Most Popular Books by Elizabeth Stewart

There are currently four invasive tunicate species which are causing significant challenges to the aquaculture industry in Atlantic Canada: Ciona intestinalis, Styela clava, Botryllus schlosseri and Botrylloides violaceus. These tunicates foul mussel socks, aquaculture gear, boat hulls and wharves. As with many aquatic invasive species, detection of these tunicates mostly occurs once adult populations have reached significant population sizes. However, once populations have reached these levels, there is often little that can be done to stop or slow the invasion. Having efficient and sensitive assays that could detect invasive tunicates at microscopic stages would be advantageous as management strategies could be implemented before populations spike to invasive levels. Such an assay would also be useful in monitoring mussel processing plant effluent so that invasive tunicate eggs and larvae are not spread through effluent water discharge to adjacent bays. Molecular assays have been developed in this study that can detect the four invasive tunicate species in both mussel processing effluent water and in bay water surrounding mussel leases. These assays are highly specific and have a sensitivity of detection of 1-5 eggs and/or larvae per water sample. In addition qRT-PCR assays have been developed that can detect and distinguish between different life stages of Ciona intestinalis (egg and larvae) in water samples. This qRT-PCR assay also has the capacity to evaluate viability of free swimming larvae so that nonviable larvae do not cause false positives during mussel processing plant effluent monitoring. The high throughput capacity, high specificity and sensitivity of these assays shows excellent potential for use as a monitoring tool for aquatic invasive species in screening ballast water, effluent waste from shellfish processing plants, as well in local bays and rivers. This study also used phylogenetic analyses of the cytochrome oxidase 1 gene to determine that populations of Botryllus schlosseri in Prince Edward Island have low genetic diversity. Only two haplotypes of B. schlosseri were found in this study in PEI, one which was found in all aquaculture bays tested and the other found only on native substrate in one bay. It is likely that local activity spread this species to other areas of Prince Edward Island after the initial invasion. Phylogeographic analysis suggests that this species was likely transported from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia and then was transported to Prince Edward Island via local boating activity or through the movement of aquaculture species. Through the development of these efficient detection methods and by determining source populations and possible vectors responsible for transporting invasive species to this region, it is hoped that new invasions of aquatic invasive species can be prevented and/or managed before they pose a risk to the aquaculture industry in Prince Edward Island.

Our objective was to assess the effect on blood pressure (BP) of legumes through a secondary analysis of a 6-month randomized controlled trial (RCT), and a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs. In the first study, diastolic BP (DBP) was significantly lower on a low-glycemic index (GI) diet which included legume recommendations, versus a high-cereal fibre diet. Furthermore, total legume intake was associated with lower systolic BP (SBP), DBP, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in baseline-adjusted analyses. When subgrouping legumes by type, effects were stronger and more robust for pulses versus non-pulse legumes. Significance was lost after adjustment for legume characteristics. Meta-analysis of 44 trials (n=2319) found legume diets significantly lowered SBP and DBP versus control diets. Strongest effects were in hypertensive study populations. Results of these studies suggest that legume consumption lowers BP.

Texas Insurance Coverage Litigation is a practice guide for Texas litigators who are handling insurance coverage lawsuits or who are confronted with insurance questions in a litigation context. It includes legal analysis, practical tips, forms, and annotations specific to Texas and Fifth Circuit practice. Part I considers third-party liability insurance and focuses on the coverage and features of these types of policies: commercial general liability, professional liability, directors and officers liability, employment practice, fiduciary liability, cyber and privacy liability, and excess and umbrella. Part II is an overview of key concepts that apply to insurance coverage lawsuits governed by Texas law, including the rules of construction and the obligations of both the insurer and the insured. Part III examines all aspects of an insurance coverage lawsuit, including pre-litigation matters, pleadings and discovery, trial considerations, and post-trial proceedings.

London's embassies are haunted. [The authors] trawled through recently released 1901 census forms to discover which illustrious people lived - and died - in the city's foreign missions.

Cytotoxic lymphocytes eliminate virally infected or neoplastic cells through the action of cytotoxic proteases (granzymes). The pore-forming protein perforin is essential for delivery of granzymes into the cytoplasm of target cells. Perforin contains a membrane attack complex / perforin (MACPF) domain and oligomerises to form an aqueous pore in the plasma membrane. Therefore, the simplest (and best supported) model suggests that granzymes passively diffuse through the perforin pore into the cytoplasm of the target cell. However, the mechanics of pore assembly and granzyme delivery remain unclear. Perforin has been compared to Streptolysin O (SLO), a structurally similar bacterial pore-forming protein that is part of the cholesterol dependent cytolysin (CDC) family. The assembly of CDC pores has been extensively studied, and sets the paradigm for assembly of MACPF protein pores. This thesis comprehensively compares SLO and perforin in terms of cargo delivery and pore-forming mechanisms.Granzymes contain two cationic sites that have been previously shown to be important for delivery of human granzyme B by perforin. Human granzyme B contains the highest proportion of positive residues at these sites, while granzymes A and K both have fewer. It was shown that human and mouse granzyme A and K are delivered more efficiently by SLO than perforin. Human granzyme B, on the other hand, was delivered equally well with both perforin and SLO. These results reinforce the idea that positive residues are important for efficient delivery of granzymes by perforin, but not by SLO. Supporting this notion, it was found that perforin effectively delivered molecules other than granzymes, provided the cargo was cationic. Anionic and neutral molecules were inefficiently delivered by perforin. This suggests that perforin delivers cationic cargoes via "facilitated diffusion", which may involve conserved features of oligomerised MACPF proteins, such as an anionic lumen.In a different approach, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) showed that the mechanism of pore formation of SLO is different to perforin. Perforin binding to membranes is cooperative whereas SLO binding follows first order kinetics. Cholesterol contributes to binding and activity of both SLO and perforin on intact cells and on model membranes. Finally, QCM-D revealed that perforin is able to efficiently bind membranes in the absence of calcium. When calcium was subsequently introduced the QCM-D traces changed significantly, indicating that perforin had bound calcium and then became active on the membrane. Taken together, these results demonstrate that there are fundamental differences between the cargo delivery and pore-forming mechanisms between MACPFs proteins and CDCs.