A pollution mitigation system is disclosed. The system can include a valve forming a passage the valve installable to form an orifice in a storm drain retention chamber that passes storm water into a conduit of a storm water management system. The valve having a stem connected to a closure member that can plug the orifice. The valve can have a spring loaded actuator that can move the closure member into a closed position. The system can also include a node such as a wireless sensor node or a mote that has sensors, a transceiver, an antenna, a microcontroller, memory, an energy source and at least one output to control movement of the closure member via the preloaded actuator. The node can have an output that provides the stimulus to the preloaded actuator to cause the preloaded actuator to move the closure member to a position that obstructs the passage in response to either the sensor or a transmission from a mobile telephone such as a cell phone or a smartphone.

John Waters, the venerable sultan of sleaze who we recently visited at home in San Francisco, presided over this year's Burger Boogaloo festivities in Oakland's Mosswood Park. He was the consummate host.…

The Bay Area Vibez festival landed at the Port of Oakland this past weekend, bringing world-renowned reggae, electronic, and hip-hop artists to Middle Harbor Shoreline Park — a vast, open space that overlooks the San Francisco skyline. In its first year, the event arrived with a seemingly enormous budget and star-studded lineup that included living legends Stephen Marley, Damian Marley, and Nas.

But despite the festival’s grandiosity, the event ultimately felt like a way to capitalize on people’s nostalgia for bygone eras, prioritizing artists who haven’t released new material in years or are descendants of celebrated musicians.…

If you could get through the long line, the Oakland Autumn Lights Festival dazzled with both large- and small-scale light installations woven into the greenery at the Gardens at Lake Merritt.

Roughly fifty demonstrators marched from Fruitvale BART on Friday night to Oakland City Hall in an anti-police rally called in response to the fatal shooting of Richard Perkins by Oakland police on November 15. But unlike protests earlier this year, police didn’t try to drive demonstrators onto the sidewalks to comply with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s policy banning nighttime street marches.…

First, a loud siren seared my ears. When I turned, I saw four men draped in bandages standing atop a white hearse.…

Last week, Oakland artist Jet Martinez finished his largest mural yet, on the side of the I. Magnin Building in downtown Oakland — to stunning effect. 

The Mexico-born artist  is known internationally for his gorgeous floral patterning inspired by motifs in Mexican folk art. But, according to a recent statement released about his new mural, he recently decided he wanted to contribute more directly to the community in which he lives by doing more local art.…

Jay Stone looked at home as he took the stage in a burgundy bathrobe last Thursday at The Night Light, a bar near Jack London Square.…

Despite some growing pains, the fest successfully expanded into a ten-day concert series that highlighted outstanding local talent. Jay Stone looked at home as he took the stage in a burgundy bathrobe last Thursday at The Night Light, a bar near Jack London Square. He was headlining the seventh night of Oakland Music Festival, which dominated the local concert calendar from September 30 to October 9 with shows taking place at different venues every night.…

Kamaiyah, Ice Cube, How to Dress Well, and Sigur Rós played in the rain despite the many delays, cancelations, and technical difficulties. Treasure Island promised one of its best lineups yet for its tenth anniversary, but severe weather literally rained on everyone's parade. Many performances were delayed or canceled, often with little communication to the public on Saturday.…

Including a photo slideshow. Even at 10 a.m. this past Saturday morning, hours before a throng of anti-fascists and Trump-supporting white nationalists overtook downtown Berkeley’s streets, it was clear that most of the attendees were less interested in speeches, protesting, and free speech — and were mostly there just to tee-off on each other. Before the brawling began, officers stationed themselves at the entrances to downtown's "Peace Park."…

The Golden State Warriors paraded for the second time in three years in downtown Oakland yesterday. Players rode by in topless busses, paired with teammates and families, along with coaches, members of the team's ownership group, and of course the odd ambassadorial pairing of Mayor Libby Schaaf and MC Hammer.…

The last time J Balvin was at Oracle arena was back on Feb. 15, 2015 when he was the opening act for Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias' joint tour. I was at that show with my mom as my date, and vividly remember her saying, “one day he’s going to headline his own tour here.” I brushed off her comment, it wasn’t that I didn’t believe that he was talented.…

The organization sets up at 27th Street and Northgate Avenue and at 6th and Castro streets. Blair Hippolyte and Jannie Rutledge, two Oakland residents who are homeless, sat on the sidewalk of 27th Street.…

With its thriving businesses and large immigrant population, Fruitvale is uniquely Oakland: diverse, welcoming, family-oriented, community-minded — and too-often overlooked. On a Saturday morning in November, an estimated 100,000 people flocked to Oakland's Fruitvale district along International Boulevard and a section of East 12th Street.…

