title: B cell receptor accessory molecule CD79α: Characterisation and expression analysis in a cartilaginous fish, the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias)

authors: Li, Ronggai

subjects: cartilaginous fish

abstract: CD79α (also known as Igα) is a component of the B cell antigen receptor complex and plays an important role in B cell signalling. The CD79α protein is present on the surface of B cells throughout their life cycle, and is absent on all other healthy cells, making it a highly reliable marker for B cells in mammals. In this study the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) CD79α (SaCD79α) is described and its expression studied under constitutive and stimulated conditions. The spiny dogfish CD79α cDNA contains an open reading frame of 618 bp, encoding a protein of 205 amino acids. Comparison of the SaCD79α gene with that of other species shows that the gross structure (number of exons, exon/intron boundaries, etc.) is highly conserved across phylogeny. Additionally, analysis of the 5′ flanking region shows SaCD79α lacks a TATA box and possesses binding sites for multiple transcription factors implicated in its B cell-specific gene transcription in other species. Spiny dogfish CD79α is most highly expressed in immune tissues, such as spleen, epigonal and Leydig organ, and its transcript level significantly correlates with those of spiny dogfish immunoglobulin heavy chains. Additionally, CD79α transcription is up-regulated, to a small but significant degree, in peripheral blood cells following stimulation with pokeweed mitogen. These results strongly indicate that, as in mammals, spiny dogfish CD79α is expressed by shark B cells where it associates with surface-bound immunoglobulin to form a fully functional BCR, and thus may serve as a pan-B cell marker in future shark immunological studies.

text: B cell receptor accessory molecule CD79α: Characterisation and expression analysis in a cartilaginous fish, the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) CD79α (also known as Igα) is a component of the B cell antigen receptor complex and plays an important role in B cell signalling. The CD79α protein is present on the surface of B cells throughout their life cycle, and is absent on all other healthy cells, making it a highly reliable marker for B cells in mammals. In this study the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) CD79α (SaCD79α) is described and its expression studied under constitutive and stimulated conditions. The spiny dogfish CD79α cDNA contains an open reading frame of 618 bp, encoding a protein of 205 amino acids. Comparison of the SaCD79α gene with that of other species shows that the gross structure (number of exons, exon/intron boundaries, etc.) is highly conserved across phylogeny. Additionally, analysis of the 5′ flanking region shows SaCD79α lacks a TATA box and possesses binding sites for multiple transcription factors implicated in its B cell-specific gene transcription in other species. Spiny dogfish CD79α is most highly expressed in immune tissues, such as spleen, epigonal and Leydig organ, and its transcript level significantly correlates with those of spiny dogfish immunoglobulin heavy chains. Additionally, CD79α transcription is up-regulated, to a small but significant degree, in peripheral blood cells following stimulation with pokeweed mitogen. These results strongly indicate that, as in mammals, spiny dogfish CD79α is expressed by shark B cells where it associates with surface-bound immunoglobulin to form a fully functional BCR, and thus may serve as a pan-B cell marker in future shark immunological studies.

year: 2013

title: Keeper of the light

authors: Ramsbottom, Kay Margaret

subjects: Mary Jane Bennett

abstract: Keeper of the Light is an historical novel based on the true story of Mary Jane Hebden, a country gentleman’s daughter, who in 1839 at the age of 22 sails to New Zealand on the emigrant ship Duke of Roxburgh. There she is reunited with her fiancé George Bennett, a seedsman, who left on the Cuba two months earlier.
	It is a time of change in Britain. A youthful Queen Victoria has just come to the throne, and the combined works of Jane Austen have recently been published under her own name for the first time. The poor are suffering terrible financial hardship from loss of work caused by the Industrial Revolution, and the rising cost of food due to the Corn Laws. The New Zealand Land Company and the British Government have their eyes on the distant prize of New Zealand, and it is a race to see who will get there first.
	Against this background, a young English woman sets out on a 13,000 mile voyage halfway around the world in order to wed the man she loves. A journey that sees her running away from her home in Yorkshire, and ends with her taking on a man’s job in New Zealand in order to support her family.
	In Britannia, the fledging colony of the New Zealand Land Company, the ordinary lives of Mary and George – marriage, birth, work and death – are interspersed with extraordinary events like earthquakes, fire and floods. News to and from ‘home’ must travel by ship, and takes three to six months to arrive, if it arrives at all.
	A unforeseen change in circumstances forces Mary to take on a job as keeper of the temporary lighthouse at Pencarrow, the isolated headland at the entrance to Wellington harbour. She and her family live in a two-room cottage that is ‘neither wind- nor water-proof’ with a smoky lantern in the window that must be tended all night. Access is by boat, and the nearest town an eight-mile walk away along a rocky beach.
	The cottage is replaced with New Zealand’s first permanent lighthouse four years later, and Mrs Bennett becomes Head Keeper, the first – and only – female lighthouse keeper in New Zealand’s history. She must maintain her position in the face of opposition from the Assistant keeper, William Lyall, who complains to the authorities that he can’t manage with only a woman’s help.
	In all, Mary Jane Bennett held the position of Keeper of the Light at Pencarrow Head for ten years. Her part in New Zealand’s history deserves to be celebrated, and yet like many historical achievements by women, it remains little known, even in the country of her birth and in her adopted home. This novel sets out to tell her story in her own words, in a fictionalised re-telling of actual events.

text: Keeper of the light Keeper of the Light is an historical novel based on the true story of Mary Jane Hebden, a country gentleman’s daughter, who in 1839 at the age of 22 sails to New Zealand on the emigrant ship Duke of Roxburgh. There she is reunited with her fiancé George Bennett, a seedsman, who left on the Cuba two months earlier.
	It is a time of change in Britain. A youthful Queen Victoria has just come to the throne, and the combined works of Jane Austen have recently been published under her own name for the first time. The poor are suffering terrible financial hardship from loss of work caused by the Industrial Revolution, and the rising cost of food due to the Corn Laws. The New Zealand Land Company and the British Government have their eyes on the distant prize of New Zealand, and it is a race to see who will get there first.
	Against this background, a young English woman sets out on a 13,000 mile voyage halfway around the world in order to wed the man she loves. A journey that sees her running away from her home in Yorkshire, and ends with her taking on a man’s job in New Zealand in order to support her family.
	In Britannia, the fledging colony of the New Zealand Land Company, the ordinary lives of Mary and George – marriage, birth, work and death – are interspersed with extraordinary events like earthquakes, fire and floods. News to and from ‘home’ must travel by ship, and takes three to six months to arrive, if it arrives at all.
	A unforeseen change in circumstances forces Mary to take on a job as keeper of the temporary lighthouse at Pencarrow, the isolated headland at the entrance to Wellington harbour. She and her family live in a two-room cottage that is ‘neither wind- nor water-proof’ with a smoky lantern in the window that must be tended all night. Access is by boat, and the nearest town an eight-mile walk away along a rocky beach.
	The cottage is replaced with New Zealand’s first permanent lighthouse four years later, and Mrs Bennett becomes Head Keeper, the first – and only – female lighthouse keeper in New Zealand’s history. She must maintain her position in the face of opposition from the Assistant keeper, William Lyall, who complains to the authorities that he can’t manage with only a woman’s help.
	In all, Mary Jane Bennett held the position of Keeper of the Light at Pencarrow Head for ten years. Her part in New Zealand’s history deserves to be celebrated, and yet like many historical achievements by women, it remains little known, even in the country of her birth and in her adopted home. This novel sets out to tell her story in her own words, in a fictionalised re-telling of actual events.

year: 2022

title: Indigenous children and youth: The case of marae courts in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: Toki, Valmaine

abstract: Marae2-based Courts are an initiative of the Judiciary that builds on existing programmes for offenders such as Te Whanau Awhina, and informed by the Koori Courts in Australia.3 This is the first time that a New Zealand court has conducted criminal cases on a Marae within the jurisdiction of the Youth Court. Most offenders referred to the programme are Maori4 and the process incorporates Maori tikanga (Maori customs).

text: Indigenous children and youth: The case of marae courts in Aotearoa/New Zealand Marae2-based Courts are an initiative of the Judiciary that builds on existing programmes for offenders such as Te Whanau Awhina, and informed by the Koori Courts in Australia.3 This is the first time that a New Zealand court has conducted criminal cases on a Marae within the jurisdiction of the Youth Court. Most offenders referred to the programme are Maori4 and the process incorporates Maori tikanga (Maori customs).

year: 2014