bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New York and the Origin of the Skyline: The Visual City as Text
Authors: Taylor William R.
Published: April 2011

How do we visualize our large cities? What kinds of shapes, overall, do we imagine them to have? These questions would have brought different answers in each major period of urban change in our country's development. Each period seemed to develop a favored perspective. Eighteenth and early-19th-century New Yorkers thought of the city as it looked when one approached it by sea from the harbor. Mid-19th-century viewers imagined a city seen from a bird's eye view like that provided by the Latting Observatory on 42nd Street, stretching to the north. By the end of the century, the approach to the city by rail and road began to encourage a new perspective on the city, silhouetted against the skywhat we have come to know as theskyline view. Each of these perspectives on the city reflects something about the urban culture of the period that created and favored the perspective. In the values and meaning that have become associated with it, the skyline is no exception.
“Come to the Carnival at Old St. Paul”: Souvenirs from a Civic Ritual Interpreted
Authors: Spraker Jean
Published: April 2011

The lines above constitute the chorus of a jaunty one-step which, its publishers hoped, would lure visitors to the St. Paul Winter Carnival of 1917. This civic celebration, first held in Minnesota's capitol city for the first twelve days of February, 1886, is still held and continues to incorporate a round of activities including parades, oratory, winter sports, mock royalty, balls and constructions of ice sculptures. Since the Carnival's inception, a variety of materials—running the gamut from promotional sheet music, programs, postcards and buttons to relics from previous carnivals—have been issued and collected to boost and commemorate the city of the Winter Carnival.
We Have Met the South and It Is Us: Southern Souvenirs and the American Image
Authors: Beckham Sue Bridwell
Published: April 2011

Stuckey's is almost defunct. Even the Stuckey's next door to the home office in Eastman, Georgia, is closed on Sunday. Ever since the railroad bought the chain as a tax write-off, burnt down Stuckey's haven't been replaced, and few new Stuckey's have been built. The pecan rolls at the remaining stores were made, not by Stuckey's but were, rather, bought, mass-produced, from some nameless factory. And today, it is rare to see a roof bearing the admonition to “See Seven States from Rock City.” The three-foot letters on the barn roofs which still bear the familiar advertisement are faded and the words no longer dominate the countryside. Today, the message, extended only to literate birds, is private rather than public—new invitations to Lookout Mountain's Rock City are painted on birdhouse roofs, and the bird houses are sold to grace the back yards of nostalgia souvenir seekers. Even without Stuckey's and Rock City barns, the South ain't dead for tourists; rather, it's a New South—a South to which the travelling nation looks for the finest American virtues.
Monument and Miniature: Brooklyn Bridge and Centennial Souvenirs
Authors: Sheehy Colleen J.
Published: April 2011

On May 24, 1983 Americans celebrated the Centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge's opening. On that day in New York City over two million people joined in the Rededication Day activities; millions more watched the fireworks display on television. During the months preceding Rededication Day, numerous magazines had featured articles on the Bridge; Ken Burns' award-winning documentary was broadcast on PBS; New York City museums opened exhibitions on the Bridge; the New York Academy of Sciences held a Bridge symposium; new artistic works with the Bridge as their subject were created; and a collection of Centennial souvenirs was produced. Rededication Day itself marked only the beginning of six months of Bridge-related activities. During 1983, the Brooklyn Bridge was as much “in the air” as it was in the East River. This kind of interest and affection can be described in terms applied to similar phenomena: Brooklyn Bridgephilia; Brooklyn Bridge Fever; Brooklyn Bridgemania.
Boundary as Center: Inventing an American Studies Culture
Authors: Cowan Michael
Published: April 2011

When the American Studies Association chose “Boundaries of American Culture” as the theme and San Diego as the site of its 1985 biennial convention, it made a particularly appropriate match between theme and site. Seen from my hotel balcony in a hazy autumnal glow, San Diego appeared a boundary city in at least three senses of relevance to the Association's work. First, lying at the border of the United States and Mexico, it hinted at the rich possibilities available to an American Studies willing to reach imaginatively beyond national boundaries, both north and south, toward a genuinely pan-American studies. Second, as a three-block walk to the beach from the convention hotel amply confirmed, San Diego borders what several commentators have called “the Mediterranean of the future”–a major arena of the globe too long and too much neglected by most Americans and Americanists. It was stimulating to welcome to the convention distinguished visitors from a dozen Asian and South Pacific countries, and more than a few speakers expressed the hope that such interaction would significantly further the comparativist and internationalist perspectives that they believed increasingly incumbent upon a nonparochial American Studies. Certainly the heartening presence in San Diego of both long-time and new colleagues from Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and the South Pacific reflected a slowly but steadily growing impulse in the Association, a concrete dramatization of the premise that ideas and values, not to mention trade and power, do not stop at a nation's borders, although they may be often slowed down or even transformed at those borders.
“The Vanishing Race” in Sight and Sound: Edward S. Curtis's Musicale of North American Indian Life
Authors: Gidley Mick
Published: April 2011

