Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

The Art of Eating Icecream

In the teeming and chaotic Calcutta, Seema, a small time crook and prostitute becomes a surrogate for a gay American couple. About to give birth to a Caucasian child, Seema realizes that the birth fathers, Bill and Dave are not going to show up. Terrified but always resourceful, Seema leaves the child at the door-step of Sunil and Bethie, who have tragically lost their own baby to still birth, and desperately want a family. Bethie, so recently depressed and suicidal, is delighted to have finally found motherhood in India and Sunil swallows his misgivings for the sake of his adored wife. Seema, unable to let go of the baby she has abandoned, joins the family as a nanny. For a while, all is well, until Sunil discovers the baby's parentage and Bill shows up at their home to claim his biological child.Set in the backdrop of a chaotic, confusing modern day India, the story questions the true nature of love, who we are allowed to call our own, and the price we pay when we choose to give our hearts

The Art of Eating Icecream

In the teeming and chaotic Calcutta, Seema, a small time crook and prostitute becomes a surrogate for a gay American couple. About to give birth to a Caucasian child, Seema realizes that the birth fathers, Bill and Dave are not going to show up. Terrified but always resourceful, Seema leaves the child at the door-step of Sunil and Bethie, who have tragically lost their own baby to still birth, and desperately want a family. Bethie, so recently depressed and suicidal, is delighted to have finally found motherhood in India and Sunil swallows his misgivings for the sake of his adored wife. Seema, unable to let go of the baby she has abandoned, joins the family as a nanny. For a while, all is well, until Sunil discovers the baby's parentage and Bill shows up at their home to claim his biological child.Set in the backdrop of a chaotic, confusing modern day India, the story questions the true nature of love, who we are allowed to call our own, and the price we pay when we choose to give our hearts

Rethinking Bondage

This module seeks to open up a series of historical and philosophical questions about the concept of bondage. In so doing, it endeavors to interrogate bondage as both a conceptual and historical problematic that has been central to the making of the modern world. While the notion of “bondage” appears to carry with it a set of self-evident meanings and definitions rooted in the broader concepts of servitude and subjugation, we seek to highlight the ways in which people across time and space have been “socialized” into various logics and practices of bondage. Ultimately, at the heart of this problem lies a series of deeper questions about the ways in which the notions of “freedom” and “unfreedom” are constituted through various institutional sites and practices.Rather than attempting to offer an exhaustive definition of bondage that addresses this concept in its totality, this module instead opens up some key questions and nodes for consideration, drawing attention to some of the most critical ways in which modern bondage has been practiced and understood. Exploring the refractions of bondage through specific historical moments and institutional sites will demonstrate how seemingly disparate forms of servitude and unfreedom were in fact deeply connected -- by ideologies and practices that traveled freely across borders and continued to reincarnate in later times. Simply stated, this module attempts to track a massively important human phenomenon in several different historical manifestations.

Rethinking Bondage

This module seeks to open up a series of historical and philosophical questions about the concept of bondage. In so doing, it endeavors to interrogate bondage as both a conceptual and historical problematic that has been central to the making of the modern world. While the notion of “bondage” appears to carry with it a set of self-evident meanings and definitions rooted in the broader concepts of servitude and subjugation, we seek to highlight the ways in which people across time and space have been “socialized” into various logics and practices of bondage. Ultimately, at the heart of this problem lies a series of deeper questions about the ways in which the notions of “freedom” and “unfreedom” are constituted through various institutional sites and practices.Rather than attempting to offer an exhaustive definition of bondage that addresses this concept in its totality, this module instead opens up some key questions and nodes for consideration, drawing attention to some of the most critical ways in which modern bondage has been practiced and understood. Exploring the refractions of bondage through specific historical moments and institutional sites will demonstrate how seemingly disparate forms of servitude and unfreedom were in fact deeply connected -- by ideologies and practices that traveled freely across borders and continued to reincarnate in later times. Simply stated, this module attempts to track a massively important human phenomenon in several different historical manifestations.

A synopsis of Goniothalamus species (Annonaceae) in Thailand, with descriptions of three new species

A comprehensive taxonomic revision of Goniothalamus species (Annonaceae) occurring in Thailand is presented for the first time. Twenty-five species are recognized, including three that are described as new to science (Goniothalamus aurantiacus from South-Western Thailand, Goniothalamus maewongensis from Northern Thailand, and Goniothalamus rongklanus from Northern and North-Eastern Thailand). Several taxonomic and nomenclatural misunderstandings are corrected. The name G. griffithii is shown to be widely misapplied for populations in Northern Thailand, for which the name G. calvicarpus should be applied; 'true' G. griffithii is restricted to South-Western Thailand and Myanmar. In addition, the widely used name G. marcanii is shown to be a synonym of G. tamirensis, and the name G. latestigma, previously regarded as a synonym of G. undulatus, is reinstated. Goniothalamus cheliensis is furthermore newly recorded from Thailand. Most species are restricted to Peninsular Thailand and represent a Malesian floristic component. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London.link_to_subscribed_fulltex