An Archaeological Survey of 307 Acres at Camp Swift, Bastrop County, Texas: 2003

This report documents an archaeological survey of 307 acres at Camp Swift, in north-central Bastrop County, Texas. Camp Swift is owned by the Texas Army National Guard office of Adjutant General (hereinafter referred to as AGTX). A total of 11 previously unrecorded sites were documented during this projec

Frequency of theta rhythm is controlled by acceleration, but not speed, in running rats

The theta rhythm organizes neural activity across hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. A role for theta oscillations in spatial navigation is supported by half a century of research reporting that theta frequency encodes running speed linearly so that displacement can be estimated through theta frequency integration. We show that this relationship is an artifact caused by the fact that the speed of freely moving animals could not be systematically disentangled from acceleration. Using an experimental procedure that clamps running speed at pre-set values, we find that the theta frequency of local field potentials and spike activity is linearly related to positive acceleration, but not negative acceleration or speed. The modulation by positive-only acceleration makes rhythmic activity at theta frequency unfit as a code to compute displacement or any other kinematic variable. Temporally precise variations in theta frequency may instead serve as a mechanism for speeding up entorhinal-hippocampal computations during accelerated movement.Fil: Kropff, Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Norwegian University of Science and Technology; NoruegaFil: Carmichael, James E.. Norwegian University of Science and Technology; NoruegaFil: Moser, Edvard I.. Norwegian University of Science and Technology; NoruegaFil: Moser, May Britt. Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Norueg

Telomere dysfunction accurately predicts clinical outcome in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, even in patients with early stage disease

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Defining the prognosis of individual cancer sufferers remains a significant clinical challenge. Here we assessed the ability of high-resolution single telomere length analysis (STELA), combined with an experimentally derived definition of telomere dysfunction, to predict the clinical outcome of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). We defined the upper telomere length threshold at which telomere fusions occur and then used the mean of the telomere 'fusogenic' range as a prognostic tool. Patients with telomeres within the fusogenic range had a significantly shorter overall survival (P  <  0·0001; Hazard ratio [HR] = 13·2, 95% confidence interval [CI]  = 11·6-106·4) and this was preserved in early-stage disease patients (P  <  0·0001, HR=19·3, 95% CI = 17·8-802·5). Indeed, our assay allowed the accurate stratification of Binet stage A patients into those with indolent disease (91% survival at 10 years) and those with poor prognosis (13% survival at 10 years). Furthermore, patients with telomeres above the fusogenic mean showed superior prognosis regardless of their IGHV mutation status or cytogenetic risk group. In keeping with this finding, telomere dysfunction was the dominant variable in multivariate analysis. Taken together, this study provides compelling evidence for the use of high-resolution telomere length analysis coupled with a definition of telomere dysfunction in the prognostic assessment of CLL

Working conditions, work-life conflict and wellbeing in UK prison officers: the role of affective rumination and detachment

Although prison officers experience the working conditions associated with work-life conflict, little research has explored this issue. This study draws upon the work-home resources model (ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012) to investigate relationships between working conditions (demands and experiences of aggression) and time-based, strain-based and behavior-based work-life conflict in UK prison officers (n = 1,682). Associations between working conditions, work-life conflict, and emotional exhaustion were also examined. Two recovery behaviors (affective rumination and detachment) were considered as potential moderators of associations between working conditions and emotional exhaustion. High levels of all work-life conflict dimensions were found which were related to working conditions and emotional exhaustion. Some evidence was found that higher rumination and lower detachment exacerbated the positive association between both job demands and aggression and emotional exhaustion. The implications of the findings for the wellbeing and professional functioning of prison officers are discussed, together with key areas for future research

Requirement for Abasic Endonuclease Gene Homologues in Arabidopsis Seed Development

