bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neuroethical Theories
Authors: HÄYRY MATTI
Published: March 2010

Neuroethics addresses moral, legal, and social questions created or highlighted by theoretical and practical developments in neuroscience. Practices in need of scrutiny currently include at least brain imaging with new techniques, chemical attempts to shift exceptional brain function toward normality, chemical attempts to enhance ordinary brain function beyond normality, and brain manipulation by other methods.
Rationality, Responsibility, and Brain Function
Authors: BULLER TOM
Published: March 2010

There has been a fair amount of recent discussion about the implications that advances in neuroscience will have on the law and, in particular, legal responsibility. This discussion has been varied and includes, for example, the potential impact of neuroimaging techniques to reveal whether a defendant or witness is telling the truth, and consideration of whether our growing knowledge of brain function will warrant a revision in the law to make it more psychologically relevant.
Cosmetic Neurology: Sliding Down the Slippery Slope?
Authors: LAUNIS VEIKKO
Published: March 2010

In an editorial to a recent issue of Neurology, Richard Dees expresses the same criticism in an even more rigorous epistemic tone: “Slippery slope arguments are always fallacious, and they always hide an agenda. However they are used, they are meant to make us accept a conclusion that we would otherwise reject.”
CQ Sources/Bibliography
Authors: Anton Bette
Published: March 2010

These CQ Sources were compiled by Bette Anton.
Contest
Authors: Eades Alwyn
Published: March 2010

My apologies to you all; the note on page 38 is a spoof. My co-authors are a fictitious member of the electron microscopy group at Bristol University in the 1980s and a fictitious student we invented at my secondary school, half a century ago. In the case of the latter, we were able to persuade the teachers and administration that he was real for an entire term.
Net Notes
Authors: Phillips Thomas E.
Published: March 2010

Selected postings from the Microscopy Listserver from December 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010. Complete listings and subscription information can be obtained at http://www.microscopy.com. Postings may have been edited to conserve space or for clarity.
Cilia Not Only Move, but also Have Taste!
Authors: Carmichael Stephen W.
Published: March 2010

Motile cilia are organelles that contain amazing molecular machines that bend each cilium in a rhythmic and coordinated movement. This allows a liquid film, perhaps with particles embedded within, to move in a specific direction. The classic example is the cilia of the respiratory passages that move a layer of debris-carrying mucus out of the lungs. When this mechanism is not working properly, recurrent pulmonary infections result. The classic example of this is immotile cilia syndrome that results in chronic bronchitis and related problems. However, no sensory function has been assigned to these classic motile cilia until now (although nodal cilia have both mechanical activity and sensory functions). Alok Shah, Yehuda Ben-Shahar, Thomas Moninger, Joel Kline, and Michael Welsh have demonstrated sensory receptors on motile cilia for the first time.
X-Ray Mapping of Mineral Phases Incorporated into Liposomes
Authors: Lewis K. , Wuhrer R. , Ben-Nissan B. , Valenzuela S.M. , Moran K.
Published: March 2010

A liposome is a spherical particle formed by a lipid bilayer enclosing an aqueous compartment at its center. These particles can be comprised of a variety of lipids, particularly phospholipids. They have been long considered as potential delivery devices in the medical and pharmaceutical industries because of their ability to encapsulate different compounds as the lipids form into liposomes. The biocompatibility of many liposomes has been widely studied, and this has led to the development of a number of drug formulations. The ability of liposomes to be stored in the body and to be taken up by cells makes them ideal for drug delivery.
Calendar
Authors: Yao Nan
Published: March 2010

Following is a list of microscopy related meetings and courses. The editors would greatly appreciate input to this list via the electronic submission form found in the MSA World-Wide Web page at http://www.msa.microscopy.com. We will gladly add hypertext links to the notice on the web and insert a listing of the meeting in the next issue of the Journal. Send comments and questions to Nan Yao, nyao@Princeton.edu.
Have We Come a Long Way, Baby? The Influence of Attorney Gender on Supreme Court Decision Making
Authors: Szmer John J. , Sarver Tammy A. , Kaheny Erin B.
Published: March 2010

While the impact of an attorney's sex has been examined with respect to trial court processes (e.g., jury decision making), no one has previously studied its effects on appellate court decision making. In this article, we argue that the application of gender schemas by some justices results in a devaluing of the arguments made by women litigators. Our findings suggest that women orally arguing attorneys are less likely to receive a favorable vote by a justice than are the male counsel they oppose and that conservative justices are more likely than their liberal counterparts to vote against litigants represented by female counsel at oral argument. This suggests that the ideology of elites influences whether they apply gender schemas in a negative fashion. We also find that justices are more likely to side with female lawyers in women's issues cases, indicating that the justices' perceptions of female lawyer expertise are enhanced in those cases. These findings persist even after controlling for multiple factors, including attorney expertise, the sex of the justice, amicus participation, party capability, and judicial ideology.
Constitutionalizing Difference: A Case Study Analysis of Gender Provisions in Botswana and South Africa
Authors: Scribner Druscilla , Lambert Priscilla A.
Published: March 2010

This article examines the use of gender in constitutions and its significance for gender equality. New democracies, and some older ones, are increasingly including gender provisions in their constitutions. What is the impact of these provisions on women's political and economic status? Does constitutionalizing gender serve to empower women? If so, what kinds of provisions have an empowering effect and under what conditions? To address these questions, we trace the political use (legislation, policy, and judicial interpretation) of gendered constitutional provisions in Botswana and South Africa, countries that differ substantially with respect to how they have “constitutionalized” gender. The case studies demonstrate how constitutional provisions provide a legal basis and legitimacy for women's rights advocacy and how they influence the content of legislation and judicial review of laws and policies.
Romantic Weddings, Diverse Families
Authors: Josephson Jyl
Published: March 2010

They do look awfully romantic, those chocolate brides in Victorian gowns and matching pink bouquets. But just as the romance of the wedding often belies the more mundane realities of marriage, the romance of the movement that has come to call itself “marriage equality” may blind us to how difficult and long the struggle for real political equality will be. After all, traditional gender roles have not gone the way of the dinosaur. Why should we expect this to be true of hierarchies based on sexual orientation, particularly if the vehicle for inclusion is the institution of marriage?
Feminism and Same-Sex Marriage: Who Cares?
Authors: Wilson Angelia R.
Published: March 2010

In America, the arguments for same-sex marriage are articulated primarily in the language of liberalism: justice, rights, and equality. Activists in the public square appeal to rational and intuitive, or at least culturally relevant, notions of justice and fairness. In countering such a defense of same-sex marriage, feminists may feel compelled to rearticulate fundamental concerns about how gender normativity of marriage oppresses women. Marriage, feminists are certain, has never been a good thing, economically or politically, for women.
UN reform, biopolitics, and global governmentality
Authors: Jaeger Hans-Martin
Published: March 2010

Commentary on the United Nations (UN) reform efforts of 2004–05 has broadly followed two different trajectories. International lawyers and political theorists have focused on the implications of reform for sovereignty as a fundamental principle of international law and international relations. International Relations (IR) scholars have discussed reform focusing on state power and the UN’s institutional authority. Against the background of these debates and drawing on Foucault’s political theory and related IR scholarship, this article argues that UN reform discourse indicates a biopolitical ‘reprogramming’ of contemporary sovereignty and global governance. The analysis ‘displaces’ the concerns with sovereignty, state power, and institutional authority by demonstrating that UN reform (also) constitutes the UN as a project of managing and regulating the global population through a variety of securitizing, economizing, and normalizing rationalities and techniques. The article illustrates this by pointing to the biopolitical rationales of reform conceptions of human security and collective security, and to (neo)liberal governmentalities of risk and responsibility, contractualism, benchmarking, and networks. It thereby challenges the conceptual and normative priority accorded to juridical sovereignty in international law, and to state- and institution-centric accounts in IR theorizations of UN-relayed global governance.
Outsourcing the responsibility to protect: humanitarian intervention and private military and security companies
Authors: Pattison James
Published: March 2010

States have recently agreed that there is a responsibility to protect populations threatened by genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. The international community, however, often lacks the resources and willingness to carry out a key part of this responsibility, that is, to undertake humanitarian intervention effectively when required. One potential solution to this problem is to outsource intervention to private military and security companies. In this article, I consider this option. In particular, I present a largely consequentialist argument which asserts that, when two conditions are met, using these companies to bolster the capacity to undertake humanitarian intervention might be morally justifiable overall.
Has the composition of fluvial DOC changed? Spatiotemporal patterns in the DOC‐color relationship
Authors: Worrall F. , Burt T. P.
Published: March 2010

Long‐term increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration are now a commonly reported phenomenon across the Northern Hemisphere. Hypotheses proposed to explain the observed increases have implications for changes in DOC composition as well as concentration. This study examines the records of color (Hazen units) and DOC from the UK's Harmonised Monitoring Scheme database from 1974 to 2005 and covers 70 rivers over that period in order to assess whether significant changes in composition have occurred. The records were rarely continuous and so in order to assess the controls and the trends over time, the entire data set was examined as one rather than assessing trends at individual sites. The analysis showed that there was a significant trend over time in the composition of the DOC, as measured by the DOC‐color ratio, but that this declined to a minimum from 1974 to 1989 and has since risen but not returned to 1974 levels. These changes are not explained by variation in flow or by changes in DOC concentrations at the individual sampling sites. The DOC‐color comparison shows that all data can be separated between two independent components: a “light” and a “dark” component; however, variations in these components are driven by increases in DOC concentration and cannot explain the trend in the DOC‐color ratio. A change in the DOC‐color ratio that is independent of DOC and flow that reaches a minimum in 1989 could be explained by changes in soil source water chemistry.
Crustal structure and thickness along the Yellowstone hot spot track: Evidence for lower crustal outflow from beneath the eastern Snake River Plain
Authors: Yuan Huaiyu , Dueker Ken , Stachnik Josh
Published: March 2010

