Behaviour of concrete under simple and combined stresses

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BRAF- and MEK-targeted small molecule inhibitors exert enhanced antimelanoma effects in combination with oncolytic reovirus through ER stress

Reovirus type 3 (Dearing) (RT3D) infection is selective for cells harboring a mutated/activated RAS pathway. Therefore, in a panel of melanoma cell lines (including RAS mutant, BRAF mutant and RAS/BRAF wild-type), we assessed therapeutic combinations that enhance/suppress ERK1/2 signaling through use of BRAF/MEK inhibitors. In RAS mutant cells, the combination of RT3D with the BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 (paradoxically increasing ERK1/2 signaling in this context) did not enhance reoviral cytotoxicity. Instead, and somewhat surprisingly, RT3D and BRAF inhibition led to enhanced cell kill in BRAF mutated cell lines. Likewise, ERK1/2 inhibition, using the MEK inhibitor PD184352, in combination with RT3D resulted in enhanced cell kill in the entire panel. Interestingly, TCID 50 assays showed that BRAF and MEK inhibitors did not affect viral replication. Instead, enhanced efficacy was mediated through ER stress-induced apoptosis, induced by the combination of ERK1/2 inhibition and reovirus infection. In vivo, combined treatments of RT3D and PLX4720 showed significantly increased activity in BRAF mutant tumors in both immune-deficient and immune-competent models. These data provide a strong rationale for clinical translation of strategies in which RT3D is combined with BRAF inhibitors (in BRAF mutant melanoma) and/or MEK inhibitors (in BRAF and RAS mutant melanoma)

An allometry perspective on crops

Understanding trait–trait coordination is essential for successful plant breeding and crop modeling. Notably, plant size drives variation in morphological, physiological, and performance-related traits, as described by allometric laws in ecology. Yet, as allometric relationships have been limitedly studied in crops, how they influence and possibly limit crop performance remains unknown. Here, we review how an allometry perspective on crops gains insights into the phenotypic evolution during crop domestication, the breeding of varieties adapted to novel conditions, and the prediction of crop yields. As allometry is an active field of research, modeling and manipulating crop allometric relationships can help to develop more resilient and productive agricultural systems to face future challenges

The Twin Challenges to Separation of Powers in Central Europe: Technocratic Governance and Populism

Separation of institutions, functions and personnel – Checks and balances – Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia – Short tradition of separation of powers in Central Europe – Fragile interwar systems of separation of powers – Communist principle of centralisation of power – Technocratic challenge to separation of powers during the EU accession – One-sided checks on the elected branches and empowering technocratic elitist institutions – Populist challenge to separation of powers in the 2010s – Re-politicising of the public sphere, removing most checks on the elected branches, and curtailing and packing the unelected institutions – Technocratic and populist challenges to separation of powers interrelated more than we thought

Bovine Genome Database: integrated tools for genome annotation and discovery

The Bovine Genome Database (BGD; http://BovineGenome.org) strives to improve annotation of the bovine genome and to integrate the genome sequence with other genomics data. BGD includes GBrowse genome browsers, the Apollo Annotation Editor, a quantitative trait loci (QTL) viewer, BLAST databases and gene pages. Genome browsers, available for both scaffold and chromosome coordinate systems, display the bovine Official Gene Set (OGS), RefSeq and Ensembl gene models, non-coding RNA, repeats, pseudogenes, single-nucleotide polymorphism, markers, QTL and alignments to complementary DNAs, ESTs and protein homologs. The Bovine QTL viewer is connected to the BGD Chromosome GBrowse, allowing for the identification of candidate genes underlying QTL. The Apollo Annotation Editor connects directly to the BGD Chado database to provide researchers with remote access to gene evidence in a graphical interface that allows editing and creating new gene models. Researchers may upload their annotations to the BGD server for review and integration into the subsequent release of the OGS. Gene pages display information for individual OGS gene models, including gene structure, transcript variants, functional descriptions, gene symbols, Gene Ontology terms, annotator comments and links to National Center for Biotechnology Information and Ensembl. Each gene page is linked to a wiki page to allow input from the research community

Deleterious GRM1 Mutations in Schizophrenia

We analysed a phenotypically well-characterised sample of 450 schziophrenia patients and 605 controls for rare non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in the GRM1 gene, their functional effects and family segregation. GRM1 encodes the metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1), whose documented role as a modulator of neuronal signalling and synaptic plasticity makes it a plausible schizophrenia candidate. In a recent study, this gene was shown to harbour a cluster of deleterious nsSNPs within a functionally important domain of the receptor, in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Our Sanger sequencing of the GRM1 coding regions detected equal numbers of nsSNPs in cases and controls, however the two groups differed in terms of the potential effects of the variants on receptor function: 6/6 case-specific and only 1/6 control-specific nsSNPs were predicted to be deleterious. Our in-vitro experimental follow-up of the case-specific mutants showed that 4/6 led to significantly reduced inositol phosphate production, indicating impaired function of the major mGluR1signalling pathway; 1/6 had reduced cell membrane expression; inconclusive results were obtained in 1/6. Family segregation analysis indicated that these deleterious nsSNPs were inherited. Interestingly, four of the families were affected by multiple neuropsychiatric conditions, not limited to schizophrenia, and the mutations were detected in relatives with schizophrenia, depression and anxiety, drug and alcohol dependence, and epilepsy. Our findings suggest a possible mGluR1 contribution to diverse psychiatric conditions, supporting the modulatory role of the receptor in such conditions as proposed previously on the basis of in vitro experiments and animal studies

The First Amendment Encyclopedia

Middle Tennessee State University has launched a searchable website with more than thousands of essays and articles about court decisions and doctrines; people, law and events; and general issues and organizations significant in the First Amendment’s history in the United States