Making Memories: Why Time Matters

In the last decade advances in human neuroscience have identified the critical importance of time in creating long-term memories. Circadian neuroscience has established biological time functions via cellular clocks regulated by photosensitive retinal ganglion cells and the suprachiasmatic nuclei. Individuals have different circadian clocks depending on their chronotypes that vary with genetic, age, and sex. In contrast, social time is determined by time zones, daylight savings time, and education and employment hours. Social time and circadian time differences can lead to circadian desynchronization, sleep deprivation, health problems, and poor cognitive performance. Synchronizing social time to circadian biology leads to better health and learning, as demonstrated in adolescent education. In-day making memories of complex bodies of structured information in education is organized in social time and uses many different learning techniques. Research in the neuroscience of long-term memory (LTM) has demonstrated in-day time spaced learning patterns of three repetitions of information separated by two rest periods are effective in making memories in mammals and humans. This time pattern is based on the intracellular processes required in synaptic plasticity. Circadian desynchronization, sleep deprivation, and memory consolidation in sleep are less well-understood, though there has been considerable progress in neuroscience research in the last decade. The interplay of circadian, in-day and sleep neuroscience research are creating an understanding of making memories in the first 24-h that has already led to interventions that can improve health and learning

Towards zero solid waste: utilising tannery waste as a protein source for poultry feed

Zero waste is now a strongly emerging issue for sustainable industrial development where minimisation and utilisation of waste are a priority in the leather industry. In a tannery hides and skins converted in to leather through various processes. Approximately 20% (w/w) of the chrome containing tannery solid waste (TSW) is generated from one tonne of raw hides and skins. However, tannery solid waste may also be a resource if it is managed expertly as we move towards zero waste. This research illustrates the potential of tannery solid waste as a poultry feed additive. An oxidation method was used to achieve 95% of dechroming rate of chrome tanned waste followed with thermal and enzymatic treatment to produce gelatin solution and collagen concentrates. The thermal stability and fibre structure of samples were analysed by Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Protein content and fourteen amino acid concentrations were determined using amino acid analysis. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to compare the amino acid composition with wheat and soya bean meal that is conventionally used in poultry feed. The nutrient requirements for poultry feed vary according to the purpose for which they have been developed. The high content of arginine, leucine, threonine, serine and methionine in the extract were of a sufficient level for poultry feed. Hexavalent chromium test was performed and showed that levels of the metal were low enough to be used in feed additives. In addition, the extracted product showed 75% digestibility (in vitro) and appears that treated TSW may be utilised in poultry feed, this demonstrates a clear example of waste utilisation. In Bangladesh plans are being formed to use the extract in poultry feed production

A Historical-Contextual Analysis of the Final-Generation Theology of M. L. Andreasen

Topic This study analyzes the teaching of the early twentieth-century Seventh-day Adventist writer M. L. Andreasen regarding a final-generation perfection that vindicates God in the great controversy between good and evil, comparing Andreasen’s views with related concepts in the writings of previous Adventist writers. Purpose The study has the limited objective of attempting to trace possible antecedents for Andreasen’s final-generation theology in the writings of other Adventists, in order to determine the degree of uniqueness or variance in Andreasen’s views. By means of this historical-contextual analysis, relationships are clarified between Andreasen’s views and those of other prominent Adventist writers, such as Joseph Bates, Ellen White, J. N. Andrews, Uriah Smith, E. J. Waggoner, and A. T. Jones. Since non-Andreasen Adventist writings subsequent to Andreasen’s 1937 The Sanctuary Service are not examined, later reaction to Andreasen’s last-generation concepts is not addressed by this study. Further, an examination of the validity, or biblical foundation, of final-generation theology lies outside the scope of this work. Sources Andreasen’s published books and articles were examined for his final-generation views, which are stated most fully in the penultimate chapter of his 1937 The Sanctuary Service, entitled “The Last Generation.” The principal secondary source used was Dwight Eric Haynes’s M.A. thesis on Andreasen’s final-generation theology; Haynes’s categorization of Andreasenian motifs was adapted for the purposes of this study. The views of other, pre-1937 Adventist writers were researched primarily with the aid of digitized libraries; the two primary collections used were (1) the second edition of the Adventist Pioneer Library’s Words of the Pioneers and (2) version 3.0 of the Ellen G. White Estate’s The Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings. The Online Document Archives of the Office of Archives and Statistics of the General Conference of Seventhday Adventists also made possible the location of a few key documents not found in the other collections. Conclusions This study found all of the basic components of Andreasen’s final-generation theology expressed by previous Adventist writers. In regard to complete overcoming of sin on the part of believers anticipating translation, a rather consistent correspondence was observed over the period investigated. Less agreement was seen regarding the relationship between an end-time blotting out of sins and an end-time maturation of the saints, with A. T. Jones and Andreasen seeing a clear connection, while Ellen White, significantly, refrained from explicitly joining these two end-time phenomena. With attention was turned to the relationship between the end-time overcoming of the saints and the vindication of God in His controversy with evil, much less correspondence was observed. While antecedents for this part of Andreasen’s theology seem implied in several passages from Ellen White, they become quite explicit in the writings of E. J. Waggoner. In the post-1888 years, Waggoner’s view of an end-time vindication of God based on the overcoming of His people, seems to have been spreading, as witnessed in the writings of W. W. Prescott, I. H. Evans, and Uriah Smith. The study concludes that while Andreasen did not invent the concepts on which his final-generation theology is based, he did craft them into an end-time scenario by which he links the end-time saints to the outcome of the cosmic controversy much more emphatically than does any previous Adventist writer

