Genetic selection system for improving recombinant membrane protein expression in<i>E. coli</i>

Massey-Gendel, Elizabeth,Zhao, Anni,Boulting, Gabriella,Kim, Hye-Yeon,Balamotis, Michael A.,Seligman, Len M.,Nakamoto, Robert K.,Bowie, James U. Wiley (John WileySons) 2009 Protein science Vol.18 No.2

<P>A major barrier to the physical characterization and structure determination of membrane proteins is low yield in recombinant expression. To address this problem, we have designed a selection strategy to isolate mutant strains of Escherichia coli that improve the expression of a targeted membrane protein. In this method, the coding sequence of the membrane protein of interest is fused to a C-terminal selectable marker, so that the production of the selectable marker and survival on selective media is linked to expression of the targeted membrane protein. Thus, mutant strains with improved expression properties can be directly selected. We also introduce a rapid method for curing isolated strains of the plasmids used during the selection process, in which the plasmids are removed by in vivo digestion with the homing endonuclease I-CreI. We tested this selection system on a rhomboid family protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Rv1337) and were able to isolate mutants, which we call EXP strains, with up to 75-fold increased expression. The EXP strains also improve the expression of other membrane proteins that were not the target of selection, in one case roughly 90-fold.</P>

A Theology of Justice, Peace and Life

James Massey 성공회대학교 신학연구소 2011 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.16 No.-

Much has been reflected upon and written by theologians during the second half of the last century upon the theme Justice, Peace and Life. But invariably the focus of almost all of them had been on Peace rather than on Justice, perhaps because of the two devastating Wars that had wrecked the world, and also because of the ensuing ethno-national conflicts that engulfed the entire globe and kept us constantly on the brink of a possibility of yet another fierce war. However, the theme of The integrity of Creation had also been brought in by some as part of their reflections, but this perhaps was effected more because of various development projects owned by the dominant world, rather than for any other concern. One thing that catches the attention is the fact that very little attention is given in all these reflections to the question of Justice, and consequently to the concerns of the vast majority of the oppressed communities all over the world. Dalits of my country and Minjungs of Korea - about whom we shall discuss in this paper - are part of these communities.

Introduction to our Liberative Traditions and Their Contribution to our Doing Theologies

James Massey 한국민중신학회 2007 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.8 No.-

This article is about Dalit liberative traditions with linking with Doing theologies. As a results, the first observation is about the various sets of Dalit liberative traditions. In brief the historical and religious traditions reveal to us that the Dalits once were also full human beings-enjoying all the benefits of a normal human being-land and property, natural resources, dignity and freedom. Their ownership of the 'Indus Valley Civilizations' is the proof of this fact. They had their own religious and social rules to govern their life. This is what we learn from the Dalit religious traditions. The second concluding observation is drawn from the reflection on the Dalit liberative traditions, particularly the 'faith traditions,' which directly lead to the process of doing theology from the Dalit perspective. Because the theologians of various liberative theologies hold that 'theology' is a critical reflection on the relationship of God and human beings in different historical circumstances, we can trace the roots of Dalit theology back to the very dawn of the history of the Dalits. By looking to the contents of the Dalit liberative traditions, we not only come to know the lost human identity, but also the truth that it is the Dalits of Indian society who represent the undivided humanity of the created world. Dalit theology's role includes enabling them to recover this original state of theirs, which their opponents tried intentionally to destroy.

A THEOLOGY OF JUSTICE, PEACE AND LIFE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DALIT AND MINJUNG

James Massey 한국민중신학회 2011 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.16

