing rules, which can identify important cause-effect regulatory relations of gene expression. First, we identify important genes associated with a specific cancer (colon cancer using a supervised learning approach. Next, we reconstruct the gene regulatory networks by inferring the regulatory relations among the identified genes, and their regulated relations by other genes within the genome. We obtain two meaningful findings. One is that upregulated genes are regulated by more genes than downregulated ones, while downregulated genes regulate more genes than upregulated ones. The other one is that tumor suppressors suppress tumor activators and activate other tumor suppressors strongly, while tumor activators activate other tumor activators and suppress tumor suppressors weakly, indicating the robustness of biological systems. These findings provide valuable insights into the pathogenesis of cancer.

  7. Genotet: An Interactive Web-based Visual Exploration Framework to Support Validation of Gene Regulatory Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Bowen; Doraiswamy, Harish; Chen, Xi; Miraldi, Emily; Arrieta-Ortiz, Mario Luis; Hafemeister, Christoph; Madar, Aviv; Bonneau, Richard; Silva, Cláudio T

    2014-12-01

    Elucidation of transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs) is a fundamental goal in biology, and one of the most important components of TRNs are transcription factors (TFs), proteins that specifically bind to gene promoter and enhancer regions to alter target gene expression patterns. Advances in genomic technologies as well as advances in computational biology have led to multiple large regulatory network models (directed networks) each with a large corpus of supporting data and gene-annotation. There are multiple possible biological motivations for exploring large regulatory network models, including: validating TF-target gene relationships, figuring out co-regulation patterns, and exploring the coordination of cell processes in response to changes in cell state or environment. Here we focus on queries aimed at validating regulatory network models, and on coordinating visualization of primary data and directed weighted gene regulatory networks. The large size of both the network models and the primary data can make such coordinated queries cumbersome with existing tools and, in particular, inhibits the sharing of results between collaborators. In this work, we develop and demonstrate a web-based framework for coordinating visualization and exploration of expression data (RNA-seq, microarray), network models and gene-binding data (ChIP-seq). Using specialized data structures and multiple coordinated views, we design an efficient querying model to support interactive analysis of the data. Finally, we show the effectiveness of our framework through case studies for the mouse immune system (a dataset focused on a subset of key cellular functions) and a model bacteria (a small genome with high data-completeness).

  8. Follow-on biologics: competition in the biopharmaceutical marketplace.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Joshua W; Cline, Richard R; Farley, Joel F

    2006-01-01

    To describe the implications of a follow-on biologic approval process with focus on current stakeholders, implications of the status quo, and recommendations for future policy. A search using Medline, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Med Ad News, F-D-C Reports/Pink Sheets, and Google index directories was conducted with terms such as biologic, biopharmaceutical, generic, and follow-on. Articles pertaining to the follow-on biologic debate. By the authors. Over the past decade, the biopharmaceutical market has experienced substantial growth in the number of product approvals and sales. In contrast with prescription medications, biologic agents currently lack an abbreviated regulatory approval process. Evidence from the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 suggests that reducing barriers to generic competition in the pharmaceutical market successfully increases generic market penetration and reduces overall prices to consumers. Although scientific and regulatory dissimilarities between biopharmaceuticals and other medications exist, a follow-on biologic approval process has the potential to play an important role in containing growth in pharmaceutical spending. In addition to biopharmaceutical and generic biopharmaceutical manufacturers, stakeholders with a vested interest in this debate include individual consumers who continue to bear the burden of spending increases in the pharmaceutical market. The debate over a follow-on process likely will be difficult as parties seek a balance between incentives for biopharmaceutical innovation, consumer safety, and affordability of existing biologic products.

  9. 2nd Congress on applied synthetic biology in Europe (Málaga, Spain, November 2013).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vetter, Beatrice V; Pantidos, Nikolaos; Edmundson, Matthew

    2014-05-25

    The second meeting organised by the EFB on the advances of applied synthetic biology in Europe was held in Málaga, Spain in November 2013. The potential for the broad application of synthetic biology was reflected in the five sessions of this meeting: synthetic biology for healthcare applications, tools and technologies for synthetic biology, production of recombinant proteins, synthetic plant biology, and biofuels and other small molecules. Outcomes from the meeting were that synthetic biology offers methods for rapid development of new strains that will result in decreased production costs, sustainable chemical production and new medical applications. Additionally, it also introduced novel ways to produce sustainable energy and biofuels, to find new alternatives for bioremediation and resource recovery, and environmentally friendly foodstuff production. All the above-mentioned advances could enable biotechnology to solve some of the major problems of Society. However, while there are still limitations in terms of lacking tools, standardisation and suitable host organisms, this meeting has laid a foundation providing cutting-edge concepts and techniques to ultimately convert the potential of synthetic biology into practice. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Timing Is everything: quantifying regulatory and market readiness levels for technology transition policy analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kobos, Peter Holmes [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Malczynski, Leonard A. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Walker, La Tonya Nicole [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Borns, David James [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2014-03-01

    People save for retirement throughout their career because it is virtually impossible to save all you’ll need in retirement the year before you retire. Similarly, without installing incremental amounts of clean fossil, renewable or transformative energy technologies throughout the coming decades, a radical and immediate change will be near impossible the year before a policy goal is set to be in place. This notion of steady installation growth over acute installations of technology to meet policy goals is the core topic of discussion for this research. This research operationalizes this notion by developing the theoretical underpinnings of regulatory and market acceptance delays by building upon the common Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework and offers two new additions to the research community. The new and novel Regulatory Readiness Level (RRL) and Market Readiness Level (MRL) frameworks were developed. These components, collectively called the Technology, Regulatory and Market (TRM) readiness level framework allow one to build new constraints into existing Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to address research questions such as, ‘To meet our desired technical and policy goals, what are the factors that affect the rate we must install technology to achieve these goals in the coming decades?’

  11. Air sampling in the workplace to meet the new part 20 requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGuire, S.; Hickey, E.E.; Knox, W.

    1991-01-01

    The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is developing a Regulatory Guide on air sampling in the workplace to meet the requirements of the revised Part 20. The guide will be accompanied by a technical manual describing and giving examples of how to meet the recommendations in the guide. Draft versions of the guide and manual are scheduled to be published for public comment this year. A final guide and manual, revised to consider the public comments, are scheduled to be published in 1992. This talk will summarize some of the more important features of the guide and manual. In particular, the talk will discuss how to demonstrate that samples taken to estimate worker intakes are representative of the air inhaled by workers and what measurements are necessary if a licensee wants to adjust derived air concentrations to account for particle size

  12. Meeting challenges through good practice. Using the highlights from the third review meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety to improve national regulatory systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keen, L.J.; Cameron, J.K.

    2006-01-01

    The third review meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), held in April 2005, demonstrated collective progress on ensuring worldwide nuclear safety. The Contracting Parties highlighted areas of focus to be brought back to the fourth review meeting and also committed to a continuity process to revitalize the review processes under the CNS. Specific progress has been achieved in the first year since the conclusion of the third review meeting, but further commitment to progress is required, by the Contracting Parties and the Secretariat of the IAEA, over the next year, especially if changes to the review processes are to be achieved for the fourth review meeting in 2008. (author)

  13. WHO informal consultation on scientific basis for regulatory evaluation of candidate human vaccines from plants, Geneva, Switzerland, 24-25 January 2005.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Laan, Jan Willem van der; Minor, Philip; Mahoney, Richard; Arntzen, Charles; Shin, Jinho; Wood, David

    2006-01-01

    In January 2005, WHO convened a meeting of leading experts in plant-derived vaccines and experts from regulatory authorities for an informal discussion on the state-of-the-art and to analyse whether specific guidance might be needed for plant-derived vaccines that is not yet provided by regulatory

  14. Predicting gene regulatory networks of soybean nodulation from RNA-Seq transcriptome data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Mingzhu; Dahmen, Jeremy L; Stacey, Gary; Cheng, Jianlin

    2013-09-22

    High-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a revolutionary technique to study the transcriptome of a cell under various conditions at a systems level. Despite the wide application of RNA-Seq techniques to generate experimental data in the last few years, few computational methods are available to analyze this huge amount of transcription data. The computational methods for constructing gene regulatory networks from RNA-Seq expression data of hundreds or even thousands of genes are particularly lacking and urgently needed. We developed an automated bioinformatics method to predict gene regulatory networks from the quantitative expression values of differentially expressed genes based on RNA-Seq transcriptome data of a cell in different stages and conditions, integrating transcriptional, genomic and gene function data. We applied the method to the RNA-Seq transcriptome data generated for soybean root hair cells in three different development stages of nodulation after rhizobium infection. The method predicted a soybean nodulation-related gene regulatory network consisting of 10 regulatory modules common for all three stages, and 24, 49 and 70 modules separately for the first, second and third stage, each containing both a group of co-expressed genes and several transcription factors collaboratively controlling their expression under different conditions. 8 of 10 common regulatory modules were validated by at least two kinds of validations, such as independent DNA binding motif analysis, gene function enrichment test, and previous experimental data in the literature. We developed a computational method to reliably reconstruct gene regulatory networks from RNA-Seq transcriptome data. The method can generate valuable hypotheses for interpreting biological data and designing biological experiments such as ChIP-Seq, RNA interference, and yeast two hybrid experiments.

  15. A flood-based information flow analysis and network minimization method for gene regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlogiannis, Andreas; Mozhayskiy, Vadim; Tagkopoulos, Ilias

    2013-04-24

    Biological networks tend to have high interconnectivity, complex topologies and multiple types of interactions. This renders difficult the identification of sub-networks that are involved in condition- specific responses. In addition, we generally lack scalable methods that can reveal the information flow in gene regulatory and biochemical pathways. Doing so will help us to identify key participants and paths under specific environmental and cellular context. This paper introduces the theory of network flooding, which aims to address the problem of network minimization and regulatory information flow in gene regulatory networks. Given a regulatory biological network, a set of source (input) nodes and optionally a set of sink (output) nodes, our task is to find (a) the minimal sub-network that encodes the regulatory program involving all input and output nodes and (b) the information flow from the source to the sink nodes of the network. Here, we describe a novel, scalable, network traversal algorithm and we assess its potential to achieve significant network size reduction in both synthetic and E. coli networks. Scalability and sensitivity analysis show that the proposed method scales well with the size of the network, and is robust to noise and missing data. The method of network flooding proves to be a useful, practical approach towards information flow analysis in gene regulatory networks. Further extension of the proposed theory has the potential to lead in a unifying framework for the simultaneous network minimization and information flow analysis across various "omics" levels.

  16. Large-scale modeling of condition-specific gene regulatory networks by information integration and inference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellwanger, Daniel Christian; Leonhardt, Jörn Florian; Mewes, Hans-Werner

    2014-12-01

    Understanding how regulatory networks globally coordinate the response of a cell to changing conditions, such as perturbations by shifting environments, is an elementary challenge in systems biology which has yet to be met. Genome-wide gene expression measurements are high dimensional as these are reflecting the condition-specific interplay of thousands of cellular components. The integration of prior biological knowledge into the modeling process of systems-wide gene regulation enables the large-scale interpretation of gene expression signals in the context of known regulatory relations. We developed COGERE (http://mips.helmholtz-muenchen.de/cogere), a method for the inference of condition-specific gene regulatory networks in human and mouse. We integrated existing knowledge of regulatory interactions from multiple sources to a comprehensive model of prior information. COGERE infers condition-specific regulation by evaluating the mutual dependency between regulator (transcription factor or miRNA) and target gene expression using prior information. This dependency is scored by the non-parametric, nonlinear correlation coefficient η(2) (eta squared) that is derived by a two-way analysis of variance. We show that COGERE significantly outperforms alternative methods in predicting condition-specific gene regulatory networks on simulated data sets. Furthermore, by inferring the cancer-specific gene regulatory network from the NCI-60 expression study, we demonstrate the utility of COGERE to promote hypothesis-driven clinical research. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  17. RNA meets disease in paradise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winter, Julia; Roth, Anna; Diederichs, Sven

    2011-01-01

    Getting off the train in Jena-Paradies, 60 participants joined for the 12 (th) Young Scientist Meeting of the German Society for Cell Biology (DGZ) entitled "RNA & Disease". Excellent speakers from around the world, graduate students, postdocs and young group leaders enjoyed a meeting in a familiar atmosphere to exchange inspiring new data and vibrant scientific discussions about the fascinating history and exciting future of non-coding RNA research including microRNA, piRNA and long non-coding RNA as well as their function in cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.

  18. Transcriptional Regulatory Network Analysis of MYB Transcription Factor Family Genes in Rice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuchi eSmita

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available MYB transcription factor (TF is one of the largest TF families and regulates defense responses to various stresses, hormone signaling as well as many metabolic and developmental processes in plants. Understanding these regulatory hierarchies of gene expression networks in response to developmental and environmental cues is a major challenge due to the complex interactions between the genetic elements. Correlation analyses are useful to unravel co-regulated gene pairs governing biological process as well as identification of new candidate hub genes in response to these complex processes. High throughput expression profiling data are highly useful for construction of co-expression networks. In the present study, we utilized transcriptome data for comprehensive regulatory network studies of MYB TFs by top down and guide gene approaches. More than 50% of OsMYBs were strongly correlated under fifty experimental conditions with 51 hub genes via top down approach. Further, clusters were identified using Markov Clustering (MCL. To maximize the clustering performance, parameter evaluation of the MCL inflation score (I was performed in terms of enriched GO categories by measuring F-score. Comparison of co-expressed cluster and clads analyzed from phylogenetic analysis signifies their evolutionarily conserved co-regulatory role. We utilized compendium of known interaction and biological role with Gene Ontology enrichment analysis to hypothesize function of coexpressed OsMYBs. In the other part, the transcriptional regulatory network analysis by guide gene approach revealed 40 putative targets of 26 OsMYB TF hubs with high correlation value utilizing 815 microarray data. The putative targets with MYB-binding cis-elements enrichment in their promoter region, functional co-occurrence as well as nuclear localization supports our finding. Specially, enrichment of MYB binding regions involved in drought-inducibility implying their regulatory role in drought

  19. Glial cell biology in the Great Lakes region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feinstein, Douglas L; Skoff, Robert P

    2016-03-31

    We report on the tenth bi-annual Great Lakes Glial meeting, held in Traverse City, Michigan, USA, September 27-29 2015. The GLG meeting is a small conference that focuses on current research in glial cell biology. The array of functions that glial cells (astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells) play in health and disease is constantly increasing. Despite this diversity, GLG meetings bring together scientists with common interests, leading to a better understanding of these cells. This year's meeting included two keynote speakers who presented talks on the regulation of CNS myelination and the consequences of stress on Schwann cell biology. Twenty-two other talks were presented along with two poster sessions. Sessions covered recent findings in the areas of microglial and astrocyte activation; age-dependent changes to glial cells, Schwann cell development and pathology, and the role of stem cells in glioma and neural regeneration.

  20. Inferring the conservative causal core of gene regulatory networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmert-Streib Frank

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Inferring gene regulatory networks from large-scale expression data is an important problem that received much attention in recent years. These networks have the potential to gain insights into causal molecular interactions of biological processes. Hence, from a methodological point of view, reliable estimation methods based on observational data are needed to approach this problem practically. Results In this paper, we introduce a novel gene regulatory network inference (GRNI algorithm, called C3NET. We compare C3NET with four well known methods, ARACNE, CLR, MRNET and RN, conducting in-depth numerical ensemble simulations and demonstrate also for biological expression data from E. coli that C3NET performs consistently better than the best known GRNI methods in the literature. In addition, it has also a low computational complexity. Since C3NET is based on estimates of mutual information values in conjunction with a maximization step, our numerical investigations demonstrate that our inference algorithm exploits causal structural information in the data efficiently. Conclusions For systems biology to succeed in the long run, it is of crucial importance to establish methods that extract large-scale gene networks from high-throughput data that reflect the underlying causal interactions among genes or gene products. Our method can contribute to this endeavor by demonstrating that an inference algorithm with a neat design permits not only a more intuitive and possibly biological interpretation of its working mechanism but can also result in superior results.

  1. Inferring the conservative causal core of gene regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altay, Gökmen; Emmert-Streib, Frank

    2010-09-28

    Inferring gene regulatory networks from large-scale expression data is an important problem that received much attention in recent years. These networks have the potential to gain insights into causal molecular interactions of biological processes. Hence, from a methodological point of view, reliable estimation methods based on observational data are needed to approach this problem practically. In this paper, we introduce a novel gene regulatory network inference (GRNI) algorithm, called C3NET. We compare C3NET with four well known methods, ARACNE, CLR, MRNET and RN, conducting in-depth numerical ensemble simulations and demonstrate also for biological expression data from E. coli that C3NET performs consistently better than the best known GRNI methods in the literature. In addition, it has also a low computational complexity. Since C3NET is based on estimates of mutual information values in conjunction with a maximization step, our numerical investigations demonstrate that our inference algorithm exploits causal structural information in the data efficiently. For systems biology to succeed in the long run, it is of crucial importance to establish methods that extract large-scale gene networks from high-throughput data that reflect the underlying causal interactions among genes or gene products. Our method can contribute to this endeavor by demonstrating that an inference algorithm with a neat design permits not only a more intuitive and possibly biological interpretation of its working mechanism but can also result in superior results.