On November 19, 1911, Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952), the “photohistorian” of American Indians, wrote to his friend Edmond S. Meany, Professor of History at the University of Washington, about his latest triumphs. “Dear Brother Meany,” he began, “I think we can say that my lecture entertainment ‘arrived’. I wish you could have been present at the Carnegie Hall affair. The tremendous auditorium was filled to overflowing, a sea of people from the stage to the very ‘sky’ itself.” Curtis had been introduced by Henry Fairfield Osborn, Director of the American Museum of Natural History; just before they stepped into view Osborn looked through the foliage and, according to Curtis, had remarked, ‘“Do you realise that that is almost an appalling audience, and one that few men in their life-time have the privilege of facing?’” “I think,” Curtis added, “he was a little nervous on his own account and slightly so on mine, [but] rather than causing nervousness … it gave me courage and I was absolutely certain of myself after my first two words.” “Osborn's voice,” Curtis explained, “lacks the carrying power and his slight nervousness meant a rather halting introduction. This was evidently greatly to my advantage, as the minute I spoke I reached the farther-most corners and my voice caught and held the people.”
Emerson's Rhetoric of War
Authors: Lopez Michael
Published: April 2011

Recent literary theory has questioned the way we look at a text as the product of an individual “author.” But for William James—who was, like Emerson, a thoroughly nineteenth-century mind-any utterance, even the most complicated philosophical system, was at bottom the expression of the personality of the author. The history of philosophy, James believed, was in essence the “clash of human temperaments,” and temperament seems to gravitate to either the “idealistic” or what James denned as the “materialistic” pole:

Idealism will be chosen by a man of one emotional constitution, materialism by another.… [I]dealism gives to the nature of things such kinship with our personal selves. Our own thoughts are what we are most at home with, what we are least afraid of. To say then that the universe is essentially thought, is to say that I myself, potentially at least, am all. There is no radically alien corner, but an all-prevading intimacy. … That element in reality which every strong man of common-sense willingly feels there because it calls forth powers that he owns-the rough, harsh, sea-wave, north-wind element, the denier of persons, the democratizer-is banished because it jars too much on the desire for communication. Now, it is the very enjoyment of this element that throws many men upon the materialistic or agnostic hypothesis, as a polemic reaction against the contrary extreme. They sicken at a life wholly constituted of intimacy. There is an overpowering desire at moments to escape personality, to revel in the action of forces that have no respect for our ego, to let the tides flow, even though they flow over us. The strife of these two kinds of mental temper will, I think, always be seen in philosophy. Some men will keep insisting on the reason, the atonement, that lies in the heart of things, and that we can act with; others, on the capacity of brute fact that we must react against.
Reproducing Walt Whitman: The Camera, the Omnibus and Leaves of Grass
Authors: Orvell Miles
Published: April 2011

We have thought of whitman as an urban poet for so long-noticing how integral his Manhattan is to the imagery of Leaves of Grass – that we have lost sight of the deeper structure of urban popular culture lying behind the poem. As Remy G. Saisselin has recently argued, the city in the nineteenth century transformed the eye of the observer, and new kinds of urban spaces and entertainments—like the arcade, the panorama, and the department store—were created to satisfy a growing population of consumers. Saisselin affirms, moreover, that an unprecedented variety of aesthetic observer evolved along with these changes in urban experience: No longer was he “the man of taste in contemplation before a picture or a landscape. … He was the flaneur in the modern city.” And he associates this new observer with the photographer, whose urban gaze was also ubiquitous, surveying urban types and spaces. Saisselin is speaking here primarily of the European city, of Paris especially, but his observations are valuable in considering anew the sources of Whitman's art, for they point to a relationship between poetry and the urban milieu that has been generally overlooked. More specifically, they lead us to see the invention of Leaves of Grass as a way of organizing and perceiving reality that was new in the arts of the nineteenth century, yet one that was rooted in the popular urban culture of the time.
Edward Johnson and the American Puritan Sense of History
Authors: Seavey Ormond
Published: April 2011

When Edward Johnson needed to express his deepest hopes about history, he found in the Bible an encoded emblem for the destiny of America. In the proclamation from Christ's herald that beginsThe Wonder-Working Providence of Sions Saviour in New England, he concludes with an urgent appeal to all believers:

Pray, pray, pray, pray continually with the valiant worthyJoshuathat the Sun may stand still inGibeon, and the Moone in the vally ofAijalon, for assuredly although some small battailes may be fought against the enemies ofChrist, yet the great day of their finall overthrow shall not come till the bright Sonne of that one cleare truth ofChrist, stands still in the Gentile Churches, that those who fight the Lords Battells may plainly discerne his enemies in all places, where they finde them, as also such as will continue fighting must have the World kept low in their eyes, as the Moon in the valley ofAijalon.
Class and Culture in Modern America: The Vision of the Landscape in the Residences of Contemporary Americans
Authors: Halle David
Published: April 2011

For Every period except the modern, we look at art as it was displayed, and as it was seen by the contemporary viewer. Who would think, for example, of medieval art without thinking also of the cathedral and church in which the spectator saw the works? Who would consider the art of ancient Egypt and China apart from the funeral tombs of the aristocracy, for whose use and delight in the afterworld much of it was destined? Who would study Roman art without looking as well at the public monuments that celebrated and demonstrated political power to the populace of the city? In all of these cases we consider art in the context in which it was viewed at the time, and we link its meaning to the material environment in which it was located.
Towards the Nuclear Sublime: Representations of Technological Vastness in Postmodern American Poetry
Authors: Wilson Rob
Published: April 2011

