FABRICATED CUT BEEF PRICES AS LEADING INDICATORS OF FED CATTLE PRICE

Temporal relationships are investigated among fabricated cut prices, carcass value, and fed cattle prices. Also, linkages between fed cattle and wholesale beef prices are examined using vector autoregressive (VAR) techniques. Results, using daily prices over the 1980-85 period, suggested that fabricated cut prices and cattle prices are related to the imputed carcass value, carcass quote, and fed cattle prices. In addition, three fabricated cuts dominate as leading indicators of fed cattle prices of most fabricated cut prices. They are strip loin and bottom and top round prices. VAR models outperform the univariate and random-walk models of forecasting ability.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Using selenomethionyl derivatives to assign sequence in low-resolution structures of the AP2 clathrin adaptor.

Selenomethionine incorporation is a powerful technique for assigning sequence to regions of electron density at low resolution. Genetic introduction of methionine point mutations and the subsequent preparation and crystallization of selenomethionyl derivatives permits unambiguous sequence assignment by enabling the placement of the anomalous scatterers (Se atoms) thus introduced. Here, the use of this approach in the assignment of sequence in a part of the AP2 clathrin adaptor complex that is responsible for clathrin binding is described. AP2 plays a pivotal role in clathrin-mediated endocytosis, a tightly regulated process in which cell-surface transmembrane proteins are internalized from the plasma membrane by incorporation into lipid-enclosed transport vesicles. AP2 binds cargo destined for internalization and recruits clathrin, a large trimeric protein that helps to deform the membrane to produce the transport vesicle. By selenomethionine labelling of point mutants, it was shown that the clathrin-binding site is buried within a deep cleft of the AP2 complex. A membrane-stimulated conformational change in AP2 releases the clathrin-binding site from autoinhibition, thereby linking clathrin recruitment to membrane localization.We would like to thank the I02, I03 and I04-1 beamline staff at the Diamond Light Source (mx6641) and Chris Oubridge for advice and assistance with SeMet mapping of the hinge residues. D.J.O. and B.T.K. are supported by Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship (090909/Z/09/Z). S.C.G. is supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (098406/Z/12/Z). CIMR is supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (079895).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the International Union of Crystallography via http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S205979831502158

Who the hell was that? Stories, bodies and actions in the world

This article explores a two-way relationship between stories and the experiential actions of bodies in the world. Through an autoethnographic approach, the article presents a series of interlinked story fragments in an effort to show and evoke a feel for the ways in which stories, bodies, and actions influence and shape each other over time. It offers some reflections on the experiences the stories portray from the perspective of a social constructionist conception of narrative theory and suggest that while stories exert a powerful influence on the actions of our bodies, our bodies intrude on or ‘talk back’ to this process because bodies have an existence beyond stories

mTORC2 signaling drives the development and progression of pancreatic cancer

mTOR signaling controls several critical cellular functions and is deregulated in many cancers, including pancreatic cancer. To date, most efforts have focused on inhibiting the mTORC1 complex. However, clinical trials of mTORC1 inhibitors in pancreatic cancer have failed, raising questions about this therapeutic approach. We employed a genetic approach to delete the obligate mTORC2 subunit Rictor and identified the critical times during which tumorigenesis requires mTORC2 signaling. Rictor deletion resulted in profoundly delayed tumorigenesis. Whereas previous studies showed most pancreatic tumors were insensitive to rapamycin, treatment with a dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor strongly suppressed tumorigenesis. In late-stage tumor-bearing mice, combined mTORC1/2 and PI3K inhibition significantly increased survival. Thus, targeting mTOR may be a potential therapeutic strategy in pancreatic cancer

Streptococcus pneumoniae NanC. Structural insights into the specificity and mechanism of a sialidase that produces a sialidase inhibitor

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK) and the Medical Research Council (UK).Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important human pathogen that causes a range of disease states. Sialidases are important bacterial virulence factors. There are three pneumococcal sialidases: NanA, NanB, and NanC. NanC is an unusual sialidase in that its primary reaction product is 2-deoxy-2,3-didehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac2en, also known as DANA), a nonspecific hydrolytic sialidase inhibitor. The production of Neu5Ac2en from α2-3-linked sialosides by the catalytic domain is confirmed within a crystal structure. A covalent complex with 3-fluoro-β-N-acetylneuraminic acid is also presented, suggesting a common mechanism with other sialidases up to the final step of product formation. A conformation change in an active site hydrophobic loop on ligand binding constricts the entrance to the active site. In addition, the distance between the catalytic acid/base (Asp-315) and the ligand anomeric carbon is unusually short. These features facilitate a novel sialidase reaction in which the final step of product formation is direct abstraction of the C3 proton by the active site aspartic acid, forming Neu5Ac2en. NanC also possesses a carbohydrate-binding module, which is shown to bind α2-3- and α2-6-linked sialosides, as well as N-acetylneuraminic acid, which is captured in the crystal structure following hydration of Neu5Ac2en by NanC. Overall, the pneumococcal sialidases show remarkable mechanistic diversity while maintaining a common structural scaffold.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Muon-Spin Rotation Measurements of an Unusual Vortex-Glass Phase in the Layered Superconductor Bi2.15Sr1.85CaCu2O8+δ

Muon-spin rotation measurements, performed on the mixed state of the classic anisotropic superconductor Bi2.15Sr1.85CaCu2O8+δ, obtain quantities directly related to two- and three-body correlations of vortices in space. A novel phase diagram emerges from such local probe measurements of the bulk, revealing an unusual glassy state at intermediate fields which appears to freeze continuously from the equilibrium vortex liquid but differs both from the lattice and the conventional high-field vortex glass state in its structure.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Cardio-metabolic impact of changing sitting, standing, and stepping in the workplace

According to cross-sectional and acute experimental evidence, reducing sitting time should improve cardio-metabolic health risk biomarkers. Furthermore, the improvements obtained may depend on whether sitting is replaced with standing or ambulatory activities. Based on data from the Stand Up Victoria multi-component workplace intervention, we examined this issue using compositional data analysis - a method that can examine and compare all activity changes simultaneously.Participants receiving the intervention (n=136 ≥0.6 full-time equivalent desk-based workers, 65% women, mean±SD age=44.6 ±9.1 years from seven worksites) were asked to improve whole-of-day activity by standing up, sitting less and moving more. Their changes in the composition of daily waking hours (activPAL-assessed sitting, standing, stepping) were quantified, then tested for associations with concurrent changes in cardio-metabolic risk (CMR) scores and 14 biomarkers concerning body composition, glucose, insulin and lipid metabolism. Analyses were by mixed models, accounting for clustering (3 months, n=105-120; 12 months, n=80-97).Sitting reduction was significantly (

Frame-Dragging Vortexes and Tidal Tendexes Attached to Colliding Black Holes: Visualizing the Curvature of Spacetime

When one splits spacetime into space plus time, the spacetime curvature (Weyl tensor) gets split into an "electric" part E_{jk} that describes tidal gravity and a "magnetic" part B_{jk} that describes differential dragging of inertial frames. We introduce tools for visualizing B_{jk} (frame-drag vortex lines, their vorticity, and vortexes) and E_{jk} (tidal tendex lines, their tendicity, and tendexes), and also visualizations of a black-hole horizon's (scalar) vorticity and tendicity. We use these tools to elucidate the nonlinear dynamics of curved spacetime in merging black-hole binaries.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure