A study of zinc resistance and accumulation of zinc in scapania undulata (L) Dum

Scapania undulata (L.) Dum. is a bryophyte which is common in the upland streams of the North East of England. The zinc resistance of S. undulata from zinc enriched and from low zinc sites was investigated by means of laboratory toxicity tests and field transplants. The results obtained do not suggest that the populations of S. undulata at the zinc enriched sites studied are genetically adapted, zinc resistant ecotypes of the species. The enrichment ratio of zinc in S. undulata at a number of sites was investigated and considerable variation between sites was found. The effects of the concentration of zinc in the medium, light and temperature on the uptake of zinc by S. undulata under aboratory conditions were also investigated. The rate of uptake of zinc was found to increase as the concentration of zinc in the medium increased, up to a concentration of 60 mg 1(^-1). The saturation point was found to be approximately the same for a two day period as for the initial half hour, with some indication of ^ small increase In the rate of uptake of zinc at concentrations greater than 60 mg 1(^-1) over the two-day period. Material incubated in medium containing 1 mg 1(^-1) zinc in the light for a period of four days was found to contain approximately 15% more zinc than material incubated in darkness. The rate of uptake of zinc by dead material at 32 ºC from medium containing 2 mg 1(^-1) zinc was found to be greater than that of live material at 14 ºC and there was some indication of a greater rate of uptake by live material at 24ºC than at l4 ºC. The results of these experiments are discussed in terms of the relative importance's of active and passive mechanisms of uptake of zinc in S. undulata and the validity of using this species for monitoring the levels of zinc in stream waters

Lapseni saa lapsen : Isoäidin voimavarojen tukeminen

Tämä opinnäytetyö on toteutettu yhteistyökumppani Helsingin Tyttöjen Talo® ry:n kanssa. Työ toteutettiin järjestön nuoret äidit- projektin yhteydessä. Tyttöjen Talon toiminnasta vastaa Kalliolan Nuoret ry, ja heidän kumppaninaan toimii Hel-singin kaupungin nuorisoasiainkeskuksen sekä Sosiaali- ja terveysvirasto. Opinnäytetyön kohderyhmä oli Tyttöjen talon nuorten äitien ryhmän äitien äidit. Opinnäytetyön aiheena olivat nuorten äitien omien äitien voimavarat. Opinnäytetyössä tut-kittiin, miten isovanhemmuus vaikuttaa isoäitien voimavaroihin, ja minkälaista tukea isoäidit tarvitsevat voimavarojen ylläpitämiseksi. Tavoitteena oli onnistua kuvaamaan isoäitien suhtautumista omien rooliensa muutoksiin ja tutkia, miten isoäitien voimavarat muuttuvat näissä muuttuneissa olosuhteissa. Opinnäyte-työllä haluttiin myös selvittää, mitä keinoja isoäideillä on ylläpitää ja lisätä omia voimavaro-jaan. Isoäitien voimavaroja voidaan pitää tärkeänä tutkimuskohteena, sillä tutkimusten mu-kaan isoäitien rooli tyttärien ja lastenlasten elämässä on todella suuri. Tutkittava ryhmä oli 16–21- vuotiaiden äitien äidit. Nuoret äidit ovat opinnäytetyössä rajattu Tyttöjen Talon toi-mintaa ohjaavan ikärajan mukaisesti 16–21- vuotiaisiin. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena, ja sen haastattelut suoritettiin puo-listrukturoituina teemahaastatteluina. Haastateltujen isoäitien antamien vastausten perus-teella saatiin tietää, että isoäidit käyttävät paljon omasta ajastaan lastensa sekä lastenlasten asioiden järjestelyihin. Vastauksista kävi myös ilmi, että isoäidit saavat paljon uusia voima-varoja lapsenlapsistaan. Joidenkin voimavarojen kohdalla esiintyi kuitenkin suurta vaihtelua isoäitien kesken. Tutkimuksessa tehtyjen johtopäätösten valossa voitiin todeta, että isoäidit suhtautuvat hyvin positiivisesti uuteen rooliinsa isovanhempina selviydyttyään ensi-hämmennyksistä. Positiivinen lähestyminen oman roolinsa muutokseen luo hyvät lähtö-kohdat isoäitien osallistamiseen tyttärien ja lapsenlapsien elämään.This thesis was created together with our working life partner Helsinki Girls’ House (Tyttöjen talo) and it was executed with the organization’s Young Mothers projects. Kalliola Settlement Youth Association is responsible for the Girls’ House functions, and their partners are Helsinki City’s Youth Centre and the Social and Health Bureau. The target group was the grandmothers of the participating young mothers. The topic of our thesis were the resources for the grandmothers. Our research focused on how grandmotherhood influences the grandmother’s resources and what kind of support they needed to maintain them. Our goal was to describe how grandmothers welcome their change in role, and to investi-gate how their resources changed under these circumstances. In this theses we also aimed to discover in what ways grandmothers can maintain their resources and add to them. Grandmothers’ resources should be seen as a relevant research topic; according to re-search the grandmother’s role in their daughter’s and grandchildren’s life are extensive. The examined group consisted of mothers whose daughters were 16-21 years of age. At the Girls’ House all participating mothers are 21 or under. Our thesis was executed as a qualitative research and the interviews were conducted as semi-structured themed interviews. According to our findings, the grandmothers use a lot of their time to organize their daughter’s and grandchildren’s affairs. We also discovered that grandmothers get a lot of new resources from their grandchildren. With some of our theme resources, we found major deviation between the grandmothers. With the information and our findings, we can conclude that most grandmothers’ attitude is very positive towards their new role as a grandmother after their recovery from the initial shock. A positive approach to their role change generated a good basis for their involve-ment in their daughter’s and grandchildren’s lives

