Influence of C-159T SNP of the CD14 gene promoter on lung function in smokers

CD14, a co-receptor for endotoxin, plays a significant role in the inflammatory response to this environmentally important pollutant. The C-159T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the CD14 gene promoter is reported to affect expression of CD14, with TT homozygous persons having higher CD14 expression. This SNP has been linked to pathogenesis of asthma and with cardiovascular diseases in smokers. We hypothesize that CD14 also plays a role in development of COPD in smokers who are exposed to inhaled endotoxin by cigarette smoking and to endotoxin released from Gram-negative microbes colonizing their airways. To assess the effect of the C-159T SNP of the CD14 gene promoter on lung function and GOLD score in smokers with COPD, we recruited 246 smokers with COPD with a range of 10–156 pack-year smoking exposures. We found that the C-159T single gene polymorphism of the CD14 gene promoter may play a role in modulating severity of obstructive impairment in smokers with COPD: The TT genotype was associated with lower lung function in smokers with a moderate smoking history. However, the CC genotype was associated with decreased lung function in heavy smokers (>56 pack-years). The result on CC genotype in risk for COPD is analogous with the effect of this genotype in risk for asthma. CD14 may be a factor in the pathophysiology of COPD, as it is in asthma and smoking-related cardiovascular diseases

Ireland’s Emerging Cyber Crisis: An Online Decentralized Movement for Nationalist Violence and Anti-Immigration/Muslim Attacks

In recent years, Ireland has seen an influx of immigrants and refugees during an ongoing housing crisis fueled by labor shortages. The majority of those affected by the housing crisis are Irish nationals. A campaign of real-world mobillizations has arisen in wake of the refugee and housing crisis, with hundreds of protests in Ireland between November 2022 and April 2023. Migrants are being physcially assaulted, demonstrating the movement’s potential for violence. In the Cyber-social domain these mobilizations are rapidly spurring a decentralized social movement which uses hashtags such as #Irelandisfull, and references Ireland along with white identitarian/supremacy terms and the Great Replacement conspiracy. These terms have nearly doubled since November of 2022 and Ireland now appears as an emerging online flashpoint for global ethnic nationalist movements. Along with these terms, NCRI notes surges in inflammatory generalizations about immigrants, and misrepresent immigrants as collectively dangerous, despite no significant correlation between the arrival of migrants and crime rates in Ireland. Complete with cartoonish and violent memes on subcultural forums and White genocide conspiracy theories, NCRI assesses that should this online, ultra-nationalist, anti-immigrant movement continue growing in its current trajectory, Ireland will face dramatic increases in anti-immigrant and anti-democratic mobiliizations and violenc

Ba4Ru3O10.2(OH)1.8 : a new member of the layered hexagonal perovskite family crystallised from water

A new barium ruthenium oxyhydroxide Ba4Ru3O10.2(OH)1.8 crystallises under hydrothermal conditions at 200 °C: powder neutron diffraction data show it adopts an 8H hexagonal perovskite structure with a new stacking sequence, while high resolution electron microscopy reveals regions of ordered layers of vacant Ru sites, and magnetometry shows antiferromagnetism with TN = 200(5) K

The effectiveness of styrene-maleic acid (SMA) copolymers for solubilisation of integral membrane proteins from SMA-accessible and SMA-resistant membranes

Solubilisation of biological lipid bilayer membranes for analysis of their protein complement has traditionally been carried out using detergents, but there is increasing interest in the use of amphiphilic copolymers such as styrene maleic acid (SMA) for the solubilisation, purification and characterisation of integral membrane proteins in the form of protein/lipid nanodiscs. Here we survey the effectiveness of various commercially-available formulations of the SMA copolymer in solubilising Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction centres (RCs) from photosynthetic membranes. We find that formulations of SMA with a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of styrene to maleic acid are almost as effective as detergent in solubilising RCs, with the best solubilisation by short chain variants ( < 30 kDa weight average molecular weight). The effectiveness of 10 kDa 2:1 and 3:1 formulations of SMA to solubilise RCs gradually declined when genetically-encoded coiled-coil bundles were used to artificially tether normally monomeric RCs into dimeric, trimeric and tetrameric multimers. The ability of SMA to solubilise reaction centre-light harvesting 1 (RC-LH1) complexes from densely packed and highly ordered photosynthetic membranes was uniformly low, but could be increased through a variety of treatments to increase the lipid:protein ratio. However, proteins isolated from such membranes comprised clusters of complexes in small membrane patches rather than individual proteins. We conclude that short-chain 2:1 and 3:1 formulations of SMA are the most effective in solubilising integral membrane proteins, but that solubilisation efficiencies are strongly influenced by the size of the target protein and the density of packing of proteins in the membrane

A systematic review of interventions to increase awareness of mental health and well-being in athletes, coaches and officials

Full search for the psychinfo database. (DOCX 16 kb

The effects of alcohol on the recognition of facial expressions and microexpressions of emotion : enhanced recognition of disgust and contempt

Alcohol can increase sensitivity to expressions of disgust and contempt. Such effects are not dependent on stimulus duration up to 400 ms and may reflect contextual modulation of alcohol's effects on emotion recognition

The College News, 1923-01-24, Vol. 09, No. 13

Bryn Mawr College student newspaper. Merged with The Haverford News in 1968 to form the Bi-college News (with various titles from 1968 on). Published weekly (except holidays) during the academic year