  2. 75 FR 12804 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Notice...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-17

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on EPR; Notice of Meeting The ACRS U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) Subcommittee will hold a... Chapters 11 and 16 of the Safety Evaluation Report with Open Items associated with the U.S. EPR Design...

  3. Systems Biology Approach to the Dissection of the Complexity of Regulatory Networks in the S. scrofa Cardiocirculatory System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Martini

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Genome-wide experiments are routinely used to increase the understanding of the biological processes involved in the development and maintenance of a variety of pathologies. Although the technical feasibility of this type of experiment has improved in recent years, data analysis remains challenging. In this context, gene set analysis has emerged as a fundamental tool for the interpretation of the results. Here, we review strategies used in the gene set approach, and using datasets for the pig cardiocirculatory system as a case study, we demonstrate how the use of a combination of these strategies can enhance the interpretation of results. Gene set analyses are able to distinguish vessels from the heart and arteries from veins in a manner that is consistent with the different cellular composition of smooth muscle cells. By integrating microRNA elements in the regulatory circuits identified, we find that vessel specificity is maintained through specific miRNAs, such as miR-133a and miR-143, which show anti-correlated expression with their mRNA targets.

  4. Sparsity in Model Gene Regulatory Networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zagorski, M.

    2011-01-01

    We propose a gene regulatory network model which incorporates the microscopic interactions between genes and transcription factors. In particular the gene's expression level is determined by deterministic synchronous dynamics with contribution from excitatory interactions. We study the structure of networks that have a particular '' function '' and are subject to the natural selection pressure. The question of network robustness against point mutations is addressed, and we conclude that only a small part of connections defined as '' essential '' for cell's existence is fragile. Additionally, the obtained networks are sparse with narrow in-degree and broad out-degree, properties well known from experimental study of biological regulatory networks. Furthermore, during sampling procedure we observe that significantly different genotypes can emerge under mutation-selection balance. All the preceding features hold for the model parameters which lay in the experimentally relevant range. (author)

  5. How Do Enzymes 'Meet' Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ming; Zeng, Guangming; Xu, Piao; Lai, Cui; Tang, Lin

    2017-11-01

    Enzymes are fundamental biological catalysts responsible for biological regulation and metabolism. The opportunity for enzymes to 'meet' nanoparticles and nanomaterials is rapidly increasing due to growing demands for applications in nanomaterial design, environmental monitoring, biochemical engineering, and biomedicine. Therefore, understanding the nature of nanomaterial-enzyme interactions is becoming important. Since 2014, enzymes have been used to modify, degrade, or make nanoparticles/nanomaterials, while numerous nanoparticles/nanomaterials have been used as materials for enzymatic immobilization and biosensors and as enzyme mimicry. Among the various nanoparticles and nanomaterials, metal nanoparticles and carbon nanomaterials have received extensive attention due to their fascinating properties. This review provides an overview about how enzymes meet nanoparticles and nanomaterials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Trichomes: different regulatory networks lead to convergent structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serna, Laura; Martin, Cathie

    2006-06-01

    Sometimes, proteins, biological structures or even organisms have similar functions and appearances but have evolved through widely divergent pathways. There is experimental evidence to suggest that different developmental pathways have converged to produce similar outgrowths of the aerial plant epidermis, referred to as trichomes. The emerging picture suggests that trichomes in Arabidopsis thaliana and, perhaps, in cotton develop through a transcriptional regulatory network that differs from those regulating trichome formation in Antirrhinum and Solanaceous species. Several lines of evidence suggest that the duplication of a gene controlling anthocyanin production and subsequent divergence might be the major force driving trichome formation in Arabidopsis, whereas the multicellular trichomes of Antirrhinum and Solanaceous species appear to have a different regulatory origin.

  7. 76 FR 78931 - Food and Drug Administration Rare Disease Patient Advocacy Day; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-20

    ... Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Orphan Products... educate the rare disease community on the FDA regulatory processes. This educational meeting will consist...

  8. The Regulatory Evaluation of Vaccines for Human Use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baylor, Norman W

    2016-01-01

    A vaccine is an immunogen, the administration of which is intended to stimulate the immune system to result in the prevention, amelioration, or therapy of any disease or infection (US Food and Drug Administration. Guidance for Industry: content and format of chemistry, manufacturing, and controls information and establishment description information for a vaccine or related product). A vaccine may be a live attenuated preparation of microorganisms, inactivated (killed) whole organisms, living irradiated cells, crude fractions, or purified immunogens, including those derived from recombinant DNA in a host cell, conjugates formed by covalent linkage of components, synthetic antigens, polynucleotides (such as the plasmid DNA vaccines), living vectored cells expressing specific heterologous immunogens, or cells pulsed with immunogen. Vaccines are highly complex products that differ from small molecule drugs because of the biological nature of the source materials such as those derived from microorganisms as well as the various cell substrates from which some are derived. Regardless of the technology used, because of their complexities, vaccines must undergo extensive characterization and testing. Special expertise and procedures are needed for their manufacture, control, and regulation. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) in the United States responsible for assuring quality, safety, and effectiveness of all human medical products, including vaccines for human use.The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) within the US FDA is responsible for overseeing the regulation of therapeutic and preventative vaccines against infectious diseases. Authority for the regulation of vaccines resides in Section 351 of the Public Health Service Act and specific sections of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C). Vaccines are regulated as biologics and licensed based on the demonstration of safety and effectiveness. The

  9. 76 FR 39074 - Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-05

    ... Bluefish, Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committees will hold public meetings. DATES... Bluefish, Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committees will meet on Friday, July 29... and specify overfishing level and acceptable biological catch (ABC) for bluefish, summer flounder...

  10. As to achieve regulatory action, regulatory approaches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cid, R.; Encinas, D.

    2014-01-01

    The achievement of the effectiveness in the performance of a nuclear regulatory body has been a permanent challenge in the recent history of nuclear regulation. In the post-Fukushima era this challenge is even more important. This article addresses the subject from two complementary points of view: the characteristics of an effective regulatory body and the regulatory approaches. This work is based on the most recent studies carried out by the Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities, CNRA (OECD/NEA), as well as on the experience of the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, CSN, the Spanish regulatory body. Rafael Cid is the representative of CSN in these project: Diego Encinas has participated in the study on regulatory approaches. (Author)

  11. 77 FR 51616 - Open Meeting of the Community Development Advisory Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-24

    ... the CDFI Fund (who has been delegated the authority to administer the CDFI Fund) on the policies... declining any particular application for monetary or non-monetary awards. The Advisory Board meets at least... and therefore regulatory impact analysis is not required. In addition, this document does not...

  12. Unsolved problems in applying U.S. regulatory guides to control system equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stade, R.E.

    1978-01-01

    Two current problems encountered when designing control systems to the United States Regulatory Guide requirements are discussed. They are: 1) Level of surge voltages that should be specified when procuring solid state control and instrumentation systems and equipment. 2) The approach to be used qualifying equipment that must meet the aging requirements. (author)

  13. Male mating biology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Howell, Paul I.; Knols, Bart G. J.

    2009-01-01

    Before sterile mass-reared mosquitoes are released in an attempt to control local populations, many facets of male mating biology need to be elucidated. Large knowledge gaps exist in how both sexes meet in space and time, the correlation of male size and mating success and in which arenas matings

  14. 3rd congress on applied synthetic biology in Europe (Costa da Caparica, Portugal, February 2016).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cueva, Miguel

    2017-03-25

    The third meeting organised by the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) on advances in Applied Synthetic Biotechnology in Europe (ASBE) was held in Costa da Caparica, Portugal, in February 2016. Abundant novel applications in synthetic biology were described in the six sessions of the meeting, which was divided into technology and tools for synthetic biology (I, II and III), bionanoscience, biosynthetic pathways and enzyme synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering and chemical manufacturing. The meeting presented numerous methods for the development of novel synthetic strains, synthetic biological tools and synthetic biology applications. With the aid of synthetic biology, production costs of chemicals, metabolites and food products are expected to decrease, by generating sustainable biochemical production of such resources. Also, such synthetic biological advances could be applied for medical purposes, as in pharmaceuticals and for biosensors. Recurrent, linked themes throughout the meeting were the shortage of resources, the world's transition into a bioeconomy, and how synthetic biology is helping tackle these issues through cutting-edge technologies. While there are still limitations in synthetic biology research, innovation is propelling the development of technology, the standardisation of synthetic biological tools and the use of suitable host organisms. These developments are laying a foundation to providing a future where cutting-edge research could generate potential solutions to society's pressing issues, thus incentivising a transition into a bioeconomy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. ChIP-Seq-Annotated Heliconius erato Genome Highlights Patterns of cis-Regulatory Evolution in Lepidoptera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James J. Lewis

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Uncovering phylogenetic patterns of cis-regulatory evolution remains a fundamental goal for evolutionary and developmental biology. Here, we characterize the evolution of regulatory loci in butterflies and moths using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq annotation of regulatory elements across three stages of head development. In the process we provide a high-quality, functionally annotated genome assembly for the butterfly, Heliconius erato. Comparing cis-regulatory element conservation across six lepidopteran genomes, we find that regulatory sequences evolve at a pace similar to that of protein-coding regions. We also observe that elements active at multiple developmental stages are markedly more conserved than elements with stage-specific activity. Surprisingly, we also find that stage-specific proximal and distal regulatory elements evolve at nearly identical rates. Our study provides a benchmark for genome-wide patterns of regulatory element evolution in insects, and it shows that developmental timing of activity strongly predicts patterns of regulatory sequence evolution.

  16. International trends in regulatory principles, criteria and compliance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bragg, K.A.

    1996-01-01

    This paper is intended to summarize recent international developments on regulatory principles, criteria and related compliance issues. It focuses on the work within the IAEA undertaken by the Working Group on Principles and Criteria for Radioactive Waste Disposal and Within the NEA by another Working Group on the Regulatory Aspects of Future Human Actions at Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites. Both groups have been chaired by the author. The IAEA working group members are drawn from regulatory bodies and implementing organizations. Thus a balance is maintained between various points of view on topics such as the theory of radiation protection and its practical application. The group has a very flexible mandate and in practice the topics it chooses to address, and the priorities which are assigned to them, are selected by the group itself, under the direction of the new Waste Safety Standard Advisory Committee (WASSAC). The IAEA group is concerned with examining areas of importance to safety principles for waste disposal on which no consensus yet exists and with exploring new ideas and concepts. Because of the inherent uncertainty in such a process, no targets or schedules have been set for the group to produce reports, although it is recognised that if consensus is reached on an important issue then it should be documented. In contrast, the Radioactive Waste Safety Standards (RADWASS) programme of the IAEA has the aim of documenting the existing areas of consensus in a structured way and of doing so against preestablished timescales. The group meets annually and has had 5 meetings to date. The following sections summarize the main accomplishments of the group and indicate the status of some work that is well developed but has not yet been published. (author)

  17. 78 FR 32709 - Open Meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-31

    ... impact of global demographics on the insurance industry; receive a report on regulatory developments... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Open Meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance AGENCY... announces that the Department of the Treasury's Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance will convene a...

  18. Understanding Federal regulations as guidelines for classical biological control programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael E. Montgomery

    2011-01-01

    This chapter reviews the legislation and rules that provide the foundation for federal regulation of the introduction of natural enemies of insects as biological control agents. It also outlines the steps for complying with regulatory requirements, using biological control of Adelges tsugae Annand, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), as an example. The...

  19. Finding gene regulatory network candidates using the gene expression knowledge base.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkatesan, Aravind; Tripathi, Sushil; Sanz de Galdeano, Alejandro; Blondé, Ward; Lægreid, Astrid; Mironov, Vladimir; Kuiper, Martin

    2014-12-10

    Network-based approaches for the analysis of large-scale genomics data have become well established. Biological networks provide a knowledge scaffold against which the patterns and dynamics of 'omics' data can be interpreted. The background information required for the construction of such networks is often dispersed across a multitude of knowledge bases in a variety of formats. The seamless integration of this information is one of the main challenges in bioinformatics. The Semantic Web offers powerful technologies for the assembly of integrated knowledge bases that are computationally comprehensible, thereby providing a potentially powerful resource for constructing biological networks and network-based analysis. We have developed the Gene eXpression Knowledge Base (GeXKB), a semantic web technology based resource that contains integrated knowledge about gene expression regulation. To affirm the utility of GeXKB we demonstrate how this resource can be exploited for the identification of candidate regulatory network proteins. We present four use cases that were designed from a biological perspective in order to find candidate members relevant for the gastrin hormone signaling network model. We show how a combination of specific query definitions and additional selection criteria derived from gene expression data and prior knowledge concerning candidate proteins can be used to retrieve a set of proteins that constitute valid candidates for regulatory network extensions. Semantic web technologies provide the means for processing and integrating various heterogeneous information sources. The GeXKB offers biologists such an integrated knowledge resource, allowing them to address complex biological questions pertaining to gene expression. This work illustrates how GeXKB can be used in combination with gene expression results and literature information to identify new potential candidates that may be considered for extending a gene regulatory network.

  20. Conserved Transcriptional Regulatory Programs Underlying Rice and Barley Germination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Li; Tian, Shulan; Kaeppler, Shawn; Liu, Zongrang; An, Yong-Qiang (Charles)

    2014-01-01

    Germination is a biological process important to plant development and agricultural production. Barley and rice diverged 50 million years ago, but share a similar germination process. To gain insight into the conservation of their underlying gene regulatory programs, we compared transcriptomes of barley and rice at start, middle and end points of germination, and revealed that germination regulated barley and rice genes (BRs) diverged significantly in expression patterns and/or protein sequences. However, BRs with higher protein sequence similarity tended to have more conserved expression patterns. We identified and characterized 316 sets of conserved barley and rice genes (cBRs) with high similarity in both protein sequences and expression patterns, and provided a comprehensive depiction of the transcriptional regulatory program conserved in barley and rice germination at gene, pathway and systems levels. The cBRs encoded proteins involved in a variety of biological pathways and had a wide range of expression patterns. The cBRs encoding key regulatory components in signaling pathways often had diverse expression patterns. Early germination up-regulation of cell wall metabolic pathway and peroxidases, and late germination up-regulation of chromatin structure and remodeling pathways were conserved in both barley and rice. Protein sequence and expression pattern of a gene change quickly if it is not subjected to a functional constraint. Preserving germination-regulated expression patterns and protein sequences of those cBRs for 50 million years strongly suggests that the cBRs are functionally significant and equivalent in germination, and contribute to the ancient characteristics of germination preserved in barley and rice. The functional significance and equivalence of the cBR genes predicted here can serve as a foundation to further characterize their biological functions and facilitate bridging rice and barley germination research with greater confidence. PMID

  1. RNA-ID, a Powerful Tool for Identifying and Characterizing Regulatory Sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brule, C E; Dean, K M; Grayhack, E J

    2016-01-01

    The identification and analysis of sequences that regulate gene expression is critical because regulated gene expression underlies biology. RNA-ID is an efficient and sensitive method to discover and investigate regulatory sequences in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using fluorescence-based assays to detect green fluorescent protein (GFP) relative to a red fluorescent protein (RFP) control in individual cells. Putative regulatory sequences can be inserted either in-frame or upstream of a superfolder GFP fusion protein whose expression, like that of RFP, is driven by the bidirectional GAL1,10 promoter. In this chapter, we describe the methodology to identify and study cis-regulatory sequences in the RNA-ID system, explaining features and variations of the RNA-ID reporter, as well as some applications of this system. We describe in detail the methods to analyze a single regulatory sequence, from construction of a single GFP variant to assay of variants by flow cytometry, as well as modifications required to screen libraries of different strains simultaneously. We also describe subsequent analyses of regulatory sequences. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. LLW Forum meeting report, October 20--22, 1997

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norris, C.; Brown, H.; Lovinger, T.; Scheele, L.; Shaker, M.A.

    1997-10-01

    The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Forum met in Annapolis, Maryland, on October 20--22, 1997. Twenty-six Forum Participants, Alternate Forum Participants, and meeting designees representing 22 compacts and states participated. A report on the meeting is given under the following subtitles: New developments in states and compacts; Discussion with NRC Commissioner McGaffigan; Regulatory issues session; Executive session; LLW forum business session; DOE low-level waste management program; Transportation of radioactive waste; Environmental equity: Title VI; Congressional studies on Ward Valley Site; Implementation of DOE's strategy for waste management; Relicensing Envirocare; Draft agreement for uniform application of manifesting procedures; CRCPD report; Panel: Future of low-level radioactive waste management; Agenda planning: February 1998; Resolutions; and Attendance

  3. Proceedings of a topical meeting on safety of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The topical meeting on the safety of the nuclear fuel cycle is composed of 17 papers grouped into four sessions which titles are: operational safety in nuclear fuel facilities; safety criteria and regulatory philosophy; plant hazard analysis and mitigation; plant experience and emergency planning

  4. Creating to understand – developmental biology meets engineering in Paris

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kicheva, Anna; Rivron, Nicolas C.