SiteFind: A software tool for introducing a restriction site as a marker for successful site-directed mutagenesis

BACKGROUND: Site-directed mutagenesis is a widely-used technique for introducing mutations into a particular DNA sequence, often with the goal of creating a point mutation in the corresponding amino acid sequence but otherwise leaving the overall sequence undisturbed. However, this method provides no means for verifying its success other than sequencing the putative mutant construct: This can quickly become an expensive method for screening for successful mutations. An alternative to sequencing is to simultaneously introduce a restriction site near the point mutation in manner such that the restriction site has no effect on the translated amino acid sequence. Thus, the novel restriction site can be used as a marker for successful mutation which can be quickly and easily assessed. However, finding a restriction site that does not disturb the corresponding amino acid sequence is a time-consuming task even for experienced researchers. A fast and easy to use computer program is needed for this task. RESULTS: We wrote a computer program, called SiteFind, to help us design a restriction site within the mutation primers without changing the peptide sequence. Because of the redundancy of genetic code, a given peptide can be encoded by many different DNA sequences. Since the list of possible restriction sites for a given DNA sequence is not always obvious, SiteFind automates this task. The number of possible sequences a computer program must search through increases exponentially as the sequence length increases. SiteFind uses a novel "moving window" algorithm to reduce the number of possible sequences to be searched to a manageable level. The user enters a nucleotide sequence, specifies what amino acid residues should be changed in the mutation, and SiteFind generates a list of possible restriction sites and what nucleotides must be changed to introduce that site. As a demonstration of its use, we successfully generated a single point mutation and a double point mutation in the wild-type sequence for Krüppel-like factor 4, an epithelium-specific transcription factor. CONCLUSION: SiteFind is an intuitive, web-based program that enables the user to introduce a novel restriction site into the mutated nucleotide sequence for use as a marker of successful mutation. It is freely available fro

Evidence for J and H-band excess in classical T Tauri stars and the implications for disk structure and estimated ages

We argue that classical T Tauri stars (cTTs) possess significant non- photospheric excess in the J and H bands. We first show that normalizing the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of cTTs to the J-band leads to a poor fit of the optical fluxes, while normalizing the SEDs to the Ic-band produces a better fit to the optical bands and in many cases reveals the presence of a considerable excess at J and H. NIR spectroscopic veiling measurements from the literature support this result. We find that J and H-band excesses correlate well with the K-band excess, and that the J-K and H-K colors of the excess emission are consistent with that of a black body at the dust sublimation temperature (~ 1500-2000 K). We propose that this near-IR excess originates at a hot inner rim, analogous to those suggested to explain the near-IR bump in the SEDs of Herbig Ae/Be stars. To test our hypothesis, we use the model presented by Dullemond et al. (2001) to fit the photometry data between 0.5 um and 24 um of 10 cTTs associated with the Chamaeleon II molecular cloud. The models that best fit the data are those where the inner radius of the disk is larger than expected for a rim in thermal equilibrium with the photospheric radiation field alone. In particular, we find that large inner rims are necessary to account for the mid infrared fluxes (3.6-8.0 um) obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Finally, we argue that deriving the stellar luminosities of cTTs by making bolometric corrections to the J-band fluxes systematically overestimates these luminosities. The overestimated luminosities translate into underestimated ages when the stars are placed in the H-R diagram. Thus, the results presented herein have important implications for the dissipation timescale of inner accretion disks.Comment: 45 pages, 13 figure

Synthesis of the 4-aza cyclopentenone analogue of Δ12,14-15-deoxy-PGJ2 and S-cysteine adducts

Abstract The synthesis of a series of 4-aza cross-conjugated cyclopentenones, inspired by the natural prostaglandin Δ12,14-15-deoxy-PGJ2 (5) is described. Using the 4-aza cyclopentenone 7, the installation of the α-side chain was performed using N-functionalisation, following a Boc-deprotection. The ω-side chain was then installed through a Baylis-Hillman type aldol reaction with trans-2-octenal. This afforded 11, the aza-analogue of 5. With this prostaglandin analogue in hand, a series of thiol adducts (14–16) were prepared. Included are activities for compounds 11 and 14–16 in relation to inhibition of the transcription factor NF-κB

Agreement in dry eye management between optometrists and general practitioners in primary health care in the Netherlands

The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2015.03.005 © 2015. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Purpose: To investigate the agreement in dry eye care management between general practitioners (GPs) and optometrists in the Netherlands. Methods: A web-based survey was used to investigate the agreement in symptoms associated with dry eye, causes of developing dry eye, and investigative techniques used in practice, between GPs and optometrists. Additional questions surveyed knowledge of the latest research, and co-management of dry eye disease in primary healthcare. The anonymised questionnaire contained 16 forced-choice questions with Likert scales, and was sent to 1471 general medical practitioners and 870 registered optometrists. The response data was stored on an online database, and was converted directly to text format for analysis using SPSS 21 statistical analysis software. Results: 138 optometrists and 93 GPs responded to the survey (Cronbach α = 0.885, optometrists, and 0.833, GPs). Almost no agreement was found for all the questions: a statistically significant difference (Chi-square p 0.0001), and dry eye symptoms, except for ‘burning sensation of the eye’ and ‘irritation of the eye’ as agreed symptoms, and agreement that dry eye is an age-related disease. Conclusions: As the optometrist and the GP are the gatekeepers for secondary healthcare, the fundamental differences in the methods of investigation and interpretation of dry eye-related symptoms, the possible cause of developing dry eye disease, and the therapy given by GPs and optometrists in the Netherlands, may have a significant impact on consistency of patient care.The authors extend their appreciation to the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht for funding this researc