bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Farnesoid X Receptor-Mediated Cytoplasmic Translocation of CRTC2 Disrupts CREB-BDNF Signaling in Hippocampal CA1 and Leads to the Development of Depression-Like Behaviors in Mice
Authors: Hu Wenfeng , Wu Jingjing , Ye Ting , Chen Zhuo , Tao Jinhua , Tong Lijuan , Ma Kai , Wen Jie , Wang Hui , Huang Chao
Published: May 2020

Background

We recently identified neuronal expression of farnesoid X receptor (FXR), a bile acid receptor known to impair autophagy by inhibiting cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding protein (CREB), a protein whose underfunctioning is linked to neuroplasticity and depression. In this study, we hypothesize that FXR may mediate depression via a CREB-dependent mechanism.

Methods

Depression was induced in male C57BL6/J mice via chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). Subjects underwent behavioral testing to identify depression-like behaviors. A variety of molecular biology techniques, including viral-mediated gene transfer, Western blot, co-immunoprecipitation, and immunofluorescence, were used to correlate depression-like behaviors with underlying molecular and physiological events.

Results

Overexpression of FXR, whose levels were upregulated by CUS in hippocampal CA1, induced or aggravated depression-like behaviors in stress-naïve and CUS-exposed mice, while FXR short hairpin RNA (shRNA) ameliorated such symptoms in CUS-exposed mice. The behavioral effects of FXR were found to be associated with changes in CREB-brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling, as FXR overexpression aggravated CUS-induced reduction in BDNF levels while the use of FXR shRNA or disruption of FXR-CREB signaling reversed the CUS-induced reduction in the phosphorylated CREB and BDNF levels. Molecular analysis revealed that FXR shRNA prevented CUS-induced cytoplasmic translocation of CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 2 (CRTC2); CRTC2 overexpression and CRTC2 shRNA abrogated the regulatory effect of FXR overexpression or FXR shRNA on CUS-induced depression-like behaviors.

Conclusions

In stress conditions, increased FXR in the CA1 inhibits CREB by targeting CREB and driving the cytoplasmic translocation of CRTC2. Uncoupling of the FXR-CREB complex may be a novel strategy for depression treatment.
Dual role of splenic mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cells in the outcome of ciprofloxacin treatment of Salmonella enterica infections
Authors: Kanvatirth P , Rossi O , Restif O , Blacklaws B A , Tonks P , Grant A J , Mastroeni P
Published: May 2020

Objectives

To determine the immune cell populations associated with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium before and after ciprofloxacin treatment using a murine model of systemic infection. The effect of depletion of immune cells associating with Salmonella on treatment outcome was also determined.

Methods

We infected mice with a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium strain expressing GFP and used multicolour flow cytometry to identify splenic immune cell populations associating with GFP-positive Salmonella before and after treatment with ciprofloxacin. This was followed by depletion of different immune cell populations using antibodies and liposomes.

Results

Our results identified CD11b+CD11chi/lo (dendritic cells/macrophages) and Ly6G+CD11b+ (neutrophils) leucocytes as the main host cell populations that are associated with Salmonella after ciprofloxacin treatment. We therefore proceeded to test the effects of depletion of such populations during treatment. We show that depletion of Ly6G+CD11b+ populations resulted in an increase in the number of viable bacterial cells in the spleen at the end of ciprofloxacin treatment. Conversely, treatment with clodronate liposomes during antimicrobial treatment, which depleted the CD11b+CD11chi/lo populations, resulted in lower numbers of viable bacteria in the tissues.

Conclusions

Our study identified host cells where Salmonella bacteria persist during ciprofloxacin treatment and revealed a dual and opposing effect of removal of Ly6G+CD11b+ and CD11b+CD11chi/lo host cells on the efficacy of antimicrobial treatment. This suggests a dichotomy in the role of these populations in clearance/persistence of Salmonella during antimicrobial treatment.
Utilizing antibiotics to prevent Clostridioides difficile infection: does exposure to a risk factor decrease risk? A systematic review
Authors: Carlson Travis J , Gonzales-Luna Anne J
Published: May 2020

Background

Antibiotic use is a major risk factor for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). However, antibiotics recommended for CDI treatment are being utilized in clinical practice as prophylactic agents.

Objectives

To comprehensively summarize and critically evaluate the published literature investigating the effectiveness of antibiotic CDI prophylaxis.

Methods

A systematic search for relevant literature was conducted in PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov. Two investigators independently screened each article for inclusion, and the references of the included articles were studied to identify additional relevant articles. Data extraction and an assessment of risk of bias was completed for all included studies. Unadjusted risk ratios and 95% CI were calculated for each study, with CDI being the outcome variable and prophylaxis (prophylaxis versus control) representing the exposure.

Results

In total, 13 articles were identified in PubMed and 9 ongoing or unpublished trials were identified in ClinicalTrials.gov. The effect of antibiotic prophylaxis on CDI rates varied between studies; however, most favoured the use of antibiotic prophylaxis.