Once Were Brothers celebrates the timeless sound of The Band. Here's a quiz for roots music fans. Multiple choice.…

While you can't work, entertain yourself with Dirty Money's tales of ill-gotten gains. A particularly hard part of this quarantine comes from an essential loss of American identity: If you're not working, and you can't buy things, who are you? Or, as Kilian Colin puts it in season 2's first episode of the Netflix series Dirty Money, "Your job is your life here in the U.S."…

The 10th restaurant from Bay Area restaurateur Hoyul Steven Choi offers a creative take on Korean-infused cuisine. You'd think that after opening nearly a dozen successful restaurants in the ultra-competitive Bay Area dining scene, restaurateur Hoyul Steven Choi would have calmed his new restaurant jitters by now. But Choi says that's not the case.…

The present invention relates to methods for predicting the survival time of patients suffering from cancer. Said methods are based on the quantification and analysis of the cell free nucleic acids that are present in a sample from the patient and typically include the determination of the level of the mutant nucleic acid which contains a mutation of interest, the calculation of the mutation load for said mutation of interest, the calculation of the DNA integrity index or a combination thereof.

Disclosed are methods and compositions for detecting the presence of a cancer in a subject and assessing the efficacy of treatments for the same. The disclosed method use reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and multiplex polymerase chain reaction techniques as well as Template Exchange Extension Reaction (TEER) to detect the presence of point mutations, truncations, or fusions of anaplastic lymphoma kinase.

Compositions and methods for detecting Trichomonas vaginalis are provided.

The invention relates to the field of virology. The invention provides an isolated essentially mammalian negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus (MPV) within the subfamily Pneumovirinae of the family Paramyxoviridae and identifiable as phylogenetically corresponding to the genus Metapneumovirus and components thereof.

A microbial gaseous-fluid sampler for collecting microbial particles from gaseous fluid includes a gaseous-fluid intake portion having a sample head with a plurality of holes. The gaseous-fluid intake portion further includes a collar configured to receive a Petri dish including agar. The plurality of holes define an exit plane that is positioned a distance from the agar within a range of 5.5 millimeters to 7.5 millimeters. The velocity of the air exiting the plurality to holes is within a range of 18.5 meters per second to 20.5 meters per second.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to a method for retrieving at least one molecular recognition element in a fixed tissue. In some embodiments the method comprises preparing a solution comprising at least one aldehyde-scavenging agent. In some embodiments, the method comprises contacting the fixed tissue with the solution. In some embodiments, the tissue is fixed with an aldehyde-based cross-linking agent. In some embodiments, a reaction of the aldehyde-scavenging agent with the aldehydes comprising the cross-linking agent retrieves the at least one molecular recognition t. In some embodiments, the at least one rolecular recognition element comprises of amino acids, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the at least one aldehyde-scavenging agent comprises of beta-dicarbonyl compounds, mono or di-amide scavengers, ethyl alcohols, sulfur containing compounds, mercaptoethylamines, mercaptoethanols, hydrazines, ethanolamines, hydroxylamines, anilines, variation of amines, activated charcoal, phenols, or mixtures and combinations thereof.

Highly efficient and rapid filtration-based concentration devices, systems and methods are disclosed with sample fluidic lines and a filter packaged in a disposable tip which concentrate biological particles that are suspended in liquid from a dilute feed suspension. A sample concentrate or retentate suspension is retained while eliminating the separated fluid in a separate flow stream. The concentrate is then dispensed from the disposable tip in a set volume of elution fluid. Suspended biological particles include such materials as proteins/toxins, viruses, DNA, and/or bacteria in the size range of approximately 0.001 micron to 20 microns diameter. Concentration of these particles is advantageous for detection of target particles in a dilute suspension, because concentrating them into a small volume makes them easier to detect. All conduits by which the disposable tip attaches to the instrument are combined into a single connection point on the upper end of the tip.

Aspects of the present disclosure include methods for processing a biological sample. Methods according to certain embodiments include contacting a biological sample having cells with an assay reagent that includes one or more analyte-specific binding members to produce a biological sample assay composition and introducing the biological assay composition into an inlet of a flow cytometer having an integrated acoustic separator. Systems, including a flow cytometer with integrated acoustic separator having one or more acoustic concentrator devices suitable for practicing the subject methods are also described.

An assay and a method for identifying a prebiotic to treat a subject in need thereof to promote intestinal barrier integrity or to blunt an inflammatory response are provided.

An assay system and method for use in the field of chemical testing is disclosed. The assay system can be used for filtering whole blood for testing on an integrated circuit containing digital control functionality.

