One State or Two in Israel/Palestine: The Stress on Gender and Citizenship

As is the case with any of the three great Abrahamic religions, there is considerable ambiguity regarding the status and role of women both within doctrinal interpretations, and between religious and other cultural traditions in the community. These ambiguities are reflected in political practice and condition women\u27s aspirations regarding what is possible for them to achieve. Nowhere is it more true that understandings of religious imperatives permeate politics and work to make other lines of division all the more intractable than in Israel/Palestine. The proclivity to violence between the two peoples not only victimizes women, but foreshortens attention to their specific political needs and the general issue of women\u27s rights in the region

The Iliocapsularis Muscle: An Important Stabilizer in the Dysplastic Hip

Background: The iliocapsularis muscle is a little known muscle overlying the anterior hip capsule postulated to function as a stabilizer of dysplastic hips. Theoretically, this muscle would be hypertrophied in dysplastic hips and, conversely, atrophied in stable and well-constrained hips. However, these observations have not been confirmed and the true function of this muscle remains unknown. Questions/purposes: We quantified the anatomic dimensions and degree of fatty infiltration of the iliocapsularis muscle and compared the results for 45 hips with deficient acetabular coverage (Group I) with 40 hips with excessive acetabular coverage (Group II). Patients and Methods: We used MR arthrography to evaluate anatomic dimensions (thickness, width, circumference, cross-sectional area [CSA], and partial volume) and the amount of fatty infiltration. Results: We observed increased thickness, width, circumference, CSA, and partial volume of the iliocapsularis muscle in Group I when compared with Group II. Additionally, hips in Group I had a lower prevalence of fatty infiltration compared with those in Group II. The iliocapsularis muscle typically was hypertrophied, and there was less fatty infiltration in dysplastic hips compared with hips with excessive acetabular coverage. Conclusion: These observations suggest the iliocapsularis muscle is important for stabilizing the femoral head in a deficient acetabulum. This muscle serves as an anatomic landmark when performing a periacetabular osteotomy. Additionally, preoperative evaluation of morphologic features of the muscle can be used as an adjunct for decision making when treating patients with borderline hip dysplasia or femoroacetabular impingemen

Oscillatory Size-Dependence of the Surface Plasmon Linewidth in Metallic Nanoparticles

We study the linewidth of the surface plasmon resonance in the optical absorption spectrum of metallic nanoparticles, when the decay into electron-hole pairs is the dominant channel. Within a semiclassical approach, we find that the electron-hole density-density correlation oscillates as a function of the size of the particles, leading to oscillations of the linewidth. This result is confirmed numerically for alkali and noble metal particles. While the linewidth can increase strongly, the oscillations persist when the particles are embedded in a matrix.Comment: RevTeX4, 5 pages, 2 figures, final versio

Coordination of Substrate Binding and ATP Hydrolysis in Vps4-Mediated ESCRT-III Disassembly

Vps4 disassembly of ESCRT-III plays an important role in MVB sorting, viral budding, and cytokinesis. An in vitro system was developed to investigate this process. These studies revealed new insights into the mechanisms of Vps4 function

Mean field theory for global binding systematics

We review some possible improvements of mean field theory for application to nuclear binding systematics. Up to now, microscopic theory has been less successful than models starting from the liquid drop in describing accurately the global binding systematics. We believe that there are good prospects to develop a better global theory, using modern forms of energy density functionals and treating correlation energies systematically by the RPA.Comment: RevTex, 17 pages, 5 eps figures. To be published in Yadernaya Fizika, special edition for the 90th birthday of Professor A.B. Migda

Radial Growth of Qilian Juniper on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau and Potential Climate Associations