Conclusions

The authors of this review conclude that the current literature carries a high risk of bias and the results should be interpreted with caution.
De-Extinction, Regulation and Nature Conservation
Authors: Allen Jessica , Doyle David M , McCorristine Shane , McMahon Aisling
Published: May 2020

This analysis maps the key challenges posed by de-extinction to nature conservation law. The aim is to start a conversation about how such challenges should be framed and addressed if ongoing de-extinction projects in the United States of America (US) and the European Union (EU), the two jurisdictions examined, are successful. The analysis commences by providing a brief overview of existing debates in the conservation literature on the legal and ethical issues posed by de-extinction within the animal context. The article then proceeds to highlight two challenges animals created via de-extinction (de-extinctees) will likely pose for nature conservation law, namely: (1) to what extent taxonomies or definitions of ‘species’, and the methods for classifying these species under existing conservation frameworks, will be challenged by de-extinction; and (2) how existing conservation law frameworks in the US and the EU would likely apply to de-extinctees, and whether de-extinctees would be protected under these frameworks. It concludes by posing the broader question of whether and to what extent the law should facilitate de-extinction attempts in the same way that it has done for nature conservation.
Risk of Rare Cancers Among Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Authors: D’Arcy Monica E , Castenson David , Lynch Charles F , Kahn Amy R , Morton Lindsay M , Shiels Meredith S , Pfeiffer Ruth M , Engels Eric A
Published: May 2020

Background

Immunosuppressed solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) have elevated rates of certain rare cancers caused by viruses. Evaluating risk of rare cancers among SOTRs may provide etiological clues for additional cancers linked to poor immunity and viral infections.

Methods

 We performed a cohort study of 262 455 SOTRs (1987-2014) from the US SOTR registry linked to 17 population-based cancer registries. First cancers in SOTRs were categorized using an established classification scheme based on site and histology. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) compared risk in SOTRs with the general population. We used Poisson regression to calculate incidence rate ratios according to immune-related SOTR characteristics, including time since transplant (ie, duration of immunosuppression). All statistical tests were 2-sided.

Results

We examined 694 distinct cancer subtypes, with 33 manifesting statistically significantly elevated SIRs (Bonferroni P < 7.2 × 10–5). All 33 are rare (incidence <6 per 100 000 person-years) and several have known viral etiology (eg, Merkel cell carcinoma: SIR = 24.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 20.8 to 29.1). Additional cancers that were increased include squamous cell carcinomas of the lip (SIR range = 18.3-19.8), eye and adnexa (SIR = 13.8, 95% CI = 7.9 to 22.3), salivary gland (SIR = 9.3, 95% CI = 6.1 to 13.5), and nasal cavity and sinuses (SIR = 4.5, 95% CI = 2.8 to 6.8); sebaceous adenocarcinoma (SIR = 34.3, 95% CI = 26.3 to 44.0); malignant fibrous histiocytoma (15.4); and subtypes of bladder, kidney, lung, and colon cancer (SIR range = 3.2-13.3). Incidence of several cancers increased over time since transplant (Ptrend < .05), including squamous cell carcinomas of the lip, salivary gland, and anogenital sites.

Conclusions

SOTRs experience elevated rates of several rare cancers. Because some of these cancers exhibit aggressive behavior with poor outcomes, it is important to further characterize the role of immunity and the potential involvement of oncogenic viruses to improve prevention and treatment.
Aboveground herbivory increases soil nematode abundance of an invasive plant
Authors: Liu Jia , Dai Susu , Huang Wei , Ding Jianqing
Published: May 2020

Aims

Plant invasions have the potential to affect the community structure of soil nematodes, but little is known about whether such effects are mediated by aboveground herbivores since invasive plants are not completely released from herbivores in the introduced range. In this study, we explored how aboveground insect herbivores mediated the effect of invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides on soil nematodes and examined the temporal variations of such an herbivory-elicited effect.

Methods

We conducted a greenhouse experiment by applying different herbivory treatments (no insect herbivores, specialist Agasicles hygrophila and generalist Cassida piperata) to potted A. philoxeroides, and then measured the community compositions of soil nematodes in corresponding pots on the 1st, 10th and 20th day after removal of all herbivores. In addition, the carbon content of roots and root exudate of A. philoxeroides were also measured.

Important Findings

Our results showed that aboveground herbivory significantly increased the abundance of soil nematodes of A. philoxeroides, likely plant feeder nematodes, after insect herbivores were removed immediately (1st day). However, such impacts waned with time and there was no significant difference at later stages (10th and 20th days). Furthermore, the effects of specialist A. hygrophila and generalist C. piperata herbivory were consistent on the abundance of soil nematodes. Overall, our results suggest that aboveground insect herbivores have the potential to alter the effects of plant invasions on soil nematodes, but such impacts are transient. Furthermore, our study highlighted the importance of integrating the effects of above- and belowground organisms when evaluating the impacts of plant invasions.
Environmental pressure rather than ongoing hybridization is responsible for an altitudinal cline in the morphologies of two oaks
Authors: Tamaki Ichiro , Yamada Yae
Published: May 2020

Aims

In a contact zone between related taxa, phenotypic variation can result from genetic and/or environmental gradients. This study aimed to clarify the cause of phenotypic variation in leaf morphology of two Quercus crispula varieties—crispula (QCC) and mongolicoides (QCM)—in their contact zone along an altitudinal gradient.

