Combined SIRT3 and SIRT5 deletion is associated with inner retinal dysfunction in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes

Abstract Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of blindness in working adults in the industrialized world. In addition to vision loss caused by macular edema and pathological angiogenesis, DR patients often exhibit neuronal dysfunction on electrophysiological testing, suggesting that there may be an independent neuronal phase of disease that precedes vascular disease. Given the tremendous metabolic requirements of the retina and photoreceptors in particular, we hypothesized that derangements in metabolic regulation may accelerate retinal dysfunction in diabetes. As such, we induced hyperglycemia with streptozotocin in mice with monoallelic Nampt deletion from rod photoreceptors, mice lacking SIRT3, and mice lacking SIRT5 and tested multiple components of retinal function with electroretinography. None of these mice exhibited accelerated retinal dysfunction after induction of hyperglycemia, consistent with normal-appearing retinal morphology in hyperglycemic Sirt3 −/− or Sirt5 −/− mice. However, mice lacking both SIRT3 and SIRT5 (Sirt3 −/− Sirt5 −/− mice) exhibited significant evidence of inner retinal dysfunction after induction of hyperglycemia compared to hyperglycemic littermate controls, although this dysfunction was not accompanied by gross morphological changes in the retina. These results suggest that SIRT3 and SIRT5 may be involved in regulating neuronal dysfunction in DR and provide a foundation for future studies investigating sirtuin-based therapies

Between Selves and Others: Exploring Strategic Approaches within Visual Art

Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.This body of research investigates how visual artists express ideas or meanings about Otherness and issues of belonging in their art. The focus of this study is on women artists with an (East) Asian diasporic background; however, the context of the inquiry includes other American and European artists of various cultural backgrounds. A further aim is to explore the artistic strategies and the historical circumstances of the works as well as to understand the theoretical correlations. The author of this study is a visual artist who has been exploring similar issues in her own artistic practice. In order to examine various themes of Otherness, selected pairs of artists – where at least one is a woman artist of (East) Asian diasporic background – are compared and analysed using the following four categories: literary devices (such as irony, parody, connotation or juxtaposition), reappropriation (cultural references which are reclaimed and transformed), anamorphic situations (distortion of conventional ways of viewing in order to become aware of other bodily senses and experiences), and theoretical correlations (connections between artistic practice and relevant theoretical concepts). The specific artists and artworks chosen are: Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece (1965) with Patty Chang’s Melons (at a Loss) (1998), Lorna Simpson’s work in the 1980s and 1990s with Nikki S. Lee’s Projects (1997-2001), Guillermo Gómez-Peña with Fiona Tan, and Yong Soon Min with Mona Hatoum. In addition, the author presents critical social and cultural developments that influenced these works such as the historical background of representations of Asian women in America, the rise of the Asian American movement, and the shift in contemporary art discourse from concerns of ‘identity politics’ to a ‘post-identity’ framework. Finally, correlations are made between the artistic strategies and relevant theoretical discussions about representations of race and gender, the role of power, knowledge, and truth in ethnographic practices of identification and categorization, and the function of place and ‘cultural identity’ in relation to concepts of origin and belonging. The results of this research confirm the significance of cultural, historical, and geographic experiences on both the conception and reception of visual art and indicate that various artistic strategies have the potential to expose and undermine culturally constructed meanings of difference. Despite the abundance of research conducted in this area, the scope and framework of this particular study are original not only because it is written from the perspective of a practicing artist, but also because the focus on artistic practices from women artists with (East) Asian diasporic backgrounds is located within a more wide-ranging investigation of artistic approaches that articulate and interrogate themes of Otherness

Han's Bijection via Permutation Codes

We show that Han's bijection when restricted to permutations can be carried out in terms of the cyclic major code and the cyclic inversion code. In other words, it maps a permutation $\pi$ with a cyclic major code $(s_1, s_2, ..., s_n)$ to a permutation $\sigma$ with a cyclic inversion code $(s_1,s_2, ..., s_n)$. We also show that the fixed points of Han's map can be characterized by the strong fixed points of Foata's second fundamental transformation. The notion of strong fixed points is related to partial Foata maps introduced by Bj\"orner and Wachs.Comment: 12 pages, to appear in European J. Combi