When Brigadier General Thomas Farrell groped to describe (in an official government report) the subjective effect of the first atomic explosion at Alamogordo, New Mexico, at 5:29:50 A.M. on July 16, 1945, he found himself, like many a would-be writer of the sublime before him, at a loss for adequate terms and tropes – stupefied, dwarfed, reaching for hyperbolic endterms like “doomsday” and “blasphemous” and resorting to spaced-out adjectives such as “tremendous” or “awesome” that 19thcentury Americans had reserved for more manageable spectacles of God's grandeur such as Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon. Though a military man and no poet, as Farrell registered this history-shattering event in words, he struggled to command some rhetoric of ultimacy before nuclear “effects [that] could well be called unprecedented, magnificent, beautiful, stupendous and terrifying”:

No man-made phenomenon of such tremendous power had ever occurred before. The lighting effects beggared description. The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun. It was golden, purple, violet, gray and blue. It lighted every peak, crevasse, and mountain range with a clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined. It was the beauty the great poets dream about but describe most poorly and inadequately. Thirty seconds after the explosion came, first the air blast pressing hard against people and things, to be followed almost immediately by the strong, sustained awesome roar which warned of doomsday and made us feel that we puny things were blasphemous to dare tamper with the forces heretofore reserved to The Almighty. Words are inadequate tools for the job of acquainting those not present with the physical, mental, and psychological effects. It had to be witnessed to be realized.
ReadingThe House of the Seven Gables:Narrative as a Cultural System
Authors: Millington Richard H.
Published: April 2011

Asthe scarlet letterends, Hawthorne offers us a glimpse of Hester Prynne's future. We are to imagine her as a figure of wisdom, offering counsel to a community of perplexed and sorrowful women, the casualties of love. Her bitter experience has at last become a source of authority; the marginal has become central. This vision of Hester anticipates Hawthorne's transformation of his fiction as he moved fromThe Scarlet LettertoThe House of the Seven Gables. The “hell-fired” intensity of the former book generated in Hawthorne the wish to write something more genial, less gloomy, “a more natural and healthy product of my mind,” a work he could feel less “reluctance” about publishing. The lure of the central hinted at in Hester's reward and Hawthorne's remarks is at the heart ofThe House of the Seven Gables'sway of claiming authority, its attempt to reinvent and perform the work of the novelist.
Grinding the Gears of Production and Consumption: Representational versus Nonrepresentational Advertising for Automobiles in the Mid-1920s
Authors: Brøgger Fredrik Chr.
Published: April 2011

In 1926, President Coolidge delivered an address to the American Association of Advertising Agencies in which he acknowledged and praised the role played by advertising in the economic life of the nation. His speech was fraught with cultural contradictions: one moment he affirmed the traditional values of industry and thrift, and the next moment, almost in the same breath, he heralded the idea of increased spending and consumption. The address reflected the small-town ideology of a government leadership trying to remain convinced that modern-day advertising posed no threat to the 19th-century work ethic. The ideological dividedness of Coolidge's speech brings to mind a man happily sawing away at the branch on which he is sitting. Advertising is “not an economic waste”:

[R]ightfully applied, it is the method by which the desire is created for better things. When that once exists, new ambition is developed for the creation and use of wealth.
Protecting the Hemingway Myth: Casting Out Forbidden Desires fromThe Garden of Eden
Authors: Moddelmog Debra A.
Published: April 2011

In the ten years since Scribner's publishedThe Garden of Eden, critics have come to recognize that the book's editor, Tom Jenks, had a heavy hand in its composition — despite his and Charles Scribner Jr.'s comments to the contrary. E. L. Doctorow was among the first to suggest that the publisher's note disclaiming editorial interference in the production ofThe Garden of Edenis more fictional than the novel itself. Stating that “some cuts” have been made to Hemingway's “manuscript” but nothing added, this note concludes that “in every significant respect the work is all the author's.” Given that the published novel is one-third the length of the longest manuscript, a “cut” of approximately 130,000 words, one would have to agree with Doctorow that the phrase “some cuts” is disingenuous (44).
The Man Nobody Knows: Charles A. Lindbergh and the Culture of Celebrity
Authors: de Leon Charles L. Ponce
Published: April 2011

In July 1930, Charles A. Lindbergh appeared before a select group of reporters to announce that he would no longer “cooperate” with five New York newspapers. These papers, he claimed, had repeatedly violated his privacy. Lindbergh's decision marked the culmination of a bitter and well-publicized feud between the aviator and reporters for the tabloid press. For all intents and purposes, Lindbergh had ceased cooperating with the tabloids a year earlier, when he and Anne Morrow had wed in a secret ceremony and had eluded reporters for more than a week during their honeymoon. Therefore, no one was especially surprised by his announcement, which elicited a chorus of cheers among writers for “respectable” newspapers and magazines who shared his disgust for the tabloids' “contemptible” practices. Lindbergh's views on tabloid journalism, a writer for theNationobserved, “raise him still higher in our respect and admiration, something that we hardly felt possible in view of his great modesty, his dignity, and his refusal to let himself be ruined by the unparalleled publicity and popularity which have been his.”
J. C. Leyendecker and the Homoerotic Invention of Men's Fashion Icons, 1910–1930
Authors: Martin Richard
Published: April 2011

In his trenchant essay, on “Géricault and ‘Masculinity’,’ Norman Bryson writes, “In the linkage between the male subject, the male image, and the social hierarchy, one of the key components of the political order of patriarchy may, perhaps, be found.” Bryson understands the male image implies terms of power and presentation in culture, and in American culture no less than any other. Of course, the male image is most often armed, protected, and placed on a pedestal, literally or figuratively. Yet there is need to reckon with man's image. To analyze the representation of the male in American visual culture is not necessarily to repudiate existing heroes and to enjoin any virtues of a gender. On the contrary, we may discover an old friend in a new cognizance.
Glucocorticoids Inhibit Sodium Depletion-induced Salt Appetite in Rat
Authors: Liu Chao , Guan Jing , Chen Ying , Liu Kunshen
Published: April 2011

Glucocorticoids, produced in adrenal cortex, exert potent natriuretic and diuretic actions in the kidney. Recently, it has been found that glucocorticoids could upregulate the expression of natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPR-A), the primary receptor of atrial natriuretic peptide, in the hypothalamus of the rat. Consequently, systemic administration of glucocorticoid could block dehydration-induced water intake by activation hypothalamic NPR-A. We describe here glucocorticoids could inhibit sodium intake when administrated systemically in conscious, salt-depleted rats; an effect which was strong and long-lasting. The study provided further evidence for the actions of glucocorticoids on central nervous system, which together with their established renal actions coordinated to normalize extracellular fluid volume.
A Note On The Denisova Cave mtDNA Sequence
Authors: Caldararo Niccolo , Guthrie Michael
Published: April 2011

The recently published Altai fossil sequence from Denisova Cave was purported to be so different from anatomically modern humans, yet have the physiological landmarks of that species designation. When the published sequence was examined it was found that segments in the mtDNA hypervariable regions could be found to align with that of anatomically modern humans if one introduced an insertion at a position found in Neanderthals. Some other points of interest arise from a reconsideration of the sequences for other published samples and Neanderthals from the same perspective.
INCF Workshops on Needs for Training in Neuroinformatics: Extended and Short Course Provision
Authors: Willshaw David
Published: April 2011

The second and third INCF Workshops on Training in Neuroinformatics were organized by the INCF National Node of the UK. In these workshops, the issues arising in providing extended courses, such as a full time Masters, or short courses, of a few days or a few weeks, were discussed. There was a focus on how the INCF could facilitate training in these types of courses. In this report, the recommendations from all three Training workshops are brought together.
SBML Level 3 Package Proposal: Annotation
Authors: Hucka Michael , Laibe Camille , Juty Nick , Liebermeister Wolfram , Keating Sarah , Lloyd Catherine , Knuepfer Christian , Misirli Goksel , Schulz Marvin , Waltemath Dagmar , Taschuk Morgan , Swainston Neil , Le Novère Nicolas , Lister Allyson , Bergmann Frank , Henkel Ron , Krause Falko , Hoops Stefan
Published: April 2011

The annotation of Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) models with semantic terms has been supported for a number of years. The prevalence of such annotated models is growing, with repositories such as Biomodels.net and an increasing number of software tools supporting and encouraging their use and development.With the increasing use of semantic annotations in the context of systems biology modeling has come the realization that the current Core SBML specification defining their use contains limitations that reduce the scope of metadata that can be captured in such models.SBML Level 3 provides the facility to propose and develop optional extensions to the Core specification. One such extension is described here, with an initial proposal of an Annotation package.This proposal extends the current Core annotation specification to provide support for a richer set of semantic annotations while adhering more closely to the existing specification of Resource Description Framework (RDF).
Structural Modeling and Validation of Rep protein of Begomovirus Strains (TLCBV and TYLCTHV)
Authors: Prajapat Rajneesh , Bajpai Vivek , Gaur Rajarshi Kumar
Published: April 2011

Homology modeling involves taking a known sequence with an unknown structure and mapping it against a known structure of one or several similar (homologous) proteins. It would be expected that two proteins of similar origin and function would have reasonable structural similarity. Therefore it is possible to use the known structure as a template for modeling the structure of the unknown structure. Proteins that share the same function generally have similar structures. During alignment if two proteins show maximum sequence identity they also show a similar folding pattern. This principal has became the foundation of homology modeling.The Geminivirus taxonomic group of plant viruses is characterized by geminate particles and genomes consisting of single-stranded circular DNA molecules of about 2.5 to 2.8 kb in size. Agricultural plants are threatened by many diseases caused by whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses. Since these diseases are in a fast spreading phase, it is urgent to devise rapid diagnosis methods and to produce resistant plants.
Prediction Of Cancer Possibility By Pattern Recognition And Statistical Study Of Expression Of Gene Level Of Cancer Cells
Authors: Mallick Medhavi , Odedra Devang
Published: April 2011