    2017-01-01

    In November 2016, developmental biologists, synthetic biologists and engineers gathered in Paris for a meeting called ‘Engineering the embryo’. The participants shared an interest in exploring how synthetic systems can reveal new principles of embryonic development, and how the in vitro manipulation

  5. Proceedings of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission nineteenth water reactor safety information meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiss, A.J.

    1992-04-01

    This three-volume report contains 83 papers out of the 108 that were presented at the Nineteenth Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, during the week of October 28--30, 1991. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included 14 different papers presented by researchers from Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, and USSR. This document, Volume 2, presents papers on: Severe accident research; Severe accident and policy implementation; and Accident management. The individual papers have been cataloged separately

  6. Regulatory Support Program in Central Asia. Progress and new bilateral project with the State Inspectorate on Safety in Industry and Mining of Republic of Uzbekistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    A meeting of the regional regulatory support program in Central Asia (CA) was held in May 25 to 26, 2011 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where parties discussed ongoing bilateral cooperation between the NRPA and the regulatory bodies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Author)

  7. Regulatory Support Program in Central Asia. Progress and new bilateral project with the State Inspectorate on Safety in Industry and Mining of Republic of Uzbekistan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    A meeting of the regional regulatory support program in Central Asia (CA) was held in May 25 to 26, 2011 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where parties discussed ongoing bilateral cooperation between the NRPA and the regulatory bodies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Author)

  8. Nanomaterial categorization for assessing risk potential to facilitate regulatory decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godwin, Hilary; Nameth, Catherine; Avery, David; Bergeson, Lynn L; Bernard, Daniel; Beryt, Elizabeth; Boyes, William; Brown, Scott; Clippinger, Amy J; Cohen, Yoram; Doa, Maria; Hendren, Christine Ogilvie; Holden, Patricia; Houck, Keith; Kane, Agnes B; Klaessig, Frederick; Kodas, Toivo; Landsiedel, Robert; Lynch, Iseult; Malloy, Timothy; Miller, Mary Beth; Muller, Julie; Oberdorster, Gunter; Petersen, Elijah J; Pleus, Richard C; Sayre, Philip; Stone, Vicki; Sullivan, Kristie M; Tentschert, Jutta; Wallis, Philip; Nel, Andre E

    2015-01-01

    For nanotechnology to meet its potential as a game-changing and sustainable technology, it is important to ensure that the engineered nanomaterials and nanoenabled products that gain entry to the marketplace are safe and effective. Tools and methods are needed for regulatory purposes to allow rapid material categorization according to human health and environmental risk potential, so that materials of high concern can be targeted for additional scrutiny, while material categories that pose the least risk can receive expedited review. Using carbon nanotubes as an example, we discuss how data from alternative testing strategies can be used to facilitate engineered nanomaterial categorization according to risk potential and how such an approach could facilitate regulatory decision-making in the future.

  9. Collaborative international research: ethical and regulatory issues pertaining to human biological materials at a South African institutional research ethics committee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sathar, Aslam; Dhai, Amaboo; van der Linde, Stephan

    2014-12-01

    Human Biological Materials (HBMs) are an invaluable resource in biomedical research. To determine if researchers and a Research Ethics Committee (REC) at a South African institution addressed ethical issues pertaining to HBMs in collaborative research with developed countries. Ethically approved retrospective cross-sectional descriptive audit. Of the 1305 protocols audited, 151 (11.57%) fulfilled the study's inclusion criteria. Compared to other developed countries, a majority of sponsors (90) were from the USA (p = 0.0001). The principle investigators (PIs) in all 151 protocols informed the REC of their intent to store HBMs. Only 132 protocols informed research participants (P ethical and regulatory issues pertaining to HBMs. There was a lack of congruence between the ethical guidelines of developed countries and their actions which are central to the access to HBMs in collaborative research. HBMs may be leaving South Africa without EPs and MTAs during the process of international collaborative research. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Evolution of regulatory networks towards adaptability and stability in a changing environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Deok-Sun

    2014-11-01

    Diverse biological networks exhibit universal features distinguished from those of random networks, calling much attention to their origins and implications. Here we propose a minimal evolution model of Boolean regulatory networks, which evolve by selectively rewiring links towards enhancing adaptability to a changing environment and stability against dynamical perturbations. We find that sparse and heterogeneous connectivity patterns emerge, which show qualitative agreement with real transcriptional regulatory networks and metabolic networks. The characteristic scaling behavior of stability reflects the balance between robustness and flexibility. The scaling of fluctuation in the perturbation spread shows a dynamic crossover, which is analyzed by investigating separately the stochasticity of internal dynamics and the network structure differences depending on the evolution pathways. Our study delineates how the ambivalent pressure of evolution shapes biological networks, which can be helpful for studying general complex systems interacting with environments.

  11. Identification of miRNA-mRNA regulatory modules by exploring collective group relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masud Karim, S M; Liu, Lin; Le, Thuc Duy; Li, Jiuyong

    2016-01-11

    microRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in the post-transcriptional gene regulation in plants and animals. They regulate a wide range of biological processes by targeting messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Evidence suggests that miRNAs and mRNAs interact collectively in gene regulatory networks. The collective relationships between groups of miRNAs and groups of mRNAs may be more readily interpreted than those between individual miRNAs and mRNAs, and thus are useful for gaining insight into gene regulation and cell functions. Several computational approaches have been developed to discover miRNA-mRNA regulatory modules (MMRMs) with a common aim to elucidate miRNA-mRNA regulatory relationships. However, most existing methods do not consider the collective relationships between a group of miRNAs and the group of targeted mRNAs in the process of discovering MMRMs. Our aim is to develop a framework to discover MMRMs and reveal miRNA-mRNA regulatory relationships from the heterogeneous expression data based on the collective relationships. We propose DIscovering COllective group RElationships (DICORE), an effective computational framework for revealing miRNA-mRNA regulatory relationships. We utilize the notation of collective group relationships to build the computational framework. The method computes the collaboration scores of the miRNAs and mRNAs on the basis of their interactions with mRNAs and miRNAs, respectively. Then it determines the groups of miRNAs and groups of mRNAs separately based on their respective collaboration scores. Next, it calculates the strength of the collective relationship between each pair of miRNA group and mRNA group using canonical correlation analysis, and the group pairs with significant canonical correlations are considered as the MMRMs. We applied this method to three gene expression datasets, and validated the computational discoveries. Analysis of the results demonstrates that a large portion of the regulatory relationships discovered by

  12. Second review meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rafferty, Barbara

    2002-01-01

    The Second Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety was held in the Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 15-26 April 2002, under the chairmanship of the President, Mr Miroslav Gregoric, Director of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Authority. The Convention on Nuclear Safety entered into force in October 1996, has been signed by sixty-five States and ratified by fifty-four, bringing within its scope 428 of the 448 nuclear reactors worldwide. The Convention aims to achieve and maintain a high level of nuclear safety worldwide, through inter alia enhancement of national measures and international co-operation. Obligations on Contracting Parties in accordance with the Convention include: the establishment and maintenance of a legislative and regulatory framework to govern the safety of land-based civil nuclear installations; the allocation of adequate financial and human resources to support the safety objectives; ensuring that all reasonably practicable improvements to safety are made as a matter of urgency. Adherence to this Convention entails two basic commitments by each Contracting Party: to prepare and make available a national report for review; and to subject its national report to a peer review by the other Contracting Parties. Thus, being a Contracting Party to this Convention involves: including in the national report a self-assessment of steps and measures already taken and in progress to implement the Convention obligations; taking an active part in an open and transparent review of its national report and the Reports of other Contracting Parties; and a commitment to a continuous learning and improving process, something which is a key element of a strong safety culture. The peer review of national reports takes place every three years, the first having been held in 1999. The Second Review Meeting was attended by delegates from 46 contracting parties. During the review certain issues were

  13. Radiation safety and regulatory aspects in Medical Facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banerjee, Sharmila

    2017-01-01

    Radiation safety and regulatory aspect of medical facilities are relevant in the context where radiation is used in providing healthcare to human patients. These include facilities, which carry out radiological procedures in diagnostic radiology, including dentistry, image-guided interventional procedures, nuclear medicine, and radiation therapy. The safety regulations provide recommendations and guidance on meeting the requirements for the safe use of radiation in medicine. The different safety aspects which come under its purview are the personnel involved in medical facilities where radiological procedures are performed which include the medical practitioners, radiation technologists, medical physicists, radiopharmacists, radiation protection and over and above all the patients. Regulatory aspects cover the guidelines provided by ethics committees, which regulate the administration of radioactive formulation in human patients. Nuclear medicine is a modality that utilizes radiopharmaceuticals either for diagnosis of physiological disorders related to anatomy, physiology and patho-physiology and for diagnosis and treatment of cancer

  14. 75 FR 11551 - Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmacology; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-11

    ...] Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmacology; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and... of Committee: Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmacology. General... Pharmaceutical Science (OPS) on the regulatory challenges of drug-induced phospholipidosis (excessive...

  15. 2004 Environmental Mutagen Society Annual Meeting - Genes, Mutations and Disease: The Environmental Connection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samson, Leona D.

    2004-08-23

    The Meeting consisted of 9 Symposia, 4 Keynote Lectures, 3 Platform Sessions and 4 Poster Sessions. In addition there were Breakfast Meetings for Special Interest Groups designed to inform attendees about the latest advances in environmental mutagenesis research. Several of the topics to be covered at this broad meeting will be of interest to the Department of Energy, Office of Science. The relevance of this meeting to the DOE derives from the fact that low dose radiation may represent one of the most significant sources of human mutations that are attributable to the environment. The EMS membership, and those who attended the EMS Annual Meeting were interested in both chemical and radiation induced biological effects, such as cell death, mutation, teratogenesis, carcinogenesis and aging. These topics thate were presented at the 2004 EMS Annual meeting that were of clear interest to DOE include: human variation in cancer susceptibility, unusual mechanisms of mutation, germ and stem cell mutagenesis, recombination and the maintenance of genomic stability, multiple roles for DNA mismatch repair, DNA helicases, mutation, cancer and aging, Genome-wide transcriptional responses to environmental change, Telomeres and genomic stability: when ends don?t meet, systems biology approach to cell phenotypic decision processes, and the surprising biology of short RNAs. Poster and platform sessions addressed topics related to environmental mutagen exposure, DNA repair, mechanisms of mutagenesis, epidemiology, genomic and proteomics and bioinformatics. These sessions were designed to give student, postdocs and more junior scientists a chance to present their work.

  16. Efficient Reverse-Engineering of a Developmental Gene Regulatory Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cicin-Sain, Damjan; Ashyraliyev, Maksat; Jaeger, Johannes

    2012-01-01

    Understanding the complex regulatory networks underlying development and evolution of multi-cellular organisms is a major problem in biology. Computational models can be used as tools to extract the regulatory structure and dynamics of such networks from gene expression data. This approach is called reverse engineering. It has been successfully applied to many gene networks in various biological systems. However, to reconstitute the structure and non-linear dynamics of a developmental gene network in its spatial context remains a considerable challenge. Here, we address this challenge using a case study: the gap gene network involved in segment determination during early development of Drosophila melanogaster. A major problem for reverse-engineering pattern-forming networks is the significant amount of time and effort required to acquire and quantify spatial gene expression data. We have developed a simplified data processing pipeline that considerably increases the throughput of the method, but results in data of reduced accuracy compared to those previously used for gap gene network inference. We demonstrate that we can infer the correct network structure using our reduced data set, and investigate minimal data requirements for successful reverse engineering. Our results show that timing and position of expression domain boundaries are the crucial features for determining regulatory network structure from data, while it is less important to precisely measure expression levels. Based on this, we define minimal data requirements for gap gene network inference. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of reverse-engineering with much reduced experimental effort. This enables more widespread use of the method in different developmental contexts and organisms. Such systematic application of data-driven models to real-world networks has enormous potential. Only the quantitative investigation of a large number of developmental gene regulatory networks will allow us to

  17. A technical basis for meeting waste form stability requirements of 10 CFR 61

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, W.Y.; Skoski, L.; Eng, R.; Tuite, P.T.

    1988-01-01

    To assure that solidified low level waste forms meet the stability requirements of 10 CFR 61 regulations, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published Branch Technical Positions (BTPs) and draft Regulatory Guide on waste form stability. These guidance documents describe the test procedures and acceptance criteria for six stability parameters: leachability, compressive strength, immersion effect, radiation effect, thermal stability and biodegradability. The most recent set of recommended tests and acceptance criteria are presented in the November 1986 Preliminary Draft Regulatory Guide Low Level Waste Form Stability. The objective of this study was to: (1) investigate the regulatory and technical bases for the required stability tests, (2) evaluate the relevance of these tests and acceptance criteria based on actual test results, and (3) recommended alternatives to the testing and acceptance criteria. The latter two objectives are discussed in this paper

  18. Understanding Biological Regulation Through Synthetic Biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bashor, Caleb J; Collins, James J

    2018-03-16

    Engineering synthetic gene regulatory circuits proceeds through iterative cycles of design, building, and testing. Initial circuit designs must rely on often-incomplete models of regulation established by fields of reductive inquiry-biochemistry and molecular and systems biology. As differences in designed and experimentally observed circuit behavior are inevitably encountered, investigated, and resolved, each turn of the engineering cycle can force a resynthesis in understanding of natural network function. Here, we outline research that uses the process of gene circuit engineering to advance biological discovery. Synthetic gene circuit engineering research has not only refined our understanding of cellular regulation but furnished biologists with a toolkit that can be directed at natural systems to exact precision manipulation of network structure. As we discuss, using circuit engineering to predictively reorganize, rewire, and reconstruct cellular regulation serves as the ultimate means of testing and understanding how cellular phenotype emerges from systems-level network function. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biophysics Volume 47 is May 20, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

  19. The FDA “Deeming Rule” and Tobacco Regulatory Research

    OpenAIRE

    Backinger, Cathy L.; Meissner, Helen I.; Ashley, David L.

    2016-01-01

    In May 2016, the Food and Drug Administration extended its tobacco regulatory authorities to other products meeting the definition of a tobacco product (Deeming Rule). This authority now includes, but is not limited to, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), such as electronic cigarettes, as well as all cigars, pipes, and hookahs (waterpipes). The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has been able to fund research projects addressing these newly deemed tobacco products through a variety of...

  20. Editorial: Molecular Organization of Membranes: Where Biology Meets Biophysics

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Cebecauer, Marek; Holowka, D.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 5, č. 113 (2017), s. 1-3 ISSN 2296-634X Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : nanodomains * membrane properties * cell membrane Subject RIV: CE - Biochemistry OBOR OECD: Biochemistry and molecular biology

  1. 76 FR 23323 - Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-26

    ... the scientific validation and regulatory acceptance of toxicological and safety testing methods that... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM) AGENCY: National Toxicology Program (NTP), National Institute of...

  2. 77 FR 40358 - Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-09

    ..., revised, and alternative safety testing methods with regulatory applicability and promotes the scientific... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM) AGENCY: Division of the National Toxicology Program (DNTP...

  3. 75 FR 55617 - Advisory Committee for Biological Sciences; Notice of Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-13

    ... Boulderado, 2115 13th Street, Boulder, CO 80302. Type of Meeting: Open. Contact Person: Chuck Liarakos...-- Innovation Experiments; Research Resources. PM: Presentation and Discussion--Science, Arts and Humanities...

  4. Proceedings of Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution and Design (SEED) Conference 2015

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silver, Pamela [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); SEED 2015 Conference Chair; Flach, Evan [American Institute of Chemical Engineers; SEED 2015 Conference Organizer

    2016-10-27

    Synthetic Biology is an emerging discipline that seeks to accelerate the process of engineering biology. As such, the tools are broadly applicable to application areas, including chemicals and biofuels, materials, medicine and agriculture. A characteristic of the field is to look holistically at cellular design, from sensing and genetic circuitry to the manipulation of cellular processes and actuators, to controlling metabolism, to programming multicellular behaviors. Further, the types of cells that are manipulated are broad, from in vitro systems to microbes and fungi to mammalian and plant cells and living animals. Many of the projects in synthetic biology seek to move biochemical functions across organisms. The field is highly interdisciplinary with faculty and students spread across departments that focus on engineering (biological, chemical, electrical, mechanical, civil, computer science) and basic science (biology and systems biology, chemistry, physics). While there have been many one-off workshops and meeting on synthetic biology, the 2014 Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution and Design (SEED) was the first of an annual conference series that serves as a reliable place to pull together the involved disciplines in order to organize and exchange advances in the science and technology in the field. Further, the SEED conferences have a strong focus on industry, with many companies represented and actively participating. A number of these companies have started major efforts in synthetic biology including large companies (e.g., Pfizer, Novartis, Dow, Dupont, BP, Total), smaller companies have recently gone public (e.g., Amyris, Gevo, Intrexon), and many start-ups (e.g., Teslagen, Refactored Materials, Pivot, Genomatica). There are a number of loosely affiliated Synthetic Biology Centers, including ones at MIT, Boston University, UCSD, UCSF, UC-Berkeley, Imperial College, Oxford, and ETH. SEED 2015 will serve as the primary meeting at which international

  5. Plant synthetic biology for molecular engineering of signalling and development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nemhauser, Jennifer L; Torii, Keiko U

    2016-03-02

    Molecular genetic studies of model plants in the past few decades have identified many key genes and pathways controlling development, metabolism and environmental responses. Recent technological and informatics advances have led to unprecedented volumes of data that may uncover underlying principles of plants as biological systems. The newly emerged discipline of synthetic biology and related molecular engineering approaches is built on this strong foundation. Today, plant regulatory pathways can be reconstituted in heterologous organisms to identify and manipulate parameters influencing signalling outputs. Moreover, regulatory circuits that include receptors, ligands, signal transduction components, epigenetic machinery and molecular motors can be engineered and introduced into plants to create novel traits in a predictive manner. Here, we provide a brief history of plant synthetic biology and significant recent examples of this approach, focusing on how knowledge generated by the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana has contributed to the rapid rise of this new discipline, and discuss potential future directions.