Arabidopsis thaliana has three genes, Ape1L, Ape2, and Arp, that show homology to abasic (apurinic/apyrimidinic) endonuclease genes of bacterial, yeast, or animal cells. In bacteria, yeast, and animals, abasic endonucleases function in base excision repair of oxidized and other modified DNA bases. Here we report that plants with knock-out mutations in any one of Ape1L, Ape2, or Arp show no apparent differences from wild type in growth rate, growth habit, and fertility. However, coincident knock-out mutations in Ape1L and Ape2 are lethal and lead to abortion of developing embryos. Mutations of Arp are not deleterious, even in combination with one of the other two mutations. The results are consistent with the interpretation that the process of base excision repair, involving at least one intact copy of Ape1L or Ape2, is required in the process of embryogenesis

Resonances in an evolving hole in the swash zone

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of American Society of Civil Engineers for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering 138 (2012): 299–302, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000136.Water oscillations observed in a 10-m diameter, 2-m deep hole excavated on the foreshore just above the low-tide line on an ocean beach are consistent with theory. When swashes first filled the initially circular hole on the rising tide, the dominant mode observed in the cross-shore velocity was consistent with a zero-order Bessel function solution (sloshing back and forth). As the tide rose and swash transported sediment, the hole diameter decreased, the water depth inside the hole remained approximately constant, and the frequency of the sloshing mode increased according to theory. About an hour after the swashes first reached the hole, it had evolved from a closed circle to a semi-circle, open to the ocean. When the hole was nearly semi-circular, the observed cross-shore velocity had two spectral peaks, one associated with the sloshing of a closed circle, the other associated with a quarter-wavelength mode in an open semi-circle, both consistent with theory. As the hole evolved further toward a fully semi-circular shape, the circular sloshing mode decreased, while the quarter-wavelength mode became dominant.The Office of Naval Research, a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Career award, and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship provided support

Mechanism of selective benzene hydroxylation catalyzed by iron-containing zeolites

A direct, catalytic conversion of benzene to phenol would have wide-reaching economic impacts. Fe zeolites exhibit a remarkable combination of high activity and selectivity in this conversion, leading to their past implementation at the pilot plant level. There were, however, issues related to catalyst deactivation for this process. Mechanistic insight could resolve these issues, and also provide a blueprint for achieving high performance in selective oxidation catalysis. Recently, we demonstrated that the active site of selective hydrocarbon oxidation in Fe zeolites, named α-O, is an unusually reactive Fe(IV)=O species. Here, we apply advanced spectroscopic techniques to determine that the reaction of this Fe(IV)=O intermediate with benzene in fact regenerates the reduced Fe(II) active site, enabling catalytic turnover. At the same time, a small fraction of Fe(III)-phenolate poisoned active sites form, defining a mechanism for catalyst deactivation. Density-functional theory calculations provide further insight into the experimentally defined mechanism. The extreme reactivity of α-O significantly tunes down (eliminates) the rate-limiting barrier for aromatic hydroxylation, leading to a diffusion-limited reaction coordinate. This favors hydroxylation of the rapidly diffusing benzene substrate over the slowly diffusing (but more reactive) oxygenated product, thereby enhancing selectivity. This defines a mechanism to simultaneously attain high activity (conversion) and selectivity, enabling the efficient oxidative upgrading of inert hydrocarbon substrates

A Multiplexed Single-Cell CRISPR Screening Platform Enables Systematic Dissection of the Unfolded Protein Response

Functional genomics efforts face tradeoffs between number of perturbations examined and complexity of phenotypes measured. We bridge this gap with Perturb-seq, which combines droplet-based single-cell RNA-seq with a strategy for barcoding CRISPR-mediated perturbations, allowing many perturbations to be profiled in pooled format. We applied Perturb-seq to dissect the mammalian unfolded protein response (UPR) using single and combinatorial CRISPR perturbations. Two genome-scale CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) screens identified genes whose repression perturbs ER homeostasis. Subjecting ∼100 hits to Perturb-seq enabled high-precision functional clustering of genes. Single-cell analyses decoupled the three UPR branches, revealed bifurcated UPR branch activation among cells subject to the same perturbation, and uncovered differential activation of the branches across hits, including an isolated feedback loop between the translocon and IRE1α. These studies provide insight into how the three sensors of ER homeostasis monitor distinct types of stress and highlight the ability of Perturb-seq to dissect complex cellular responses.National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (Grant P50HG006193