Micro-RNAS that control myosin expression and myofiber identity

The present invention relates to the identification of two microRNAs, miR-499 and miR-208b, that repress fast skeletal muscle contractile protein genes. Expression of miR-499 and/or miR-208b can be used to repress fast fiber genes and activate slow fiber genes in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Inhibition of miR-499 and/or miR-208b is proposed as a treatment for cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial infarction, and/or heart failure. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising antagonists and agonists of miR-499 and miR-208b function are also disclosed.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

The new Mars climate database

Not available

Nuclear Effects in Deep Inelastic Scattering of Charged-Current Neutrino off Nuclear

Nuclear effect in the neutrino-nucleus charged-Current inelastic scattering process is studied by analyzing the CCFR and NuTeV data. Structure functions $F_2(x,Q^2)$ and $xF_3(x,Q^2)$ as well as differential cross sections are calculated by using CTEQ parton distribution functions and EKRS and HKN nuclear parton distribution functions, and compared with the CCFR and NuTeV data. It is found that the corrections of nuclear effect to the differential cross section for the charged-current anti-neutrino scattering on nucleus are negligible, the EMC effect exists in the neutrino structure function $F_2(x,Q^2)$ in the large $x$ region, the shadowing and anti-shadowing effect occurs in the distribution functions of valence quarks in the small and medium $x$ region,respectively. It is also found that shadowing effects on $F_2(x,Q^2)$ in the small $x$ region in the neutrino-nucleus and the charged-lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering processes are different. It is clear that the neutrino-nucleus deep inelastic scattering data should further be employed in restricting nuclear parton distributions.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

Where the guns come from: The gun industry and gun commerce.

Under federal law, it is illegal for youth under age 18 to purchase rifles or shotguns, and for those under age 21 to purchase handguns. However, fatality and injury statistics clearly show that guns are finding their way into young people's hands. Many of these youth obtain guns through illegal gun markets.This article focuses on how guns in the United States are manufactured, marketed, and sold. The article shows how the legal and illegal gun markets are intimately connected and make guns easily accessible to youth."Although the domestic gun manufacturing industry is relatively small and has experienced declining sales in recent years, it has significant political clout and a large market for its products, and has engaged in aggressive marketing to youth."Lax oversight of licensed firearms dealers, combined with little or no regulation of private sales between gun owners, mean that guns can quickly move from the legal gun market into the illegal market, where they can be acquired by young people.Certain guns, especially inexpensive, poorly made small handguns, are particularly attractive to criminals and youth. The author observes that several policy innovations -- including increased regulation of licensed firearms dealers, intensified screening of prospective buyers, regulation of private sales, gun licensing and registration, and bans on some types of weapons -- hold promise for decreasing the flow of guns into the hands of youth.[Note: The photo on page 68 is not longer available and deleted from the online publication.

Probing dense and hot matter with low-mass dileptons and photons

Results on low-mass dileptons, covering the very broad energy range from the BEVALAC up to SPS are reviewed. The emphasis is on the open questions raised by the intriguing results obtained so far and the prospects for addressing them in the near future with the second generation of experiments, in particular HADES, NA60 and PHENIX.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, Proceedings of Hard Probes 2004 Conference, Ericeira, November 4-10, 2004. Caption of Figure 2 corrected. To be published in Eur. Phys. J. C. The orginal version is available at www.springerlink.co

Dual targeting of MIR-208 and MIR-499 in the treatment of cardiac disorders

The present invention provides a method of treating or preventing cardiac disorders in a subject in need thereof by inhibiting the expression or function of both miR-499 and miR-208 in the heart cells of the subject. In particular, specific protocols for administering inhibitors of the two miRNAs that achieve efficient, long-term suppression are disclosed. In addition, the invention provides a method for treating or preventing musculoskeletal disorders in a subject in need thereof by increasing the expression or activity of both miR-208 and miR-499 in skeletal muscle cells of the subject.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Integrating functional diversity, food web processes, and biogeochemical carbon fluxes into a conceptual approach for modeling the upper ocean in a high-CO2 world

Marine food webs influence climate by channeling carbon below the permanent pycnocline, where it can be sequestered. Because most of the organic matter exported from the euphotic zone is remineralized within the "upper ocean" (i.e., the water column above the depth of sequestration), the resulting CO2 would potentially return to the atmosphere on decadal timescales. Thus ocean-climate models must consider the cycling of carbon within and from the upper ocean down to the depth of sequestration, instead of only to the base of the euphotic zone. Climate-related changes in the upper ocean will influence the diversity and functioning of plankton functional types. In order to predict the interactions between the changing climate and the ocean's biology, relevant models must take into account the roles of functional biodiversity and pelagic ecosystem functioning in determining the biogeochemical fluxes of carbon. We propose the development of a class of models that consider the interactions, in the upper ocean, of functional types of plankton organisms (e.g., phytoplankton, heterotrophic bacteria, microzooplankton, large zooplankton, and microphagous macrozooplankton), food web processes that affect organic matter (e.g., synthesis, transformation, and remineralization), and biogeochemical carbon fluxes (e.g., photosynthesis, calcification, respiration, and deep transfer). Herein we develop a framework for this class of models, and we use it to make preliminary predictions for the upper ocean in a high-CO2 world, without and with iron fertilization. Finally, we suggest a general approach for implementing our proposed class of models

Skills Funding Agency Delivery Plan 2010/11

"This Delivery Plan sets out the way in which the Agency has responded to the priorities set out in the 'Skills Investment Strategy and Skills for Growth', as well as policy commitments outlined in 'The Coalition: Our Programme for Government' (May 2010). The Delivery Plan sets out the work of the Agency in delivering funding allocations for 2010/11, how [the Agency] are supporting the other priorities in departmental documents, the wider services that [the Agency] will deliver to support the sector and how [the Agency] are developing the system to support the aims of the new Government." - introduction

Colour Design for Carton-Packed Fruit Juice Packages

The present research studies the relationships between observers’ expectations for 7 fruit juice packages and the colour design of the package. To do this, a two-stage experiment was conducted. At the first stage, we studied perceived colours for the fruit images shown on each package. At the second stage, fruit juice packages with 20 package colours were rated using 5 bipolar scales: colour harmony, preference, freshness, naturalness and product quality. The experimental results show that the observers tended to perceive fruit image colours lighter and more saturated than those measured using colour measuring instruments. Using factor analyses, we classified the 5 bipolar scales into 2 factors: Product Preference and Freshness. Package colour design was found to have significant impacts on both factors: similarity in chroma and hue between package colour and perceived fruit colour would lead to high product expectations. Keywords: colour design; colour harmony; product expectation; perceived image colour</p

Sedimentology and kinematics of a large, retrogressive growth-fault system in Upper Carboniferous deltaic sediments, western Ireland

Growth faulting is a common feature of many deltaic environments and is vital in determining local sediment dispersal and accumulation, and hence in controlling the resultant sedimentary facies distribution and architecture. Growth faults occur on a range of scales, from a few centimetres to hundreds of metres, with the largest growth faults frequently being under-represented in outcrops that are often smaller than the scale of feature under investigation. This paper presents data from the exceptionally large outcrops of the Cliffs of Moher, western Ireland, where a growth-fault complex affects strata up to 60 m in thickness and extends laterally for 3 km. Study of this Namurian (Upper Carboniferous) growth-fault system enables the relationship between growth faulting and sedimentation to be detailed and permits reconstruction of the kinematic history of faulting. Growth faulting was initiated with the onset of sandstone deposition on a succession of silty mudstones that overlie a thin, marine shale. The decollement horizon developed at the top of the marine shale contact for the first nine faults, by which time aggradation in the hangingwall exceeded 60 m in thickness. After this time, failure planes developed at higher stratigraphic levels and were associated with smaller scale faults. The fault complex shows a dominantly landward retrogressive movement, in which only one fault was largely active at any one time. There is no evidence of compressional features at the base of the growth faults, thus suggesting open-ended slides, and the faults display both disintegrative and non-disintegrative structure. Thin-bedded, distal mouth bar facies dominate the hangingwall stratigraphy and, in the final stages of growth-fault movement, erosion of the crests of rollover structures resulted in the highest strata being restricted to the proximity of the fault. These upper erosion surfaces on the fault scarp developed erosive chutes that were cut parallel to flow and are downlapped by the distal hangingwall strata of younger growth faults