The Adventures of Ms. Meta: Developing a Historical Superhero Video Game

The Adventures of Ms. Meta (forthc.) uses a combination of brawler and puzzle game mechanics along with the narrative device of time travel to provide players with the means to become active participants in the cultural narrative of the American superhero. Although these larger than life characters are irrefutably fixtures in contemporary popular culture, they exist in constant change; reinvented time after time in accordance with each era s definition of heroism, adapted as media forms evolve. As a game designer with a background in comic book illustration and superhero art history, this article explores my process of developing an experience that engages with the ever-changing relationship between superheroes and American culture. Players assume the role of Ms. Meta, a modern female superhero, in an adventure where every level represents a different age of superhero comics, and the world that produced them. Grounded in academic research, and featuring game mechanics including puzzle-solving and collaboration, I hope to empower players to create their own definition of heroism

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the 9 kDa protein of the mouse signal recognition particle and the selenomethionyl-SRP9

AbstractTwo different crystal forms of the 9 kDa protein of the signal recognition particle (SRP9) have been prepared by the hanging drop vapor diffusion technique using 28% (w/v) PEG8000 or 28% saturated ammonium sulphate as precipitant. The crystals are hexagonal bipyramids with average dimensions of 0.2 × 0.1 × 0.1 mm3 and they diffract to a resolution of 2.3 Å. They belong to the space groups P6222/P6422 or P3121/P3221 with cell dimensions a = b = 63.0 Å, and c = 111.5 Å. Crystals have also been grown from the selenomethionyl protein and multiwavelength data sets have been collected

Genome-wide analyses for personality traits identify six genomic loci and show correlations with psychiatric disorders

Personality is influenced by genetic and environmental factors1 and associated with mental health. However, the underlying genetic determinants are largely unknown. We identified six genetic loci, including five novel loci2,3, significantly associated with personality traits in a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (N = 123,132–260,861). Of these genomewide significant loci, extraversion was associated with variants in WSCD2 and near PCDH15, and neuroticism with variants on chromosome 8p23.1 and in L3MBTL2. We performed a principal component analysis to extract major dimensions underlying genetic variations among five personality traits and six psychiatric disorders (N = 5,422–18,759). The first genetic dimension separated personality traits and psychiatric disorders, except that neuroticism and openness to experience were clustered with the disorders. High genetic correlations were found between extraversion and attention-deficit– hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and between openness and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The second genetic dimension was closely aligned with extraversion–introversion and grouped neuroticism with internalizing psychopathology (e.g., depression or anxiety)

Helicobacter pylori Adapts to Chronic Infection and Gastric Disease via pH-Responsive BabA-Mediated Adherence

International audienceThe BabA adhesin mediates high-affinity binding of Helicobacter pylori to the ABO blood group antigen-glycosylated gastric mucosa. Here we show that BabA is acid responsive-binding is reduced at low pH and restored by acid neutralization. Acid responsiveness differs among strains; often correlates with different intragastric regions and evolves during chronic infection and disease progression; and depends on pH sensor sequences in BabA and on pH reversible formation of high-affinity binding BabA multimers. We propose that BabA's extraordinary reversible acid responsiveness enables tight mucosal bacterial adherence while also allowing an effective escape from epithelial cells and mucus that are shed into the acidic bactericidal lumen and that bio-selection and changes in BabA binding properties through mutation and recombination with babA-related genes are selected by differences among individuals and by changes in gastric acidity over time. These processes generate diverse H. pylori subpopulations, in which BabA's adaptive evolution contributes to H. pylori persistence and overt gastric disease