Much has been reflected upon and written by theologians during the second half of the last century upon the theme ‘Justice, Peace and Life’. But invariably the focus of almost all of them had been on ‘Peace’ rather than on ‘Justice’, perhaps because of the two devastating Wars that had wrecked the world, and also because of the ensuing ethno-national conflicts that engulfed the entire globe and kept us constantly on the brink of a possibility of yet another fierce war. However, the theme of ‘The integrity of Creation’ had also been brought in by some as part of their reflections, but this perhaps was effected more because of various development projects owned by the dominant world, rather than for any other concern. One thing that catches the attention is the fact that very little attention is given in all these reflections to the question of ‘Justice’, and consequently to the concerns of the vast majority of the oppressed communities all over the world. Dalits of my country and Minjungs of Korea - about whom we shall discuss in this paper - are part of these communities. Han (unjust experiences) and Peeran (suffering and pathos) have been named as two central contextual realities by Prof. Suh nam-dong and Prof. A.P. Nirmal for theologians who would be working on ‘Minjung theology’ and ‘Dalit theology’. But I feel that we should expand our concern farther to arrive at theology of more inclusive and permanent nature. We are aware that world is changing very fast, and in that scenario poverty and oppression are also assuming fresh dimensions. Everywhere in the world we encounter myriad category of poverty (of subsistence, of protection, of affection, of understanding, of participation and identity and so on) which imparts han and peeran to almost everyone. Even the oppressors are not free from experiencing these. Therefore a ‘theology of justice, peace and life’ has to be the one, which becomes an enabling tool of bringing ‘transformation’ in the lives of not only the oppressed communities of the world, but also in the lives of their oppressors. Moreover, this ‘transformation’ should target not the individual needs, but the collective needs of the people. In fact by stressing this, I am trying to hint at a holistic approach, which includes not only the person as a whole, but the community as a whole. Such approach will in fact address the structural problems that encouraged the culture of violence in the first place, spilling oppression and misery all over. Structural justice will naturally come about, leading to structural peace emanating from Justice. This should ideally be the end goal a theology of ‘Justice, Peace and Life’ from the perspective of Dalit and Minjung.

INTRODUCTION TO OUR LIBERATIVE TRADITIONS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO OUR DOING THEOLOGIES

James Massey 성공회대학교 신학연구소 2007 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.8 No.-

Evaluation of the Experimental np-Angular Distribution at 14.1 MeV Neutron Energy

N. V. Kornilov,T. Massey,S. Grimes 한국물리학회 2011 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.59 No.23

The total cross section and angular distribution of the (n,p) scattering reaction is an object for detailed experimental and theoretical investigations as a primary standard. In spite of many years efforts these data, in particular the angular distribution are not known with required accuracy. We analyzed available experimental data at ∼14 MeV and concluded that the big data spread is connected mainly with data normalization. We renormalize the original data using the following procedure. All data sets were fit by different polynomial expansions. The data of independent experiments were normalized to reach minimum χ^2. The beginning value was χ^2 = 1.47 and final value χ^2 = 0.41. The data corrections were <5%. The final result is insensitive to the order of polynomial expansion. The final χ^2 of 0.41 indicates that we have reduced systematic errors in the data sets, so we have reduced the error bars by a factor of 1.6. ENDF/B-7 data are in reasonable agreement with evaluated experimental data. But some problem became more visible - it seems that experimental data require stronger angular asymmetry.

Application of peak based-Bayesian statistical method for isotope identification and categorization of depleted, natural and low enriched uranium measured by LaBr3:Ce scintillation detector

Yücel Haluk,Tüzüner Selin Saatcı,Massey Charles 한국원자력학회 2023 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.55 No.10

Todays, medium energy resolution detectors are preferably used in radioisotope identification devices( RID) in nuclear and radioactive material categorization. However, there is still a need to develop or enhance « automated identifiers » for the useful RID algorithms. To decide whether any material is SNM or NORM, a key parameter is the better energy resolution of the detector. Although masking, shielding and gain shift/stabilization and other affecting parameters on site are also important for successful operations, the suitability of the RID algorithm is also a critical point to enhance the identification reliability while extracting the features from the spectral analysis. In this study, a RID algorithm based on Bayesian statistical method has been modified for medium energy resolution detectors and applied to the uranium gamma-ray spectra taken by a LaBr3:Ce detector. The present Bayesian RID algorithm covers up to 2000 keV energy range. It uses the peak centroids, the peak areas from the measured gamma-ray spectra. The extraction features are derived from the peak-based Bayesian classifiers to estimate a posterior probability for each isotope in the ANSI library. The program operations were tested under a MATLAB platform. The present peak based Bayesian RID algorithm was validated by using single isotopes(241Am, 57Co, 137Cs, 54Mn, 60Co), and then applied to five standard nuclear materials(0.32e4.51% at.235U), as well as natural U- and Th-ores. The ID performance of the RID algorithm was quantified in terms of F-score for each isotope. The posterior probability is calculated to be 54.5e74.4% for 238U and 4.7e10.5% for 235U in EC-NRM171 uranium materials. For the case of the more complex gamma-ray spectra from CRMs, the total scoring (ST) method was preferred for its ID performance evaluation. It was shown that the present peak based Bayesian RID algorithm can be applied to identify 235U and 238U isotopes in LEU or natural U eTh samples if a medium energy resolution detector is was in the measurements.

Carbon, Pedo-Transfer Functions and the Irish Soil Information System

Brian James Reidy,I Simo,P Massey,R Creamer 한국토양비료학회 2014 한국토양비료학회 학술발표회 초록집 Vol.2014 No.6

Mutual Recognition of National Military Airworthiness Authorities: A Streamlined Assessment Process

Purton, Leon,Kourousis, Kyriakos I.,Clothier, Reece,Massey, Kevin The Korean Society for Aeronautical and Space Scie 2014 International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sc Vol.15 No.1

The Air and Space Interoperability Council (ASIC) has adopted the European Defence Agency (EDA) process for inter-regulatory military airworthiness authority recognition. However, there are gaps in the application of this process to nations outside of the European Union. This paper proposes a model that can effectively map diverse technical airworthiness regulatory frameworks. This model, referred to as the Product-Behaviour-Process (PBP) Bow-Tie model, provides the systematic structure needed to represent and compare regulatory frameworks. The PBP Bow-Tie model identifies key points of difference that need to be addressed, during inter-agency recognition between the two regulatory authorities. With the intention to adopt global use of the EDA process, the proposed PBP Bow-Tie model can be used as a basis for the successful recognition of regulatory frameworks outside of the European Union. Iris plots produced from the implementation of this model are presented, and proposed as a suitable means of illustrating the outcome of an assessment, and of supporting the comparisons of results. A comparative analysis of the Australian Defence Force and New Zealand Defence Force airworthiness regulatory frameworks is used as a case study. The case study clearly illustrates the effectiveness of the model in discerning regulatory framework differences; moreover, it has offered an opportunity to explore the limitations of the Iris plot.

A comparative study on analgesic and non-analgesic outcomes of inter pleural analgesia compared to thoracic epidural analgesia in open pancreatico-duodenectomy

Lu Yao,Niroshini Rajaretnam,Natalie Smith,Lisa Massey,Somaiah Aroori Korean Association of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Su 2022 Annals of hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgery Vol.26 No.3

Backgrounds/Aims: Thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) is an established analgesic method in open Kausch-Whipple pancreaticoduodenectomy (KWPD). Although, it can cause hemodynamic instability and neurological complications. Inter pleural analgesia (IPA) is an alternative option. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of IPA versus TEA after KWPD. Methods: We retrospectively studied the efficacy of IPA against TEA in patients, operated by a single surgeon. The primary outcome was the analgesic efficacy and secondary outcomes were analgesia-related complications, inotrope use, and duration. Results: Forty patients (TEA, 22; IPA, 18) were included. Both groups were well matched for patient characteristics, type, and duration of surgery. TEA was associated with higher analgesia-related complications (n = 8, 36.4% vs. n = 1, 5.6%; p = 0.027). TEA complications included analgesia not working (n = 4), leakage (n = 2), refractory hemodynamic instability (n = 1), and lower limb anaesthesia (n = 1). One patient in the IPA group encountered leakage. TEA was associated with longer inotrope requirement (35 vs. 18 hours; p = 0.047). There was no significant difference in intensive care unit (ITU) admission rate (81.8% vs. 77.8%; p > 0.999), median ITU stay (3 vs. 2 days, p = 0.385), or hospital stay (11 days in both groups). Conclusions: In open KWPD, IPA is not inferior to TEA in its efficacy of pain control. IPA was associated with less analgesia-related complications and shorter inotrope requirements. However, this was a small retrospective study. Larger randomized controlled trials are needed to study the effectiveness of IPA.