Simulation overload: Reflections on the experience of being a simulated patient

Karlie Spader's and Allison Buller's poster on understanding the experience of a student participating in the course "Simulated Patient Practicum"

Systemic behavior of a Brazilian municipality whose economy is based on agricultural commodities.

The municipality evaluated is São Gabriel do Oeste, located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. In the 1960's the region was occupied by migrants from southern Brazil who have converted native vegetation (savanna) into extensive cattle and monocrops (coffee, cotton, soybeans and corn, successively), and more recently intensive swine was introduced. The following emergy indicators were calculated for the current municipal situation: Renewability (%R): 8%; Emergy yield ratio (EYR): 14; Emergy investment ratio (EIR): 0.08; Environmental loading ratio (ELR): 11; Emergy exchange ratio (EER): 13 and Transformity of the commodities: 8x105seJ.J-1. The very low %R and high environmental pressure (ELR) signalize that the municipality's economy is highly dependent on external inputs. Above all, there is a high loss of system internal stocks (soil) and the high EYR obtained is directly related to this predatory land use. The emergy value of the soil loss is 83% of the total emergy, which is an environmental imbalanced situation. The main land use in São Gabriel do Oeste, accounting for 39% of the territory, is extensive cattle farming that demands few agricultural inputs, what explains the very low EIR. The EER shows that the rural area is subsidizing urban economies that import products from the study area. The real value of the agricultural products should be 13 times the market value of such commodities to be considered as a fair trade. The inclusion of soil loss as a negative externality shows that (in economic terms) the amount of soil lost by erosion and leaching (4,149x106 emUSD.year-1) corresponds to 46% of the total production monetary value (9,018x106 emUSD.year-1). The emergy diagnosis shows that the business model established for commodities producers is highly dependent on the external market, which does not remunerate the imported resources accordingly to its real value. To settle this situation, a dialogue between farmers, consumers and authorities should be established. The latter two should involve not only local representatives as well as players of the importing countries.BIWAES 2015

The Labour Government, the Treasury and the £6 pay policy of July 1975

The 1974-79 Labour Government was elected in a climate of opinion that was fiercely opposed to government intervention in the wage determination process, and was committed to the principles of free collective bargaining in its manifestoes. However, by December 1974 the Treasury was advocating a formal incomes policy, and by July 1975 the government had introduced a £6 flat rate pay norm. With reference to archival sources, the paper demonstrates that TUC and Labour Party opposition to incomes policy was reconciled with the Treasury's advocacy by limiting the Bank of England‟s intervention in the foreign exchange market when sterling came under pressure. This both helped to achieve the Treasury's objective of improving the competitiveness of British industry, and acted as a catalyst for the introduction of incomes policy because the slide could be attributed to a lack of market confidence in British counter-inflation policy

Comportamento de gramíneas perenes recentemente introduzidas no Brasil Central

Dry matter production of fourteen recently introduced perennial grasses was compared with that of pangolagrass (Digitaria decumbens) and of "Taiwan A-24" (Digitaria pentzii) in cutting trials at the Matão Training Center of the IRI Research Institute in the State of São Paulo. Each grass was evaluated at two soil fertility levels on a red latosol. Brachiaria decumbens (IRI 562) was the outstanding grass with respect to dry matter yield over a two year period. Its yield was significantly higher than that of any of the other grasses, at both high and low fertilizer levels. Another Brachiaria species, IRI 409, and various other Digitaria species were superior to pangolagrass and to "Taiwan A-24". Additional research on animal acceptability, nutritive value, and performance under grazing is necessary for a better evaluation of this new germsplasm as promising contributions to pasture improvement in South-Central Brazil.O propósito do estudo foi avaliar gramíneas recentemente introduzidas, em comparação com o capim pangola (Digitaria decumbens) e o pangola "Taiwan A-24" (Digitaria pentzii). Foram comparadas quatorze gramíneas perenes, em um ensaio de corte, no Centro de Treinamento de Matão, do Instituto de Pesquisas IRI, no Estado de São Paulo. Cada gramínea foi avaliada em dois níveis diferentes de fertilidade de solo, em um latossolo vermelho. Brachiaria decumbens (IRI 562) foi excelente com respeito ao rendimento de matéria sêca durante um período de dois anos. Seu rendimento foi significativamente mais alto do que o de qualquer das outras gramíneas, tanto em alta fertilidade como em baixa. Uma outra Brachiaria sp., IRI 409, e várias outras Digitaria foram também superiores ao capim pangola e ao pangola "Taiwan A-24". É necessário que sejam realizados outros estudos sôbre a aceitação pelos animais, valor nutritivo e comportamento sob pastoreio, para melhor avaliação desses novos germoplasmas como contribuições promissoras para o melhoramento de pastagens no Brasil Central

