5,099 research outputs found
Civil Rights Act; Section 1981; Title VII; Reverse Discrimination; Equal Protection; McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transp. Co.
THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT in McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co.\u27 held that Title VIP prohibits racial discrimination by both employers and unions against white persons upon the same standards as it prohibits racial discrimination against nonwhites. The Court further held that Section 19811 is applicable to racial discrimination in private employment against white persons as well as nonwhites
Civil Rights Act; Section 1981; Title VII; Reverse Discrimination; Equal Protection; McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transp. Co.
THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT in McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co.\u27 held that Title VIP prohibits racial discrimination by both employers and unions against white persons upon the same standards as it prohibits racial discrimination against nonwhites. The Court further held that Section 19811 is applicable to racial discrimination in private employment against white persons as well as nonwhites
Filovirus and Coronavirus Modulation of Host Processes to Promote Immune Evasion and Replication
Novel emerging zoonotic viruses are of significant public health concern due to a lack of treatment options and the required to achieve pharmaceutical development.
Coronaviruses, a family of positive-sense RNA viruses, have spilled over from their animal hosts into the human population. Most notably, is the recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 that has caused a multi-year global pandemic, nearing a billion cases worldwide. Coronaviruses rely on host membranes for entry, establishment of replication centers, and egress. Compounds targeting cellular membrane biology and lipid biosynthetic pathways have previously shown promise as antivirals and are actively being pursued as treatments for other conditions. In chapter one we show that compounds targeting VPS34 and fatty-acid metabolism exhibit potent inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. Mechanistic studies with compounds targeting multiple steps up- and down-stream of fatty acid synthase (FASN) identified triacylglycerol production and protein palmitoylation as requirements for viral RNA synthesis and infectious virus production. Further, FASN knockout results in significantly impaired SARS-CoV-2 replication that can be rescued with fatty-acid supplementation. These observations identify fatty-acid metabolism as a promising target for novel SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic development.
Filoviruses are a family of zoonotic negative-sense RNA viruses known to cause severe and fatal disease in humans. The growing number of novel filoviruses being discovered have caused speculation over whether or not they are capable of causing productive human disease. A determining factor of virulence is the ability of viral proteins to antagonize host immune defenses to promote infection. Chapter two characterizes the VP35, VP40, and VP24 proteins of the newly identified Měnglà virus (MLAV) for their ability to regulate the interferon response in human and bat cells, as compared to their Ebola (EBOV) and Marburg (MARV) counterparts. MLAV VP35 and VP40 inhibited type I IFN responses, consistent with the activity of their homologues. MLAV VP40 inhibited IFN production and signaling by unlinked mechanisms. MLAV VP24 did not inhibit IFN gene expression or activate an antioxidant response, functions of EBOV and MARV, respectively. These functional observations support placement of MLAV in a distinct genus and provide insight into potential novel host-interactions that provide value for future filovirus antiviral development
Frederick E. Hoxie, ed. The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
Frederick E. Hoxie, ed. The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History Oxford University Press, 2016.  30 chapters. Pp. 644. ISBN: 9780199858897. Caroline Williams University of East Anglia Often, students try and understand Native American histories through the eyes of the colonizer, leaving so many gaps and silences left up to the imagination, that are consequently fueled by imagery and misperceptions in popular culture. The surface histories seem well-known—wars, trails of tears, casinos—b..
A Comparison of the Role of the Information Professional in the Legal Environment in the Private and Public Sectors
This dissertation presents a small-scale, illustrative, qualitative study of the landscape for, and roles available to information professionals within the private and public sectors, focusing specifically on organisations that provide a legal service.\ud
Seven information professionals were interviewed, from a commercial law firm and a central government department, with questions aimed at obtaining information about their roles, the skills required for their roles, and perceptions of the information profession from both within and outside the profession.\ud
Research findings are based on an analysis of the interview data using qualitative techniques and supporting literature. The literature review includes a discussion of the definitions of the "information professional", some of the most frequently identified challenges for the information professional and then moves on to consider those issues within the specific context of the commercial law firm and the government department, focusing in particular on the implications of the organisational environment on the role of the information professional.\ud
The study finds that information professionals in both the private and public sector are - at the most basic level - driven to provide a service to their organisation - both lawyers and more widely - that matches the business need, that enables the organisation to fulfil its statutory obligations (where applicable) and provide an effective and efficient service with ever-decreasing resources. The study finds further that the drivers and skills needed are - broadly - common to information professionals in both the public and private sectors. The growth of the electronic information landscape in particular requires information professionals to broaden their skillsets to include information technology and project management skills and engage with all areas of the business.\ud
Further research is recommended into the definition and relevance for an organisation - private or public sector - of the "information profession", particularly with respect to the acknowledged lack of recognition for information professionals
Offenders and E-Learning - a literature review on behalf of Becta
This literature review has been prepared by the Hallam Centre of Community Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, on behalf of Becta. The literature review provides a summary of existing research and knowledge relating to e-learning in the offending learning sector with a view to developing a range of e-maturity indicators across the sector. The review also highlights linkages with current Government policy in relation to offender learning and skills
Lucy Negro, Redux
Lucy Negro, Redux is a collection of poetry that uses the lens of Shakespeare\u27s Dark Lady sonnets to explore the way questions about and desire for the black female body have evolved over time, from Elizabethan England to the Jim Crow South to the present day. Research for the collection began with the discovery in early 2012 of a connection between the historical Elizabethan figure Black Luce--a notorious brothel owner--and William Shakespeare, by Professor Duncan Salkeld of the University of Chichester. A grant from the University of Mississippi yielded an opportunity for on-site research with Dr. Salkeld in order to explore Bridewell Prison records, now held in the Bethlem Hospital Archives in England. Galvanized by that research, the work evolved into a collection that experiments with form, dialect, the adoption of historical personas, and the very voices these personas project
Overwintering energetics of Lepidoptera: the effects of winter warming and thermal variability.