  6. Proceedings of the 3. Regional Meeting on Radiological and Nuclear Safety, Regional Meeting on International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA)and 3. Peruvian Meeting on Radiological Protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-10-01

    There we show works of the Third Regional Meeting on Radiological and Nuclear Safety held on 23-27 October, 1995 in Cusco-Peru. Latin americans specialists talk about nuclear safety and radiological protection, radiation natural exposure, biological effect of radiation, radiotherapy and medical radiological safety, radiological safety in industry and research. Also we deal with subjects related to radiological safety of nuclear and radioactive facilities, radioactive waste management, radioactive material transport, environmental radiological monitoring program, radiological emergency and accidents, instruments and dosimetry, basic safety standards of protection against radiation. More than 225 works were presented on the meeting

  7. International principles for exemption from regulatory control and their application to waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linsley, G.S.

    1989-01-01

    This paper describes the main features of the international consensus on principles for exempting radiation sources and practices from regulatory control reached at a meeting in Vienna in March 1988. Some remaining problems, both of a philosophical and technical nature especially related to the application of the principles to radioactive waste disposal, are discussed

  8. Molecular biology of Homo sapiens: Abstracts of papers presented at the 51st Cold Spring Harbor symposium on quantitative biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watson, J.D.; Siniscalco, M.

    1986-01-01

    This volume contains abstracts of papers presented at the 51st Cold Springs Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology. The topic for this meeting was the ''Molecular Biology of Homo sapiens.'' Sessions were entitled Human Gene Map, Human Cancer Genes, Genetic Diagnosis, Human Evolution, Drugs Made Off Human Genes, Receptors, and Gene Therapy. (DT)

  9. Proceedings of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission nineteenth water reactor safety information meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiss, A.J.

    1992-04-01

    This three-volume report contains 83 papers out of the 108 that were presented at the Nineteenth Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, during the week of October 28--30, 1991. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included 14 different papers presented by researchers from Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, and USSR. This document, Volume 3, presents papers on: Structural engineering; Advanced reactor research; Advanced passive reactors; Human factors research; Human factors issues related to advanced passive light water researchers; Thermal Hydraulics; and Earth sciences. The individual papers have been cataloged separately

  10. Reconstructing transcriptional regulatory networks through genomics data

    OpenAIRE

    Sun, Ning; Zhao, Hongyu

    2009-01-01

    One central problem in biology is to understand how gene expression is regulated under different conditions. Microarray gene expression data and other high throughput data have made it possible to dissect transcriptional regulatory networks at the genomics level. Owing to the very large number of genes that need to be studied, the relatively small number of data sets available, the noise in the data and the different natures of the distinct data types, network inference presents great challen...

  11. 78 FR 58500 - Water Quality Standards Regulatory Clarifications Proposed Rule; Public Meeting and Public Webinars

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-24

    ... the proposed rule ``Water Quality Standards Regulatory Clarifications,'' which was published... the federal water quality standards (WQS) regulation at 40 CFR Part 131 which helps implement the..., the proposed rule will lead to improved water quality standard development, implementation and...

  12. Twin-Peak Financial Regulatory Regime in China: A Desirability Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hu, Chenchen

    2015-01-01

    In the past two decades, the Chinese financial markets have witnessed an unprecedented development and expansion, changing the landscape of the whole financial markets. But it has also drawn controversy with many scholars warning the negative consequences of the behemoth size and the increasing...... speed of the expansion of shadow banking activities. The banking activity expansion and the emergence of financial conglomerates have been challenging the effectiveness of the current institutional regulatory structure: the fragmented "One Bank and Three Commissions" system and the "Joint Meeting...... as a "deep context". By drawing on the Australia experience of the twin-peak reform and discussing the new ecology of the Chinese financial markets, the article attempts to answer the question of the desirability of a twin-peak regulatory regime in China....

  13. Systems Biology and Stem Cell Pluripotency

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mashayekhi, Kaveh; Hall, Vanessa Jane; Freude, Kristine

    2016-01-01

    Recent breakthroughs in stem cell biology have accelerated research in the area of regenerative medicine. Over the past years, it has become possible to derive patient-specific stem cells which can be used to generate different cell populations for potential cell therapy. Systems biological...... modeling of stem cell pluripotency and differentiation have largely been based on prior knowledge of signaling pathways, gene regulatory networks, and epigenetic factors. However, there is a great need to extend the complexity of the modeling and to integrate different types of data, which would further...... improve systems biology and its uses in the field. In this chapter, we first give a general background on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Stem cell potency is introduced together with the hierarchy of stem cells ranging from pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem...

  14. 78 FR 22873 - FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; Notice of Public Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-17

    ... data that you used. 5. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you arrived at your.... Seating at the meeting. Seating at the meeting will be open and on a first-come basis. 4. Request for... histopathology, morphometrics, quantitative ecology/biostatistics, systems biology, and Baysian statistics...

  15. Quantum Effects in Biological Systems

    CERN Document Server

    2016-01-01

    Since the last decade the study of quantum mechanical phenomena in biological systems has become a vibrant field of research. Initially sparked by evidence of quantum effects in energy transport that is instrumental for photosynthesis, quantum biology asks the question of how methods and models from quantum theory can help us to understand fundamental mechanisms in living organisms. This approach entails a paradigm change challenging the related disciplines: The successful framework of quantum theory is taken out of its low-temperature, microscopic regimes and applied to hot and dense macroscopic environments, thereby extending the toolbox of biology and biochemistry at the same time. The Quantum Effects in Biological Systems conference is a platform for researchers from biology, chemistry and physics to present and discuss the latest developments in the field of quantum biology. After meetings in Lisbon (2009), Harvard (2010), Ulm (2011), Berkeley (2012), Vienna (2013), Singapore (2014) and Florence (2015),...

  16. Piecing together cis-regulatory networks: insights from epigenomics studies in plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Shao-Shan C; Ecker, Joseph R

    2018-05-01

    5-Methylcytosine, a chemical modification of DNA, is a covalent modification found in the genomes of both plants and animals. Epigenetic inheritance of phenotypes mediated by DNA methylation is well established in plants. Most of the known mechanisms of establishing, maintaining and modifying DNA methylation have been worked out in the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Major functions of DNA methylation in plants include regulation of gene expression and silencing of transposable elements (TEs) and repetitive sequences, both of which have parallels in mammalian biology, involve interaction with the transcriptional machinery, and may have profound effects on the regulatory networks in the cell. Methylome and transcriptome dynamics have been investigated in development and environmental responses in Arabidopsis and agriculturally and ecologically important plants, revealing the interdependent relationship among genomic context, methylation patterns, and expression of TE and protein coding genes. Analyses of methylome variation among plant natural populations and species have begun to quantify the extent of genetic control of methylome variation vs. true epimutation, and model the evolutionary forces driving methylome evolution in both short and long time scales. The ability of DNA methylation to positively or negatively modulate binding affinity of transcription factors (TFs) provides a natural link from genome sequence and methylation changes to transcription. Technologies that allow systematic determination of methylation sensitivities of TFs, in native genomic and methylation context without confounding factors such as histone modifications, will provide baseline datasets for building cell-type- and individual-specific regulatory networks that underlie the establishment and inheritance of complex traits. This article is categorized under: Laboratory Methods and Technologies > Genetic/Genomic Methods Biological Mechanisms > Regulatory Biology. © 2017 Wiley

  17. Proceedings of a specialist meeting on regulatory approaches for the control of environmental residues containing naturally occurring radioactive material. Working material

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2005-07-01

    Naturally occurring radionuclides are present in most material. The most common naturally occurring radionuclides in material are those of the uranium and thorium series and potassium-40. This material is commonly referred to as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). In some material the levels of naturally occurring radionuclides are significantly higher, to the extent that regulatory control may be required for radiation protection purposes. Regulation of NORM presents a range of new challenges for both regulators and operators. Unlike more traditional industries dealing with radionuclides, NORM industries have generally not had any radiological oversight and, for example, are not equipped for radiological monitoring. Some consumer goods containing NORM, which have not traditionally been considered as a radiological problem (such as some fertilizers), may require regulation and this may have social and economic consequences. The transport and disposal of NORM are also a concern, particularly due to the large volumes, which may need to be considered. For the majority of NORM, disposal has been by conventional means in the same way as for non-hazardous waste with no specific attention to radiological aspects. In some cases, there may be a need for intervention into existing NORM disposal sites. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) published ICRP No. 82, Protection of the Public in Situations of Prolonged Radiation Exposure in 2000. This document provides guidance on managing residues, such as those arising from NORM industries, with potential impact on the public. However, with NORM residual waste there may be three different situations: residual waste created as the result of a past practice, residual waste created by an ongoing practice and waste which will arise from future activities. Regulation of NORM may therefore be consistent with consideration of a practice, an intervention or a combination of both. Different regulatory

  18. Proceedings of a specialist meeting on regulatory approaches for the control of environmental residues containing naturally occurring radioactive material. Working material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    Naturally occurring radionuclides are present in most material. The most common naturally occurring radionuclides in material are those of the uranium and thorium series and potassium-40. This material is commonly referred to as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). In some material the levels of naturally occurring radionuclides are significantly higher, to the extent that regulatory control may be required for radiation protection purposes. Regulation of NORM presents a range of new challenges for both regulators and operators. Unlike more traditional industries dealing with radionuclides, NORM industries have generally not had any radiological oversight and, for example, are not equipped for radiological monitoring. Some consumer goods containing NORM, which have not traditionally been considered as a radiological problem (such as some fertilizers), may require regulation and this may have social and economic consequences. The transport and disposal of NORM are also a concern, particularly due to the large volumes, which may need to be considered. For the majority of NORM, disposal has been by conventional means in the same way as for non-hazardous waste with no specific attention to radiological aspects. In some cases, there may be a need for intervention into existing NORM disposal sites. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) published ICRP No. 82, Protection of the Public in Situations of Prolonged Radiation Exposure in 2000. This document provides guidance on managing residues, such as those arising from NORM industries, with potential impact on the public. However, with NORM residual waste there may be three different situations: residual waste created as the result of a past practice, residual waste created by an ongoing practice and waste which will arise from future activities. Regulation of NORM may therefore be consistent with consideration of a practice, an intervention or a combination of both. Different regulatory

  19. 77 FR 27468 - Center for Scientific Review, Notice of Closed Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-10

    ..., (Virtual Meeting). Contact Person: Edwin C Clayton, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Center for Scientific...-408-9041, [email protected] . Name of Committee: Biological Chemistry and Macromolecular Biophysics Integrated Review Group; Synthetic and Biological Chemistry B Study Section. Date: May 30-31, 2012. Time: 8...

  20. Official Program and Abstracts of the 15. Meeting of the Latin-American Association of Biology and Nuclear Medicine Societies (ALASBIMN 97); Iberoamerican Congress of Nuclear Medicine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    This issue contains 117 abstracts of lectures and poster sessions of the 15th Meeting of the Latin-American Association of Biology and Nuclear Medicine Societies (ALASBIMN 97) and Iberoamerican Congress of Nuclear Medicine, held in Lima, Peru, from 26 to 30 October 1997. The key subjects addressed are nuclear medicine and diagnostic techniques on brain, liver, lungs, heart, osteo-articular, cardiology, oncology, endocrinology, radiopharmaceuticals, medical physics, SPECT and their applications in diagnostic medicine. (APC)

  1. Regulatory body core competencies: when should a regulator contract a TSO?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wieland, Patricia; Salati de Almeida, Ivan P.; Almeida, Claudio U.; Costa, Eduardo M.

    2008-01-01

    The main nuclear regulatory functions are authorization, safety review and assessment, inspection and enforcement and development of regulations and guides. Additionally, the following supplementary functions may be executed by the regulatory body: research and development, emergency response and international cooperation. In order to function properly, the regulatory body should also have the following support functions: general management, logistics, training, communication and information, information technology support, institutional relationship, internal controls and audits, ombudsman and legal support. Technical Support Organizations (TSOs) may assist the regulatory body in meeting the challenges in a rapid growing and changing environment. Specially when there is a temporary need for a wider technical expertise diversity, short time to finish a project or when the cost of developing and maintaining infrastructure of their own laboratories for analysis and research is too high and may deviate the focus on the regulator's mission. Decision on the 'size' of the regulatory body and on what can be contracted to a Technical Support Organization (TSO) depends on the resources and capabilities needed to fulfil the regulatory functions efficiently. It is important to establish the core competencies that must be at the regulatory body, keeping the focus on the regulatory goals and define the real need to contract a TSO, weighting the benefits and disadvantages. As a contribution to the definition of the regulatory core competencies, the paper discusses what is essential to be kept at the regulatory body and what can be delegated to a TSO; how to manage and control the work of the TSO; the cost effectiveness of contracting, sharing of tacit knowledge; how to handle eventual conflicts between the parties involved in the licensing process; contract types and risk evaluation, concerning the dependence on a TSO, eventual change of partners and the intellectual capital

  2. Space Biology Meets Astrobiology: Critical Synergies and Concerns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boston, Penelope J.; Kirven-Brooks, Melissa

    2016-01-01

    The broad fields of space biology and astrobiology share much in common in terms of science questions, approaches, and goals. However, historical circumstances and funding agency practices have frequently resulted in a wide separation between the two related areas. Is this a good thing? We believe that it is not, and that much is to be gained in each field from sharing ideas, resources, and perhaps projects between investigators traditionally working in one discipline or the other. Some of the strengths that the Space Biology community offers include sophistication and experience in flying experiments on space missions. In turn, Astrobiology has focused heavily on ground-based and field research. Challenging physical and chemical conditions experienced in space and on other planets partially overlap, and much can be gleaned from the body of work of each community along these topical lines. A combination of these areas of expertise and experience could result in major advances to all involved. When possible, avoiding having to reinvent methods or approaches already used by a sister community can result in greater efficiencies of resource use. We will discuss some case studies where we believe there are significant overlaps including adaptation to a variety of environmental stresses, extremophiles as potential flight organisms, microfluidics as applied to planetary environment simulations, and others.

  3. 75 FR 66089 - FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; Notice of Public Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-27

    .... Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information and/or data that you used. 5. If you.... Seating at the meeting. Seating at the meeting will be open and on a first-come basis. 4. Request for... more of the following areas: Corn pest entomology (biology and ecology), population genetics, insect...

  4. Structural biology at York Structural Biology Laboratory; laboratory information management systems for structural genomics

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Dohnálek, Jan

    2005-01-01

    Roč. 12, č. 1 (2005), s. 3 ISSN 1211-5894. [Meeting of Structural Biologists /4./. 10.03.2005-12.03.2005, Nové Hrady] R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1K05008 Keywords : structural biology * LIMS * structural genomics Subject RIV: CD - Macromolecular Chemistry

  5. Role of technical and scientific support organization In Indonesian regulatory body

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yusri Heni, N.A.; Zarkasih, A.S.; Liliana, Y.P.; Salman, S.

    2007-01-01

    Indonesian Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN) has the function in controlling the utility of nuclear energy through regulation, licensing and inspection, with the aim, interalia, to ensure the welfare, the security and the peace of people, to assure the safety and the health of workers and public, and the environmental protection, and to prevent diversion of purpose of the nuclear material utilization (Article 14 and 15 of Act no 10, 1997 on Nuclear Energy). The role and quality of technical and scientific expertise in supporting regulatory systems are importance increase the effectiveness and public confidence. The Center for Regulatory Assessment of Nuclear Installation and Nuclear Material and Center for Regulatory Assessment of Radiation Facilities and Radioactive Sources as part of BAPETEN organization has a function as technical and scientific support for regulatory systems. The purpose of this function is to provide technical and scientific basis for decisions and activities regarding nuclear and radiation safety during regulatory processes, such as in the developing and establishing regulation, technical verification for licensing, assessment of inspection funding and enforcement. In order to meet the quality and effectiveness of technical and scientific result activity, those two centers for regulatory assesment used internal and external technical experts and joint cooperation with universities, research institutes or laboratories. The development of technical and scientific strategic planning in enhancing nuclear and radiation safety is done by the following increasing of : Human resources and expertise by internal and external training or on the job training; number for computer code to perform safety analysis, capability and quality for review and assessment, national and international cooperation, etc. (author)

  6. Micro-separation toward systems biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bi-Feng; Xu, Bo; Zhang, Guisen; Du, Wei; Luo, Qingming

    2006-02-17

    Current biology is experiencing transformation in logic or philosophy that forces us to reevaluate the concept of cell, tissue or entire organism as a collection of individual components. Systems biology that aims at understanding biological system at the systems level is an emerging research area, which involves interdisciplinary collaborations of life sciences, computational and mathematical sciences, systems engineering, and analytical technology, etc. For analytical chemistry, developing innovative methods to meet the requirement of systems biology represents new challenges as also opportunities and responsibility. In this review, systems biology-oriented micro-separation technologies are introduced for comprehensive profiling of genome, proteome and metabolome, characterization of biomolecules interaction and single cell analysis such as capillary electrophoresis, ultra-thin layer gel electrophoresis, micro-column liquid chromatography, and their multidimensional combinations, parallel integrations, microfabricated formats, and nano technology involvement. Future challenges and directions are also suggested.

  7. National Waste Terminal Storage Program information meeting, December 7-8, 1976

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1976-12-01

    Volume I of the report comprises copies of the slides from the talks presented at the first session of the National Waste Terminal Storage Program information meeting. The agenda for the first day included an overview of the program plus presentations on such subjects as schedules and controls, facility projects, systems studies, regulatory affairs and technical support

  8. Peptidomics and processing of regulatory peptides in the fruit fly Drosophila

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis Pauls

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available More than a decade has passed since the release of the Drosophila melanogaster genome and the first predictions of fruit fly regulatory peptides (neuropeptides and peptide hormones. Since then, mass spectrometry-based methods have fuelled the chemical characterisation of regulatory peptides, from 7 Drosophila peptides in the pre-genomic area to more than 60 today. We review the development of fruit fly peptidomics, and present a comprehensive list of the regulatory peptides that have been chemically characterised until today. We also summarise the knowledge on peptide processing in Drosophila, which has strongly profited from a combination of MS-based techniques and the genetic tools available for the fruit fly. This combination has a very high potential to study the functional biology of peptide signalling on all levels, especially with the ongoing developments in quantitative MS in Drosophila.

  9. Abstracts and Papers of the 2003 International RERTR Meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-10-01

    The papers presented at the 25th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) were classified according to the following subjects: National programs covering shipment of HEU to countries of origin and national RERTR programs; Molybdenum 99 production by using LEU fuel; Development and fabrication of new type of LEU fuel elements; Reactor core conversion analysis; Safety, spent fuel and regulatory issues; spent fuel storage and management

  10. Biosimilars for psoriasis: worldwide overview of regulatory guidelines, uptake and implications for dermatology clinical practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, A D; Wu, J J; Puig, L; Chimenti, S; Vender, R; Rajagopalan, M; Romiti, R; de la Cruz, C; Skov, L; Zachariae, C; Young, H S; Foley, P; van der Walt, J M; Naldi, L; Prens, E P; Blauvelt, A

    2017-12-01

    The introduction of biological drugs for the treatment of patients with psoriasis has revolutionized treatment paradigms and enabled numerous patients to achieve disease control with an acceptable safety profile. However, the high cost of biologics limits access to these medications for the majority of patients worldwide. In recent years, the introduction of biosimilars for inflammatory diseases has become a fast evolving field. The future use of biosimilars offers the potential for decreased cost and increased access to biologics for patients with psoriasis. For approval of biosimilars, different regulatory agencies use highly variable methods for definition, production, approval, marketing and postmarketing surveillance. Due to potential interchangeability between biologics and biosimilars, traceability and pharmacovigilance are required to collect accurate data about adverse events in patients with psoriasis; spontaneous reporting, registries and use of 'big data' should facilitate this process on a global basis. The current article describes biosimilar regulatory guidelines and examples of biosimilar uptake in clinical practice in several countries around the world. As it is apparent that biological therapy treatment decisions may become more physician independent, the International Psoriasis Council recommends that dermatologists should take an active role in the development of biosimilar prescribing policies with their respective healthcare settings and government agencies. © 2017 British Association of Dermatologists.

  11. Sequence-based model of gap gene regulatory network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozlov, Konstantin; Gursky, Vitaly; Kulakovskiy, Ivan; Samsonova, Maria

    2014-01-01

    The detailed analysis of transcriptional regulation is crucially important for understanding biological processes. The gap gene network in Drosophila attracts large interest among researches studying mechanisms of transcriptional regulation. It implements the most upstream regulatory layer of the segmentation gene network. The knowledge of molecular mechanisms involved in gap gene regulation is far less complete than that of genetics of the system. Mathematical modeling goes beyond insights gained by genetics and molecular approaches. It allows us to reconstruct wild-type gene expression patterns in silico, infer underlying regulatory mechanism and prove its sufficiency. We developed a new model that provides a dynamical description of gap gene regulatory systems, using detailed DNA-based information, as well as spatial transcription factor concentration data at varying time points. We showed that this model correctly reproduces gap gene expression patterns in wild type embryos and is able to predict gap expression patterns in Kr mutants and four reporter constructs. We used four-fold cross validation test and fitting to random dataset to validate the model and proof its sufficiency in data description. The identifiability analysis showed that most model parameters are well identifiable. We reconstructed the gap gene network topology and studied the impact of individual transcription factor binding sites on the model output. We measured this impact by calculating the site regulatory weight as a normalized difference between the residual sum of squares error for the set of all annotated sites and for the set with the site of interest excluded. The reconstructed topology of the gap gene network is in agreement with previous modeling results and data from literature. We showed that 1) the regulatory weights of transcription factor binding sites show very weak correlation with their PWM score; 2) sites with low regulatory weight are important for the model output; 3

  12. Molecular biology of Homo sapiens: Abstracts of papers presented at the 51st Cold Spring Harbor symposium on quantitative biology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Watson, J.D.; Siniscalco, M.

    1986-01-01

    This volume contains abstracts of papers presented at the 51st Cold Springs Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology. The topic for this meeting was the ''Molecular Biology of Homo sapiens.'' Sessions were entitled Human Gene Map, Human Cancer Genes, Genetic Diagnosis, Human Evolution, Drugs Made Off Human Genes, Receptors, and Gene Therapy. (DT)

  13. Harnessing diversity towards the reconstructing of large scale gene regulatory networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takeshi Hase

    Full Text Available Elucidating gene regulatory network (GRN from large scale experimental data remains a central challenge in systems biology. Recently, numerous techniques, particularly consensus driven approaches combining different algorithms, have become a potentially promising strategy to infer accurate GRNs. Here, we develop a novel consensus inference algorithm, TopkNet that can integrate multiple algorithms to infer GRNs. Comprehensive performance benchmarking on a cloud computing framework demonstrated that (i a simple strategy to combine many algorithms does not always lead to performance improvement compared to the cost of consensus and (ii TopkNet integrating only high-performance algorithms provide significant performance improvement compared to the best individual algorithms and community prediction. These results suggest that a priori determination of high-performance algorithms is a key to reconstruct an unknown regulatory network. Similarity among gene-expression datasets can be useful to determine potential optimal algorithms for reconstruction of unknown regulatory networks, i.e., if expression-data associated with known regulatory network is similar to that with unknown regulatory network, optimal algorithms determined for the known regulatory network can be repurposed to infer the unknown regulatory network. Based on this observation, we developed a quantitative measure of similarity among gene-expression datasets and demonstrated that, if similarity between the two expression datasets is high, TopkNet integrating algorithms that are optimal for known dataset perform well on the unknown dataset. The consensus framework, TopkNet, together with the similarity measure proposed in this study provides a powerful strategy towards harnessing the wisdom of the crowds in reconstruction of unknown regulatory networks.

  14. Information processing in the transcriptional regulatory network of yeast: Functional robustness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dehmer Matthias

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene networks are considered to represent various aspects of molecular biological systems meaningfully because they naturally provide a systems perspective of molecular interactions. In this respect, the functional understanding of the transcriptional regulatory network is considered as key to elucidate the functional organization of an organism. Results In this paper we study the functional robustness of the transcriptional regulatory network of S. cerevisiae. We model the information processing in the network as a first order Markov chain and study the influence of single gene perturbations on the global, asymptotic communication among genes. Modification in the communication is measured by an information theoretic measure allowing to predict genes that are 'fragile' with respect to single gene knockouts. Our results demonstrate that the predicted set of fragile genes contains a statistically significant enrichment of so called essential genes that are experimentally found to be necessary to ensure vital yeast. Further, a structural analysis of the transcriptional regulatory network reveals that there are significant differences between fragile genes, hub genes and genes with a high betweenness centrality value. Conclusion Our study does not only demonstrate that a combination of graph theoretical, information theoretical and statistical methods leads to meaningful biological results but also that such methods allow to study information processing in gene networks instead of just their structural properties.

  15. Royal Society Scientific Meeting: Extracellular vesicles in the tumour microenvironment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pink, Ryan Charles; Elmusrati, Areeg A; Lambert, Daniel; Carter, David Raul Francisco

    2018-01-05

    Cancer cells do not grow as an isolated homogeneous mass; tumours are, in fact, complex and heterogeneous collections of cancer and surrounding stromal cells, collectively termed the tumour microenvironment. The interaction between cancer cells and stromal cells in the tumour microenvironment has emerged as a key concept in the regulation of cancer progression. Understanding the intercellular dialogue in the tumour microenvironment is therefore an important goal. One aspect of this dialogue that has not been appreciated until recently is the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs are small vesicles released by cells under both normal and pathological conditions; they can transfer biological molecules between cells leading to changes in phenotype. EVs have emerged as important regulators of biological processes and can be dysregulated in diseases such as cancer; rapidly growing interest in their biology and therapeutic potential led to the Royal Society hosting a Scientific Meeting to explore the roles of EVs in the tumour microenvironment. This cross-disciplinary meeting explored examples of how aberrant crosstalk between tumour and stromal cells can promote cancer progression, and how such signalling can be targeted for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic benefit. In this review, and the special edition of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B that follows, we will provide an overview of the content and outcomes of this exciting meeting.This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'Extracellular vesicles and the tumour microenvironment'. © 2017 The Author(s).

  16. Regulatory Monitoring of Fortified Foods: Identifying Barriers and Good Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowe, Laura A; Vossenaar, Marieke; Garrett, Greg S

    2015-01-01

    While fortification of staple foods and condiments has gained enormous global traction, poor performance persists throughout many aspects of implementation, most notably around the critical element of regulatory monitoring, which is essential for ensuring foods meet national fortification standards. Where coverage of fortified foods is high, limited nutritional impact of fortification programs largely exists due to regulatory monitoring that insufficiently identifies and holds producers accountable for underfortified products. Based on quality assurance data from 20 national fortification programs in 12 countries, we estimate that less than half of the samples are adequately fortified against relevant national standards. In this paper, we outline key findings from a literature review, key informant interviews with 11 fortification experts, and semi-quantitative surveys with 39 individuals from regulatory agencies and the food fortification industry in 17 countries on the perceived effectiveness of regulatory monitoring systems and barriers to compliance against national fortification standards. Findings highlight that regulatory agencies and industry disagree on the value that enforcement mechanisms have in ensuring compliance against standards. Perceived political risk of enforcement and poorly resourced inspectorate capacity appear to adversely reinforce each other within an environment of unclear legislation to create a major hurdle for improving overall compliance of fortification programs against national standards. Budget constraints affect the ability of regulatory agencies to create a well-trained inspector cadre and improve the detection and enforcement of non-compliant and underfortified products. Recommendations to improve fortification compliance include improving technical capacity; ensuring sustained leadership, accountability, and funding in both the private and the public sectors; and removing political barriers to ensure consistent detection of

  17. Frontiers in nuclear medicine symposium: Nuclear medicine & molecular biology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-04-01

    This document contains the abstracts from the American College of Nuclear Physicians 1993 Fall Meeting entitled, `Frontiers in Nuclear Medicine Symposium: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Biology`. This meeting was sponsored by the US DOE, Office of Health and Environmental Research, Office of Energy Research. The program chairman was Richard C. Reba, M.D.

  18. 76 FR 59147 - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Notice of Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-23

    ... Environmental Health Sciences Notice of Meetings Pursuant to section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act... Development in the Environmental Health Sciences; 93.113, Biological Response to Environmental Health Hazards... Environmental Research Coordinating Committee. The meetings will be open to the public, with attendance limited...

  19. 77 FR 64148 - Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Regulatory...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-18

    ... Regulatory Guides (RG) RG 1.79, ````Preoperational Testing of Emergency Core Cooling Systems for Pressurized Water Reactors,'' Revision 2 and RG 1.79.1, ``Initial Test Program of Emergency Core Cooling Systems for...

  20. Regulatory cascade and biological activity of Beauveria bassiana oosporein that limits bacterial growth after host death.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Yanhua; Liu, Xi; Keyhani, Nemat O; Tang, Guirong; Pei, Yan; Zhang, Wenwen; Tong, Sheng

    2017-02-28

    The regulatory network and biological functions of the fungal secondary metabolite oosporein have remained obscure. Beauveria bassiana has evolved the ability to parasitize insects and outcompete microbial challengers for assimilation of host nutrients. A novel zinc finger transcription factor, BbSmr1 ( B. bassiana secondary metabolite regulator 1), was identified in a screen for oosporein overproduction. Deletion of Bbsmr1 resulted in up-regulation of the oosporein biosynthetic gene cluster ( OpS genes) and constitutive oosporein production. Oosporein production was abolished in double mutants of Bbsmr1 and a second transcription factor, OpS3 , within the oosporein gene cluster ( ΔBbsmr1ΔOpS3 ), indicating that BbSmr1 acts as a negative regulator of OpS3 expression. Real-time quantitative PCR and a GFP promoter fusion construct of OpS1 , the oosporein polyketide synthase, indicated that OpS1 is expressed mainly in insect cadavers at 24-48 h after death. Bacterial colony analysis in B. bassiana -infected insect hosts revealed increasing counts until host death, with a dramatic decrease (∼90%) after death that correlated with oosporein production. In vitro studies verified the inhibitory activity of oosporein against bacteria derived from insect cadavers. These results suggest that oosporein acts as an antimicrobial compound to limit microbial competition on B. bassiana -killed hosts, allowing the fungus to maximally use host nutrients to grow and sporulate on infected cadavers.

  1. 77 FR 11532 - Notice of Attendance at ISO New England and NEPOOL Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of Attendance at ISO New England... members of the Commission and Commission staff may attend upcoming ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE) and New..., the Commission and Commission staff may monitor the various meetings posted on the ISO-NE Web site...

  2. 78 FR 16849 - Alaska Energy Authority; Notice of Dispute Resolution Panel Meeting and Technical Conference

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 14241-000] Alaska Energy Authority; Notice of Dispute Resolution Panel Meeting and Technical Conference On March 8, 2013, Commission staff, in response to the filing of a notice of [[Page 16850

  3. 1988-year of high integrity container evaluation, controversy and regulatory action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, D.