Receiver functions from seismic stations about the Yellowstone hot spot track are migrated to depth using a Vp/Vs map constructed from stacking of the direct and free surface Moho reverberations (i.e., H‐K analysis) and a shear velocity tomogram constructed from surface wave measurements. The thickest crust (48–54 km) resides in the Wyoming province beneath the sampled Laramide age blocks, and the thinnest crust (32–37 km) resides in the Montana Basin and Range province. The eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) crust is thickest (47 km) at its NE end beneath the young calderas and thinnest (40 km) at its SW end beneath the older Twin Falls caldera. Two ESRP crustal thickness domains are found: (1) at the older Twin Falls and Picabo calderas, the mean ESRP crust is 4 km thicker with respect to its margins and (2) adjacent to the Heise caldera field, the mean ESRP crust is 4 km thicker with respect to its SE margin crust but no thicker with respect to its NW margin crust. This lobe of anomalously thick crust is explained as resulting from lower crustal outflow from beneath the Heise caldera field. Confirmation of these crustal thickness variations is provided by inspection of common conversion point (CCP) stacks that delineate several secondary features: the top of a thick high‐velocity (3.9 km/s) lower crust layer within the Wyoming province up to 17 km thick and a paired negative and positive amplitude arrival at 12 km depth and 18 km depth beneath the Yellowstone Caldera. This paired arrival would be consistent with a low‐velocity zone perhaps associated with magma staging beneath the caldera. Our most important finding is that the magmatic loads injected into the ESRP crust over the last 4–12 Myr, in tandem with the ESRP crustal viscosity structure, have been sufficient to drive significant outflow of the ESRP lower crust.
Rip‐current pulses tied to Lagrangian coherent structures
Authors: Reniers A. J. H. M. , MacMahan J. H. , Beron‐Vera F. J. , Olascoaga M. J.
Published: March 2010

The trapping and ejection of surfzone floating material is examined by unveiling Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) hidden in the pulsating rip‐current surface velocity field produced by a three‐dimensional numerical model resolving wave‐group induced Very Low Frequency motions (VLFs). LCSs explain the typically observed patchiness of flotsam within the surf zone and the streaky distribution outside of the surf zone. The ejection of surfzone material occurs when filament‐like LCSs separate form the main rip‐current circulation corresponding to a situation where eddies temporarily extend the rip current beyond the surf zone and subsequently detach. The LCSs support the idea that VLFs form the dominant exchange mechanism of surfzone floating material with the inner shelf.
Total ozone column from direct and diffuse spectral solar irradiance in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula
Authors: Antón M. , Bortoli D. , Vilaplana J. M. , Silva A. M. , Serrano A. , Costa M. J. , de la Morena B. , Kroon M.
Published: March 2010

Daily total ozone column (TOC) measurements from the Brewer spectroradiometer located at El Arenosillo (Spain) and the Spectrometer for Atmospheric TRAcers Monitoring (SPATRAM) located at Évora (Portugal) are analyzed for the period 2006–2008. The main goal of this study is to compare TOC estimates retrieved with the passive differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) methodology from zenith‐sky observations by the SPATRAM spectrometer with highly accurate TOC estimates retrieved from direct‐sun recordings by a well‐calibrated Brewer instrument. On average, SPATRAM TOC estimates are (1.69 ± 0.18)% smaller than collocated Brewer TOC estimates. Significant relative differences between SPATRAM and Brewer total ozone data are detected in some periods caused by the influence of high aerosol load episodes over the SPATRAM data. Satellite data recorded by the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI)‐DOAS algorithm aboard the NASA EOS‐Aura satellite have been used to quantify the natural spatial variability of TOC over the region of interest as a potential source of uncertainty in the SPATRAM‐Brewer comparison. Our results show that the differences observed between both systems is not associated with the natural spatial variability of TOC. In addition, the OMI‐DOAS total ozone data have been compared to the ground‐based spectroradiometer data showing an excellent agreement for the Brewer spectroradiometer (R2 ∼ 0.95) and a fairly good agreement for the SPATRAM instrument (R2 ∼ 0.89).
Mitochondrial presequence and open reading frame mediate asymmetric localization of messenger RNA
Authors: Garcia Mathilde , Delaveau Thierry , Goussard Sebastien , Jacq Claude
Published: March 2010

Although a considerable amount of data have been gathered on mitochondrial translocases, which control the import of a large number of nuclear‐encoded proteins, the preceding steps taking place in the cytosol are poorly characterized. The localization of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) on the surface of mitochondria was recently shown to involve specific classes of protein and could be an important regulatory step. By using an improved statistical fluorescent in situ hybridization technique, we analysed the elements of the ATP2 open reading frame that control its mRNA asymmetric localization. The amino‐terminal mitochondrial targeting peptide (MTS) and translation of two elements in the coding sequence, R1 and R2, were required for anchoring of ATP2 mRNA to mitochondria. Unexpectedly, any MTS can replace ATP2 MTS, whereas R1 and R2 are specifically required to maintain perimitochondrial mRNA localization. These data connect the well‐known MTS–translocase interaction step with a site‐specific translation step and offer a mechanistic description for a co‐translational import process.
Co‐evolution‐driven switch of J‐protein specificity towards an Hsp70 partner
Authors: Pukszta Sebastian , Schilke Brenda , Dutkiewicz Rafal , Kominek Jacek , Moczulska Kaja , Stepien Barbara , Reitenga Krista G , Bujnicki Janusz M , Williams Barry , Craig Elizabeth A , Marszalek Jaroslaw
Published: March 2010

Molecular mechanisms by which protein–protein interactions are preserved or lost after gene duplication are not understood. Taking advantage of the well–studied yeast mtHsp70:J–protein molecular chaperone system, we considered whether changes in partner proteins accompanied specialization of gene duplicates. Here, we report that existence of the Hsp70 Ssq1, which arose by duplication of the gene encoding multifunction mtHsp70 and specializes in iron–sulphur cluster biogenesis, correlates with functional and structural changes in the J domain of its J–protein partner Jac1. All species encoding this shorter alternative version of the J domain share a common ancestry, suggesting that all short JAC1 proteins arose from a single deletion event. Construction of a variant that extended the length of the J domain of a ‘short’ Jac1 enhanced its ability to partner with multifunctional Hsp70. Our data provide a causal link between changes in the J protein partner and specialization of duplicate Hsp70.
Silk‐based materials for biomedical applications
Authors: Leal‐Egaña Aldo , Scheibel Thomas
Published: March 2010

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have exploited nature as an extraordinary source of materials for medical applications. Most natural materials comprise biopolymers such as nucleic acids and protein–polysaccharides. For biomedical applications, proteins such as collagens have been traditionally employed. Other proteins are silk fibres produced by arthropods (e.g. silkworms and spiders), which provide interesting mechanical properties and the absence of toxicity. Silks present almost all characteristics desirable for biomedical applications, but the research on the underlying proteins has only recently commenced. In the present review, we summarize the current research related to silk being used as a material for cell culture and tissue engineering, particularly focusing on cell‐surface adherence, mechanical and textural properties, toxicity, immunogenicity and biodegradability.
Apolipoprotein E inhibits Toll-like receptor (TLR)-3- and TLR-4-mediated macrophage activation through distinct mechanisms
Authors: Zhu Yanjuan , Kodvawala Ahmer , Hui David Y.
Published: March 2010

Previous studies have shown that apoE (apolipoprotein E) expression in macrophages suppresses inflammatory responses; however, whether endogenously synthesized apoE acts intracellularly or after its secretion in suppressing macrophage inflammation remains unclear. The present study used the murine monocyte macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 to examine the influence of exogenous apoE on macrophage inflammatory responses induced by TLR (Toll-like receptor)-4 and TLR-3 agonists LPS (lipopolysaccharide) and poly(I-C) respectively. Results showed that exogenously added apoE suppressed the LPS and poly(I-C) induction of IL (interleukin)-6, IL-1β and TNF-α (tumour necrosis factor-α) secretion by RAW 264.7 cells. The mechanism was related to apoE suppression of TLR-agonist-induced phosphorylation of JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) and c-Jun. A peptide containing the tandem repeat sequence of the receptor-binding domain of apoE, apoE-(141–155)2, was similarly effective in inhibiting LPS- and poly(I-C)-induced macrophage inflammatory responses. Reductive methylation of lysine residues in apoE, which abolished its receptor-binding capability without affecting its ability to interact with HSPGs (heparin sulfate proteoglycans), inhibited the ability of apoE to suppress macrophage responses to LPS, but had no effect on apoE suppression of poly(I-C)-induced macrophage activation. The ability of apoE to suppress poly(I-C)-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine production was abolished by heparinase treatment of RAW 264.7 cells to remove cell-surface HSPGs. Taken together, these results indicate that exogenous apoE inhibits macrophage inflammatory responses to TLR-4 and TLR-3 agonists through distinct mechanisms related to receptor and HSPG binding respectively, and that these inhibitory effects converged on suppression of JNK and c-Jun activation which are necessary for macrophage activation.
c‐FLIP is involved in erythropoietin‐mediated protection of erythroid‐differentiated cells from TNF‐α‐induced apoptosis
Authors: Vittori Daniela , Vota Daiana , Callero Mariana , Chamorro María E. , Nesse Alcira
Published: March 2010

The TNF‐α (tumour necrosis factor) affects a wide range of biological activities, such as cell proliferation and apoptosis. Cell life or death responses to this cytokine might depend on cell conditions. This study focused on the modulation of factors that would affect the sensitivity of erythroid‐differentiated cells to TNF‐α. Hemin‐differentiated K562 cells showed higher sensitivity to TNF‐induced apoptosis than undifferentiated cells. At the same time, hemin‐induced erythroid differentiation reduced c‐FLIP (cellular FLICE‐inhibitory protein) expression. However, this negative effect was prevented by prior treatment with Epo (erythropoietin), which allowed the cell line to maintain c‐FLIP levels. On the other hand, erythroid‐differentiated UT‐7 cells – dependent on Epo for survival – showed resistance to TNF‐α pro‐apoptotic action. Only after the inhibition of PI3K (phosphatidylinositol‐3 kinase)‐mediated pathways, which was accompanied by negative c‐FLIP modulation and increased erythroid differentiation, were UT‐7 cells sensitive to TNF‐α‐triggered apoptosis. In summary, erythroid differentiation might deregulate the balance between growth promotion and death signals induced by TNF‐α, depending on cell type and environmental conditions. The role of c‐FLIP seemed to be critical in the protection of erythroid‐differentiated cells from apoptosis or in the determination of their sensitivity to TNF‐mediated programmed cell death. Epo, which for the first time was found to be involved in the prevention of c‐FLIP down‐regulation, proved to have an anti‐apoptotic effect against the pro‐inflammatory factor. The identification of signals related to cell life/death switching would have significant implications in the control of proliferative diseases and would contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying the anaemia associated with inflammatory processes.
TNF‐α reduces the Na+/K+ ATPase activity in LLC‐PK1 cells by activating caspases and JNK and inhibiting NF‐κB
Authors: Ramia Nancy , Kreydiyyeh Sawsan Ibrahim
Published: March 2010

