The Ino80 complex prevents invasion of euchromatin into silent chromatin

Here we show that the Ino80 chromatin remodeling complex (Ino80C) directly prevents euchromatin from invading transcriptionally silent chromatin within intergenic regions and at the border of euchromatin and heterochromatin. Deletion of Ino80C subunits leads to increased H3K79 methylation and noncoding RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription centered at the Ino80C-binding sites. The effect of Ino80C is direct, as it blocks H3K79 methylation by Dot1 in vitro. Heterochromatin stimulates the binding of Ino80C in vitro and in vivo. Our data reveal that Ino80C serves as a general silencing complex that restricts transcription to gene units in euchromatin

In Vivo Comparison of Two Human Norovirus Surrogates for Testing Ethanol-Based Handrubs: The Mouse Chasing the Cat!

Human noroviruses (HuNoV), a major cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide, cannot be readily cultured in the lab. Therefore, a feline calicivirus (FCV) is often used as its surrogate to, among other things, test alcohol-based handrubs (ABHR). The more recent laboratory culture of a mouse norovirus (MNV) provides an alternative. While MNV is closer to HuNoV in several respects, to date, no comparative testing of FCV and MNV survival and inactivation on human hands has been performed. This study was designed to address the knowledge gap. The rates of loss in viability during drying on hands were −1.91 and −1.65% per minute for FCV and MNV, respectively. When the contaminated skin was exposed for 20 s to either a commercial ABHR with 62% (v/v) ethanol or to 75% (v/v) ethanol in water, FCV infectivity was reduced by <1 log10 while that of MNV by nearly 2.8 log10. Extending the contact time to 30 s reduced the FCV titer by almost 2 log10 by both test substances and that of MNV by >3.5 log10 by the commercial ABHR while 75% ethanol did not show any noticeable improvement in activity as compared to the 20 s contact. An 80% (v/v) aqueous solution of ethanol gave only a 1.75 log10 reduction in MNV activity after 20 s. The results show significant differences in the ethanol susceptibility of FCV and MNV in contact times relevant to field use of ABHR and also that 62% ethanol was a more effective virucide than either 75% or 80% ethanol. These findings indicate the need for a review of the continuing use of FCV as a surrogate for HuNoV

Rotation period determination and lightcurve analysis of Asteroid 3736 Rokoske

Observations of the main-belt 3736 Rokoske were conducted over 8 nights between 2022 March 25 and 2022 April 23. Images were collected using three telescopes in the USA, Malta and Italy. 3736 Rokoske has a diameter of 19.5km and an absolute magnitude of 11.15. The phase lightcurve resulted in a rotation period of 17.411+-0.004h and 0.10+-0.02 mag amplitude.peer-reviewe

Mercury isotopes in a forested ecosystem: Implications for air‐surface exchange dynamics and the global mercury cycle

Forests mediate the biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg) between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems; however, there remain many gaps in our understanding of these processes. Our objectives in this study were to characterize Hg isotopic composition within forests, and use natural abundance stable Hg isotopes to track sources and reveal mechanisms underlying the cycling of Hg. We quantified the stable Hg isotopic composition of foliage, forest floor, mineral soil, precipitation, and total gaseous mercury (THg (g) ) in the atmosphere and in evasion from soil, in 10‐year‐old aspen forests at the Rhinelander FACE experiment in northeastern Wisconsin, USA. The effect of increased atmospheric CO 2 and O 3 concentrations on Hg isotopic composition was small relative to differences among forest ecosystem components. Precipitation samples had δ 202 Hg values of −0.74 to 0.06‰ and ∆ 199 Hg values of 0.16 to 0.82‰. Atmospheric THg (g) had δ 202 Hg values of 0.48 to 0.93‰ and ∆ 199 Hg values of −0.21 to −0.15‰. Uptake of THg (g) by foliage resulted in a large (−2.89‰) shift in δ 202 Hg values; foliage displayed δ 202 Hg values of −2.53 to −1.89‰ and ∆ 199 Hg values of −0.37 to −0.23‰. Forest floor samples had δ 202 Hg values of −1.88 to −1.22‰ and ∆ 199 Hg values of −0.22 to −0.14‰. Mercury isotopes distinguished geogenic sources of Hg and atmospheric derived sources of Hg in soil, and showed that precipitation Hg only accounted for ~16% of atmospheric Hg inputs. The isotopic composition of Hg evasion from the forest floor was similar to atmospheric THg (g) ; however, there were systematic differences in δ 202 Hg values and MIF of even isotopes (∆ 200 Hg and ∆ 204 Hg). Mercury evasion from the forest floor may have arisen from air‐surface exchange of atmospheric THg (g) , but was not the emission of legacy Hg from soils, nor re‐emission of wet‐deposition. This implies that there was net atmospheric THg (g) deposition to the forest soils. Furthermore, MDF of Hg isotopes during foliar uptake and air‐surface exchange of atmospheric THg (g) resulted in the release of Hg with very positive δ 202 Hg values to the atmosphere, which is key information for modeling the isotopic balance of the global mercury cycle, and may indicate a shorter residence time than previously recognized for the atmospheric mercury pool. Key points Atmospheric Hg was fractionated during uptake by foliage (‐2.89 permil δ202Hg) Hg evading from soil was from atmospheric Hg interaction with soil environment Air‐surface exchange of Hg releases Hg with positive δ202Hg to global reservoirPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/1/2011GB004202RRts04.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/2/2011GB004202RRts05.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/3/2011GB004202RRts01.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/4/gbc20021.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/5/2011GB004202RRts06.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/6/2011GB004202RRts02.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/7/2011GB004202RRts07.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97463/8/2011GB004202RRts03.pd

The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-teleost comparisons

To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome has conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization and development (mediated, for example, by Hox, ParaHox and microRNA genes). Numerous conserved noncoding elements (CNEs; often cis regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles for such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the sums of expression domains and expression levels for duplicated teleost genes often approximate the patterns and levels of expression for gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes and the function of human regulatory sequences

Christus Exemplar: the Politics of Virtue in Lactantius

This dissertation offers an historical and doctrinal account of Lactantius’s principal work, The Divine Institutes. Lactantius’s opening remarks shape the central question: Why does he respond to violent political suppression with an elite discourse on virtue (virtus); and how does that discourse address Lactantius’s persecutors from the perspective of his Christian predecessors? To answer the question, this dissertation tells the story of how “power theology,” received through the classical tradition, came to ground Latin moral, political, and religious discourses, first among traditional Roman “pagans,” and then in the pre-Nicene Latin Christianity Lactantius represented in the era of Diocletian and Constantine. That story accounts for the way pre-Nicene Latin Christians reimagined an ancient ideal of martial prowess (virtus) according to Christ’s example, and thus presented a vision of human life conformed to his passion. Lactantius enters that history as the last formidable advocate of a traditional pre-Nicene Christianity. Such an account becomes possible only by expanding the textual and intellectual horizons that condition scholarly perspectives on Lactantius and the Latin tradition he received. This dissertation attempts such an expansion by tracing the social and historical context of power theology from its origins in Latin antiquity to Lactantius’s mature theology. Chapter 1 conducts extensive rereading of the classical sources Lactantius used in order to establish the social and political discourse he knew and debated. Within that discourse, Chapter 2 reveals a specific doctrinal content—power theology—which modern scholars have largely overlooked. These early chapters provide terms for a second conceptual adjustment in the area of early Latin apologetic. Chapter 3 traces Latin power theology into North African Christianity and shows the continuation of a Roman political and doctrinal tradition in the Christian context. Chapter 4 locates Lactantius on the arc of that tradition by establishing that power theology underwrites his language of virtue and grounds his polemic against the traditional gods. Chapter 5 examines Lactantius’s application of the technical sense of “power” in his Christology. These two latter chapters reset the modern scholarly discussion of Lactantius’s theology by demonstrating his continuation of “Catholic” pre-Nicene theologies of the Father and Son. Chapter 6 considers Lactantius’s new applications of power theology in the realm of ethics and politics. Born in opposition to Roman violence, the Latin apologists’ teaching on patientia blossoms in Lactantius’s doctrines of human equality and right(s). At every stage, the Latin tradition’s continuing opposition to violence, itself shaped by the example of Christ, drives this simultaneously doctrinal and moral conversation. The work thus concludes that Lactantius was a traditional pre-Nicene Catholic author, whose work constitutes a new point of departure for the project of Latin theology under the uncertain conditions of Constantine’s reign

Franchising regulation in Australia : recent trends and current issues

The Australian franchising sector consists of almost 1,200 different franchise systems and some 73,000 individual franchisee units. Since 1998, a mandatory national industry code of practice, the Franchising Code of Conduct, has spelt out certain prescribed minimum standards of information disclosure, dispute resolution and associated issues. Franchising is also subject to the Competition and Consumer Act. Both of these laws are enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which also has responsibility for educating the sector. This article broadly outlines the current state of Australian franchising, explains the key elements of both the Code and Act that are relevant to franchise systems, and gives a brief overview of the ACCC's enforcement and education work in the sector. It concludes by discussing some recent developments, including the introduction of Small Business Commissioners, possible pecuniary penalties for breaches of the Franchising Code, state-based franchising laws, and increasing international linkages between franchising regulators

Redefining Requirements of Ancillary Services for Technology Agnostic Sources

New sources for ancillary services are needed, yet the requirements for service provision in most countries are explicitly formulated for traditional generators. This leads to waste of the potential for new technologies to deliver ancillary services. In order to harness this potential, we propose to parameterize the requirements of ancillary services so that reserves can be built by combining the advantageous properties of different technologies. The proposal is exemplified through a laboratory test where it shown that the system needs can be covered through cheaper and smaller reserves