The activity of the p53 tumor-suppressor protein has a key role in controlling both cancer and aging: under activity encourages the growth of cancer, and over activity can accelerate the aging process. The p53 protein is a tumor suppressor encoded by a gene whose disruption is associated with approximately 50 to 55 percent of human cancers. The p53 protein acts as a checkpoint in the cell cycle, either preventing or initiating programmed cell death (Apoptosis). p53 regulating genes MDM2, PARP, Oncogenicras, and p21 etc play a crucial role in tumor suppression.
Development and application of molecular and bioinformatic tools for the genetic monitoring of wild beets
Authors: Enders Matthias , Frese Lothar , Nachtigall Marion
Published: April 2011

Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) are an economically important plant genetic resource (PGR) for plant breeding. One strategy to conserve PGR in the natural habitat (in situ) is the genetic reserve technique. This approach protects the existing intraspecific diversity and allows, in contrast to the ex situ approaches, the emergence of new diversity.The genetic reserve conservation technique will be tested in practice with the Genus Beta within the framework of the EU Project “AEGRO”. Beta patula (Ait.) (BP) and Beta vulgaris (L.) maritima (Arcang.) (BVM) are used as models. Both species are important resources for sugar beet breeding. BP is a rare and endangered species with a very limited habitat. In contrast BVM is widespread along the shores of Western Europe. This subspecies is expected to migrate in a northward direction as a consequence of the global climate change. The impact of this migration on the genetic diversity will be examined in future analyses and will establish a basis for future research.A total of 557 plants from 14 sampling plots were analyzed using 25 SSR markers (Simple Sequence Repeat Marker). Additionally, a monitoring database for storing and post processing all laboratory and field data was developed.For the first time the geographic pattern of genetic diversity in the wild beet BP was described and decision criteria for the establishment of a genetic reserve for BP was postulated. The knowledge of geographic patterns of genetic diversity in the wild beet BVM was consolidated as a baseline for further investigations on the potential influence of climate changes and the corresponding geographic range shift on genetic diversity.
Synthesis and characterization of chemically modified sago starch with potential biomedical application (Presented at ChemFerence-2010 at IIT Kanpur, 13 July 2010)
Authors: Singh Akhilesh
Published: April 2011

This study was undertaken to assess the potential of highly substitute acetylated sago starch (SS) to be used as a platform for controlled drug delivery. The acetylated sago starch was synthesized and the two parameters i.e. duration of reaction and temperature were optimized. FT-IR spectra showed the corresponding group attachment in the modified form. XRD pattern exhibits change in the physical nature i.e. from crystalline to amorphous. Swelling, hydration and viscosity value exhibits decrease in the respective values in comparison to its native form which is due a to decrease in its hydrophilic value.
Multi-scale network biology model & the model library
Authors: Xiong Jianghui
Published: April 2011

Multi-scale network biology model & the model library
How Predictable are Temperature-series Undergoing Noise-controlled Dynamics in the Mediterranean
Authors: Diodato Nazzareno , Bellocchi Gianni
Published: April 2011

Mediterranean is thought to be sensitive to global climate change, but its future interdecadal variability is uncertain for many climate models. A study was made of the variability of the winter temperature over the Mediterranean Sub-regional Area (MSA), employing a reconstructed temperature series covering the period 1698 to 2010. This paper describes the transformed winter temperature data performed via Empirical Mode Decomposition for the purposes of noise reduction and statistical modeling. This emerging approach is discussed to account for the internal dependence structure of natural climate variability.
A potent fluorescent probe for the detection ofcellapoptosis
Authors: Zhu Chunlei , Yang Qiong , Liu Libing , Wang Shu
Published: April 2011

A new positively charged fluorescent probe poly(p-phenylene vinylene) derivative has been developed for cell apoptosis detection in a simple way.
Cell–cell communication mimicry with poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels for enhancing β-cell function
Authors: Lin Chien-Chi , Anseth Kristi S.
Published: April 2011

A biomimetic hydrogel platform was designed to signal encapsulated cells using immobilized cell–cell communication cues, with a focus on enhancing the survival and function of encapsulated pancreatic β-cells to treat type 1 diabetes. When MIN6 cells, a pancreatic β-cell line, were encapsulated in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels, their survival and glucose responsiveness to insulin were highly dependent on the cell-packing density. A minimum packing density of 10
7
 cells/mL was necessary to maintain the survival of encapsulated β-cells without the addition of material functionalities (e.g., cell adhesion ligands). While single cell suspensions can improve diffusion-limited mass transfer, direct cell–cell interactions are limited. Thus, thiolated EphA5-Fc receptor and ephrinA5-Fc ligand were conjugated into PEG hydrogels via a thiol-acrylate photopolymerization to render an otherwise inert PEG hydrogel bioactive. The biomimetic hydrogels presented here can provide crucial cell–cell communication signals for dispersed β-cells and improve their survival and proliferation. Together with the cell-adhesive peptide RGDS, the immobilized fusion proteins (EphA5-Fc and ephrinA5-Fc) synergistically increased the survival of both MIN6 β-cells and dissociated islet cells, both at a very low cell-packing density (< 2 × 10
6
 cells/mL). This unique gel platform demonstrates new strategies for tailoring biomimetic environments to enhance the encapsulation of cells that require cell–cell contact to survive and function.
Density-dependent predation influences the evolution and behavior of masquerading prey
Authors: Skelhorn John , Rowland Hannah M. , Delf Jon , Speed Michael P. , Ruxton Graeme D.
Published: April 2011

