Mapping the Forms of Expressive Association

Freedom of expressive association is a relatively new right under the First Amendment, and as a result, its key definitional aspects are continually in flux. Scholarship to- date focuses on the Supreme Court’s treatment of expressive associations, but because the Court has never truly defined what an expressive association is, the Scholarship also fails to really define the boundaries and characteristics of an expressive association. This Article begins to fill this gap in the literature and takes on the task of “mapping” the forms of expressive association. Our goal is to begin the organizing, defining, and classifying task by identifying the essential forms of expressive associations and the boundaries that should attach to the various and often overlapping forms of collective First Amendment activity. By doing so, the First Amendment values associated with each typology begin to emerge and key patterns and characteristics are identified. With this map, we begin to see the landscape of expressive associations

Can the Severity of Normal Tissue Damage after Radiation Therapy Be Predicted?

Begg discusses a new study by Svensson and colleagues in which the researchers attempted to elucidate genetic factors involved in late radiation toxicity

BK channel activators and their therapeutic perspectives

The large conductance calcium- and voltage-activated K(+) channel (KCa1.1, BK, MaxiK) is ubiquitously expressed in the body, and holds the ability to integrate changes in intracellular calcium and membrane potential. This makes the BK channel an important negative feedback system linking increases in intracellular calcium to outward hyperpolarizing potassium currents. Consequently, the channel has many important physiological roles including regulation of smooth muscle tone, neurotransmitter release and neuronal excitability. Additionally, cardioprotective roles have been revealed in recent years. After a short introduction to the structure, function and regulation of BK channels, we review the small organic molecules activating BK channels and how these tool compounds have helped delineate the roles of BK channels in health and disease

Caracterização da estrutura genética do pinhão manso (Jatropha curcas L.): isolamento de fragmentos de dna enriquecidos com sequências de microssatélites.

O pinhão manso (Jatropha curcas) é uma planta oleaginosa que vem se destacando por apresentar um alto potencial na produção de biocombustíveis. Por este motivo o interesse em sua exploração comercial vem aumentado consideravelmente. Assim, torna-se imprescindível o desenvolvimento de tecnologias moleculares de monitoramento e seleção de populações naturais e cultivares. Nesse contexto, marcadores moleculares como os microssatélites são amplamente utilizados. No entanto, os genomas de organismos eucariontes são muito amplos e, assim, o isolamento de seqüências de microssatélites específicas, que possam atuar como marcadores, torna-se uma tarefa complexa. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo estabelecer um protocolo para isolar fragmentos de DNA específicos contendo loci de microssatélites. Este procedimento tem por finalidade aumentar a incidência das seqüências alvo para futura clonagem. Foram testadas diferentes enzimas de restrição e sondas de DNA para o reconhecimento e captura de fragmentos contendo seqüências de microssatélites. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que a enzima RsaI apresentou o melhor padrão de digestão do DNA, enquanto as melhores sondas foram as compostas pelas repetições (AATG)6, (AAAC)6, (AATC)6 e (AAAG)6. Estes procedimentos constituem etapas fundamentais no processo de isolamento de microssatélites e contribuirão para a caracterização da estrutura genética do pinhão manso. Com isto, será possível avaliar quais os estoques mais adequados para seleção de linhagens viáveis para o cultivo, visando ganhos na produtividade

Dissolution and gettering of iron during contact co-firing

The dissolution and gettering of iron is studied during the final fabrication step of multicrystalline silicon solar cells, the co-firing step, through simulations and experiments. The post-processed interstitial iron concentration is simulated according to the as-grown concentration and distribution of iron within a silicon wafer, both in the presence and absence of the phosphorus emitter, and applying different time-temperature profiles for the firing step. The competing effects of dissolution and gettering during the short annealing process are found to be strongly dependant on the as-grown material quality. Furthermore, increasing the temperature of the firing process leads to a higher dissolution of iron, hardly compensated by the higher diffusivity of impurities. A new defect engineering tool is introduced, the extended co-firing, which could allow an enhanced gettering effect within a small additional tim