Phylloquinone (vitamin K 1 ) biosynthesis in plants: two peroxisomal thioesterases of lactobacillales origin hydrolyze 1,4‐dihydroxy‐2‐naphthoyl‐coa

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/1/TPJ_4972_sm_FigS3.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/2/TPJ_4972_sm_TableS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/3/TPJ_4972_sm_FigS2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/4/TPJ_4972_sm_TableS4.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/5/TPJ_4972_sm_FigS6.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/6/j.1365-313X.2012.04972.x.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/7/TPJ_4972_sm_FigS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/8/TPJ_4972_sm_TableS3.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/9/TPJ_4972_sm_FigS5.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/10/TPJ_4972_sm_TableS2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92396/11/TPJ_4972_sm_FigS4.pd

Tryptophan synthase uses an atypical mechanism to achieve substrate specificity

Tryptophan synthase (TrpS) catalyzes the final steps in the biosynthesis of L-tryptophan from L-serine (Ser) and indole-3-glycerol phosphate (IGP). We report that native TrpS can also catalyze a productive reaction with L-threonine (Thr), leading to (2S,3S)-β-methyltryptophan. Surprisingly, β-substitution occurs in vitro with a 3.4-fold higher catalytic efficiency for Ser over Thr using saturating indole, despite >82,000-fold preference for Ser in direct competition using IGP. Structural data identify a novel product binding site and kinetic experiments clarify the atypical mechanism of specificity: Thr binds efficiently but decreases the affinity for indole and disrupts the allosteric signaling that regulates the catalytic cycle

VennVax, a DNA-prime, peptide-boost multi-T-cell epitope poxvirus vaccine, induces protective immunity against vaccinia infection by T cell response alone

The potential for smallpox to be disseminated in a bioterror attack has prompted development of new, safer smallpox vaccination strategies. We designed and evaluated immunogenicity and efficacy of a T-cell epitope vaccine based on conserved and antigenic vaccinia/variola sequences, identified using bioinformatics and immunological methods. Vaccination in HLA transgenic mice using a DNA-prime/peptide-boost strategy elicited significant T cell responses to multiple epitopes. No antibody response pre-challenge was observed, neither against whole vaccinia antigens nor vaccine epitope peptides. Remarkably, 100% of vaccinated mice survived lethal vaccinia challenge, demonstrating that protective immunity to vaccinia does not require B cell priming

Enhancing the fill-factor of CMOS SPAD arrays using microlens integration

Arrays of single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors were fabricated, using a 0.35 μm CMOS technology process, for use in applications such as time-of-flight 3D ranging and microscopy. Each 150 x 150 μm pixel comprises a 30 μm active area diameter SPAD and its associated circuitry for counting, timing and quenching, resulting in a fill-factor of 3.14%. This paper reports how a higher effective fill-factor was achieved as a result of integrating microlens arrays on top of the 32 x 32 SPAD arrays. Diffractive and refractive microlens arrays were designed to concentrate the incoming light onto the active area of each pixel. A telecentric imaging system was used to measure the improvement factor (IF) resulting from microlens integration, whilst varying the f-number of incident light from f/2 to f/22 in one-stop increments across a spectral range of 500-900 nm. These measurements have demonstrated an increasing IF with fnumber, and a maximum of ~16 at the peak wavelength, showing a good agreement with theoretical values. An IF of 16 represents the highest value reported in the literature for microlenses integrated onto a SPAD detector array. The results from statistical analysis indicated the variation of detector efficiency was between 3-10% across the whole f-number range, demonstrating excellent uniformity across the detector plane with and without microlenses

The catalytic role of glutathione transferases in heterologous anthocyanin biosynthesis

Anthocyanins are ubiquitous plant pigments used in a variety of technological applications. Yet, after over a century of research, the penultimate biosynthetic step to anthocyanidins attributed to the action of leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase has never been efficiently reconstituted outside plants, preventing the construction of heterologous cell factories. Through biochemical and structural analysis, here we show that anthocyanin-related glutathione transferases, currently implicated only in anthocyanin transport, catalyse an essential dehydration of the leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase product, flavan-3,3,4-triol, to generate cyanidin. Building on this knowledge, introduction of anthocyanin-related glutathione transferases into a heterologous biosynthetic pathway in baker's yeast results in >35-fold increased anthocyanin production. In addition to unravelling the long-elusive anthocyanin biosynthesis, our findings pave the way for the colourants' heterologous microbial production and could impact the breeding of industrial and ornamental plants