There is controversy regarding the limiting climatic factor for tree radial growth at the alpine treeline on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. In this study, we collected 594 increment cores from 331 trees, grouped within four altitude belts spanning the range 3550 to 4020 m.a.s.l. on a single hillside. We have developed four equivalent ring-width chronologies and shown that there are no significant differences in their growth-climate responses during 1956 to 2011 or in their longer-term growth patterns during the period AD 1110–2011. The main climate influence on radial growth is shown to be precipitation variability. Missing ring analysis shows that tree radial growth at the uppermost treeline location is more sensitive to climate variation than that at other elevations, and poor tree radial growth is particularly linked to the occurrence of serious drought events. Hence water limitation, rather than temperature stress, plays the pivotal role in controlling the radial growth of Sabina przewalskii Kom. at the treeline in this region. This finding contradicts any generalisation that tree-ring chronologies from high-elevation treeline environments are mostly indicators of temperature changes

The Nucleocapsid Region of HIV-1 Gag Cooperates with the PTAP and LYPXnL Late Domains to Recruit the Cellular Machinery Necessary for Viral Budding

HIV-1 release is mediated through two motifs in the p6 region of Gag, PTAP and LYPXnL, which recruit cellular proteins Tsg101 and Alix, respectively. The Nucleocapsid region of Gag (NC), which binds the Bro1 domain of Alix, also plays an important role in HIV-1 release, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here we show that the first 202 residues of the Bro1 domain (Broi) are sufficient to bind Gag. Broi interferes with HIV-1 release in an NC–dependent manner and arrests viral budding at the plasma membrane. Similar interrupted budding structures are seen following over-expression of a fragment containing Bro1 with the adjacent V domain (Bro1-V). Although only Bro1-V contains binding determinants for CHMP4, both Broi and Bro1-V inhibited release via both the PTAP/Tsg101 and the LYPXnL/Alix pathways, suggesting that they interfere with a key step in HIV-1 release. Remarkably, we found that over-expression of Bro1 rescued the release of HIV-1 lacking both L domains. This rescue required the N-terminal region of the NC domain in Gag and the CHMP4 binding site in Bro1. Interestingly, release defects due to mutations in NC that prevented Bro1 mediated rescue of virus egress were rescued by providing a link to the ESCRT machinery via Nedd4.2s over-expression. Our data support a model in which NC cooperates with PTAP in the recruitment of cellular proteins necessary for its L domain activity and binds the Bro1–CHMP4 complex required for LYPXnL–mediated budding

Functional Interchangeability of Late Domains, Late Domain Cofactors and Ubiquitin in Viral Budding

The membrane scission event that separates nascent enveloped virions from host cell membranes often requires the ESCRT pathway, which can be engaged through the action of peptide motifs, termed late (L-) domains, in viral proteins. Viral PTAP and YPDL-like L-domains bind directly to the ESCRT-I and ALIX components of the ESCRT pathway, while PPxY motifs bind Nedd4-like, HECT-domain containing, ubiquitin ligases (e.g. WWP1). It has been unclear precisely how ubiquitin ligase recruitment ultimately leads to particle release. Here, using a lysine-free viral Gag protein derived from the prototypic foamy virus (PFV), where attachment of ubiquitin to Gag can be controlled, we show that several different HECT domains can replace the WWP1 HECT domain in chimeric ubiquitin ligases and drive budding. Moreover, artificial recruitment of isolated HECT domains to Gag is sufficient to stimulate budding. Conversely, the HECT domain becomes dispensable if the other domains of WWP1 are directly fused to an ESCRT-1 protein. In each case where budding is driven by a HECT domain, its catalytic activity is essential, but Gag ubiquitination is dispensable, suggesting that ubiquitin ligation to trans-acting proteins drives budding. Paradoxically, however, we also demonstrate that direct fusion of a ubiquitin moiety to the C-terminus of PFV Gag can also promote budding, suggesting that ubiquitination of Gag can substitute for ubiquitination of trans-acting proteins. Depletion of Tsg101 and ALIX inhibits budding that is dependent on ubiquitin that is fused to Gag, or ligated to trans-acting proteins through the action of a PPxY motif. These studies underscore the flexibility in the ways that the ESCRT pathway can be engaged, and suggest a model in which the identity of the protein to which ubiquitin is attached is not critical for subsequent recruitment of ubiquitin-binding components of the ESCRT pathway and viral budding to proceed