    1989-01-01

    During 1988, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) completed review of and prepared technical evaluation reports on several topical reports describing containers designed to meet the 10CFR61 requirements for high integrity containers (HICs). An all metal Ferralium container and a stainless steel/polyethylene lined container were approved by the NRC. However, the NRC did not approve any containers designed from polyethylene material. The NRC staff concluded that polyethylene containers do not meet the structural stability requirements of Part 61, and unless they are combined with some engineered structure or overpack, they are not adequate for disposal of low-level radioactive wastes that require disposal in a structurally stable form. In conflict with these NRC findings, the State of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) has given interim approval for continued use of polyethylene containers at the Barnwell disposal site with some restrictions on how the containers are buried depending on the classification of the waste. This paper reviews the applicable federal regulations, presents a chronology of events describing how the controversy over high integrity containers evolved from 1980 to 1989, summarizes the technical issues involved and suggests an approach that waste generators should follow during this situation of regulatory uncertainty

  4. Modeling Dynamic Regulatory Processes in Stroke

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDermott, Jason E.; Jarman, Kenneth; Taylor, Ronald; Lancaster, Mary; Shankaran, Harish; Vartanian, Keri B.; Stevens, Susan L.; Stenzel-Poore, Mary P.; Sanfilippo, Antonio

    2012-01-01

    The ability to examine the behavior of biological systems in silico has the potential to greatly accelerate the pace of discovery in diseases, such as stroke, where in vivo analysis is time intensive and costly. In this paper we describe an approach for in silico examination of responses of the blood transcriptome to neuroprotective agents and subsequent stroke through the development of dynamic models of the regulatory processes observed in the experimental gene expression data. First, we identified functional gene clusters from these data. Next, we derived ordinary differential equations (ODEs) from the data relating these functional clusters to each other in terms of their regulatory influence on one another. Dynamic models were developed by coupling these ODEs into a model that simulates the expression of regulated functional clusters. By changing the magnitude of gene expression in the initial input state it was possible to assess the behavior of the networks through time under varying conditions since the dynamic model only requires an initial starting state, and does not require measurement of regulatory influences at each time point in order to make accurate predictions. We discuss the implications of our models on neuroprotection in stroke, explore the limitations of the approach, and report that an optimized dynamic model can provide accurate predictions of overall system behavior under several different neuroprotective paradigms. PMID:23071432

  5. Using hexamers to predict cis-regulatory motifs in Drosophila

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kibler Dennis

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cis-regulatory modules (CRMs are short stretches of DNA that help regulate gene expression in higher eukaryotes. They have been found up to 1 megabase away from the genes they regulate and can be located upstream, downstream, and even within their target genes. Due to the difficulty of finding CRMs using biological and computational techniques, even well-studied regulatory systems may contain CRMs that have not yet been discovered. Results We present a simple, efficient method (HexDiff based only on hexamer frequencies of known CRMs and non-CRM sequence to predict novel CRMs in regulatory systems. On a data set of 16 gap and pair-rule genes containing 52 known CRMs, predictions made by HexDiff had a higher correlation with the known CRMs than several existing CRM prediction algorithms: Ahab, Cluster Buster, MSCAN, MCAST, and LWF. After combining the results of the different algorithms, 10 putative CRMs were identified and are strong candidates for future study. The hexamers used by HexDiff to distinguish between CRMs and non-CRM sequence were also analyzed and were shown to be enriched in regulatory elements. Conclusion HexDiff provides an efficient and effective means for finding new CRMs based on known CRMs, rather than known binding sites.

  6. 76 FR 30093 - Effectiveness Indications Statements in Veterinary Biologics Labeling; Notice of Public Meeting...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-24

    ... stakeholders, APHIS has developed a draft policy guideline (concept paper) concerning the wording of... interested individuals, that we will be holding a public meeting to discuss a draft guideline (concept paper... concept paper available for review and comment. DATES: The public meeting will be held on Thursday, June...

  7. 76 FR 7610 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated; Notice of Filing of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-10

    ... Executive Committee may need to make the decision. The CBOE Board is fully informed of any decision made by.... This approach simplifies the process of scheduling and conducting meetings and allows the Boards and... finding or (ii) as to which the self-regulatory organization consents, the Commission will: (A) By order...

  8. 76 FR 39812 - Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.; Regulatory Status of Kentucky Bluegrass Genetically Engineered for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-07

    ... engineered for herbicide tolerance without the use of plant pest components, does not meet the definition of... Environmental Analysis Branch, Biotechnology Regulatory Services, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 147, Riverdale... introduction of a plant pest or noxious weed into the United States or dissemination of a plant pest or noxious...

  9. Meeting nuclear utilities manpower needs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sillin, L.F. Jr.

    1982-01-01

    The nuclear-power industry must attract and train 57,000 employees during the next decade, according to a survey which found a high rate of personnel turnover, 8790 unfilled positions, and 75 new plants scheduled to come on line. The Institute of Nuclear Power Operators (INPO) and the industry need to address personnel planning to find out how to meet these needs. Studies indicate a history of on-site staffing and training deficiencies. Regulatory requirements also contribute to manpower shortages. This article examines manpower problems and suggests initiatives the industry can take to support educational programs, expand training, provide employee incentives, and pool technical resources. 7 tables

  10. An approach for reduction of false predictions in reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Abhinandan; Saha, Goutam; Pal, Rajat Kumar

    2018-05-14

    A gene regulatory network discloses the regulatory interactions amongst genes, at a particular condition of the human body. The accurate reconstruction of such networks from time-series genetic expression data using computational tools offers a stiff challenge for contemporary computer scientists. This is crucial to facilitate the understanding of the proper functioning of a living organism. Unfortunately, the computational methods produce many false predictions along with the correct predictions, which is unwanted. Investigations in the domain focus on the identification of as many correct regulations as possible in the reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks to make it more reliable and biologically relevant. One way to achieve this is to reduce the number of incorrect predictions in the reconstructed networks. In the present investigation, we have proposed a novel scheme to decrease the number of false predictions by suitably combining several metaheuristic techniques. We have implemented the same using a dataset ensemble approach (i.e. combining multiple datasets) also. We have employed the proposed methodology on real-world experimental datasets of the SOS DNA Repair network of Escherichia coli and the IMRA network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Subsequently, we have experimented upon somewhat larger, in silico networks, namely, DREAM3 and DREAM4 Challenge networks, and 15-gene and 20-gene networks extracted from the GeneNetWeaver database. To study the effect of multiple datasets on the quality of the inferred networks, we have used four datasets in each experiment. The obtained results are encouraging enough as the proposed methodology can reduce the number of false predictions significantly, without using any supplementary prior biological information for larger gene regulatory networks. It is also observed that if a small amount of prior biological information is incorporated here, the results improve further w.r.t. the prediction of true positives

  11. Synthetic biology and occupational risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, John; Murashov, Vladimir; Schulte, Paul

    2017-03-01

    Synthetic biology is an emerging interdisciplinary field of biotechnology that involves applying the principles of engineering and chemical design to biological systems. Biosafety professionals have done an excellent job in addressing research laboratory safety as synthetic biology and gene editing have emerged from the larger field of biotechnology. Despite these efforts, risks posed by synthetic biology are of increasing concern as research procedures scale up to industrial processes in the larger bioeconomy. A greater number and variety of workers will be exposed to commercial synthetic biology risks in the future, including risks to a variety of workers from the use of lentiviral vectors as gene transfer devices. There is a need to review and enhance current protection measures in the field of synthetic biology, whether in experimental laboratories where new advances are being researched, in health care settings where treatments using viral vectors as gene delivery systems are increasingly being used, or in the industrial bioeconomy. Enhanced worker protection measures should include increased injury and illness surveillance of the synthetic biology workforce; proactive risk assessment and management of synthetic biology products; research on the relative effectiveness of extrinsic and intrinsic biocontainment methods; specific safety guidance for synthetic biology industrial processes; determination of appropriate medical mitigation measures for lentiviral vector exposure incidents; and greater awareness and involvement in synthetic biology safety by the general occupational safety and health community as well as by government occupational safety and health research and regulatory agencies.

  12. Reconstruction of gene regulatory modules from RNA silencing of IFN-α modulators: experimental set-up and inference method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grassi, Angela; Di Camillo, Barbara; Ciccarese, Francesco; Agnusdei, Valentina; Zanovello, Paola; Amadori, Alberto; Finesso, Lorenzo; Indraccolo, Stefano; Toffolo, Gianna Maria

    2016-03-12

    Inference of gene regulation from expression data may help to unravel regulatory mechanisms involved in complex diseases or in the action of specific drugs. A challenging task for many researchers working in the field of systems biology is to build up an experiment with a limited budget and produce a dataset suitable to reconstruct putative regulatory modules worth of biological validation. Here, we focus on small-scale gene expression screens and we introduce a novel experimental set-up and a customized method of analysis to make inference on regulatory modules starting from genetic perturbation data, e.g. knockdown and overexpression data. To illustrate the utility of our strategy, it was applied to produce and analyze a dataset of quantitative real-time RT-PCR data, in which interferon-α (IFN-α) transcriptional response in endothelial cells is investigated by RNA silencing of two candidate IFN-α modulators, STAT1 and IFIH1. A putative regulatory module was reconstructed by our method, revealing an intriguing feed-forward loop, in which STAT1 regulates IFIH1 and they both negatively regulate IFNAR1. STAT1 regulation on IFNAR1 was object of experimental validation at the protein level. Detailed description of the experimental set-up and of the analysis procedure is reported, with the intent to be of inspiration for other scientists who want to realize similar experiments to reconstruct gene regulatory modules starting from perturbations of possible regulators. Application of our approach to the study of IFN-α transcriptional response modulators in endothelial cells has led to many interesting novel findings and new biological hypotheses worth of validation.

  13. Investigation of miRNA Biology by Bioinformatic Tools and Impact of miRNAs in Colorectal Cancer: Regulatory Relationship of c-Myc and p53 with miRNAs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaguang Xi

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available MicroRNAs (miRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs that mediate gene expression at the posttranscriptional and translational levels and have been demonstrated to be involved in diverse biological functions. Mounting evidence in recent years has shown that miRNAs play key roles in tumorigenesis due to abnormal expression of and mutations in miRNAs. High throughput miRNA expression profiling of several major tumor types has identified miRNAs associated with clinical diagnosis and prognosis of cancer treatment. Previously our group has discovered a novel regulatory relationship between tumor suppressor gene p53 with miRNAs expression and a number of miRNA promoters contain putative p53 binding sites. In addition, others have reported that c-myc can mediate a large number of miRNAs expression. In this review, we will emphasize algorithms to identify mRNA targets of miRNAs and the roles of miRNAs in colorectal cancer. In particular, we will discuss a novel regulatory relationship of miRNAs with tumor suppressor p53 and c-myc. miRNAs are becoming promising novel targets and biomarkers for future cancer therapeutic development and clinical molecular diagnosis.

  14. Furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural tolerance in Escherichia coli ΔacrR regulatory mutants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luhe, Annette Lin; Lim, Chan Yuen; Gerken, Henri; Wu, Jinchuan; Zhao, Hua

    2015-01-01

    The presence of the highly toxic furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the hydrolysate of lignocellulosic biomass prompted the investigation of the Escherichia coli ΔacrR regulatory mutant for higher tolerance to these compounds, to facilitate the production of biofuels and biochemicals, and further biocatalytic conversions. In comparison with the parental strain, the regulatory mutant with the upregulated efflux pump AcrAB-TolC produced moderately better growth and higher tolerance to concentrations of furfural and HMF between 1 and 2 g L(-1) . © 2014 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  15. 14. Annual meeting of the European Society of Radiobiology and the symposium of the European Late Effects Project Group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charles, M.W.

    1979-03-01

    In October 1978 the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the European Society of Radiation Biology (ESRB) and a symposium of the European Late Effects Project Group (EULEP) were held consecutively at the Kernforchungsanlage (KFA), Julich, FDR. The EULEP meeting was convened to specifically discuss the biological basis of the recommendations of publication 26 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The programme of the ESRB Meeting also reflected the present interest in radiological protection. A short summary of these meetings is presented. Details of the two meetings are given in appendices which should form an introduction to, and resume of, recent developments in this field. (author)

  16. Discussion of Regulatory Guide 7.10, emphasizing the graded approach for establishing QA programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gordon, L.; Lake, W.H.

    1983-01-01

    To assist applicants in establishing an acceptable QA program to meet the programmatic elements of Appendix E to 10 CFR Part 71, Regulatory Guide 7.10 was developed. Regulatory Guide 7.10 is organized in three self-contained ANNEXES. Guidance applicable to designer/fabricators, to users, and users of radiographic devices are in separate annexes. QA programs for packaging to transport radioactive material are similar in regard to the various operations a licensee may be involved in. However, the appropriate QA/QC effort to verify the program elements may vary significantly. This is referred to as the graded approach. Appendix A in the guide addresses the graded approach

  17. Plant biology in the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazzaz, F A

    2001-05-08

    In the beginning of modern plant biology, plant biologists followed a simple model for their science. This model included important branches of plant biology known then. Of course, plants had to be identified and classified first. Thus, there was much work on taxonomy, genetics, and physiology. Ecology and evolution were approached implicitly, rather than explicitly, through paleobotany, taxonomy, morphology, and historical geography. However, the burgeoning explosion of knowledge and great advances in molecular biology, e.g., to the extent that genes for specific traits can be added (or deleted) at will, have created a revolution in the study of plants. Genomics in agriculture has made it possible to address many important issues in crop production by the identification and manipulation of genes in crop plants. The current model of plant study differs from the previous one in that it places greater emphasis on developmental controls and on evolution by differential fitness. In a rapidly changing environment, the current model also explicitly considers the phenotypic variation among individuals on which selection operates. These are calls for the unity of science. In fact, the proponents of "Complexity Theory" think there are common algorithms describing all levels of organization, from atoms all the way to the structure of the universe, and that when these are discovered, the issue of scaling will be greatly simplified! Plant biology must seriously contribute to, among other things, meeting the nutritional needs of the human population. This challenge constitutes a key part of the backdrop against which future evolution will occur. Genetic engineering technologies are and will continue to be an important component of agriculture; however, we must consider the evolutionary implications of these new technologies. Meeting these demands requires drastic changes in the undergraduate curriculum. Students of biology should be trained in molecular, cellular, organismal

  18. Revolution in New Zealand's Radiation Protection Legislation and Evolution and Continual Improvement in its Regulatory Authority

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smyth, V.

    2004-01-01

    The safe use of ionising radiation in New Zealand is regulated by the Radiation Protection Act 1965 and the Radiation Protection Regulations 1982, which are administered by the National Radiation Laboratory (NRL). This legislation is now out of date and creates difficulties for New Zealand in meeting international standards of radiation safety and security, and complying with obligations under international treaties. These problems can be addressed by new legislation that would change the powers and functions of the regulatory authority, and change the responsibilities of licensees under the Act. However historically NRL has provided radiation services as well as acting as regulatory authority. This has the potential to create a conflict of interest in making regulatory judgements. Over the preceding 50 years NRL has undergone an evolution that has resulted in a clarification of the regulatory functions, and development of a quality management system that is now accredited to ISO standards. This paper presents a possible structure of a new Act, and discusses the role of quality management in maintaining the independence of regulatory authority. (Author)

  19. Feather development genes and associated regulatory innovation predate the origin of Dinosauria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowe, Craig B; Clarke, Julia A; Baker, Allan J; Haussler, David; Edwards, Scott V

    2015-01-01

    The evolution of avian feathers has recently been illuminated by fossils and the identification of genes involved in feather patterning and morphogenesis. However, molecular studies have focused mainly on protein-coding genes. Using comparative genomics and more than 600,000 conserved regulatory elements, we show that patterns of genome evolution in the vicinity of feather genes are consistent with a major role for regulatory innovation in the evolution of feathers. Rates of innovation at feather regulatory elements exhibit an extended period of innovation with peaks in the ancestors of amniotes and archosaurs. We estimate that 86% of such regulatory elements and 100% of the nonkeratin feather gene set were present prior to the origin of Dinosauria. On the branch leading to modern birds, we detect a strong signal of regulatory innovation near insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP) 2 and IGFBP5, which have roles in body size reduction, and may represent a genomic signature for the miniaturization of dinosaurian body size preceding the origin of flight. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  20. Networks in Cell Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchanan, Mark; Caldarelli, Guido; De Los Rios, Paolo; Rao, Francesco; Vendruscolo, Michele

    2010-05-01

    Introduction; 1. Network views of the cell Paolo De Los Rios and Michele Vendruscolo; 2. Transcriptional regulatory networks Sarath Chandra Janga and M. Madan Babu; 3. Transcription factors and gene regulatory networks Matteo Brilli, Elissa Calistri and Pietro Lió; 4. Experimental methods for protein interaction identification Peter Uetz, Björn Titz, Seesandra V. Rajagopala and Gerard Cagney; 5. Modeling protein interaction networks Francesco Rao; 6. Dynamics and evolution of metabolic networks Daniel Segré; 7. Hierarchical modularity in biological networks: the case of metabolic networks Erzsébet Ravasz Regan; 8. Signalling networks Gian Paolo Rossini; Appendix 1. Complex networks: from local to global properties D. Garlaschelli and G. Caldarelli; Appendix 2. Modelling the local structure of networks D. Garlaschelli and G. Caldarelli; Appendix 3. Higher-order topological properties S. Ahnert, T. Fink and G. Caldarelli; Appendix 4. Elementary mathematical concepts A. Gabrielli and G. Caldarelli; References.

  1. Comparing genomes to computer operating systems in terms of the topology and evolution of their regulatory control networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Koon-Kiu; Fang, Gang; Bhardwaj, Nitin; Alexander, Roger P; Gerstein, Mark

    2010-05-18

    The genome has often been called the operating system (OS) for a living organism. A computer OS is described by a regulatory control network termed the call graph, which is analogous to the transcriptional regulatory network in a cell. To apply our firsthand knowledge of the architecture of software systems to understand cellular design principles, we present a comparison between the transcriptional regulatory network of a well-studied bacterium (Escherichia coli) and the call graph of a canonical OS (Linux) in terms of topology and evolution. We show that both networks have a fundamentally hierarchical layout, but there is a key difference: The transcriptional regulatory network possesses a few global regulators at the top and many targets at the bottom; conversely, the call graph has many regulators controlling a small set of generic functions. This top-heavy organization leads to highly overlapping functional modules in the call graph, in contrast to the relatively independent modules in the regulatory network. We further develop a way to measure evolutionary rates comparably between the two networks and explain this difference in terms of network evolution. The process of biological evolution via random mutation and subsequent selection tightly constrains the evolution of regulatory network hubs. The call graph, however, exhibits rapid evolution of its highly connected generic components, made possible by designers' continual fine-tuning. These findings stem from the design principles of the two systems: robustness for biological systems and cost effectiveness (reuse) for software systems.