TNF‐α has recently been implicated in diabetic nephropathy, which is usually accompanied by higher sodium retention. The kidneys play a major role in sodium homeostasis by regulating tubular sodium reabsorption, a process geared by the sodium gradient established by the Na+/K+ ATPase. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of TNF on the ATPase, and consequently its implication in kidney malfunction, using LLC‐PK1 cells. The cytokine reduced the Na+/K+ ATPase activity significantly. In an attempt to elucidate the signalling pathway involved, PDTC (pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate), SP600125 and FK009 respectively inhibitors of NF‐κB, c‐JNK and caspases, were added to the cells in the presence and absence of TNF, and changes in the activities of JNK and PDTC were determined. The activity of the pump was assayed by measuring the ouabain‐inhibitable release of inorganic phosphate. The effect of the cytokine was abrogated completely when JNK and caspases were inhibited but was unaffected by NF‐κB inhibition. The role of each mediator in the signalling cascade was studied further by applying different combinations of the inhibitors. TNF‐α was found to act at 1 h by activating caspases, which in turn activate JNK; the latter exerts an inhibitory effect on NF‐κB, a transcription factor that stimulates the Na+/K+ ATPase when active. It was concluded that TNF‐α exerts opposite effects on the Na+/K+ ATPase at different times, though the effects are always mediated via cJNK, NF‐κB and caspases.
A decrease in cyclin B1 levels leads to polyploidization in DNA damage‐induced senescence
Authors: Kikuchi Ikue , Nakayama Yuji , Morinaga Takao , Fukumoto Yasunori , Yamaguchi Naoto
Published: March 2010

Adriamycin, an anthracycline antibiotic, has been used for the treatment of various types of tumours. Adriamycin induces at least two distinct types of growth repression, such as senescence and apoptosis, in a concentration‐dependent manner. Cellular senescence is a condition in which cells are unable to proliferate further, and senescent cells frequently show polyploidy. Although abrogation of cell division is thought to correlate with polyploidization, the mechanisms underlying induction of polyploidization in senescent cells are largely unclear. We wished, therefore, to explore the role of cyclin B1 level in polyploidization of Adriamycin‐induced senescent cells. A subcytotoxic concentration of Adriamycin induced polyploid cells having the features of senescence, such as flattened and enlarged cell shape and activated β‐galactosidase activity. In DNA damage‐induced senescent cells, the levels of cyclin B1 were transiently increased and subsequently decreased. The decrease in cyclin B1 levels occurred in G2 cells during polyploidization upon treatment with a subcytotoxic concentration of Adriamycin. In contrast, neither polyploidy nor a decrease in cyclin B1 levels was induced by treatment with a cytotoxic concentration of Adriamycin. These results suggest that a decrease in cyclin B1 levels is induced by DNA damage, resulting in polyploidization in DNA damage‐induced senescence.
Establishment and characterization of a lactating bovine mammary epithelial cell model for the study of milk synthesis
Authors: Zhao Ke , Liu Hong‐Yun , Zhou Miao‐Miao , Liu Jian‐Xin
Published: March 2010

This study sought to establish anin vitro lactating BMEC (bovine mammary epithelial cell) model, which may maintain the native function for a period of time. Mammary tissues of midlactation Holstein dairy cows were dispersed and cultured in a medium containing insulin, prolactin, hydrocortisone, transferrin, epidermal growth factor and fetal calf serum. After the cells migrating from the tissue reached ∼80% of confluency, the tissues were removed, and secretory epithelial cells were enriched by digesting with 0.25% trypsin repeatedly to remove fibroblasts. The BMEC cells plated on plastic dishes displayed a monolayer, cobblestone, epithelial‐like morphology and formed alveoli‐like structures and island monolayer aggregates which are the typical characteristics of the mammary epithelial cells. The isolated cells were identified as of epithelial origin by staining with antibody against cytokeratin 18. A one‐half logarithmically growth curve and abundant microvilli and cytoplasmic lipid droplets were observed in these cells. The transcription of the αs1 casein gene and synthesis of αs caseins were also detected in the model. Thus, our lactating BMEC model can be an effective model in vitro for studies of milk synthesis in the bovine mammary gland.
Serum‐free medium with osteogenic supplements induces adipogenesis in rat bone marrow stromal cells
Authors: Ichikawa Jun
Published: March 2010

Adult BMSCs (bone marrow stromal cells) contain MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells). MSCs can differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes and myoblasts and are thus considered useful in tissue engineering for therapeutic and clinical purposes. FCS (fetal calf serum) is usually included in the differentiation medium, but the clinical application of FCS may pose a problem for some patients. To improve the efficiency and safety of BMSC cultivation, the effect of SF (serum‐free) conditions on the osteogenic differentiation of rat BMSCs was examined. In the presence of 10% FCS and osteogenic supplements, the cells formed mineralized von Kossa‐positive deposits. Under SF conditions with osteogenic supplementation, however, the cells possessed cytosolic lipid vacuoles that could be stained with Oil Red O. The mRNA expression of PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ), an adipogenic marker, increased under the SF condition with osteogenic supplements. These data indicate that rat BMSCs differentiate into adipocytes under SF conditions even with osteogenic supplementation and that FCS is needed to induce proper osteogenic differentiation in rat BMSCs.
Kinetic cooperativity in
Escherichia coli
30S ribosomal subunit reconstitution reveals additional complexity in the assembly landscape
Authors: Bunner Anne E. , Beck Andrea H. , Williamson James R.
Published: March 2010

The
Escherichia coli
30S ribosomal subunit self-assembles in vitro in a hierarchical manner, with the RNA binding by proteins enabled by the prior binding of others under equilibrium conditions. Early 16S rRNA binding proteins also bind faster than late-binding proteins, but the specific causes for the slow binding of late proteins remain unclear. Previously, a pulse-chase monitored by quantitative mass spectrometry method was developed for monitoring 30S subunit assembly kinetics, and here a modified experimental scheme was used to probe kinetic cooperativity by including a step where subsets of ribosomal proteins bind and initiate assembly prior to the pulse-chase kinetics. In this work, 30S ribosomal subunit kinetic reconstitution experiments revealed that thermodynamic dependency does not always correlate with kinetic cooperativity. Some folding transitions that cause subsequent protein binding to be more energetically favorable do not result in faster protein binding. Although 3
′
domain primary protein S7 is required for RNA binding by both proteins S9 and S19, prior binding of S7 accelerates the binding of S9, but not S19, indicating there is an additional mechanistic step required for S19 to bind. Such data on kinetic cooperativity and the presence of multiphasic assembly kinetics reveal complexity in the assembly landscape that was previously hidden.
Structural determinants in phycotoxins and AChBP conferring high affinity binding and nicotinic AChR antagonism
Authors: Bourne Yves , Radić Zoran , Aráoz Rómulo , Talley Todd T. , Benoit Evelyne , Servent Denis , Taylor Palmer , Molgó Jordi , Marchot Pascale
Published: March 2010

Spirolide and gymnodimine macrocyclic imine phycotoxins belong to an emerging class of chemical agents associated with marine algal blooms and shellfish toxicity. Analysis of 13-desmethyl spirolide C and gymnodimine A by binding and voltage-clamp recordings on muscle-type α12βγδ and neuronal α3β2 and α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors reveals subnanomolar affinities, potent antagonism, and limited subtype selectivity. Their binding to acetylcholine-binding proteins (AChBP), as soluble receptor surrogates, exhibits picomolar affinities governed by diffusion-limited association and slow dissociation, accounting for apparent irreversibility. Crystal structures of the phycotoxins bound toAplysia-AChBP (≈2.4Å) show toxins neatly imbedded within the nest of ar-omatic side chains contributed by loops C and F on opposing faces of the subunit interface, and which in physiological conditions accommodates acetylcholine. The structures also point to three major features: (i) the sequence-conserved loop C envelops the bound toxins to maximize surface complementarity; (ii) hydrogen bonding of the protonated imine nitrogen in the toxins with the carbonyl oxygen of loop C Trp147 tethers the toxin core centered within the pocket; and (iii) the spirolidebis-spiroacetal or gymnodimine tetrahydrofuran and their common cyclohexene-butyrolactone further anchor the toxins in apical and membrane directions, along the subunit interface. In contrast, the se-quence-variable loop F only sparingly contributes contact points to preserve the broad receptor subtype recognition unique to phycotoxins compared with other nicotinic antagonists. These data offer unique means for detecting spiroimine toxins in shellfish and identify distinctive ligands, functional determinants and binding regions for the design of new drugs able to target several receptor subtypes with high affinity.
Zebrafish larvae lose vision at night
Authors: Emran Farida , Rihel Jason , Adolph Alan R. , Dowling John E.
Published: March 2010

Darkness serves as a stimulus for vertebrate photoreceptors; they are actively depolarized in the dark and hyperpolarize in the light. Here, we show that larval zebrafish essentially turn off their visual system at night when they are not active. Electroretinograms recorded from larval zebrafish show large differences between day and night; the responses are normal in amplitude throughout the day but are almost absent after several hours of darkness at night. Behavioral testing also shows that larval zebrafish become unresponsive to visual stimuli at night. This phenomenon is largely circadian driven as fish show similar dramatic changes in visual responsiveness when maintained in continuous darkness, although light exposure at night partially restores the responses. Visual responsiveness is decreased at night by at least two mechanisms: photoreceptor outer segment activity decreases and synaptic ribbons in cone pedicles disassemble.
Hongshan chiefly communities in Neolithic northeastern China
Authors: Peterson Christian E. , Lu Xueming , Drennan Robert D. , Zhu Da
Published: March 2010

The Hongshan societies of northeastern China are among East Asia’s earliest complex societies. They have been known largely from elaborate burials with carved jades in ceremonial platforms. The most monumental remains are concentrated in a “core zone” in western Liaoning province. Residential remains are less well known and most investigations of them have been in peripheral regions outside the core zone. Recent regional settlement pattern research around the well known ceremonial site of Dongshanzui has begun to document the communities that built and used Hongshan core zone monuments and to assess their developmental dynamics. The core zone, like the Hongshan periphery, appears to have been organized into a series of small chiefly districts within which ceremonial activities were important integrative forces. Their estimated populations of less than 1,000 are not much larger than those of districts in the periphery, and the evidence does not suggest that these districts were integrated into any larger political entity. The greater elaboration of core zone monumental architecture is thus not attributable to demographically larger communities or to larger-scale political integration. Future research should focus on documenting the organization of statuses and economic activities within these core zone communities to assess potential differences from peripheral communities in these regards.
Maximal entropy inference of oncogenicity from phosphorylation signaling
Authors: Graeber T. G. , Heath J. R. , Skaggs B. J. , Phelps M. E. , Remacle F. , Levine R. D.
Published: March 2010

Point mutations in the phosphorylation domain of the Bcr-Abl fusion oncogene give rise to drug resistance in chronic myelogenous leukemia patients. These mutations alter kinase-mediated signaling function and phenotypic outcome. An information theoretic analysis of the correlation of phosphoproteomic profiling and transformation potency of the oncogene in different mutants is presented. The theory seeks to predict the leukemic transformation potency from the observed signaling by constructing a distribution of maximal entropy of site-specific phosphorylation events. The theory is developed with special reference to systems biology where high throughput measurements are typical. We seek sets of phosphorylation events most contributory to predicting the phenotype by determining the constraints on the signaling system. The relevance of a constraint is measured by how much it reduces the value of the entropy from its global maximum, where all events are equally likely. Application to experimental phospho-proteomics data for kinase inhibitor-resistant mutants shows that there is one dominant constraint and that other constraints are not relevant to a similar extent. This single constraint accounts for much of the correlation of phosphorylation events with the oncogenic potency and thereby usefully predicts the trends in the phenotypic output. An additional constraint possibly accounts for biological fine structure.
The African slave population of Portuguese India
Authors: Cardoso Hugo C.
Published: March 2010

This article is primarily concerned with quantifying the African(-born) population in the early Portuguese settlements in India and defining its linguistic profile, as a means to understand the extent and limitations of its impact on the emerging Indo-Portuguese creoles. Apart from long-established commercial links (including the slave trade) between East Africa and India, which could have facilitated linguistic interchange between the two regions, Smith (1984) and Clements (2000) also consider that the long African sojourn of all those travelling the Cape Route may have transported an African-developed pidgin to Asia. In this article, I concentrate on population displacement brought about by the slave trade.
Published sources and data uncovered during archival research permit a characterisation of the African population in terms of (a) their numbers (relative to the overall population), (b) their origin, and (c) their position within the colonial social scale. The scenario that emerges for most territories of Portuguese India is that of a significant slave population distributed over the colonial households in small numbers, in what is best described as a ‘homestead society’ (Chaudenson 1992, 2001). It is also made evident that there was a steady influx of slave imports well into the 19th century, and that the Bantu-speaking regions of modern-day Mozambique were the primary sources of slaves for the trade with Portuguese India.
A three-dimensional analytic model for discrete limiters in ITER
Authors: Stangeby P.C.
Published: March 2010

It is foreseen that ITER will employ a number of discrete limiters for the start-up and ramp-down phases of each discharge as well as for protection of the main wall during the diverted phase. Predictions are required of the radial power e-folding length, λ
q
, in order to estimate the power loading on the limiters. This 3D problem has been addressed by Kobayashi et al (2007 Nucl. Fusion
47 61–73) using a numerical edge code, EMC3-EIRENE. An analytic 3D model is presented here which well approximates the code calculations of λ
q
, providing simple and convenient expressions for λ
q
in terms of the shape and number of discrete limiters.
The plasma boundary in single helical axis RFP plasmas
Authors: Martines E. , Lorenzini R. , Momo B. , Munaretto S. , Innocente P. , Spolaore M.
Published: March 2010