Winter temperatures are changing rapidly, and although winter warming reduces cold stress for overwintering ectotherms, temperature-mediated increases in metabolic rate can decrease fitness in dormant insects by increasing consumption of energy reserves. Increases in thermal variability also increase energetic demands, due to non-linear thermal response curves. My objective was to quantify the negative effects of winter warming and increases in thermal variability on a range of Lepidopteran species. As overwintering insects rely on lipid catabolism, accurate lipid measurement is central to my dissertation; so I first compared four methods of lipid quantification; concluding thin layer chromatography was the only method sufficiently accurate and robust to variation in lipid composition. I then examined the physiological and life-history costs of winter warming in Erynnis propertius [EP], Papilio glaucus [PG], P. troilus [PT], and Hyphantria cunea [HC]. A simple increase in temperature caused lipid depletion in EP, but PT, PG and HC were insensitive to winter warming. In HC, this insensitivity was mediated by a plastic suppression of metabolism and a decrease in development time in the warmer winter. HC from their northern range edge had increased thermal sensitivity at the end of winter, as predicted by metabolic cold adaptation theory. In EP, I also investigated the impact of daily thermal variability on overwintering energetics, demonstrating a facultative and obligate suppression of thermal sensitivity in response to high daily thermal variability, which partially compensated for the increased energetic demands of the more variable environment. Modelling energy use with meteorological data demonstrated that phenology changes had disproportionate influence on energetics in variable environments; thus timing of entry into winter dormancy will strongly influence ectotherm fitness in temperate environments. Metabolic suppression in EP and HC are the first demonstrations of metabolic compensation in overwintering insects. Finally, I outline a framework to predict insect vulnerability to winter warming. Winter warming and increases in thermal variability may negatively impact the fitness of some overwintering insects, but diverse physiological mechanisms compensate for increased energetic demands over winter
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Inflammation in Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Parkinson’s disease, Lewy Body disease and Alzheimer’s disease
Background
Abstract
Inflammation appears to play a role in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. However, little is known about inflammation during early stages of cognitive decline or whether this differs in different disease groups. We sought to investigate this by assessing the inflammatory profile in patients with Parkinson’s disease with the early stages of cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), patients with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (MCI-AD), prodromal Lewy Body disease (MCI-LB) and controls.
Methods
We obtained venous blood samples from participants with PD-MCI (n = 44), PD-normal cognition (n
= 112) MCI-LB (n = 38), MCI-AD (n = 21) and controls (n = 84). We measured 10 cytokines using Meso Scale Discovery V-Plex Plus including interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-1beta, IL- 2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8 and tumour necrosis factor alpha. High-sensitivity C–reactive protein was measured.
Results
There was a higher level of inflammation in patients with MCI-AD and MCI-LB compared with controls. PD non-cognitively impaired had higher inflammatory markers than controls but there was no difference between PD-MCI and controls. There was a decrease in inflammatory markers with increasing motor severity based on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale.
Conclusions
Inflammation may be involved in the onset of cognitive decline in patients with MCI-AD and MCI-LB but appears to be less prominent PD-MCI albeit in a small data set. This suggests that anti- inflammatory medications may have most benefit at the earliest stages of neurodegenerative diseases. For PD cases, this might be in advance of the development of MCI.The LewyPro work was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre in Lewy Body Dementia based at Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University and The Royal College of Psychiatrists Pathfinder Fellowship.
ICICLE-PD was funded by Parkinson’s UK (J-0802, G-1507). The research was supported by the Lockhart Parkinson’s Disease Research Fund, the academy of Medical Sciences UK, the Rosetrees Trust, and the Stevenage Biosciences Catalyst, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Newcastle Biomedical Research Unit based at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. CWG is supported by a Clinician Scientist Fellowship from the MRC
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