Methods

We measured 6 morphological traits of leaves and recorded genotypes of 13 nuclear microsatellite loci for 48 individuals in the contact zone and 24 individuals in each of the reference populations of QCC and QCM. We constructed a model explaining the phenotypic variation (leaf morphology) in relation to environmental (altitude) and genetic (ancestry from the reference population) gradients.

Important Findings

Both morphological and genetic markers distinguished the two varieties in the reference populations well. We were able to confirm the power of both morphological and genetic markers. Individuals within the contact zone population had intermediate ancestry that was slightly biased to QCM ancestry, and the distribution of their morphologies overlapped with those of the two varieties in the reference populations. The effect of altitude on leaf morphological traits was significant, while that of ancestry was not. Distributions of ancestry and interclass heterozygosity in the contact zone population resembled those in F2 or later generation hybrids. These results indicate that in the contact zone between QCC and QCM, there is no ongoing hybridization, but environmental pressure has created an altitudinal gradient in morphological traits through phenotypic plasticity and/or variation in functional genes.
Knocker Ups: A Social History of Waking Up in Victorian Britain’s Industrial Towns
Authors: Datta Arunima
Published: May 2020

This paper examines the everyday history of one of the groups of auxiliary workers in industrial towns of Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Drawing primarily from journal and newspaper records, this paper examines the work of knocker ups and the ways in which they became intimately tied to the lives of industries and primary industry workers. The paper then focuses on how knocker ups became highly influential in industrial towns through the multifarious jobs they performed – sometimes knowingly and sometimes less consciously. In so doing, this paper challenges the prevailing notion that auxiliaries merely served their primary clients by waking them up, and re-visualizes the position of knocker ups in industrial towns not as mere auxiliaries but as crucial contributors to social, political and economic life as well as partners in law enforcement in a broad variety of circumstances. The findings suggest a need to revise long-standing views of labour in industrial Britain.
Arabidopsis NUCLEAR FACTOR Y A8 inhibits the juvenile-to-adult transition by activating transcription of MIR156s
Authors: Zhao Hang , Lin Ke , Ma Lin , Chen Qingshuai , Gan Shuo , Li Gang
Published: May 2020

Vegetative (juvenile-to-adult) and flowering (vegetative-to-reproductive) phase changes are crucial in the life cycle of higher plants. MicroRNA156 (miR156) and its target SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) genes are master regulators that determine vegetative phase changes. The miR156 level gradually declines as a plant ages and its expression is rapidly repressed by sugar. However, the underlying regulatory mechanism of transcriptional regulation of the MIR156 gene remains largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that Arabidopsis NUCLEAR FACTOR Y A8 (NF-YA8) binds directly to CCAAT cis-elements in the promoters of multiple MIR156 genes, thus activating their transcription and inhibiting the juvenile-to-adult transition. NF-YA8 was highly expressed in juvenile-stage leaves, and significantly repressed with developmental age and by sugar signals. Our results suggest that NF-YA8 acts as a signaling hub, integrating internal developmental age and sugar signals to regulate the transcription of MIR156s, thus affecting the juvenile-to-adult and flowering transitions.
Cysteine protease RD21A regulated by E3 ligase SINAT4 is required for drought-induced resistance to Pseudomonas syringae in Arabidopsis
Authors: Liu Yi , Wang Kunru , Cheng Qiang , Kong Danyu , Zhang Xunzhong , Wang Zhibo , Wang Qian , Xie Qi , Yan Jijun , Chu Jinfang , Ling Hong-Qing , Li Qi , Miao Jiamin , Zhao Bingyu
Published: May 2020

Plants can be simultaneously exposed to multiple stresses. The interplay of abiotic and biotic stresses may result in synergistic or antagonistic effects on plant development and health. Temporary drought stress can stimulate plant immunity; however, the molecular mechanism of drought-induced immunity is largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that cysteine protease RD21A is required for drought-induced immunity. Temporarily drought-treated wild-type Arabidopsis plants became more sensitive to the bacterial pathogen-associated molecular pattern flg22, triggering stomatal closure, which resulted in increased resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst-DC3000). Knocking out rd21a inhibited flg22-triggered stomatal closure and compromised the drought-induced immunity. Ubiquitin E3 ligase SINAT4 interacted with RD21A and promoted its degradation in vivo. The overexpression of SINAT4 also consistently compromised the drought-induced immunity to Pst-DC3000. A bacterial type III effector, AvrRxo1, interacted with both SINAT4 and RD21A, enhancing SINAT4 activity and promoting the degradation of RD21A in vivo. Therefore, RD21A could be a positive regulator of drought-induced immunity, which could be targeted by pathogen virulence effectors during pathogenesis.
Class I TCP transcription factors regulate trichome branching and cuticle development in Arabidopsis
Authors: Camoirano Alejandra , Arce Agustín L , Ariel Federico D , Alem Antonela L , Gonzalez Daniel H , Viola Ivana L
Published: May 2020

Trichomes and the cuticle are two specialized structures of the aerial epidermis that are important for plant organ development and interaction with the environment. In this study, we report that Arabidopsis thaliana plants affected in the function of the class I TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1, CYCLOIDEA, PCF (TCP) transcription factors TCP14 and TCP15 show overbranched trichomes in leaves and stems and increased cuticle permeability. We found that TCP15 regulates the expression of MYB106, a MIXTA-like transcription factor involved in epidermal cell and cuticle development, and overexpression of MYB106 in a tcp14 tcp15 mutant reduces trichome branch number. TCP14 and TCP15 are also required for the expression of the cuticle biosynthesis genes CYP86A4, GPAT6, and CUS2, and of SHN1 and SHN2, two AP2/EREBP transcription factors required for cutin and wax biosynthesis. SHN1 and CUS2 are also targets of TCP15, indicating that class I TCPs influence cuticle formation acting at different levels, through the regulation of MIXTA-like and SHN transcription factors and of cuticle biosynthesis genes. Our study indicates that class I TCPs are coordinators of the regulatory network involved in trichome and cuticle development.
PLATZ2 negatively regulates salt tolerance in Arabidopsis seedlings by directly suppressing the expression of the CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8 genes
Authors: Liu Shasha , Yang Rui , Liu Miao , Zhang Shizhong , Yan Kang , Yang Guodong , Huang Jinguang , Zheng Chengchao , Wu Changai
Published: May 2020

Although the salt overly sensitive (SOS) pathway plays essential roles in conferring salt tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana, the regulatory mechanism underlying SOS gene expression remains largely unclear. In this study, AtPLATZ2 was found to function as a direct transcriptional suppressor of CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8 in the Arabidopsis salt stress response. Compared with wild-type plants, transgenic plants constitutively overexpressing AtPLATZ2 exhibited increased sensitivity to salt stress. Loss of function of PLATZ2 had no observed salt stress phenotype in Arabidopsis, while the double mutant of PLATZ2 and PLATZ7 led to weaker salt stress tolerance than wild-type plants. Overexpression of AtPLATZ2 in transgenic plants decreased the expression of CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8 under both normal and saline conditions. AtPLATZ2 directly bound to A/T-rich sequences in the CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8 promoters in vitro and in vivo, and inhibited CBL4/SOS3 promoter activity in the plant leaves. The salt sensitivity of #11 plants constitutively overexpressing AtPLATZ2 was restored by the overexpression of CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8. Salt stress-induced Na+ accumulation in both the shoots and roots was more exaggerated in AtPLATZ2-overexpressing plants than in the wild type. The salt stress-induced Na+ accumulation in #11 seedlings was also rescued by the overexpression of CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8. Furthermore, the transcription of AtPLATZ2 was induced in response to salt stress. Collectively, these results suggest that AtPLATZ2 suppresses plant salt tolerance by directly inhibiting CBL4/SOS3 and CBL10/SCaBP8, and functions redundantly with PLATZ7.
The ABC transporter G subfamily in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Gräfe Katharina , Schmitt Lutz
Published: May 2020

ABC transporters are ubiquitously present in all kingdoms and mediate the transport of a large spectrum of structurally different compounds. Plants possess high numbers of ABC transporters in relation to other eukaryotes; the ABCG subfamily in particular is extensive. Earlier studies demonstrated that ABCG transporters are involved in important processes influencing plant fitness. This review summarizes the functions of ABCG transporters present in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These transporters take part in diverse processes such as pathogen response, diffusion barrier formation, or phytohormone transport. Studies involving knockout mutations reported pleiotropic phenotypes of the mutants. In some cases, different physiological roles were assigned to the same protein. The actual transported substrate(s), however, still remain to be determined for the majority of ABCG transporters. Additionally, the proposed substrate spectrum of different ABCG proteins is not always reflected by sequence identities between ABCG members. Applying only reverse genetics is thereby insufficient to clearly identify the substrate(s). We therefore stress the importance of in vitro studies in addition to in vivo studies in order to (i) clarify the substrate identity; (ii) determine the transport characteristics including directionality; and (iii) identify dimerization partners of the half-size proteins, which might in turn affect substrate specificity.
CHROMagarTM Candida Plus: A novel chromogenic agar that permits the rapid identification of Candida auris
Authors: Borman Andrew M , Fraser Mark , Johnson Elizabeth M
Published: May 2020

Candida auris is a serious nosocomial health risk, with widespread outbreaks in hospitals worldwide. Successful management of such outbreaks has depended upon intensive screening of patients to identify those that are colonized and the subsequent isolation or cohorting of affected patients to prevent onward transmission. Here we describe the evaluation of a novel chromogenic agar, CHROMagarTM Candida Plus, for the specific identification of Candida auris isolates from patient samples. Candida auris colonies on CHROMagarTM Candida Plus are pale cream with a distinctive blue halo that diffuses into the surrounding agar. Of over 50 different species of Candida and related genera that were cultured in parallel, only the vanishingly rare species Candida diddensiae gave a similar appearance. Moreover, both the rate of growth and number of colonies of C. auris recovered from swabs of pure and mixed Candida species were substantially increased on CHROMagarTM Candida Plus agar when compared with growth on the traditional mycological isolation medium, Sabouraud dextrose agar. Taken together, the present data suggest that CHROMagarTM Candida Plus agar is an excellent alternative to current conventional mycological media for the screening of patients who are potentially colonized/infected with Candida auris, can be reliably used to identify this emerging fungal pathogen, and should be tested in a clinical setting.

