The sciences in America, circa 1880

For many years American science in the late 19th century was regarded as an intellectual backwater. This view derived from the assumption that the health of American science at the time was equivalent to the condition of pure science, especially pure physics. However, a closer look reveals that there was considerable vitality in American scientific research, especially in the earth and life sciences. This vitality is explainable in part by the natural scientific resources of the American continent but also in part by the energy given science from religious impulses, social reformism, and practicality. Furthermore, contrary to recent assumptions, the federal government was a significant patron of American science. The portrait of American science circa 1880 advanced in this article suggests that the nation's scientific enterprise was characterized by pluralism of institutional support and motive and that such pluralism has historically been the normal mode

Activin and TGFβ use diverging mitogenic signaling in advanced colon cancer.

BackgroundUnderstanding cell signaling pathways that contribute to metastatic colon cancer is critical to risk stratification in the era of personalized therapeutics. Here, we dissect the unique involvement of mitogenic pathways in a TGFβ or activin-induced metastatic phenotype of colon cancer.MethodMitogenic signaling/growth factor receptor status and p21 localization were correlated in primary colon cancers and intestinal tumors from either AOM/DSS treated ACVR2A (activin receptor 2) -/- or wild type mice. Colon cancer cell lines (+/- SMAD4) were interrogated for ligand-induced PI3K and MEK/ERK pathway activation and downstream protein/phospho-isoform expression/association after knockdown and pharmacologic inhibition of pathway members. EMT was assessed using epithelial/mesenchymal markers and migration assays.ResultsIn primary colon cancers, loss of nuclear p21 correlated with upstream activation of activin/PI3K while nuclear p21 expression was associated with TGFβ/MEK/ERK pathway activation. Activin, but not TGFβ, led to PI3K activation via interaction of ACVR1B and p85 independent of SMAD4, resulting in p21 downregulation. In contrast, TGFβ increased p21 via MEK/ERK pathway through a SMAD4-dependent mechanism. While activin induced EMT via PI3K, TGFβ induced EMT via MEK/ERK activation. In vivo, loss of ACVR2A resulted in loss of pAkt, consistent with activin-dependent PI3K signaling.ConclusionAlthough activin and TGFβ share growth suppressive SMAD signaling in colon cancer, they diverge in their SMAD4-independent pro-migratory signaling utilizing distinct mitogenic signaling pathways that affect EMT. p21 localization in colon cancer may determine a dominant activin versus TGFβ ligand signaling phenotype warranting further validation as a therapeutic biomarker prior to targeting TGFβ family receptors

Vascular Flora of Hooper Branch Savanna Nature Preserve, Iroquois County, Illinois

INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Heritag

Climatic and community sociodemographic factors associated with remote Indigenous Australian smoking rates:An ecological study of health audit data

Australian Indigenous smoking rates are highest in remote communities but likely vary between communities; few studies have assessed community features in relation to Indigenous smoking rates. DESIGN AND OBJECTIVE: This ecological study evaluated the associations between smoking rates, and community sociodemographic and climatic characteristics for a large sample of remote Indigenous communities. SETTING AND SAMPLE: Records (n=2689) from an audit of community health centres in the Northern Territory and Queensland were used to estimate smoking rates dichotomised at the median for 70 predominantly Indigenous remote communities. Community characteristics were similarly dichotomised. METHODS: Cross-tabulations were used to calculate the odds of a community classified as high for a sociodemographic or climatic factor also being high for smoking rate. Additional cross-tabulations, stratified by sociodemographic, region (coastal or central) and geographic connectivity levels, were performed to assess potential confounding. RESULTS: Community smoking rates ranged from 25% to 96% (median 60.2%). Moderately strong relationships were observed between community smoking rate and population size (OR 6.25,(95% CI 2.18 to 17.95)), education level (OR 3.67 (1.35-10.01)), income (2.86 (11.07-7.67)) and heat (2.86 (1.07-7.67)). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking rates in Australian remote Indigenous communities are universally high. Smoking rates are associated with greater community-level socioeconomic status and size, most likely reflecting greater means of accessing tobacco with mass of smokers sufficient to sustain a normative influence. Severe heat was also associated with high smoking rates suggesting such a stressor might support smoking as a coping mechanism. Community sociodemographic and climatic factors bear consideration as context-level correlates of community smoking rates

Simulations of the Dipole-Dipole Interaction Between Two Spatially Separated Groups of Rydberg Atoms

The dipole-dipole interaction among ultracold Rydberg atoms is simulated. We examine a general interaction scheme in which two atoms excited to the x and x(\u27) states are converted to y and y(\u27) states via a Förster resonance. The atoms are arranged in two spatially separated groups, each consisting of only one species of atom. We monitor the state mixing by recording the fraction of atoms excited to the y(\u27) state as the distance between the two groups is varied. With zero detuning a many-body effect that relies on always resonant interactions causes the state mixing to have a finite range. When the detuning is greater than zero, another many-body effect causes a peak in the state mixing when the two groups of atoms are some distance away from each other. To obtain these results it is necessary to include multiple atoms and solve the full many-body wave function. These simulation results are supported by recent experimental evidence. These many-body effects, combined with appropriate spatial arrangement of the atoms, could be useful in controlling the energy exchange among the atoms

Simulations of the Dipole-Dipole Interaction Between Two Spatially Separated Groups of Rydberg Atoms

The dipole-dipole interaction among ultracold Rydberg atoms is simulated. We examine a general interaction scheme in which two atoms excited to the x and x(\u27) states are converted to y and y(\u27) states via a Förster resonance. The atoms are arranged in two spatially separated groups, each consisting of only one species of atom. We monitor the state mixing by recording the fraction of atoms excited to the y(\u27) state as the distance between the two groups is varied. With zero detuning a many-body effect that relies on always resonant interactions causes the state mixing to have a finite range. When the detuning is greater than zero, another many-body effect causes a peak in the state mixing when the two groups of atoms are some distance away from each other. To obtain these results it is necessary to include multiple atoms and solve the full many-body wave function. These simulation results are supported by recent experimental evidence. These many-body effects, combined with appropriate spatial arrangement of the atoms, could be useful in controlling the energy exchange among the atoms

Simulations of the Dipole-Dipole Interaction Between Two Spatially Separated Groups of Rydberg Atoms

The dipole-dipole interaction among ultracold Rydberg atoms is simulated. We examine a general interaction scheme in which two atoms excited to the x and x states are converted to y and y states via a Förster resonance. The atoms are arranged in two spatially separated groups, each consisting of only one species of atom. We monitor the state mixing by recording the fraction of atoms excited to the y state as the distance between the two groups is varied. With zero detuning a many-body effect that relies on always resonant interactions causes the state mixing to have a finite range. When the detuning is greater than zero, another many-body effect causes a peak in the state mixing when the two groups of atoms are some distance away from each other. To obtain these results it is necessary to include multiple atoms and solve the full many-body wave function. These simulation results are supported by recent experimental evidence. These many-body effects, combined with appropriate spatial arrangement of the atoms, could be useful in controlling the energy exchange among the atoms

Associations between area socioeconomic status, individual mental health, physical activity, diet and change in cardiometabolic risk amongst a cohort of Australian adults: A longitudinal path analysis

Presumed pathways from environments to cardiometabolic risk largely implicate health behaviour although mental health may play a role. Few studies assess relationships between these factors. This study estimated associations between area socioeconomic status (SES), mental health, diet, physical activity, and 10-year change in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), comparing two proposed path structures: 1) mental health and behaviour functioning as parallel mediators between area SES and HbA1c; and 2) a sequential structure where mental health influences behaviour and consequently HbA1c. Three waves (10 years) of population-based biomedical cohort data were spatially linked to census data based on participant residential address. Area SES was expressed at baseline using an established index (SEIFA-IEO). Individual behavioural and mental health information (Wave 2) included diet (fruit and vegetable servings per day), physical activity (meets/does not meet recommendations), and the mental health component score of the 36-item Short Form Health Survey. HbA1c was measured at each wave. Latent variable growth models with a structural equation modelling approach estimated associations within both parallel and sequential path structures. Models were adjusted for age, sex, employment status, marital status, education, and smoking. The sequential path model best fit the data. HbA1c worsened over time. Greater area SES was statistically significantly associated with greater fruit intake, meeting physical activity recommendations, and had a protective effect against increasing HbA1c directly and indirectly through physical activity behaviour. Positive mental health was statistically significantly associated with greater fruit and vegetable intakes and was indirectly protective against increasing HbA1c through physical activity. Greater SES was protective against increasing HbA1c. This relationship was partially mediated by physical activity but not diet. A protective effect of mental health was exerted through physical activity. Public health interventions should ensure individuals residing in low SES areas, and those with poorer mental health are supported in meeting physical activity recommendations

Model Systems for the Study of Kidney Development: Use of the Pronephros in the Analysis of Organ Induction and Patterning

AbstractMost vertebrate organs, once formed, continue to perform the function for which they were generated until the death of the organism. The kidney is a notable exception to this rule. Vertebrates, even those that do not undergo metamorphosis, utilize a progression of more complex kidneys as they grow and develop. This is presumably due to the changing conditions to which the organism must respond to retain what Homer Smith referred to as our physiological freedom. To quote, “Recognizing that we have the kind of blood we have because we have the kind of kidneys we have, we must acknowledge that our kidneys constitute the major foundation of our physiological freedom. Only because they work the way they do has it become possible for us to have bones, muscles, glands, and brains. Superficially, it might be said that the function of the kidneys is to make urine; but in a more considered view one can say that the kidneys make the stuff of philosophy itself” (“From Fish to Philosopher,” Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1953). Different kidneys are used to make the stuff of philosophy at different stages of development depending on the age and needs of the organism, rather than the usual approach of simply making embryonic organs larger as the animal grows. Although evolution has provided the higher vertebrates with complex adult kidneys, they continue to utilize simple kidneys in embryogenesis. In lower vertebrates with simple adult kidneys, even more simple versions are used during early developmental stages. In this review the anatomy, development, and gene expression patterns of the embryonic kidney, the pronephros, will be described and compared to the more complex kidney forms. Despite some differences in anatomy, similar developmental pathways seem to be responsible for the induction and the response to induction in both evanescent and permanent kidney forms. Gene expression patterns can, therefore, be added to the morphological and functional data indicating that all forms of the kidney are closely related structures. Given the similarities between the development of simple and complex kidneys, the embryonic kidneys may be an ideal model system in which to investigate the genesis of multicomponent organ systems