Stop Making Sense(s) : Some late medieval and very late medieval views on faculty psychology

Peer reviewe

Quality of life and associated factors in Swiss trans people: a cross-sectional study

Background: Experiences of stressful life events during transition may have a negative impact on quality of life (QoL) in trans persons. Little attention has been paid to this population in Switzerland, resulting in sparse data on their QoL and associated social factors. Methods: 30 participants were recruited during their medical transition treatment and surveyed on their experiences within this time period (13 months after the first medical intervention on average). After performing a diagnostic interview to evaluate their mental health, health-related QoL, psychological distress, self-esteem and the impact of life events that occurred in the last six months on participants were further assessed. Results: Approximately 17% of participants had suffered from major depression, 43% reported having had suicidal thoughts or having attempted suicide, and 43% suffered from an anxiety disorder. Psychological distress was twice as high compared to the norm values of the cis population. With regard to QoL, trans individuals showed impairments in the mental domain. Stressful life events were particularly evident on a psychological and social level. Analysis showed a negative correlation between impact of life events and mental QoL and between psychological distress and mental QoL. At the same time, there was a positive correlation between self-esteem and mental QoL. Psychological distress and self-esteem emerged as independent significant predictors of mental QoL. Conclusion: This study shows lowered mental QoL and associations of low mental QoL with psychological distress, low self-esteem and stressful life events in trans individuals in Switzerland. The findings concur with the Gender Minority Stress Model and point out that medical transition must not be viewed in isolation but must be embedded in the framework of integrative psychosocial support

A Predictive Model of Intein Insertion Site for Use in the Engineering of Molecular Switches

Inteins are intervening protein domains with self-splicing ability that can be used as molecular switches to control activity of their host protein. Successfully engineering an intein into a host protein requires identifying an insertion site that permits intein insertion and splicing while allowing for proper folding of the mature protein post-splicing. By analyzing sequence and structure based properties of native intein insertion sites we have identified four features that showed significant correlation with the location of the intein insertion sites, and therefore may be useful in predicting insertion sites in other proteins that provide native-like intein function. Three of these properties, the distance to the active site and dimer interface site, the SVM score of the splice site cassette, and the sequence conservation of the site showed statistically significant correlation and strong predictive power, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.79, 0.76, and 0.73 respectively, while the distance to secondary structure/loop junction showed significance but with less predictive power (AUC of 0.54). In a case study of 20 insertion sites in the XynB xylanase, two features of native insertion sites showed correlation with the splice sites and demonstrated predictive value in selecting non-native splice sites. Structural modeling of intein insertions at two sites highlighted the role that the insertion site location could play on the ability of the intein to modulate activity of the host protein. These findings can be used to enrich the selection of insertion sites capable of supporting intein splicing and hosting an intein switch

The MmeI family: type II restriction–modification enzymes that employ single-strand modification for host protection

The type II restriction endonucleases form one of the largest families of biochemically-characterized proteins. These endonucleases typically share little sequence similarity, except among isoschizomers that recognize the same sequence. MmeI is an unusual type II restriction endonuclease that combines endonuclease and methyltransferase activities in a single polypeptide. MmeI cuts DNA 20 bases from its recognition sequence and modifies just one DNA strand for host protection. Using MmeI as query we have identified numerous putative genes highly similar to MmeI in database sequences. We have cloned and characterized 20 of these MmeI homologs. Each cuts DNA at the same distance as MmeI and each modifies a conserved adenine on only one DNA strand for host protection. However each enzyme recognizes a unique DNA sequence, suggesting these enzymes are undergoing rapid evolution of DNA specificity. The MmeI family thus provides a rich source of novel endonucleases while affording an opportunity to observe the evolution of DNA specificity. Because the MmeI family enzymes employ modification of only one DNA strand for host protection, unlike previously described type II systems, we propose that such single-strand modification systems be classified as a new subgroup, the type IIL enzymes, for Lone strand DNA modification

The Many Virtues of Second Nature : Habitus in Latin Medieval Philosophy

This chapter consists of a systematic introduction to the nature and function of habitus in Latin medieval philosophy. Over the course of this introduction, several topics are treated: the theoretical necessity to posit habitus; their nature; their causal contribution to the production of internal and external acts; how and why habitus can grow and decay; what makes their unity when they can have multiple objects and work in clusters. Finally we examine two specific questions: why intellectual habitus represent a special case that triggered considerable debate; how human beings can be said to be free if their actions are determined by moral habitus

Thermostable DNA Polymerase from a Viral Metagenome Is a Potent RT-PCR Enzyme

Viral metagenomic libraries are a promising but previously untapped source of new reagent enzymes. Deep sequencing and functional screening of viral metagenomic DNA from a near-boiling thermal pool identified clones expressing thermostable DNA polymerase (Pol) activity. Among these, 3173 Pol demonstrated both high thermostability and innate reverse transcriptase (RT) activity. We describe the biochemistry of 3173 Pol and report its use in single-enzyme reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). Wild-type 3173 Pol contains a proofreading 3′-5′ exonuclease domain that confers high fidelity in PCR. An easier-to-use exonuclease-deficient derivative was incorporated into a PyroScript RT-PCR master mix and compared to one-enzyme (Tth) and two-enzyme (MMLV RT/Taq) RT-PCR systems for quantitative detection of MS2 RNA, influenza A RNA, and mRNA targets. Specificity and sensitivity of 3173 Pol-based RT-PCR were higher than Tth Pol and comparable to three common two-enzyme systems. The performance and simplified set-up make this enzyme a potential alternative for research and molecular diagnostics