  2. Transactions of the twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Monteleone, S. [comp.

    1997-09-01

    This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 25th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, October 20--22, 1997. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion of information exchanged during the course of the meeting, and are given in order of their presentation in each session.

  3. Transactions of the twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monteleone, S.

    1997-09-01

    This report contains summaries of papers on reactor safety research to be presented at the 25th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, October 20--22, 1997. The summaries briefly describe the programs and results of nuclear safety research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US NRC. Summaries of invited papers concerning nuclear safety issues from US government laboratories, the electric utilities, the nuclear industry, and from foreign governments and industry are also included. The summaries have been compiled in one report to provide a basis for meaningful discussion of information exchanged during the course of the meeting, and are given in order of their presentation in each session

  4. Consistent robustness analysis (CRA) identifies biologically relevant properties of regulatory network models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saithong, Treenut; Painter, Kevin J; Millar, Andrew J

    2010-12-16

    A number of studies have previously demonstrated that "goodness of fit" is insufficient in reliably classifying the credibility of a biological model. Robustness and/or sensitivity analysis is commonly employed as a secondary method for evaluating the suitability of a particular model. The results of such analyses invariably depend on the particular parameter set tested, yet many parameter values for biological models are uncertain. Here, we propose a novel robustness analysis that aims to determine the "common robustness" of the model with multiple, biologically plausible parameter sets, rather than the local robustness for a particular parameter set. Our method is applied to two published models of the Arabidopsis circadian clock (the one-loop [1] and two-loop [2] models). The results reinforce current findings suggesting the greater reliability of the two-loop model and pinpoint the crucial role of TOC1 in the circadian network. Consistent Robustness Analysis can indicate both the relative plausibility of different models and also the critical components and processes controlling each model.

  5. Proceedings of the Conference and Symposium Korean Association for Radiation Protection Spring Meeting 2013

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-04-15

    This proceedings contains articles of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Spring Meeting, 2013. It was held on Apr.24-26, 2013 Hotel Hyundai Mokpo in Mokpo, Korea and subject of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Spring Meeting 2013. This proceedings is comprised of 6 sessions. The main topic titles of session are as follows: Medical treatment and Biology 1, Measurement and Analysis 1, Radiation protection1, Medical treatment and Biology 2, Measurement and Analysis 2, Radiation protection 2.

  6. Proceedings of the Conference and Symposium Korean Association for Radiation Protection Fall Meeting 2013

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-11-15

    This proceedings contains articles of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Fall Meeting, 2013. It was held on Nov.20-22, 2013 Ramada Plaza Hotel in Suwon, Korea and subject of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Fall Meeting 2013. This proceedings is comprised of 7 sessions. The main topic titles of session are as follows: Medical treatment and Biology 1, Measurement and Analysis 1, Radiation protection1, Medical treatment and Biology 2, Measurement and Analysis 2, Radiation protection 2, Radiation protection 3.

  7. The regulatory function in radioactive waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duncan, A.; Pescatore, C.

    2008-01-01

    Allan Duncan, expert to NEA and former Chief Inspector for Pollution (United Kingdom), elaborated on the regulatory function in the domain of radioactive waste management. The preparation of a document and a brochure on the subject has been one of the main tasks of the Regulators' Forum since its creation in 2001. He stressed that management of NORM waste was generally subject to different standards than similar radioactive waste from a nuclear source, for no obvious reason than that of public perception. He also pointed out the large number of 'regulatory bodies' involved in the regulation of radioactive waste management facilities and particularly geological disposal facilities, and their links to the Government. He gave the example of the United Kingdom. He stressed the fact that, since there will not be continuous control, licensing of geological disposal is an act of trust in the regulatory system. A. Duncan gave the position of two Commissions in England on deep geological disposal. The UK Sustainable Development Commission says, 'it is impossible to guarantee safety over long-term disposal of (nuclear) waste' which implies that nuclear fission power should be shut down; CoRWM, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, recommends instead geological disposal for existing wastes as a broadly acceptable solution. As a concluding remark A. Duncan focused the attention on the general question of what current society needs to do in order to meet its obligations to future generations with respect to disposal of long-lived wastes. (authors)

  8. Dynamic Regulatory Network Reconstruction for Alzheimer’s Disease Based on Matrix Decomposition Techniques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Kong

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Alzheimer’s disease (AD is the most common form of dementia and leads to irreversible neurodegenerative damage of the brain. Finding the dynamic responses of genes, signaling proteins, transcription factor (TF activities, and regulatory networks of the progressively deteriorative progress of AD would represent a significant advance in discovering the pathogenesis of AD. However, the high throughput technologies of measuring TF activities are not yet available on a genome-wide scale. In this study, based on DNA microarray gene expression data and a priori information of TFs, network component analysis (NCA algorithm is applied to determining the TF activities and regulatory influences on TGs of incipient, moderate, and severe AD. Based on that, the dynamical gene regulatory networks of the deteriorative courses of AD were reconstructed. To select significant genes which are differentially expressed in different courses of AD, independent component analysis (ICA, which is better than the traditional clustering methods and can successfully group one gene in different meaningful biological processes, was used. The molecular biological analysis showed that the changes of TF activities and interactions of signaling proteins in mitosis, cell cycle, immune response, and inflammation play an important role in the deterioration of AD.

  9. Mathematical methods in biology and neurobiology

    CERN Document Server

    Jost, Jürgen

    2014-01-01

    Mathematical models can be used to meet many of the challenges and opportunities offered by modern biology. The description of biological phenomena requires a range of mathematical theories. This is the case particularly for the emerging field of systems biology. Mathematical Methods in Biology and Neurobiology introduces and develops these mathematical structures and methods in a systematic manner. It studies:   • discrete structures and graph theory • stochastic processes • dynamical systems and partial differential equations • optimization and the calculus of variations.   The biological applications range from molecular to evolutionary and ecological levels, for example:   • cellular reaction kinetics and gene regulation • biological pattern formation and chemotaxis • the biophysics and dynamics of neurons • the coding of information in neuronal systems • phylogenetic tree reconstruction • branching processes and population genetics • optimal resource allocation • sexual recombi...

  10. Safety of and regulations for nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Report of a technical committee meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-05-01

    In order to compile information on the nature of the safety concerns and current status of the regulations concerning nuclear fuel cycle facilities in Member States, an IAEA Technical Committee meeting on this topic was convened from 8 to 12 May 2000 in Vienna. The present publication contains the results of this meeting. The contributions of the participants in Annex 3 exemplify the work done in some Member States to develop an adequate regulatory framework to oversee the safe operation of these facilities

  11. Deciphering the genetic regulatory code using an inverse error control coding framework.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rintoul, Mark Daniel; May, Elebeoba Eni; Brown, William Michael; Johnston, Anna Marie; Watson, Jean-Paul

    2005-03-01

    We have found that developing a computational framework for reconstructing error control codes for engineered data and ultimately for deciphering genetic regulatory coding sequences is a challenging and uncharted area that will require advances in computational technology for exact solutions. Although exact solutions are desired, computational approaches that yield plausible solutions would be considered sufficient as a proof of concept to the feasibility of reverse engineering error control codes and the possibility of developing a quantitative model for understanding and engineering genetic regulation. Such evidence would help move the idea of reconstructing error control codes for engineered and biological systems from the high risk high payoff realm into the highly probable high payoff domain. Additionally this work will impact biological sensor development and the ability to model and ultimately develop defense mechanisms against bioagents that can be engineered to cause catastrophic damage. Understanding how biological organisms are able to communicate their genetic message efficiently in the presence of noise can improve our current communication protocols, a continuing research interest. Towards this end, project goals include: (1) Develop parameter estimation methods for n for block codes and for n, k, and m for convolutional codes. Use methods to determine error control (EC) code parameters for gene regulatory sequence. (2) Develop an evolutionary computing computational framework for near-optimal solutions to the algebraic code reconstruction problem. Method will be tested on engineered and biological sequences.

  12. Comparison of evolutionary algorithms in gene regulatory network model inference.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    2010-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The evolution of high throughput technologies that measure gene expression levels has created a data base for inferring GRNs (a process also known as reverse engineering of GRNs). However, the nature of these data has made this process very difficult. At the moment, several methods of discovering qualitative causal relationships between genes with high accuracy from microarray data exist, but large scale quantitative analysis on real biological datasets cannot be performed, to date, as existing approaches are not suitable for real microarray data which are noisy and insufficient. RESULTS: This paper performs an analysis of several existing evolutionary algorithms for quantitative gene regulatory network modelling. The aim is to present the techniques used and offer a comprehensive comparison of approaches, under a common framework. Algorithms are applied to both synthetic and real gene expression data from DNA microarrays, and ability to reproduce biological behaviour, scalability and robustness to noise are assessed and compared. CONCLUSIONS: Presented is a comparison framework for assessment of evolutionary algorithms, used to infer gene regulatory networks. Promising methods are identified and a platform for development of appropriate model formalisms is established.

  13. 76 FR 16405 - Notice of Attendance at PJM INterconnection, L.L.C., Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-23

    ... INterconnection, L.L.C., Meetings The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) hereby gives notice that members of the Commission and Commission staff may attend upcoming PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., (PJM...: Docket No. EL05-121, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. Docket No. ER06-456, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. Docket...

  14. 78 FR 19259 - Notice of Attendance at PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-29

    ... Interconnection, L.L.C. Meetings The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) hereby gives notice that members of the Commission and Commission staff may attend upcoming PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM... proceedings: Docket No. EL05-121, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. Docket No. EL08-14, Black Oak Energy LLC, et al...

  15. Mining biological networks from full-text articles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czarnecki, Jan; Shepherd, Adrian J

    2014-01-01

    The study of biological networks is playing an increasingly important role in the life sciences. Many different kinds of biological system can be modelled as networks; perhaps the most important examples are protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, metabolic pathways, gene regulatory networks, and signalling networks. Although much useful information is easily accessible in publicly databases, a lot of extra relevant data lies scattered in numerous published papers. Hence there is a pressing need for automated text-mining methods capable of extracting such information from full-text articles. Here we present practical guidelines for constructing a text-mining pipeline from existing code and software components capable of extracting PPI networks from full-text articles. This approach can be adapted to tackle other types of biological network.

  16. Cis-regulatory somatic mutations and gene-expression alteration in B-cell lymphomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathelier, Anthony; Lefebvre, Calvin; Zhang, Allen W; Arenillas, David J; Ding, Jiarui; Wasserman, Wyeth W; Shah, Sohrab P

    2015-04-23

    With the rapid increase of whole-genome sequencing of human cancers, an important opportunity to analyze and characterize somatic mutations lying within cis-regulatory regions has emerged. A focus on protein-coding regions to identify nonsense or missense mutations disruptive to protein structure and/or function has led to important insights; however, the impact on gene expression of mutations lying within cis-regulatory regions remains under-explored. We analyzed somatic mutations from 84 matched tumor-normal whole genomes from B-cell lymphomas with accompanying gene expression measurements to elucidate the extent to which these cancers are disrupted by cis-regulatory mutations. We characterize mutations overlapping a high quality set of well-annotated transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), covering a similar portion of the genome as protein-coding exons. Our results indicate that cis-regulatory mutations overlapping predicted TFBSs are enriched in promoter regions of genes involved in apoptosis or growth/proliferation. By integrating gene expression data with mutation data, our computational approach culminates with identification of cis-regulatory mutations most likely to participate in dysregulation of the gene expression program. The impact can be measured along with protein-coding mutations to highlight key mutations disrupting gene expression and pathways in cancer. Our study yields specific genes with disrupted expression triggered by genomic mutations in either the coding or the regulatory space. It implies that mutated regulatory components of the genome contribute substantially to cancer pathways. Our analyses demonstrate that identifying genomically altered cis-regulatory elements coupled with analysis of gene expression data will augment biological interpretation of mutational landscapes of cancers.

  17. An enhanced computational platform for investigating the roles of regulatory RNA and for identifying functional RNA motifs

    OpenAIRE

    Chang, Tzu-Hao; Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Hsu, Justin Bo-Kai; Weng, Shun-Long; Horng, Jorng-Tzong; Huang, Hsien-Da

    2013-01-01

    Background Functional RNA molecules participate in numerous biological processes, ranging from gene regulation to protein synthesis. Analysis of functional RNA motifs and elements in RNA sequences can obtain useful information for deciphering RNA regulatory mechanisms. Our previous work, RegRNA, is widely used in the identification of regulatory motifs, and this work extends it by incorporating more comprehensive and updated data sources and analytical approaches into a new platform. Methods ...

  18. Contemporary issues in evolutionary biology

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    We are delighted to bring to the readers, a set of peer-reviewed papers on evolutionary biology, published as a special issue of the Journal of Genetics. These papers emanated from ruminations upon and discussions at the Foundations of. Evolutionary Theory: the Ongoing Synthesis meeting at Coorg, India, in February ...

  19. LmSmdB: an integrated database for metabolic and gene regulatory network in Leishmania major and Schistosoma mansoni

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Priyanka Patel

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available A database that integrates all the information required for biological processing is essential to be stored in one platform. We have attempted to create one such integrated database that can be a one stop shop for the essential features required to fetch valuable result. LmSmdB (L. major and S. mansoni database is an integrated database that accounts for the biological networks and regulatory pathways computationally determined by integrating the knowledge of the genome sequences of the mentioned organisms. It is the first database of its kind that has together with the network designing showed the simulation pattern of the product. This database intends to create a comprehensive canopy for the regulation of lipid metabolism reaction in the parasite by integrating the transcription factors, regulatory genes and the protein products controlled by the transcription factors and hence operating the metabolism at genetic level. Keywords: L.major, S.mansoni, Regulatory networks, Transcription factors, Database

  20. 76 FR 17617 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-30

    ... assessments, biosafety requirements, and security measures. DATES: The meeting will be held on May 10, 2011...) and other interested individuals to obtain specific regulatory guidance and information on standards concerning biosafety and biosecurity issues related to the Federal Select Agent Program. CDC, APHIS, and FBI...

  1. Regulating the path from legacy recognition, through recovery to release from regulatory control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sneve, Malgorzata Karpow; Smith, Graham

    2015-04-01

    Past development of processes and technologies using radioactive material led to construction of many facilities worldwide. Some of these facilities were built and operated before the regulatory infrastructure was in place to ensure adequate control of radioactive material during operation and decommissioning. In other cases, controls were in place but did not meet modern standards, leading to what is now considered to have been inadequate control. Accidents and other events have occurred resulting in loss of control of radioactive material and unplanned releases to the environment. The legacy from these circumstances is that many countries have areas or facilities at which abnormal radiation conditions exist at levels that give rise to concerns about environmental and human health of potential interest to regulatory authorities. Regulation of these legacy situations is complex. This paper examines the regulatory challenges associated with such legacy management and brings forward suggestions for finding the path from: legacy recognition; implementation, as necessary, of urgent mitigation measures; development of a longer-term management strategy, through to release from regulatory control. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  2. Nanobiotechnology meets plant cell biology: Carbon nanotubes as organelle targeting nanocarriers

    KAUST Repository

    Serag, Maged F.; Kaji, Noritada; Habuchi, Satoshi; Bianco, Alberto; Baba, Yoshinobu

    2013-01-01

    For years, nanotechnology has shown great promise in the fields of biomedical and biotechnological sciences and medical research. In this review, we demonstrate its versatility and applicability in plant cell biology studies. Specifically, we discuss the ability of functionalized carbon nanotubes to penetrate the plant cell wall, target specific organelles, probe protein-carrier activity and induce organelle recycling in plant cells. We also, shed light on prospective applications of carbon nanomaterials in cell biology and plant cell transformation. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

  3. Debate on GMOs health risks after statistical findings in regulatory tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Vendômois, Joël Spiroux; Cellier, Dominique; Vélot, Christian; Clair, Emilie; Mesnage, Robin; Séralini, Gilles-Eric

    2010-10-05

    We summarize the major points of international debate on health risk studies for the main commercialized edible GMOs. These GMOs are soy, maize and oilseed rape designed to contain new pesticide residues since they have been modified to be herbicide-tolerant (mostly to Roundup) or to produce mutated Bt toxins. The debated alimentary chronic risks may come from unpredictable insertional mutagenesis effects, metabolic effects, or from the new pesticide residues. The most detailed regulatory tests on the GMOs are three-month long feeding trials of laboratory rats, which are biochemically assessed. The tests are not compulsory, and are not independently conducted. The test data and the corresponding results are kept in secret by the companies. Our previous analyses of regulatory raw data at these levels, taking the representative examples of three GM maize NK 603, MON 810, and MON 863 led us to conclude that hepatorenal toxicities were possible, and that longer testing was necessary. Our study was criticized by the company developing the GMOs in question and the regulatory bodies, mainly on the divergent biological interpretations of statistically significant biochemical and physiological effects. We present the scientific reasons for the crucially different biological interpretations and also highlight the shortcomings in the experimental protocols designed by the company. The debate implies an enormous responsibility towards public health and is essential due to nonexistent traceability or epidemiological studies in the GMO-producing countries.

  4. CFD analyses in regulatory practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bloemeling, F.; Pandazis, P.; Schaffrath, A.

    2012-01-01

    Numerical software is used in nuclear regulatory procedures for many problems in the fields of neutron physics, structural mechanics, thermal hydraulics etc. Among other things, the software is employed in dimensioning and designing systems and components and in simulating transients and accidents. In nuclear technology, analyses of this kind must meet strict requirements. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes were developed for computing multidimensional flow processes of the type occurring in reactor cooling systems or in containments. Extensive experience has been accumulated by now in selected single-phase flow phenomena. At the present time, there is a need for development and validation with respect to the simulation of multi-phase and multi-component flows. As insufficient input by the user can lead to faulty results, the validity of the results and an assessment of uncertainties are guaranteed only through consistent application of so-called Best Practice Guidelines. The authors present the possibilities now available to CFD analyses in nuclear regulatory practice. This includes a discussion of the fundamental requirements to be met by numerical software, especially the demands upon computational analysis made by nuclear rules and regulations. In conclusion, 2 examples are presented of applications of CFD analysis to nuclear problems: Determining deboration in the condenser reflux mode of operation, and protection of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) against brittle failure. (orig.)

  5. Characterization of WRKY co-regulatory networks in rice and Arabidopsis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kikuchi Shoshi

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The WRKY transcription factor gene family has a very ancient origin and has undergone extensive duplications in the plant kingdom. Several studies have pointed out their involvement in a range of biological processes, revealing that a large number of WRKY genes are transcriptionally regulated under conditions of biotic and/or abiotic stress. To investigate the existence of WRKY co-regulatory networks in plants, a whole gene family WRKYs expression study was carried out in rice (Oryza sativa. This analysis was extended to Arabidopsis thaliana taking advantage of an extensive repository of gene expression data. Results The presented results suggested that 24 members of the rice WRKY gene family (22% of the total were differentially-regulated in response to at least one of the stress conditions tested. We defined the existence of nine OsWRKY gene clusters comprising both phylogenetically related and unrelated genes that were significantly co-expressed, suggesting that specific sets of WRKY genes might act in co-regulatory networks. This hypothesis was tested by Pearson Correlation Coefficient analysis of the Arabidopsis WRKY gene family in a large set of Affymetrix microarray experiments. AtWRKYs were found to belong to two main co-regulatory networks (COR-A, COR-B and two smaller ones (COR-C and COR-D, all including genes belonging to distinct phylogenetic groups. The COR-A network contained several AtWRKY genes known to be involved mostly in response to pathogens, whose physical and/or genetic interaction was experimentally proven. We also showed that specific co-regulatory networks were conserved between the two model species by identifying Arabidopsis orthologs of the co-expressed OsWRKY genes. Conclusion In this work we identified sets of co-expressed WRKY genes in both rice and Arabidopsis that are functionally likely to cooperate in the same signal transduction pathways. We propose that, making use of data from co-regulatory

  6. Improved cost-benefit techniques in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cronin, F.J.; Nesse, R.J.; Vaeth, M.; Wusterbarth, A.R.; Currie, J.W.

    1983-06-01

    The major objective of this report is to help the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in its regulatory mission, particularly with respect to improving the use of cost-benefit analysis and the economic evaluation of resources within the NRC. The objectives of this effort are: (1) to identify current and future NRC requirements (e.g., licensing) for valuing nonmarket goods; (2) to identify, highlight, and present the relevant efforts of selected federal agencies, some with over two decades of experience in valuing nonmarket goods, in this area; and (3) to review methods for valuing nonmarket impacts and to provide estimats of their magnitudes. Recently proposed legislation may result in a requirement for not only more sophisticated valuation analyses, but more extensive applications of these techniques to issues of concern to the NRC. This paper is intended to provide the NRC with information to more efficiently meet such requirements.

  7. Proceedings of the Conference and Symposium Korean Association for Radiation Protection Fall Meeting 2014

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2014-11-15

    This proceedings contains articles of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Fall Meeting, 2014. It was held on Nov.19-21, 2014 in Jeju, Korea and subject of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Fall Meeting 2014. This proceedings is comprised of 8 sessions. The main topic titles of session are as follows: Radiation protection 1, Medical treatment and Biology 1, Radiation measurement 1, Radiation environment and protection 1, Radiation protection 2, Medical treatment and Biology 2, Radiation Measurement 2, Radiation environment and protection 2.

  8. Proceedings of the Conference and Symposium Korean Association for Radiation Protection Spring Meeting 2014

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2014-04-15

    This proceedings contains articles of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Spring Meeting, 2014. It was held on Apr.23-25, 2014 Grand Hotel in Busan, Korea and subject of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection Spring Meeting 2014. This proceedings is comprised of 8 sessions. The main topic titles of session are as follows: Medical treatment and Biology 1, Measurement and Analysis 1, Measurement and Analysis 2, Radiation protection 1, Radiation protection 2, Medical treatment and Biology 2, Measurement and Analysis 3, Radiation protection 3.

  9. Frontiers of NMR in Molecular Biology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-08-25

    NMR spectroscopy is expanding the horizons of structural biology by determining the structures and describing the dynamics of blobular proteins in aqueous solution, as well as other classes of proteins including membrane proteins and the polypeptides that form the aggregates diagnostic of prion and amyloid diseases. Significant results are also emerging on DNA and RNA oligomers and their complexes with proteins. This meeting focused attention on key structural questions emanating from molecular biology and how NMR spectroscopy can be used to answer them.

  10. Evaluation of the published biological bases for regulations concerning non-coherent light

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sykes, S.M.; Bockstahler, L.; Felten, R.; Hellman, K.; Jacobson, E.; Krell, K.; Lytle, C.D.; Waxler, M.; Withrow, T.; Zaremba, T.

    1981-01-01

    The development of an information base of light-induced bioeffects data to support regulatory activities is a continuing process. Though standards covering the three spectral regions of light, ultraviolet (UV), visible, and infrared (IR), currently exist, attempts must regularly be made to assess the adequacy of these standards with respect to currently available biological information. In order to establish a starting point for these reassessments, the biological effects of light considered in establishing the standards must first be determined. Using this information, the strengths and weaknesses of each standard can be evaluated, and particularly important areas of future research can be determined. This document analyzes current standards covering non-coherent light with respect to the biological effects considered in their adoption. The current standards covering non-coherent light are based on few biological endpoints. The ACGIH standard for ultraviolet considers only skin erythema and eye keratitis; the visible light standard considers only retinal damage; and the infrared standard considers only lens cataracts. Clearly, other biological effects need to be considered. But any standard represents a state-of-the-art estimate of maximum allowable exposure levels, and while there is considerable qualitative information on many additional biological effects of light, there is little quantitative information. Without this information it is difficult either to incorporate these effects into the regulatory process or to determine if the current standards are adequate to cover them

  11. Politically Induced Regulatory Risk and Independent Regulatory Agencies

    OpenAIRE

    Strausz, Roland

    2015-01-01

    Uncertainty in election outcomes generates politically induced regulatory risk. Political parties' risk attitudes towards such risk depend on a fluctuation effect that hurts both parties and an output--expansion effect that benefits at least one party. Notwithstanding the parties' risk attitudes, political parties have incentives to negotiate away all regulatory risk by pre-electoral bargaining. Efficient pre-electoral bargaining outcomes fully eliminate politically induced regulatory risk. P...

  12. Optimizing nitrification in biological rapid sand filters: Diagnosing and supplementing micronutrients needed for proper filter performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lee, Carson Odell; Wagner, Florian Benedikt; Boe-Hansen, Rasmus

    Nitrification is an important biological process commonly used in biological drinking water filters to remove ammonium from drinking water. Recent research has shown that a lack of micronutrients could be limiting the performance of these filters. Because nitrification is a biological process, ca...... to be an important diagnostic tool that could decrease regulatory hurdles, and save time and money....

  13. Improving the Timed Automata Approach to Biological Pathway Dynamics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Langerak, R.; Pol, Jaco van de; Post, Janine N.; Schivo, Stefano; Aceto, Luca; Bacci, Giorgio; Bacci, Giovanni; Ingólfsdóttir, Anna; Legay, Axel; Mardare, Radu

    2017-01-01

    Biological systems such as regulatory or gene networks can be seen as a particular type of distributed systems, and for this reason they can be modeled within the Timed Automata paradigm, which was developed in the computer science context. However, tools designed to model distributed systems often

  14. OSSM2008 Polish Moessbauer Community Meeting: Program, Abstracts and List of Participants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    The Polish Moessbauer Community Meeting - OSSM2008 has been organized by Polish scientists using the Moessbauer spectroscopy in their research. Main subjects of the meeting are investigations of modern materials electronic structure by means of Moessbauer effect (ME), using ME in biological test of tissue diseases and ME investigation of physical properties of different steels

  15. Mutual information and the fidelity of response of gene regulatory models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabbaa, Omar P; Jayaprakash, C

    2014-01-01

    We investigate cellular response to extracellular signals by using information theory techniques motivated by recent experiments. We present results for the steady state of the following gene regulatory models found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells: a linear transcription-translation model and a positive or negative auto-regulatory model. We calculate both the information capacity and the mutual information exactly for simple models and approximately for the full model. We find that (1) small changes in mutual information can lead to potentially important changes in cellular response and (2) there are diminishing returns in the fidelity of response as the mutual information increases. We calculate the information capacity using Gillespie simulations of a model for the TNF-α-NF-κ B network and find good agreement with the measured value for an experimental realization of this network. Our results provide a quantitative understanding of the differences in cellular response when comparing experimentally measured mutual information values of different gene regulatory models. Our calculations demonstrate that Gillespie simulations can be used to compute the mutual information of more complex gene regulatory models, providing a potentially useful tool in synthetic biology. (paper)

  16. Genomic analysis of the hierarchical structure of regulatory networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Haiyuan; Gerstein, Mark

    2006-01-01

    A fundamental question in biology is how the cell uses transcription factors (TFs) to coordinate the expression of thousands of genes in response to various stimuli. The relationships between TFs and their target genes can be modeled in terms of directed regulatory networks. These relationships, in turn, can be readily compared with commonplace “chain-of-command” structures in social networks, which have characteristic hierarchical layouts. Here, we develop algorithms for identifying generalized hierarchies (allowing for various loop structures) and use these approaches to illuminate extensive pyramid-shaped hierarchical structures existing in the regulatory networks of representative prokaryotes (Escherichia coli) and eukaryotes (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), with most TFs at the bottom levels and only a few master TFs on top. These masters are situated near the center of the protein–protein interaction network, a different type of network from the regulatory one, and they receive most of the input for the whole regulatory hierarchy through protein interactions. Moreover, they have maximal influence over other genes, in terms of affecting expression-level changes. Surprisingly, however, TFs at the bottom of the regulatory hierarchy are more essential to the viability of the cell. Finally, one might think master TFs achieve their wide influence through directly regulating many targets, but TFs with most direct targets are in the middle of the hierarchy. We find, in fact, that these midlevel TFs are “control bottlenecks” in the hierarchy, and this great degree of control for “middle managers” has parallels in efficient social structures in various corporate and governmental settings. PMID:17003135

  17. The 2008 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting: Robert Huber, Chemistry 1988. Interview by Klaus J. Korak.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, Robert

    2008-11-25

    Robert Huber and his colleagues, Johann Deisenhofer and Hartmut Michel, elucidated the three-dimensional structure of the Rhodopseudomonas viridis photosynthetic reaction center. This membrane protein complex is a basic component of photosynthesis - a process fundamental to life on Earth - and for their work, Huber and his colleagues received the 1988 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Because structural information is central to understanding virtually any biological process, Huber likens their discovery to "switching on the light" for scientists trying to understand photosynthesis. Huber marvels at the growth of structural biology since the time he entered the field, when crystallographers worked with hand-made instruments and primitive computers, and only "a handful" of crystallographers would meet annually in the Bavarian Alps. In the "explosion" of structural biology since his early days of research, Huber looks to the rising generation of scientists to solve the remaining mysteries in the field - such as the mechanisms that underlie protein folding. A strong proponent of science mentorship, Huber delights in meeting young researchers at the annual Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau, Germany. He hopes that among these young scientists is an "Einstein of biology" who, he says with a twinkle in his eye, "doesn't know it yet." The interview was conducted by JoVE co-founder Klaus J. Korak at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2008 in Lindau, Germany.

  18. Embryology meets molecular biology: Deciphering the apical ectodermal ridge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verheyden, Jamie M; Sun, Xin

    2017-09-15

    More than sixty years ago, while studying feather tracks on the shoulder of the chick embryo, Dr. John Saunders used Nile Blue dye to stain the tissue. There, he noticed a darkly stained line of cells that neatly rims the tip of the growing limb bud. Rather than ignoring this observation, he followed it up by removing this tissue and found that it led to a striking truncation of the limb skeletons. This landmark experiment marks the serendipitous discovery of the apical ectodermal ridge (AER), the quintessential embryonic structure that drives the outgrowth of the limb. Dr. Saunders continued to lead the limb field for the next fifty years, not just through his own work, but also by inspiring the next generation of researchers through his infectious love of science. Together, he and those who followed ushered in the discovery of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) as the AER molecule. The seamless marriage of embryology and molecular biology that led to the decoding of the AER serves as a shining example of how discoveries are made for the rest of the developmental biology field. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Macromolecular crowding: chemistry and physics meet biology (Ascona, Switzerland, 10-14 June 2012)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foffi, G.; Pastore, A.; Piazza, F.; Temussi, P. A.

    2013-08-01

    More than 60 years of biochemical and biophysical studies have accustomed us to think of proteins as highly purified entities that act in isolation, more or less freely diffusing until they find their cognate partner to bind to. While in vitro experiments that reproduce these conditions largely remain the only way to investigate the intrinsic properties of molecules, this approach ignores an important factor: in their natural milieu , proteins are surrounded by several other molecules of different chemical nature, and this crowded environment can considerably modify their behaviour. About 40% of the cellular volume on average is occupied by all sorts of molecules. Furthermore, biological macromolecules live and operate in an extremely structured and complex environment within the cell (endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, cytoskeletal structures, etc). Hence, to further complicate the picture, the interior of the cell is by no means a simply crowded medium, rather, a most crowded and confining one. In recent times, several approaches have been developed in the attempt to take into account important factors such as the ones mentioned above, at both theoretical and experimental levels, so that this field of research is now emerging as one of the most thriving in molecular and cell biology (see figure 1). Figure 1. Figure 1. Left: number of articles containing the word 'crowding' as a keyword limited to the biological and chemical science domains (source: ISI Web of Science). The arrow flags the 2003 'EMBO Workshop on Biological Implications of Macromolecular Crowding' (Embo, 2012). Right: number of citations to articles containing the word 'crowding' limited to the same domains (bars) and an exponential regression curve (source: Elsevier Scopus). To promote the importance of molecular crowding and confinement and provide researchers active in this field an interdisciplinary forum for meeting and exchanging ideas, we recently organized an international conference

  20. Macromolecular crowding: chemistry and physics meet biology (Ascona, Switzerland, 10-14 June 2012).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foffi, G; Pastore, A; Piazza, F; Temussi, P A

    2013-08-02

    More than 60 years of biochemical and biophysical studies have accustomed us to think of proteins as highly purified entities that act in isolation, more or less freely diffusing until they find their cognate partner to bind to. While in vitro experiments that reproduce these conditions largely remain the only way to investigate the intrinsic properties of molecules, this approach ignores an important factor: in their natural milieu , proteins are surrounded by several other molecules of different chemical nature, and this crowded environment can considerably modify their behaviour. About 40% of the cellular volume on average is occupied by all sorts of molecules. Furthermore, biological macromolecules live and operate in an extremely structured and complex environment within the cell (endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, cytoskeletal structures, etc). Hence, to further complicate the picture, the interior of the cell is by no means a simply crowded medium, rather, a most crowded and confining one. In recent times, several approaches have been developed in the attempt to take into account important factors such as the ones mentioned above, at both theoretical and experimental levels, so that this field of research is now emerging as one of the most thriving in molecular and cell biology (see figure 1). [Formula: see text] Figure 1. Left: number of articles containing the word 'crowding' as a keyword limited to the biological and chemical science domains (source: ISI Web of Science). The arrow flags the 2003 'EMBO Workshop on Biological Implications of Macromolecular Crowding' (Embo, 2012). Right: number of citations to articles containing the word 'crowding' limited to the same domains (bars) and an exponential regression curve (source: Elsevier Scopus). To promote the importance of molecular crowding and confinement and provide researchers active in this field an interdisciplinary forum for meeting and exchanging ideas, we recently organized an international