Predation is a fundamental process in the interaction between species, and exerts strong selection pressure. Hence, anti-predatory traits have been intensively studied. Although it has long been speculated that individuals of some species gain protection from predators by sometimes almost-uncanny resemblances to uninteresting objects in the local environment (such as twigs or stones), demonstration of antipredatory benefits to such “masquerade” have only very recently been demonstrated, and the fundamental workings of this defensive strategy remain unclear. Here we use laboratory experiments with avian predators and twig-mimicking caterpillars as masqueraders to investigate (
i
) the evolutionary dynamics of masquerade; and (
ii
) the behavioral adaptations associated with masquerade. We show that the benefit of masquerade declines as the local density of masqueraders relative to their models (twigs, in our system) increases. This occurs through two separate mechanisms: increasing model density both decreased predators’ motivation to search for masqueraders, and made masqueraders more difficult to detect. We further demonstrated that masquerading organisms have evolved complex microhabitat selection strategies that allow them to best exploit the density-dependent properties of masquerade. Our results strongly suggest the existence of opportunity costs associated with masquerade. Careful evaluation of such costs will be vital to the development of a fuller understanding of both the distribution of masquerade across taxa and ecosystems, and the evolution of the life history strategies of masquerading prey.
Self-assembling RNA square
Authors: Dibrov Sergey M. , McLean Jaime , Parsons Jerod , Hermann Thomas
Published: April 2011

The three-dimensional structures of noncoding RNA molecules reveal recurring architectural motifs that have been exploited for the design of artificial RNA nanomaterials. Programmed assembly of RNA nanoobjects from autonomously folding tetraloop–receptor complexes as well as junction motifs has been achieved previously through sequence-directed hybridization of complex sets of long oligonucleotides. Due to size and complexity, structural characterization of artificial RNA nanoobjects has been limited to low-resolution microscopy studies. Here we present the design, construction, and crystal structure determination at 2.2 Å of the smallest yet square-shaped nanoobject made entirely of double-stranded RNA. The RNA square is comprised of 100 residues and self-assembles from four copies each of two oligonucleotides of 10 and 15 bases length. Despite the high symmetry on the level of secondary structure, the three-dimensional architecture of the square is asymmetric, with all four corners adopting distinct folding patterns. We demonstrate the programmed self-assembly of RNA squares from complex mixtures of corner units and establish a concept to exploit the RNA square as a combinatorial nanoscale platform.
TNF-α–dependent loss of IKKβ-deficient myeloid progenitors triggers a cytokine loop culminating in granulocytosis
Authors: Mankan Arun K. , Canli Ozge , Schwitalla Sarah , Ziegler Paul , Tschopp Jurg , Korn Thomas , Greten Florian R.
Published: April 2011

Loss of IκB kinase (IKK) β-dependent NF-κB signaling in hematopoietic cells is associated with increased granulopoiesis. Here we identify a regulatory cytokine loop that causes neutrophilia in
Ikkβ
−deficient mice. TNF-α–dependent apoptosis of myeloid progenitor cells leads to the release of IL-1β, which promotes Th17 polarization of peripheral CD4
+
T cells. Although the elevation of IL-17 and the consecutive induction of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor compensate for the loss of myeloid progenitor cells, the facilitated induction of Th17 cells renders
Ikkβ
-deficient animals more susceptible to the development of experimental autoimmune encephalitis. These results unravel so far unanticipated direct and indirect functions for IKKβ in myeloid progenitor survival and maintenance of innate and Th17 immunity and raise concerns about long-term IKKβ inhibition in IL-17–mediated diseases.
Direct visualization reveals dynamics of a transient intermediate during protein assembly
Authors: Zhang Xin , Lam Vinh Q. , Mou Yun , Kimura Tetsunari , Chung Jaeyoon , Chandrasekar Sowmya , Winkler Jay R. , Mayo Stephen L. , Shan Shu-ou
Published: April 2011

Interactions between proteins underlie numerous biological functions. Theoretical work suggests that protein interactions initiate with formation of transient intermediates that subsequently relax to specific, stable complexes. However, the nature and roles of these transient intermediates have remained elusive. Here, we characterized the global structure, dynamics, and stability of a transient, on-pathway intermediate during complex assembly between the Signal Recognition Particle (SRP) and its receptor. We show that this intermediate has overlapping but distinct interaction interfaces from that of the final complex, and it is stabilized by long-range electrostatic interactions. A wide distribution of conformations is explored by the intermediate; this distribution becomes more restricted in the final complex and is further regulated by the cargo of SRP. These results suggest a funnel-shaped energy landscape for protein interactions, and they provide a framework for understanding the role of transient intermediates in protein assembly and biological regulation.
Mechanism of the order–disorder phase transition, and glassy behavior in the metal-organic framework [(CH
3
)
2
NH
2
]Zn(HCOO)
3
Authors: Besara Tiglet , Jain Prashant , Dalal Naresh S. , Kuhns Philip L. , Reyes Arneil P. , Kroto Harold W. , Cheetham Anthony K.
Published: April 2011

