Culinology applications to a convenient and economic frozen dinner set

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on May 27, 2011).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Ingolf Gruen.Includes bibliographical references.M.S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2011.With the rising demand for convenient foods, there usually comes a decrease in quality. Combining the work of food science with culinary arts may result in a food product that is both convenient and economic without having to sacrifice any sensory characteristics. In this study, a culinary arts inspired meal was modified using various food science methods, such as gelling properties, use of the lactoperoxidase system, sensory analysis, and food engineering. The result is a frozen three-course meal that can be cooked at home but can rival the quality of an up-scale restaurant

Network and matrix analysis of the respiratory disease interactome

BACKGROUND: Although respiratory diseases exhibit in a wide array of clinical manifestations, certain respiratory diseases may share related genetic mechanisms or may be influenced by similar chemical stimuli. Here we explore and infer relationships among genes, diseases, and chemicals using network and matrix based clustering methods. RESULTS: In order to better understand and elucidate these shared genetic mechanisms and chemical relationships we analyzed a comprehensive collection of gene, disease, and chemical relationships pertinent to respiratory disease, using network and matrix based analysis approaches. Our methods enabled us to analyze relationships and make biological inferences among over 200 different respiratory and related diseases, involving thousands of gene-chemical-disease relationships. CONCLUSIONS: The resulting networks provided insight into shared mechanisms of respiratory disease and in some cases suggest novel targets or repurposed drug strategies

Asylum-seekers and refugees: A structuration theory analysis of their experiences in the UK

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Healey, R. L. (2006). Asylum-seekers and refugees: A structuration theory analysis of their experiences in the UK 2006. Population, Space and Place, 12(4), pp. 257-271, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/psp.412 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.Much of the literature on asylum seekers and refugees tends to be atheoretical. This article uses ideas from Giddens’ structuration theory as a conceptual framework to analyse the voices of a group of asylum seekers and refugees. The empirical database consists of semi-structured interviews with 18 asylum seekers and refugees living in the UK from a wide range of countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Poland, Somalia, and the Yemen. The study shows that the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees are impacted by both structural and individual agency factors. The former, it is argued, consist of public and political reaction towards the increase in the number of asylum applications, while the latter include asylum seeker and refugee experiences of specific places and people which can create social networks. Structural factors had the greatest impact upon the integration of the participants into the host society. The nature of the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees can influence the way they feel about their position in the host society. For example, negative experiences of the UK can reduce their sense of security in the society whereas positive experiences can increase their feelings of comfort. Structuration theory conceptualises how asylum seekers and refugees utilise coping strategies to raise their comfort level in the host country

Acetylation of histone H3 at lysine 64 regulates nucleosome dynamics and facilitates transcription

Post-translational modifications of proteins have emerged as a major mechanism for regulating gene expression. However, our understanding of how histone modifications directly affect chromatin function remains limited. In this study, we investigate acetylation of histone H3 at lysine 64 (H3K64ac), a previously uncharacterized acetylation on the lateral surface of the histone octamer. We show that H3K64ac regulates nucleosome stability and facilitates nucleosome eviction and hence gene expression in vivo. In line with this, we demonstrate that H3K64ac is enriched in vivo at the transcriptional start sites of active genes and it defines transcriptionally active chromatin. Moreover, we find that the p300 co-activator acetylates H3K64, and consistent with a transcriptional activation function, H3K64ac opposes its repressive counterpart H3K64me3. Our findings reveal an important role for a histone modification within the nucleosome core as a regulator of chromatin function and they demonstrate that lateral surface modifications can define functionally opposing chromatin states

Land-use influences phosphatase gene microdiversity in soils

Phosphorus cycling exerts significant influence upon soil fertility and productivity - processes largely controlled by microbial activity. We adopted phenotypic and metagenomic approaches to investigate phosphatase genes within soils. Microbial communities in bare fallowed soil showed a marked capacity to utilise phytate for growth compared to arable or grassland soil communities. Bare fallowed soil contained lowest concentrations of orthophosphate. Analysis of metagenomes indicated phoA, phoD and phoX, and histidine acid and cysteine phytase genes were most abundant in grassland soil which contained the greatest amount of NaOH-EDTA extractable orthophosphate. Beta-propeller phytase genes were most abundant in bare fallowed soil. Phylogenetic analysis of metagenome sequences indicated the phenotypic shift observed in the capacity to mineralise phytate in bare fallow soil was accompanied by an increase in phoD, phoX and beta-propeller phytase genes coding for exoenzymes. However, there was a remarkable degree of taxonomic similarity across the soils despite the differences in land-use. Predicted extracellular ecotypes were distributed across a greater range of soil structure than predicted intracellular ecotypes, suggesting that microbial communities subject to the dual stresses of low nutrient availability and reduced access to organic material in bare fallowed soils rely upon the action of exoenzymes

phot1 inhibition of ABCB19 primes lateral auxin fluxes in the shoot apex required for phototropism

It is well accepted that lateral redistribution of the phytohormone auxin underlies the bending of plant organs towards light. In monocots, photoreception occurs at the shoot tip above the region of differential growth. Despite more than a century of research, it is still unresolved how light regulates auxin distribution and where this occurs in dicots. Here, we establish a system in Arabidopsis thaliana to study hypocotyl phototropism in the absence of developmental events associated with seedling photomorphogenesis. We show that auxin redistribution to the epidermal sites of action occurs at and above the hypocotyl apex, not at the elongation zone. Within this region, we identify the auxin efflux transporter ATP-BINDING CASSETTE B19 (ABCB19) as a substrate target for the photoreceptor kinase PHOTOTROPIN 1 (phot1). Heterologous expression and physiological analyses indicate that phosphorylation of ABCB19 by phot1 inhibits its efflux activity, thereby increasing auxin levels in and above the hypocotyl apex to halt vertical growth and prime lateral fluxes that are subsequently channeled to the elongation zone by PIN-FORMED 3 (PIN3). Together, these results provide new insights into the roles of ABCB19 and PIN3 in establishing phototropic curvatures and demonstrate that the proximity of light perception and differential phototropic growth is conserved in angiosperm

Grieving, Valuing, and Viewing Differently: The Global War on Terror's American Toll

In March 2003 (the eve of Iraq’s invasion) the George W. Bush Administration reissued, extended, and enforced a Directive prohibiting the publication and broadcast of images and videos capturing the ritual repatriation of America’s war dead. This Directive (known as the Dover Ban) is exemplary of a wider set of more subtle processes and practices of American statecraft working to move suffering and dead American soldiers out of the American public eye’s sight. This is due, I argue, to dominant (Government and Military) bodies knowing, valuing, and counting generic soldier material as but a “precious resource” with which to fuel the GWoT. However, my investigation into the (in)visibility of suffering and dead American soldiers since 9/11 reveals that subordinate yet challenging American bodies could not be stopped from knowing, valuing, and counting American soldiers differently—in life, injury, and death. Indeed, regarding American soldiers as grievable persons, the challenging actions discussed in this article demonstrate how Americans were moved to demand and take the right to count and account for soldiers’ suffering and deaths in public and the very face of dominant bodies that “don’t do body counts”