Single helical axis states obtained in high current reversed field pinch plasmas display, aside from a dominant mode in the m = 1 spectrum, also a dominant m = 0 mode, with the same toroidal mode number as the m = 1 one. The two modes have a fixed phase relationship. The island chain created by the m = 0 mode across the reversal surface gives rise, at shallow reversal of the toroidal field, to an X-point structure which separates the last closed flux surface from the first wall, creating a divertor-like configuration. The plasma–wall interaction is found to be related to the connection length of the field lines intercepting the wall, which displays a pattern modulated by the dominant mode toroidal periodicity. This configuration, which occurs only for shallow toroidal field reversal, could be exploited to realize an island divertor in analogy to stellarators.
Household Food Expenditures, Parental Time Allocation, and Childhood Overweight: An Integrated Two‐Stage Collective Model with an Empirical Application and Test
Authors: You Wen , Davis George C.
Published: March 2010

This article develops a two‐stage collective household production model for household food expenditures, parental time allocation, and childhood overweight. The model fills four gaps in the literature: (i) the “black box” treatment of intrahousehold decision making, (ii) exclusion of the child's decision input, (iii) exclusion of noneconomic variables, and (iv) absence of theory‐supported instrument identification. The traditional unitary household production model with children is a special case of the model developed. Using a unique data set, the unitary model is rejected. There are important differences in the policy implications to be drawn from both models based on the data set used.
Aeromonas rivuli sp. nov., isolated from the upstream region of a karst water rivulet
Authors: Figueras M. J. , Alperi A. , Beaz-Hidalgo R. , Stackebrandt E. , Brambilla E. , Monera A. , Martínez-Murcia A. J.
Published: March 2010

Two freshwater isolates (WB4.1-19T and WB4.4-101), sharing 99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, were highly related to Aeromonas sobria (99.7 % similarity; 6 bp differences). A phylogenetic tree derived from a multi-locus phylogenetic analysis (MLPA) of the concatenated sequences of five housekeeping genes (gyrB, rpoD, recA, dnaJ and gyrA; 3684 bp) revealed that both strains clustered as an independent phylogenetic line next to members of Aeromonas molluscorum and Aeromonas bivalvium. The DNA–DNA reassociation value between the two new isolates was 89.3 %. Strain WB4.1-19T had a DNA–DNA relatedness value of <70 % with the type strains of the other species tested. Phenotypic characterization differentiated the two novel strains from all other type strains of species of the genus Aeromonas. It is concluded that the two new strains represent a novel species of the genus Aeromonas, for which the name Aeromonas rivuli sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain WB4.1-19T (=CECT 7518T=DSM 22539T=MDC 2511T).
Allocatelliglobosispora scoriae gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from volcanic ash
Authors: Lee Dong Wan , Lee Soon Dong
Published: March 2010

A novel actinomycete, designated strain Sco-B14T, was isolated from volcanic ash collected near Darangshi Oreum (a parasitic or satellite volcano) in Jeju, Republic of Korea. The organism formed well-developed, branched substrate mycelium, on which short chains of non-motile spores were arranged singly or in clusters. Aerial mycelium was not produced. Globose bodies were observed. The reverse colour of colonies was light brown to brown. Diffusible pigments were produced on ISP medium 3 and oatmeal-nitrate agar. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Sco-B14T formed a lineage within the family Micromonosporaceae and was distinct from established genera. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of strain Sco-B14T to members of related genera of the family was 95.0–95.7 % to type strains of Catellatospora species, 94.7 % to Hamadaea tsunoensis IMSNU 22005T, 94.7 % to Longispora albida K97-0003T and 94.0 % to Catelliglobosispora koreensis LM 042T. 3-Hydroxydiaminopimelic acid was the diagnostic diamino acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. Whole-cell sugars were glucose, rhamnose, ribose, xylose, arabinose, galactose and mannose. The polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol. The menaquinone profile contained MK-10(H4) (49 %), MK-9(H4) (24 %), MK-10(H6) (18 %) and MK-9(H6) (9 %). The predominant fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and C17 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 70.1 mol%. The combination of chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data clearly separated the isolate from the type strains of all genera in the family Micromonosporaceae. On the basis of the phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic data presented in this paper, strain Sco-B14T is considered to represent a novel species of a new genus in the family Micromonosporaceae, for which the name Allocatelliglobosispora scoriae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Allocatelliglobosispora scoriae is Sco-B14T (=KCTC 19661T =DSM 45362T).
A rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) model of aerosol-exposure brucellosis (Brucella suis): pathology and diagnostic implications
Authors: Yingst Samuel L. , Huzella Louis M. , Chuvala Lara , Wolcott Mark
Published: March 2010

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists Brucella as a potential bioterrorism threat requiring enhanced diagnostic capacity and surveillance (http://emergency.cdc.gov/bioterrorism/). Successful treatment and management of patients after exposure to biological threat agents depends on accurate and timely diagnosis, but many biothreat agents present with similar, vague clinical signs – commonly referred to as ‘flu-like illness’. Diagnosis of brucellosis is notoriously challenging, especially early in infection, and definitive diagnosis may require invasive methods, e.g. bone marrow biopsy. We studied the pathogenesis of Brucella suis aerosol infection in rhesus macaques in an effort to guide the diagnostic algorithm in case of possible intentional exposure of humans. Rhesus proved to be an excellent model for human brucellosis; the data showed that PCR DNA amplification testing of non-invasive diagnostic samples has the potential to definitively detect a point-source outbreak immediately and for several days after exposure.