Transitions associated with orientational order–disorder phenomena are found in a wide range of materials and may have a significant impact on their properties. In this work, specific heat and
1
H NMR measurements have been used to study the phase transition in the metal-organic framework (MOF) compound [(CH
3
)
2
NH
2
]Zn(HCOO)
3
. This compound, which possesses a perovskite-type architecture, undergoes a remarkable order–disorder phase transition at 156 K. The

(DMA
+
) cationic moieties that are bound by hydrogen bonds to the oxygens of the formate groups (N─H⋯O ∼ 2.9 
Å
) are essentially trapped inside the basic perovskite cage architecture. Above 156 K, it is the orientations of these moieties that are responsible for the disorder, as each can take up three different orientations with equal probability. Below 156 K, the DMA
+
is ordered within one of these sites, although the moiety still retains a considerable state of motion. Below 40 K, the rotational motions of the methyl groups start to freeze. As the temperature is increased from 4 K in the NMR measurements, different relaxation pathways can be observed in the temperature range approximately 65–150 K, as a result of a “memory effect.” This dynamic behavior is characteristic of a glass in which multiple states possess similar energies, found here for a MOF. This conclusion is strongly supported by the specific heat data.
Mutations in mitochondrial histidyl tRNA synthetase
HARS2
cause ovarian dysgenesis and sensorineural hearing loss of Perrault syndrome
Authors: Pierce Sarah B. , Chisholm Karen M. , Lynch Eric D. , Lee Ming K. , Walsh Tom , Opitz John M. , Li Weiqing , Klevit Rachel E. , King Mary-Claire
Published: April 2011

Perrault syndrome is a genetically heterogeneous recessive disorder characterized by ovarian dysgenesis and sensorineural hearing loss. In a nonconsanguineous family with five affected siblings, linkage analysis and genomic sequencing revealed the genetic basis of Perrault syndrome to be compound heterozygosity for mutations in the mitochondrial histidyl tRNA synthetase HARS2 at two highly conserved amino acids, L200V and V368L. The nucleotide substitution creating HARS2 p.L200V also created an alternate splice leading to deletion of 12 codons from the
HARS2
message. Affected family members thus carried three mutant
HARS2
transcripts. Aminoacylation activity of HARS2 p.V368L and HARS2 p.L200V was reduced and the deletion mutant was not stably expressed in mammalian mitochondria. In yeast, lethality of deletion of the single essential histydyl tRNA synthetase
HTS1
was fully rescued by wild-type HTS1 and by HTS1 p.L198V (orthologous to HARS2 p.L200V), partially rescued by HTS1 p.V381L (orthologous to HARS2 p.V368L), and not rescued by the deletion mutant. In
Caenorhabditis elegans
, reduced expression by RNAi of the single essential histydyl tRNA synthetase
hars-1
severely compromised fertility. Together, these data suggest that Perrault syndrome in this family was caused by reduction of HARS2 activity. These results implicate aberrations of mitochondrial translation in mammalian gonadal dysgenesis. More generally, the relationship between
HARS2
and Perrault syndrome illustrates how causality may be demonstrated for extremely rare inherited mutations in essential, highly conserved genes.
Eigenfunction expansions in ℝⁿ
Authors: Gramchev Todor , Pilipovic Stevan , Rodino Luigi
Published: April 2011

The main goal of this paper is to extend in

R

n

\mathbb {R}^n

a result of Seeley on eigenfunction expansions of real analytic functions on compact manifolds. As a counterpart of an elliptic operator in a compact manifold, we consider in

R

n

\mathbb {R}^n

a selfadjoint, globally elliptic Shubin type differential operator with spectrum consisting of a sequence of eigenvalues

λ
j

,

j
∈

N

,

\lambda _j, {j\in \mathbb N},

and a corresponding sequence of eigenfunctions

u
j

,
j
∈

N

u_j, j\in \mathbb N

, forming an orthonormal basis of

L
2

(

R

n

)
.

L^2(\mathbb R^n).

Elements of Schwartz

S

(

R

n

)

\mathcal S(\mathbb R^n)

, resp. Gelfand-Shilov

S

1

/

2

1

/

2

S^{1/2}_{1/2}

spaces, are characterized through expansions

∑
j

a
j

u
j

\sum _ja_ju_j

and the estimates of coefficients

a
j

a_j

by the power function, resp. exponential function of

λ
j

\lambda _j

.
Changes in Germination and Physiochemical Properties of Transgenic cry1Ab/cry1Ac Gene Rice During Long‐Term Storage
Authors: Cai Wan‐Lun , Yao Ying‐Juan , Yang Chang‐Ju , Hua Hong‐Xia , Gao Gen‐Liang
Published: April 2011