Inelastic Behavior of Steel I-beams with Hexagonal Web Cutouts

In recent years plastic analysis has been widely used in structural design throughout the United States. It is based on the maximum load-carrying capacity of the structure. It offers a more realistic design approach than the conventional elastic methods, where the true factor of safety against ultimate strength can and does vary significantly from one structure to another. The main objective of this study is to determine the maximum load-carrying capacity of steel I-beams with hexagonal web cutouts. When the cutouts are arranged as shown in Figure 1-a, the beam presents an appearance exactly as does a castellated beam. A word relative to castellated beams may be appropriate here, however. A castellated beam consists of two halves of ro4led-steel shapes joined by welding after the web has been cut in a zig zag line, thus producing a beam with increased depth and hexagonal holes in the web as shown in Figure 1-b. The load carrying-capacity and stiffness of this beam then become greater than the original unexpanded shape. The reduction in beam weight has a chain effect on savings throughout the structure. The analyses and conclusions in this study are applicable to castellated beams

A Bijection between Atomic Partitions and Unsplitable Partitions

In the study of the algebra $\mathrm{NCSym}$ of symmetric functions in noncommutative variables, Bergeron and Zabrocki found a free generating set consisting of power sum symmetric functions indexed by atomic partitions. On the other hand, Bergeron, Reutenauer, Rosas, and Zabrocki studied another free generating set of $\mathrm{NCSym}$ consisting of monomial symmetric functions indexed by unsplitable partitions. Can and Sagan raised the question of finding a bijection between atomic partitions and unsplitable partitions. In this paper, we provide such a bijection.Comment: 6 page

US Leadership in Scholarship and Higher Education – the Implications for Hospitality Management Educators

Research activities were always the primary focus and time allocation factor for scholars to achieve their scholarship credentials and tenure promotions (Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff, 1997; Rice, 1996). Teaching and extended service are also essential activities for students and communities and must be advocated as one of the scholarship standards for educators to follow and emulate. While the general public focuses more on undergraduate education, educators should spend more time on their teaching and applied scholarship instead of paying most attention to research activities (Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff, 1997).Collaboration between senior and junior faculty members has been the major problem in scholarship assessment and accomplishment. Junior and senior faculty members tend to have different perspectives and interests in their scholarship goals. Disparity of goals often creates tension and conflict as to what scholarly work should be.One of the driving priorities attracting graduate students to an academic career is autonomy. However, the notion of professional autonomy has been passed too far and misappropriated. Therefore, developing a collaborative organization will require reassessing the relationship between autonomy and responsibility in the faculty career (Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff, 1997; Rice, 1996).Because the educational goal of leadership development has been given little attention in higher education, the findings of this study are to reveal some characteristics and qualities of contemporary hospitality scholarship leaders (Kellogg Foundation, 2000). The findings will provide significant implications to hospitality faculty members regarding the scholarship trends that can lead them to be successful in their future scholarly careers.The views presented in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the University

Employees’ Uniform on Company Image and Employees’ Self-perceptions – A Study of Fine Dining Restaurants

The purpose of the study is to investigate how different styles of employee uniforms affect customers’ perceptions of the restaurant image and employees’ self-perceptions in terms of job performance. First, the study is to reveal whether there is a significant relationship between uniforms and employee’s job performance. Second, is there a significant dif-ference between employees’ job satisfaction and styles of uniforms? Lastly, is there a significant relationship between styles of uniforms and customers’ perception of employee performance

PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS: ATTACHMENT STYLE, OUTCOME EXPECTATIONS, NEED FOR THERAPY, SESSION DURATION, AND THERAPIST HELPING SKILLS IN INTAKE SESSIONS

The present study investigated client attachment style, outcome expectations, need for therapy, intake duration and therapist helping skills associated with psychotherapy engagement. Intake sessions of 16 adults (8 non-engagers, i.e., post-intake dropouts; 8 engagers, i.e., clients who attended at least 8 sessions) in individual long-term therapy were divided into thirds (beginning, middle, and end of session). Statistical controls for therapist verbal activity level and clients nested within therapists were employed for helping skills analyses. With non-engagers, compared to engagers, therapists used more approval-reassurance in the beginning third of intake sessions, but marginally more reflections of feeling and marginally less information about the helping process in the last third of intakes. Non-engagers had higher pre-therapy anxious attachment and pre-therapy self-rated need for therapy than engagers. In sum, non-engagers versus engagers differed with therapist helping skills, client attachment style, and client need for therapy, but not intake duration or client outcome expectations