Lay Abstract

Candida auris is a novel pathogenic yeast that has been associated with large hospital outbreaks across several continents. Affected patients become colonized, predominantly on the skin, with large quantities of C. auris which they then shed into the hospital environment. Identification of C. auris is challenging using routine laboratory methods, and time consuming when patients are colonized with a mixture of different Candida species. Here we demonstrate that a novel chromogenic agar, CHROMagarTM Candida Plus, permits the rapid differentiation of C. auris from a wide range of other yeast species and is potentially ideally suited to screening of patients that are suspected of being colonized or infected with this medically important yeast.
Effects of dark matter on the nuclear and neutron star matter
Authors: Das H C , Kumar Ankit , Kumar Bharat , Biswal S K , Nakatsukasa Takashi , Li Ang , Patra S K
Published: May 2020

We study the dark matter (DM) effects on the nuclear matter (NM) parameters characterizing the equation of states of super dense neutron-rich nucleonic matter. The observables of the NM, i.e. incompressibility, symmetry energy and its higher order derivatives in the presence DM for symmetric and asymmetric NM are analysed with the help of an extended relativistic mean field model. The calculations are also extended to β-stable matter to explore the properties of the neutron star (NS). We analyse the DM effects on symmetric NM, pure neutron matter, and NS using NL3, G3, and IOPB-I forces. The binding energy per particle and pressure is calculated with and without considering the DM interaction with the NM systems. The influences of DM are also analysed on the symmetry energy and its different coefficients. The incompressibility and the skewness parameters are affected considerably due to the presence of DM in the NM medium. We extend the calculations to the NS and find its mass, radius and the moment of inertia for static and rotating NS with and without DM contribution. The mass of the rotating NS is considerably changing due to rapid rotation with the frequency in the mass-shedding limit. The effects of DM are found to be important for some of the NM parameters, which are crucial for the properties of astrophysical objects.
Solar System limits on gravitational dipoles
Authors: Banik Indranil , Kroupa Pavel
Published: May 2020

The gravitational dipole theory of Hadjukovic (2010) is based on the hypothesis that antimatter has a negative gravitational mass and thus falls upwards on the Earth. Astrophysically, the model is similar to but more fundamental than Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND), with the Newtonian gravity $g_{_\mathrm{ N}}$ towards an isolated point mass boosted by the factor $\nu = 1 + \left(\alpha /x \right) \tanh \left(\sqrt{x}/\alpha \right)$, where $x \equiv g_{_\mathrm{ N}}/a_{_0}$ and $a_{_0} = 1.2 \times 10^{-10}$ m s−2 is the MOND acceleration constant. We show that α must lie in the range 0.4–1 to acceptably fit galaxy rotation curves. In the Solar System, this interpolating function implies an extra Sunwards acceleration of ${\alpha a_{_0}}$. This would cause Saturn to deviate from Newtonian expectations by 7000(α/0.4) km over 15 yr, starting from known initial position and velocity on a near-circular orbit. We demonstrate that this prediction should not be significantly altered by the postulated dipole haloes of other planets due to the rather small region in which each planet’s gravity dominates over that of the Sun. The orbit of Saturn should similarly be little affected by a possible ninth planet in the outer Solar System and by the Galactic gravity causing a non-spherical distribution of gravitational dipoles several kAU from the Sun. Radio tracking of the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn yields a 5σ upper limit of 160 m on deviations from its conventionally calculated trajectory. These measurements imply a much more stringent upper limit on α than the minimum required for consistency with rotation curve data. Therefore, no value of α can simultaneously match all available constraints, falsifying the gravitational dipole theory in its current form at extremely high significance.
Xrn1p acts at multiple steps in the budding-yeast RNAi pathway to enhance the efficiency of silencing
Authors: Getz Matthew A , Weinberg David E , Drinnenberg Ines A , Fink Gerald R , Bartel David P
Published: May 2020

RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene-silencing pathway that can play roles in viral defense, transposon silencing, heterochromatin formation and post-transcriptional gene silencing. Although absent from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, RNAi is present in other budding-yeast species, including Naumovozyma castellii, which have an unusual Dicer and a conventional Argonaute that are both required for gene silencing. To identify other factors that act in the budding-yeast pathway, we performed an unbiased genetic selection. This selection identified Xrn1p, the cytoplasmic 5′-to-3′ exoribonuclease, as a cofactor of RNAi in budding yeast. Deletion of XRN1 impaired gene silencing in N. castellii, and this impaired silencing was attributable to multiple functions of Xrn1p, including affecting the composition of siRNA species in the cell, influencing the efficiency of siRNA loading into Argonaute, degradation of cleaved passenger strand and degradation of sliced target RNA.
Initial Views and Experiences of Vaping in Prisons: A Qualitative Study With People in Custody Preparing for the Imminent Implementation of Scotland’s Prison Smokefree Policy
Authors: Brown Ashley , O’Donnell Rachel , Eadie Douglas , Purves Richard , Sweeting Helen , Ford Allison , Bauld Linda , Hunt Kate
Published: May 2020

Introduction

Scotland is one of the few countries in which e-cigarettes were available in prisons before the introduction of a comprehensive national smokefree policy, to assist in its implementation. This qualitative study explores the initial views and experiences of vaping in this specific context, from the perspective of people in custody (prisoners).

Aims and Methods

Twenty-eight people in custody were interviewed approximately 1–2 months after rechargeable e-cigarettes were made available in prisons and 2–5 weeks before implementation of a smokefree policy. Data were thematically analyzed to identify the range and diversity of views and experiences.

Results

Participants expressed support for e-cigarettes in preparation for the smokefree policy, describing their symbolic and practical value in this context. Uptake of vaping was strongly influenced by the need for participants to manage without tobacco in the near future. Participants evaluated their initial vaping experiences, either positively or negatively, in relation to the utility of e-cigarettes for mandated smoking abstinence and in providing satisfaction, pleasure, and novelty. Participant views on several issues related to e-cigarette use, both specific to the prison population (product choice and cost) and more generally (safety and long-term use), are explored.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest possible benefits of e-cigarettes as one means of supporting smokefree policy in a population with many smokers. They also point to potential challenges posed by vaping in prisons and smokefree settings caring for similar populations. There is a need for ongoing measures to maximize the health benefits of smokefree settings and for further research on vaping in situations of enforced abstinence.

Implications

To our knowledge, no published studies have explored views and experiences of vaping in prison, when rechargeable vapes were new and the removal of tobacco was imminent. The results can inform tobacco control policy choices, planning and implementation in prisons and similar settings. In prison systems that permitting vaping, it is important that other measures (eg, information campaigns and nicotine dependence services) are implemented concurrently to minimize potential risks to the health or personal finances of people in custody.
Engaging Patients and Caregivers in a Transdisciplinary Effort to Improve Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy
Authors: Keller Sara C , Tamma Pranita , Salinas Alejandra , Williams Deborah , Cosgrove Sara E , Gurses Ayse P
Published: May 2020

We worked with patients, caregivers, and healthcare workers to prioritize barriers and propose solutions to outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) care. Unclear communication channels, rushed instruction, safe bathing with an intravenous catheter, and lack of standardized instructions were highly ranked barriers. Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy programs should focus on mitigating barriers to OPAT care.
The Rift
Authors: Bracic Ana
Published: May 2020

Chapter 4, the book’s first empirical chapter, introduces two lab-in-field experiments that form the core of the book’s data-gathering strategy. The first experiment uses the trust game and demonstrates that non-Roma from Novo mesto discriminate against the Roma in the context of single interactions. The second experiment uses an iterated public goods game, delivered in the form of an original tower-building videogame, developed to allow participants who cannot read to take part in the study and to capture repeated interactions in a context where face-to-face interactions might be contentious. It shows that non-Roma from Novo mesto discriminate against the Roma in the context of repeated interactions, even when Roma behaviors in the game are identical to non-Roma behaviors. This experiment also demonstrates that Roma from Novo mesto use survival strategies, but to a much lesser degree than stereotyping would lead one to expect.
Motor Impulses of Verse
Authors: Hedberg Olenina Ana
Published: May 2020

Chapter 2 explores scholarly theories that accounted for the role of kinesthetic sensations of pronunciation in the aesthetic experience of the poetic form. The Russian Formalists described the articulatory properties of various poetic styles as an objective, impersonal formal structure. They aimed to establish whether this structure takes shape during the process of verse composition and whether it impacts the subsequent oral renditions of the poem by the author and other readers. In historicizing the Formalists’ conceptions of the performative, embodied aspect of poetry, my analysis centers on the Petrograd Institute of the Living Word (Institut Zhivogo Slova) and the Laboratory for the Study of Artistic Speech under the auspices of the Institute of Art History (Kabinet Izucheniiа Khudizhestvennoi Rechi pri Institute Istorii Iskusstv) between 1919 and 1930. Their endeavor to register poetic rhythms and intonations closely resembled the methods of experimental phonetics used by the European and American phoneticians. My analysis points to numerous common sources shared by the Russian and Western authors—notably, the publications coming out from Jean-Pierre Rousselot’s laboratory of experimental phonetics. The final section of the chapter unravels the concept of “formal emotions,” proposed by the Russian Formalists, as they attempted to distance themselves from the simplistic biographic interpretations of affects encoded in literature and considered the psychomotor properties of verse from the standpoint of genre and style.
Epilogue
Authors: Hedberg Olenina Ana
Published: May 2020

Over the past twenty years, evolving technologies have allowed us to map the activity of the brain with unprecedented precision. Initially driven by medical goals, neuroscience has advanced to the level where it is rapidly transforming our understanding of emotions, empathy, reasoning, love, morality, and free will. What is at stake today is our sense of the self: who we are, how we act, how we experience the world, and how we interact with it. By now nearly all of our subjective mental states have been tied to some particular patterns of cortical activity. Beyond the radical philosophical implications, these studies have far-reaching social consequences. Neuroscientists are authoritatively establishing norms and deviations; they make predictions about our behavior based on processes that lie outside our conscious knowledge and control. The insights of neuroscience are being imported into the social sphere, informing debates in jurisprudence, forensics, healthcare, education, business, and politics. A recent collection of essays, compiled by Semir Zeki, a leading European proponent of applied neuroscience, in collaboration with the American lawyer Oliver Goodenough, calls for further integration of lab findings into discussions of public policy and personnel training....
Racism at the End of White Christian America
Authors: Norris Kristopher
Published: May 2020

Chapter 1 engages in social analysis to outline the current racial landscape in churches in the United States. Beginning with our current political and religious moment, it addresses and defines the many layers to the problem of whiteness. Drawing on the work of James Baldwin, womanist theology, and contemporary sociology, this chapter describes whiteness as a process of social and identity formation currently experiencing a crisis of legitimation. This current legitimation crisis has precipitated the phenomenon of colorblindness, which leads white people to see our interests and perspectives as universal, blinds us to our epistemological limitations, and leads to a posture of defensiveness and fragility. The chapter concludes by arguing that whiteness presents itself as a “wicked problem” with no identifiable solution.
The Natural History and Cultural History of La Source, 1866
Authors: McCarren Felicia
Published: May 2020

At its debut in 1866, La Source already had it all: dagger-wielding Muslims dominating veiled women, a flower promising hybridity in a green ecology, and the death of the white spirit, the Source, recuperated as a force for regeneration. In the ballet’s botany, and its cultural thermodynamics, the plot becomes a fable of science and the performance its demonstration.
Decoding Dyslexia
Authors: Berent Iris
Published: May 2020

Cognitive brain disorders, such as dyslexia, also come in for their fair share of misconceptions, and this is the case among laypeople, policymakers, and even teachers. But oddly, the misconceptions surrounding disorders affecting “cold” cognition are the mirror images of our errors in reasoning about psychiatric disorders that we associate with “warm” emotions. We are all too eager to assume that major depression is innate, controlled by the material brain and out of the patients’ hands; for dyslexia, we incorrectly assume the opposite—that it is “just” “in our mind” (not in our brain and genes). Chapter 13 explains how reading works and what dyslexia really is, and it shows how our misconceptions about it arise from Dualism and Essentialism.
The Beethoven Syndrome
Authors: Bonds Mark Evan
Published: May 2020

The “Beethoven syndrome” is the inclination of listeners to hear music as the projection of a composer’s inner self. Beethoven’s music was a catalyst for this change, but only in retrospect, for it was not until after his death that listeners began to hear composers in general—not just Beethoven—in their works, particularly in their instrumental music. The Beethoven Syndrome: Hearing Music as Autobiography traces the rise, fall, and persistence of this mode of listening from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present. Prior to 1830, composers and audiences alike operated within a framework of rhetoric, in which the burden of intelligibility lay squarely on the composer, whose task it was to move listeners in a calculated way. Expression was thought of as an objective construct with a purpose. But through a confluence of musical, philosophical, social, and economic changes, the framework of rhetoric gave way to a framework of hermeneutics. Under the paradigm of expressive subjectivity, concert-goers no longer perceived composers as orators but as oracles to be deciphered. The aesthetics of “New Objectivity” around 1920 marked a return not only to certain stylistic features of eighteenth-century music but to the earlier concept of expression itself. Objectivity would go on to become the cornerstone of the high-modernist aesthetic that dominated the century’s middle decades. Perceptions of compositional subjectivity have nevertheless endured in surprising ways, and we find ourselves today in an era of dual and often conflicting paradigms.
Multiplying Buddhist Missions—Singapore, Bangkok, Penang
Authors: Turner Alicia
Published: May 2020

This chapter discusses the activities of the Irish Buddhist monk and anti-colonial activist U Dhammaloka in Siam (today’s Thailand), the Straits Settlements, and Federated Malay States (today’s Singapore and Malaysia) in 1903–5. It discusses his alliance with the saopha (ruler) of the Shan state of Kentung on the Burmese borders, his foundation of a bilingual school at Wat Ban Thawai in Bangkok, his finding a Chinese patron in Singapore, founding of a Buddhist school and mission there and involvement with multiethnic networks, his work in Penang, and his time in India. The chapter also discusses the plebeian cosmopolitanism which he both embodied and drew on: an everyday cooperation across supposedly fixed ethnic and racial barriers that characterized both mundane labour and Buddhist revival movements in this period.
Interlude
Authors: Turner Alicia
Published: May 2020

This chapter discusses early Western Buddhist monks around the turn of the twentieth century. It highlights the increased significance of the ordination of Westerners in this period, both from the colonial and Asian points of view. It discusses the careers of three early Western Buddhist monks: Asoka (Gordon Douglas), Ananda Metteyya (Allan Bennett), and Dhammaloka (?Laurence Carroll). The chapter explores the monastic politics of ordination and compares the lineages created by Ananda Metteyya and Dhammaloka. It looks at a wide range of early Western Buddhist monks, and in particular the issues of class raised by “beachcomber bhikkhus,” poor white converts. It goes on to explore three moments in Western Buddhist monasticism: a conventional ordination at the Tavoy monastery in Rangoon, an unusual ordination in Dhammaloka’s “English Buddhist Mission” in Singapore, and a contested disrobing at the same mission. It concludes by discussing the nature of legitimacy in these contexts.
A Print Revolution
Authors: Turner Alicia
Published: May 2020

This chapter discusses the Irish Buddhist monk U Dhammaloka’s activities in Burma in 1907–8, notably establishing the Buddhist Tract Society (BTS). This organization largely republished Western freethinking (atheist) arguments in order to challenge Christian missionaries, and by implication colonial authority. The chapter discusses the practicalities of publishing as a form of social movement organizing, with reference to what is known about the BTS’s activities. It explores those BTS tracts whose content is known, and traces their intellectual sources. It further discusses the roots of Dhammaloka’s own freethought with reference to atheism and anti-clericalism in Ireland, Britain, the United States, and Asia, arguing that Dhammaloka was a characteristic product of the radical working-class intellectualism of the period.
Outsourcing Censorship
Authors: Matzko Paul
Published: May 2020

After the election of 1964, the Democratic National Committee stopped its involvement in the censorship campaign, but the Fairness Doctrine rules remained a tool for any interest group smart enough to imagine the potential uses. The National Council of Churches, which had a long history of conflict with broadcaster and fundamentalist clergyman Carl McIntire, launched a wave of Fairness Doctrine complaints against stations airing the offending broadcasts. In particular, the National Council of Churches wanted the Federal Communications Commission to deny radio licenses to two stations: WXUR, which Carl McIntire had recently purchased, and WLBT, which had a history of defending segregation on the airwaves.
Conclusion
Authors: Matzko Paul
Published: May 2020

The deregulation of the airwaves by the Jimmy Carter administration, combined with the advent of cable broadcasting, allowed the resurgence of politically conservative radio in the late 1970s and 1980s. A new generation of religious broadcasters—including Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson—used radio and television to become household names. Indeed, it was while organizing to protect broadcasters from the Fairness Doctrine that the idea to create the “Moral Majority” came to Falwell. Also, radio broadcasting was the preferred way that former California Governor Ronald Reagan kept up his political brand as he prepared to run for president in 1976 and 1980. In the four decades since, right-wing talk radio has profoundly influenced national politics, but those tempted to call for a return to Fairness Doctrine–style regulation would do well to bear in mind Donald Trump’s expressed desire to challenge broadcasting licenses for critical journalistic outlets like NBC News.
A Theory of State Preferences and Resource Competition
Authors: Markowitz Jonathan N.
Published: May 2020

Chapter 2 develops a theory of states’ foreign policy preferences. A state’s preference for territory depends on its economic structure and domestic political institutions. Economic structure determines the state’s source of income. Production-oriented states whose economies are structured to generate income from producing goods will be less interested in resources and territory. In contrast, land-oriented states that are economically dependent on resource rents will have a stronger preference to seek control over resource-rich territory. This effect holds in both autocracies and democracies. However, autocracies should place a greater value on the political benefits associated with land rents because they are a source of wealth that is easier to control and extract. In sum, the more autocratic and land-oriented the state, the stronger its preference for resource rents and the more the state should invest in projecting military force to secure resources.
Descriptive Statistics and Cross-National Comparisons of Arctic Power Projection
Authors: Markowitz Jonathan N.
Published: May 2020

Chapter 4 employs data from three new data sets, the Arctic Military Activity Events Data Set, the Arctic Bases Data Set, and the Icebreaker and Ice-Hardened Warships Data Set. These new data enable a systematic comparison of each state’s Arctic military forces and deployments before and after the 2007 climate shock. The data offer a corrective to both sensationalist media accounts that suggest that all states are scrambling to fight over Arctic resources and those who downplay real changes in states’ Arctic military capabilities and presence. Confirming Rent-Addition’s Theory’s predictions, the descriptive statistical comparisons reveal that the states that were most economically dependent on resource rents, Norway and Russia, were the most willing to back their claims by projecting military force to disputed areas and investing in Arctic bases, ice-hardened warships, and icebreakers.
The United States’ Arctic Foreign Policy
Authors: Markowitz Jonathan N.
Published: May 2020

Chapter 6 examines how the United States, the most powerful production-oriented Arctic state, responded to the revelation of Arctic resources. If capabilities drive intentions, then the United States should project the most power to the region. However, if economic structure influences states’ preferences, as this book argues, then Washington should be more interested in securing access to markets and less concerned with seeking control over Arctic resources. This chapter provides a detailed account of the impact the United States’ production-based economy and broad governing coalition had on its Arctic foreign policy. Compared with the other Arctic states, the United States invested far less in bolstering its existing Arctic bases and icebreakers. In line with the book’s core predictions, the United States’ domestic political economy best explains Washington’s reluctance to make greater Arctic commitments and a concomitant lack of substantial investment in increasing the United States’ Arctic military presence throughout multiple administrations.