Viruses and other bioagents are of high medical and biodefense concern and their detection at concentrations well below the threshold necessary to cause health hazards continues to be a challenge with respect to sensitivity, specificity, and selectivity. Ideally, assays for accurate and real time detection of viral agents and other bioagents would not necessitate any pre-processing of the analyte, which would make them applicable for example to bodily fluids (blood, sputum) and man-made as well as naturally occurring bodies of water (pools, rivers). We describe herein a robust biosensor that combines the sensitivity of surface acoustic waves (SAW) generated at a frequency of 325 MHz with the specificity provided by antibodies and other ligands for the detection of viral agents. In preferred embodiments, a lithium tantalate based SAW transducer with silicon dioxide waveguide sensor platform featuring three test and one reference delay lines was used to adsorb antibodies directed against Coxsackie virus B4 or the negative-stranded category A bioagent Sin Nombre virus (SNV), a member of the genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae, negative-stranded RNA viruses. Rapid detection (within seconds) of increasing concentrations of viral particles was linear over a range of order of magnitude for both viruses, although the sensor was approximately 50×104-fold more sensitive for the detection of SNV. For both pathogens, the sensor's selectivity for its target was not compromised by the presence of confounding Herpes Simplex virus type 1. The biosensor was able to detect SNV at doses lower than the load of virus typically found in a human patient suffering from hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). Further, in a proof-of-principle real world application, the SAW biosensor was capable of selectively detecting SNV agents in complex solutions, such as naturally occurring bodies of water (river, sewage effluent) without analyte pre-processing.

This invention publicizes a chronic renal disease diagnostic kit, comprised of FGF23 monoclonal antibody, biotin labeling reagent Sulfo-NHS-LC-Biotin, PBS buffer solution (pH7.0, 0.1M), casein saline solution, streptomycin avidin and substrate TMB. The labeling condition is the weight ratio of FGF23 antibody and Sulfo-NHS-LC-Biotin, which is 1:5-1:12. The dilution ratio of streptomycin avidin is 1:3000. The lowest testing threshold limit value of FGF23 kit is 10 pg/ml, whose sensitivity is 10 times higher than that of common monoclonal antibody, which is very significant for early diagnose of chronic renal disease.

The present invention relates to in vitro methods of assessing the susceptibility or responsiveness of a subject to the treatment with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor/antagonist, wherein the subject has been diagnosed or suspected of suffering from inflammation-associated. These methods comprise determining the level of expression of EGFR in myeloid cells in a sample from the subject, wherein an expression of EGFR in the myeloid cells is indicative of the subject being susceptible to the treatment with an EGFR inhibitor/antagonist. The invention also relates to EGFR inhibitors/antagonists for use in the treatment or amelioration of inflammation-associated cancer. The invention furthermore provides in vitro methods of prognosing the survival time, progression-free survival time or disease course of a subject that has been diagnosed or suspected of suffering from from inflammation-associated cancer. In addition thereto, the invention relates to in vitro diagnostic methods of assessing the proneness of a subject to develop inflammation-associated cancer in which the expression of EGFR is determined in myeloid cells from the subject.

A method to detect prostate cancer comprising contacting a sample of prostate cells from the patient with a set of detectably labeled probes under hybridization conditions and determining the presence of chromosomal abnormalities in prostate tumor tissue, PIN (intra-epithelial neoplasia), histologically benign tissue and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH); a method to combine immunofluorescence and FISH (IF-FISH) to facilitate the assessment of chromosomal abnormalities; a set of probes; and a kit comprising the set of probes and instructions for diagnosing prostate cancer in a patient.

The diagnosis of male infertility is based predominantly on the results of standard semen analysis for concentration, total motility, progressive motility, volume, pH, viscosity and/or morphology. When sperm enter the female reproductive tract, they must undergo a series of physiological changes, known as capacitation, in order to fertilize an egg. This process involves plasma membrane changes that occur in response to stimuli within the female tract. These changes include removal of sterols and redistribution of the ganglioside GM1. Semen analysis identifies only half the cases of male infertility due to standard semen analysis providing little information on sperm functional competence. Previous data demonstrated that localization of the ganglioside, GM1, identifies sub-populations of sperm capable of undergoing the functional maturation process known as capacitation and tracks strongly with fertility.

Methods for multiplexed delivery of agents to a solid tissue in vivo followed by assessment of efficacy with mass spectrometry are described.

A system and method for detecting a biomarker in exhaled breath condensate nanodroplets comprises noninvasively collecting exhaled breath condensate nanodroplets of a subject, and analyzing said nanodroplets utilizing immuno-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to detect one or more target biomarkers.