Tingens stilla liv. Ett utforskande projekt om relationer mellan ting och människor

We are surrounded by things. They have their own personalities. Some evokes our emotions. We want to own them. We develop strong relationships to each other. Some of them keep us company, others feel like a part of us. They tell us stories and helps us remember. They are our memories. This is a project exploring the relationship between objects and humans. In the project I am searching for factors that can take part in creating emotional bonds to an object. Sometimes an object/thing is treated as something almost living, with its own personality. How can a dead thing/object get its own personality? A part of this project is a search for the lack or existence of a soul in an object. The definition of a soul as a part of something living, makes it interesting to search for it in something that is obviously dead. Drawing and experimenting with what happens if furniture are being treated as persons/pets/dolls/something living has been important tools in the project. The chair and the mirror gets a lot of attention and in the end of the project forms their own relationship. This relationship results in an union; mirror-chairs. “The Self”, wich are chairs with mirrors to be able to hang out with yourself/your chair. The chairs can also hang out with themselves

A quantitative model of the initiation of DNA replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae predicts the effects of system perturbations.

BackgroundEukaryotic cell proliferation involves DNA replication, a tightly regulated process mediated by a multitude of protein factors. In budding yeast, the initiation of replication is facilitated by the heterohexameric origin recognition complex (ORC). ORC binds to specific origins of replication and then serves as a scaffold for the recruitment of other factors such as Cdt1, Cdc6, the Mcm2-7 complex, Cdc45 and the Dbf4-Cdc7 kinase complex. While many of the mechanisms controlling these associations are well documented, mathematical models are needed to explore the network's dynamic behaviour. We have developed an ordinary differential equation-based model of the protein-protein interaction network describing replication initiation.ResultsThe model was validated against quantified levels of protein factors over a range of cell cycle timepoints. Using chromatin extracts from synchronized Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cultures, we were able to monitor the in vivo fluctuations of several of the aforementioned proteins, with additional data obtained from the literature. The model behaviour conforms to perturbation trials previously reported in the literature, and accurately predicts the results of our own knockdown experiments. Furthermore, we successfully incorporated our replication initiation model into an established model of the entire yeast cell cycle, thus providing a comprehensive description of these processes.ConclusionsThis study establishes a robust model of the processes driving DNA replication initiation. The model was validated against observed cell concentrations of the driving factors, and characterizes the interactions between factors implicated in eukaryotic DNA replication. Finally, this model can serve as a guide in efforts to generate a comprehensive model of the mammalian cell cycle in order to explore cancer-related phenotypes

Klinisch-zeitlicher Verlauf eines solitären retinalen Astrozytoms

Zusammenfassung: Retinale Astrozytome sind benigne Tumoren der Netzhaut. Ihr Auftreten kann solitär oder multipel, selten auch bilateral oder als teil eines Syndroms (tuberöse Sklerose, Neurofibromatose Typ I) sein. Am Auge zeigt der Tumor nur eine geringe Wachstumstendenz, weswegen lediglich jährliche Kontrollen ohne Intervention als ausreichend erscheinen. Selten kommt es zu einem aggressiven Wachstum, welches eine Therapie erfordert. Neben der Enukleation des betroffenen Auges gibt es zahlreiche anderen Therapiemöglichkeiten (z.B. vitreoretinale Chirurgie, Brachy- oder Kryotherapie, photodynamische Therapie). Aufgrund des Auftretens retinaler Astrozytome als Teil eines Syndroms sollte die jährliche Kontrolle interdisziplinär erfolge

Role of adenosine in the regulation of coronary blood flow in swine at rest and during treadmill exercise

A pivotal role for adenosine in the regulation of coronary blood flow is still controversial. Consequently, we investigated its role in the regulation of coronary vasomotor tone in swine at rest and during graded treadmill exercise. During exercise, myocardial O2 consumption increased from 167 +/- 18 micromol/min at rest to 399 +/- 27 micromol/min at 5 km/h (P </= 0.05), which was paralleled by an increase in O2 delivery, so that myocardial O2 extraction (76 +/- 1 and 78 +/- 1% at rest and 5 km/h, respectively) and coronary venous PO2 (24.5 +/- 1.0 and 22.8 +/- 0.3 mmHg at rest and 5 km/h, respectively) remained unchanged. After adenosine receptor blockade with 8-phenyltheophylline (5 mg/kg iv), the relation between myocardial O2 consumption and coronary vascular resistance was shifted toward higher resistance, whereas myocardial O2 extraction rose to 81 +/- 1 and 83 +/- 1% at rest and 5 km/h and coronary venous PO2 fell to 19.2 +/- 0.8 and 18.9 +/- 0.8 mmHg at rest and 5 km/h, respectively (all P </= 0.05). Thus, although adenosine is not mandatory for the exercise-induced coronary vasodilation, it exerts a vasodilator influence on the coronary resistance vessels in swine at rest and during exercise

Obscurity and Gender Resistance in Patricia Duncker's James Miranda Barry

publication-status: Submittedtypes: Article© 2012 by Taylor & FrancisSince his death in 1865, military surgeon James Barry has alternately been classified as a cross-dressing woman or as an intersexed individual. Patricia Duncker’s novel James Miranda Barry (1999) poses an important challenge to such readings, as it does not reveal any foundational truth about Barry’s sex. Resting on obscurity rather than revelation, the text frustrates the desire to know the past in terms of gender binaries and stable sexual identity categories. Drawing on feminist and queer theorisations of the relation between gender and time, this essay demonstrates that Duncker’s use of obscurity opens up alternative strategies of gender resistance.The Wellcome Trus