Giving Baculoviruses a Better Edge

Scientific advancements built on an understanding of what nature already provides are leading to environmentally friendly crop-pest control by either biological agents or specifically designed synthetic antiinsect compounds. A case in point: research on baculoviruses. Baculoviruses are rod-shaped DNA viruses, many of which begin their life cycle reproducing inside cells. In the nuclei of caterpillar cells infected with baculoviruses, viral progeny multiply and are incorporated into protective polyhedronshaped protein structures called occlusion bodies. Infected caterpillars die and contaminate the leaf surfaces with the occlusion bodies. Then, healthy caterpillars ingest the occlusion bodies and release the virus when feeding on contaminated leaves, thus continuing the life cycle of infection and replication. “Each year, natural baculovirus epidemics nearly wipe out populations of some caterpillar pests, such as corn earworm, cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm, and cabbage’s nemesis—the diamondback moth,” says ARS microbiologist Arthur H. McIntosh, at the Biological Control of Insects Research Laboratory (BCIRL), Columbia, Missouri. If that assertion doesn’t have a familiar ring to most growers of major U.S. crops, it’s probably because the epidemics occur after crop damage has already been done

Prostaglandins A1 and E1 influence gene expression in an established insect cell line (BCIRL-HzAM1 cells)

Prostaglandins (PGs) and other eicosanoids exert important physiological actions in insects and other invertebrates, including influencing ion transport and mediating cellular immune defense functions. Although these actions are very well documented, we have no information on the mechanisms of PGs actions in insect cells. Here we report on the outcomes of experiments designed to test our hypothesis that PGs modulate gene expression in an insect cell line established from pupal ovarian tissue of the moth Helicoverpa zea (BCIRL-HzAM1 cells). We treated cells with either PGA1 or PGE1 for 12 or 24 h then analyzed cell lysates by 2-D electrophoresis. Analysis of the gels by densitometry revealed substantial changes in protein expression in some of the protein spots we analyzed. These spots were processed for mass spectrometric analysis by MALDI TOF/TOF, which yielded in silico protein identities for all 34 spots. The apparent changes in three of the proteins were confirmed by semi-quantative PCR, showing that the changes in mRNA expression were reflected in changes in protein expression. The 34 proteins were sorted into six categories, protein actions, lipid metabolism, signal transduction, protection, cell functions and metabolism. The findings support the hypothesis that one mechanism of PG action in insect cells is the modulation of gene expression

Cervical Screening and General Physical Examination Behaviors of Women Exposed In Utero to Diethylstilbestrol

Objective. To estimate whether women exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol (DES) report receiving more cervical and general physical examinations compared to unexposed women. Materials and Methods. 1994 Diethylstilbestrol Adenosis cohort data are used to assess the degree of recommended compliance of cervical screenings found in 3,140 DES-exposed and 826 unexposed women. Participants were enrolled at 4 sites: Houston, Boston, Rochester, and Los Angeles. Logistic regression modeling was used to analyze mailed questionnaire data, which included reported frequency over the preceding 5 years (1990-1994) of Papanicolaou smears and general physical examinations. Results. Diethylstilbestrol-exposed women exceeded the recommended frequency of Papanicolaou smear screenings [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.15, 95% CI (confidence interval) = 1.60-2.88] compared to the unexposed. This association held among those without a history of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (aOR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.35-2.62). Diethylstilbestrol-exposed women exceeded annual recommendations for physical examinations (aOR = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.16-4.43) among women without a history of chronic disease when compared to unexposed women. Conclusions. Most DES-exposed women are receiving cervical cancer screening at least at recommended intervals, but one third of the women are not receiving annual Papanicolaou smear examinations

The Lantern Vol. 4, No. 2, March 1936

• Cooperative Democracy • Fantasy • Drama: Porgy and Bess • Foreign Entanglements • The Kibitzer • My Gallery of Old Folks • My Friend, Mark Twain • Jimmy and Waffles • Reminiscence • Gold Dust • After Twenty Centuries • All the World\u27s a Stage • Early Medicinehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1007/thumbnail.jp

Dialectics and difference: against Harvey's dialectical post-Marxism

David Harvey`s recent book, Justice, nature and the geography of difference (JNGD), engages with a central philosophical debate that continues to dominate human geography: the tension between the radical Marxist project of recent decades and the apparently disempowering relativism and `play of difference' of postmodern thought. In this book, Harvey continues to argue for a revised `post-Marxist' approach in human geography which remains based on Hegelian-Marxian principles of dialectical thought. This article develops a critique of that stance, drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. I argue that dialectical thinking, as well as Harvey's version of `post-Marxism', has been undermined by the wide-ranging `post-' critique. I suggest that Harvey has failed to appreciate the full force of this critique and the implications it has for `post-Marxist' ontology and epistemology. I argue that `post-Marxism', along with much contemporary human geography, is constrained by an inflexible ontology which excessively prioritizes space in the theory produced, and which implements inflexible concepts. Instead, using the insights of several `post-' writers, I contend there is a need to develop an ontology of `context' leading to the production of `contextual theories'. Such theories utilize flexible concepts in a multilayered understanding of ontology and epistemology. I compare how an approach which produces a `contextual theory' might lead to more politically empowering theory than `post-Marxism' with reference to one of Harvey's case studies in JNGD

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

The Return of Character: Parallels Between Late-Victorian and Twenty-First Century Discourses

There has been an increasingly common trend in the UK to identify character skills and traits as the basis for various individual successes and achievements. In education policy and employment services, character has been linked to the making of successful, morally aware, employable and socially mobile citizens. This article explores the late-nineteenth century use of character discourses, focusing on the economist Alfred Marshall. During this period character was associated with future-oriented subjects – those displaying provident and thrifty habits and dispositions – and held particular class, race and gender prejudices. The article draws parallels between this late-Victorian approach to character and the ‘return’ of character in twenty-first century education and welfare-to-work policy, in particular where cultivating character is linked to improving employability and social mobility. We can make productive comparisons between character’s Victorian legacy and its reemergence more recently amid increasingly moralized discourses around poverty, inequality and unemployment. In doing so, we might better understand the historical antecedents to stigmatizing character discourses today, insofar as they leave the burden of responsibility for particular social outcomes in life and the labour market with individuals and their ability to cultivate their own human capital

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin