9,676 research outputs found
Spontaneous Synchrony Breaking
Research on synchronization of coupled oscillators has helped explain how
uniform behavior emerges in populations of non-uniform systems. But explaining
how uniform populations engage in sustainable non-uniform synchronization may
prove to be just as fascinating
Ī²-arrestin regulates estradiol membrane-initiated signaling in hypothalamic neurons.
Estradiol (E2) action in the nervous system is the result of both direct nuclear and membrane-initiated signaling (EMS). E2 regulates membrane estrogen receptor-Ī± (ERĪ±) levels through opposing mechanisms of EMS-mediated trafficking and internalization. While Ć-arrestin-mediated mERĪ± internalization has been described in the cortex, a role of Ć-arrestin in EMS, which underlies multiple physiological processes, remains undefined. In the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH), membrane-initiated E2 signaling modulates lordosis behavior, a measure of female sexually receptivity. To better understand EMS and regulation of ERĪ± membrane levels, we examined the role of Ć-arrestin, a molecule associated with internalization following agonist stimulation. In the present study, we used an immortalized neuronal cell line derived from embryonic hypothalamic neurons, the N-38 line, to examine whether Ć-arrestins mediate internalization of mERĪ±. Ī²-arrestin-1 (Arrb1) was found in the ARH and in N-38 neurons. In vitro, E2 increased trafficking and internalization of full-length ERĪ± and ERĪ±Ī4, an alternatively spliced isoform of ERĪ±, which predominates in the membrane. Treatment with E2 also increased phosphorylation of extracellular-signal regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) in N-38 neurons. Arrb1 siRNA knockdown prevented E2-induced ERĪ±Ī4 internalization and ERK1/2 phosphorylation. In vivo, microinfusions of Arrb1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) into female rat ARH knocked down Arrb1 and prevented estradiol benzoate-induced lordosis behavior compared with nonsense scrambled ODN (lordosis quotient: 3 Ā± 2.1 vs. 85.0 Ā± 6.0; p < 0.0001). These results indicate a role for Arrb1 in both EMS and internalization of mERĪ±, which are required for the E2-induction of female sexual receptivity
Charles Dickens\u27 Novels in the Courts
This article examines written judicial opinions that contain references to novels by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the British novelist and social critic who is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the Victorian Age. Americans today still read Dickensā best-known novels, and the U.S. Supreme Court and the lower federal and state courts have cited and quoted from them
What Great Writers Can Teach Lawyers and Judges: Precise, Concise, Simple and Clear
Despite some imperfections across disciplines, advice from well-known fiction and non-fiction writers can serve lawyers and judges well because law, in its essence, is a literary profession heavily dependent on the written word. There are only two types of writing - good writing and bad writing. As poet (and Massachusetts Bar member) Archibald MacLeish recognized, good legal writing is simply good writing about a legal subject. Lawyers would be better off, said MacLeish, if they stopped thinking of the language of the law as a different language and realized that the art of writing for legal purposes is in no way distinguishable from the art of writing for any other purpose
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