The changes in germination, free fatty acid (FFA), and viscosity of the transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) rice expressing the cry1Ab/cry1Ac gene and its associated Bt protein were observed at three‐month intervals during 24 months of storage at ambient temperature and relative humidity. After nine months of storage, FFA of transgenic Bt rice was significantly lower than that of nontransgenic rice, while germination was significantly higher. Rates of change of FFA and germination in transgenic rice were lower than in nontransgenic rice. The content of Bt protein in the husk and in the brown rice both decreased 80% during 24 months of storage. Our observations suggest that transgenic Bt rice used in this study had long‐term storability.
Substrates Influence Stimulatory Effect of Mevalonic Acid on Carotenoid Production in Red Yeasts
Authors: Ananda Nanjundaswamy , Vadlani Praveen V.
Published: April 2011

Stimulation of carotenogenesis in carotenoid producing red yeasts, algae, or bacteria for enhanced carotenoid production has been achieved by mevalonic acid addition. Recently, carotenoid‐enriched feed was produced by Phaffia rhodozyma fermentation of inexpensive animal feeds. Because mevalonate improves carotenoid yield in P. rhodozyma in synthetic medium, this study tested whether a similar enhancement was possible in biobased substrates. Four concentrations, 0, 0.02, 0.04, and 0.1% of mevalonate as a precursor of P. rhodozyma production of astaxanthin and β‐carotene were evaluated in five substrates: defatted rice bran, full fat rice bran, wheat bran, corn whole stillage, and synthetic media. Additionally, four concentrations, 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5% of apple pomace and tomato pomace were also evaluated as precursors of carotenogenesis in P. rhodozyma fermentation of corn whole stillage and rice bran. Mevalonic acid, tomato pomace, and apple pomace enhanced carotenoid yields in all substrates in that order. However, the optimal concentration of precursor and the percent increase of carotenoid yield in each substrate were variable, potentially indicating substrate influence on carotenoid stimulation. Among animal feed substrates, mevalonic acid in corn whole stillage resulted in the best astaxanthin yield of 220 μg/g and β‐carotene of 904 μg/g. Tomato pomace resulted in 29% astaxanthin and β‐carotene enhancement in corn whole stillage, and apple pomace increased β‐carotene production by 26% in whole stillage. The use of expensive mevalonate is offset by the inexpensive process of producing carotenoid‐enriched DDGS. Optimization of tomato or apple pomace addition may further enhance the carotenoid yields.
Intraoperative Awareness
Authors: Mashour George A. , Orser Beverley A. , Avidan Michael S. , Warner David S.
Published: April 2011

Intraoperative awareness is defined by both consciousness and explicit memory of surgical events. Although electroencephalographic techniques to detect and prevent awareness are being investigated, no method has proven uniformly reliable. The lack of a standard intraoperative monitor for the brain likely reflects our insufficient understanding of consciousness and memory. In this review, the authors discuss the neurobiology of consciousness and memory, as well as the incidence, risk factors, sequelae, and prevention of intraoperative awareness.
Is Small‐bowel Bacterial Overgrowth an Underdiagnosed Disorder in Children With Gastrointestinal Symptoms?
Authors: Jones Hilary F , Davidson Geoffrey P , Brooks Doug A , Butler Ross N
Published: April 2011

Small‐bowel bacterial overgrowth (SBBO) has been implicated in chronic abdominal pain and irritable bowel syndrome in children. This was a retrospective study that aimed to assess the occurrence of SBBO by the lactulose breath hydrogen test in children referred primarily for investigation of carbohydrate malabsorption (n = 287). There were profiles indicative of SBBO in 16% (39/250) of hydrogen‐producing children. This indicated that SBBO may be more common in children with gastrointestinal symptoms and apparent carbohydrate malabsorption than previously recognised.
Association of Polymorphisms in the Interleukin‐18 Gene With Susceptibility to Biliary Atresia
Authors: Lee Hung‐Chang , Chang Tzu‐Yang , Yeung Chun‐Yan , Chan Wai‐Tao , Jiang Chuen‐Bin , Chan Hui‐Wen , Chen Wei‐Fang , Yang Horng‐Woei , Lin Marie , Lee Yann‐Jinn
Published: April 2011

Background and Objective:

Biliary atresia (BA) is a destructive inflammatory obliterative cholangiopathy of neonates that affects both intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts. Although the etiology is unknown, immunologically mediated injury of the bile ducts triggered by as yet unidentified infectious agents is likely to play a critical role. Interleukin‐18 (IL‐18) is a proinflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in immune, infectious, and inflammatory diseases because of its induction of interferon‐gamma. In this study, we investigated whether polymorphisms of the IL18 gene were associated with susceptibility to BA.

Patients and Methods:

Genomic DNA was extracted from whole‐blood samples of 50 Taiwanese children with BA and 1117 ethnically matched healthy controls. The IL18 –1297 T/C, –607 C/A, –137 G/C, and +105 A/C polymorphisms were genotyped using the TaqMan assay.

Results:

No statistically significant differences of genotype, allele, carrier, and haplotype frequencies of these IL18 gene variants were found between children with BA and healthy controls.

Conclusions:

Our data suggest that the IL18 gene does not play a major role in BA predisposition in Taiwanese children.