In sporadic Alzheimer's disease, neurofibrillary lesion formation is preceded by extensive post-translational modification of the microtubule associated protein tau. Immunoassays have been developed recently that detect tau in biological specimens, thus providing a means for pre-mortem diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, which has remained elusive. These assays have been improved by the analysis of relevant post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, however opportunity for improvement remains. The present invention addresses this issue by disclosing synthetic methylated peptides derived from the tau protein of paired helical filaments and non-diseased control brain. Alzheimer's disease specificity is provided by the presence or absence of methyl moieties on lysine residues and differences between mono-, di-, and tri-methylation. The methylated peptide is useful as an antigen and a binding partner for identifying compounds that interact with the peptide and the methylated tau protein, including antibodies that can distinguish non-diseased brain from that affected by Alzheimer's disease. The resulting antibodies are useful diagnostically and therapeutically. The compounds that specifically bind to methylated tau proteins are useful for eliminating abnormally methylated tau.

The present disclosure provides robust, high-throughput, and clinically applicable methods for simultaneously separating and quantifying the biologically active forms of Vitamin B1 (TPP) and Vitamin B6 (PLP) from human whole blood.

A population of bright and stable nanocrystals is provided. The nanocrystals include a semiconductor core and a thick semiconductor shell and can exhibit high extinction coefficients, high quantum yields, and limited or no detectable blinking.

Oakland's alaMar Kitchen & Bar is about to start serving 1,500 free meals per week to restaurant workers who have been displaced and derailed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Located at 100 Grand Ave., chef Nelson German's popular seafood restaurant has just issued this announcement:

"We are here for you, Oakland! ...…

Noted restaurateur Reem Assil has decided to close her Fruitvale restaurant, Reem's California.

"From the bottom of our hearts, we'd like to thank everyone who has supported us in keeping our humble oakland restaurant operation a force in our community.…

Off the Grid will stage a two-part free-meal giveaway today, April 8, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Nob Hill Foods Alameda and from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Pak 'N Save Emeryville.

It's part of the Grocery Employees Meal Fund, which OTG recently launched to help creators feed grocery-store employees and their family members throughout the Covd-19 crisis.…

Shelter-in-place rules prevent Local Food Adventures founder Lauren McCabe Herpich from leading groups on East Bay culinary walking tours, as is her usual stock-in-trade.

But she has come up with another project to further tempt food fans while supporting local makers and proprietors.…

East Bay resident Miles Woodruff, CEO of the pioneering vegan-seafood brand Sophie's Kitchen, has just donated 3,000 cases of plant-based Toona to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano County as well as several other Bay Area food shelters.

Amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, the company's brand-new Lemon Grass Toona flavor has not yet arrived in grocery stores — but 100 percent of it is now being provided to people in need.…

Now through May 5, healthcare workers and first responders can collect free "Thank You Meals" at any McDonald's location nationwide.

The promotion began on April 22.…

Together with a team of volunteers — including the Street Royalty Motorcycle Club — popular pitmaster Matt Horn prepared and served 600 pork and chicken sandwiches to feed the entire staff at Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno.

Rather than lament the delayed opening of his eagerly awaited Horn Barbecue brick-and-mortar restaurant in the heart of Oakland, last month the pitmaster created a philanthropic project, the Horn Initiative, which has since mid-March facilitated the making and serving of over 4,000 meals to frontline workers and others in need.…

Uptown Oakland's alaMar Kitchen & Bar will celebrate its sixth anniversary this Friday, May 1, with a contactless, social-distancing, Covid-19-crisis parade.

"In celebration of this milestone, we are asking all of our fans and supporters to parade in the safety of their cars," management announced in a press release today.…

California today announced its intent to declare bisphenol A a reproductive hazard. Under a state law known as Prop 65, warning signs would be required for consumer items that contain a certain high level of BPA.…

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. Alameda County Public Health Director Muntu Davis contends that gentrification should be examined in terms of health impacts because of the displacement and stress it causes for low-income residents, the Bay Area News Group$ reports.…

If you happen to run into any medical residents anytime soon, they may look a little fatigued and broke, especially if they happen to be residents or pediatricians of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital of Oakland. Today, the CIR/SEIU Healthcare union that represents resident physicians and pediatricians said it plans to rally in front of the hospital on Friday at 12:15 p.m. along with nurses and community leaders to demand better wagers and working conditions.…

The present invention relates to a process for producing an electrolytic capacitor, the process comprising process steps i) ii): i) providing a capacitor body (1) that comprises an electrode body (2) of an electrode material,a dielectric (3) which at least partially covers the surface of this electrode material, anda solid electrolyte (4) at least comprising an electrically conductive material which at least partially covers the dielectric surface; ii) applying a primer solution e) to the capacitor body (1), followed by an application of a solution or dispersion a) comprising a conjugated polymer b) and a solvent or dispersant d), followed by an at least partial removal of the solvent or dispersant d) for the formation of the polymeric outer layer (5) that is formed onto the capacitor body (1); wherein the primer solution e) comprises at least one monofunctional amine and at least one carboxylic acid.