The Constitutional Convention and Court Merger in New York State

In November 2017, voters in New York, for the first time in twenty years, will be asked to decide whether there “[s]hall be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?” If it is decided by the electorate to call a convention, “delegates will be elected in November 2018, and the convention will convene in April 2019.” One of the significant goals of a convention would be the achievement of court merger in the Empire State. The purpose of this perspective is to discuss the pros and cons of a constitutional convention with an emphasis on court merger

Method and apparatus for controllably heating fluid Patent

Using heat control unit to preheat circulating flui

SynGAP Regulates Steady-State and Activity-Dependent Phosphorylation of Cofilin

SynGAP, a prominent Ras/Rap GTPase-activating protein in the postsynaptic density, regulates the timing of spine formation and trafficking of glutamate receptors in cultured neurons. However, the molecular mechanisms by which it does this are unknown. Here, we show that synGAP is a key regulator of spine morphology in adult mice. Heterozygous deletion of synGAP was sufficient to cause an excess of mushroom spines in adult brains, indicating that synGAP is involved in steady-state regulation of actin in mature spines. Both Ras- and Rac-GTP levels were elevated in forebrains from adult synGAP+/- mice. Rac is a well known regulator of actin polymerization and spine morphology. The steady-state level of phosphorylation of cofilin was also elevated in synGAP+/- mice. Cofilin, an F-actin severing protein that is inactivated by phosphorylation, is a downstream target of a pathway regulated by Rac. We show that transient regulation of cofilin by treatment with NMDA is also disrupted in synGAP mutant neurons. Treatment of wild-type neurons with 25 µM NMDA triggered transient dephosphorylation and activation of cofilin within 15 s. In contrast, neurons cultured from mice with a homozygous or heterozygous deletion of synGAP lacked the transient regulation by the NMDA receptor. Depression of EPSPs induced by a similar treatment of hippocampal slices with NMDA was disrupted in slices from synGAP+/- mice. Our data show that synGAP mediates a rate-limiting step in steady-state regulation of spine morphology and in transient NMDA-receptor-dependent regulation of the spine cytoskeleton

Evidence-based anaesthesia

No abstrac

Rovibrational Resonance Effects In Collision-Induced Electronic Energy Transfer: I2(E,v=0-2)+CF4

Collisions of I-2 in the E(0(g)(+)) electronic state with CF4 molecules induce electronic energy transfer to the nearby D, beta, and D-\u27 ion-pair states. Simulations of dispersed fluorescence spectra reveal collision-induced electronic energy transfer rate constants and final vibrational state distributions within each final electronic state. In comparison with earlier reports on I-2(upsilon(E)=0-2) collisions with He or Ar atoms, we find markedly different dynamics when I-2, excited to the same rovibronic states, collides with CF4. Final vibrational state distributions agree with the associated Franck-Condon factors with the initially prepared state to a greater degree than those found with He or Ar collision partners and suggest that internal degrees of freedom in the CF4 molecule represent a substantial means for accepting the accompanying loss of I-2 vibronic energy. Comparison of the E -\u3e D transfer of I-2 excited to the J=23 and J=55 levels of the upsilon(E)=0 state reveals the onset of specific, nonstatistical dynamics as the available energy is increased above the threshold for excitation of the low frequency nu(2) bending mode of CF4. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics