Theology in the Jury Room: Religious Discussion as Extraneous Material in the Course of Capital Punishment Deliberations

Why would a God concerned about justice in a matter of life and death be willing to delegate an absolute power over life and death to such fallible and morally benighted creatures?\u27 In the landmark Furman v. Georgia decision, Justice Brennan likened capital punishment to a mere game of chance: When the punishment of death is inflicted in a trivial number of the cases in which it is legally available, the conclusion is virtually inescapable that it is being inflicted arbitrarily. Indeed, it smacks of little more than a lottery system. Although Brennan\u27s argument in Furman focused primarily on disparities across racial lines in death penalty implementation, the notion of arbitrariness applies equally well to our knowledge of the processes, discussions, and maneuvers that take place behind the closed doors of many capital punishment jury rooms. It is practically impossible, and indeed explicitly prohibited by the Rules of Evidence, to delve into jurors\u27 thoughts and considerations pertaining to a particular sentencing decision. This limitation assumes heightened significance when a jury delivers a death penalty sentence, given that it is the ultimate punishment and cannot be corrected after implementation

Planar cell polarity genes Frizzled3a, Vangl2, and Scribble are required for spinal commissural axon guidance

Background A fundamental feature of early nervous system development is the guidance of axonal projections to their targets in order to assemble neural circuits that control behavior. Spinal commissural neurons are an attractive model to investigate the multiple guidance cues that control growth cone navigation both pre- and post-midline crossing, as well as along both the dorsal–ventral (D–V) and anterior–posterior (A–P) axes. Accumulating evidence suggests that guidance of spinal commissural axons along the A–P axis is dependent on components of the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway. In the zebrafish, the earliest born spinal commissural neuron to navigate the midline and turn rostrally is termed commissural primary ascending (CoPA). Unlike mammalian systems, CoPA axons cross the midline as a single axon and allow an analysis of the role of PCP components in anterior pathfinding in single pioneering axons. Results Here, we establish CoPA cells in the zebrafish spinal cord as a model system for investigating the molecular function of planar cell polarity signaling in axon guidance. Using mutant analysis, we show that the functions of Fzd3a and Vangl2 in the anterior turning of commissural axons are evolutionarily conserved in teleosts. We extend our findings to reveal a role for the PCP gene scribble in the anterior guidance of CoPA axons. Analysis of single CoPA axons reveals that these commissural axons become responsive to PCP-dependent anterior guidance cues even prior to midline crossing. When midline crossing is prevented by dcc gene knockdown, ipsilateral CoPA axons still extend axons anteriorly in response to A–P guidance cues. We show that this ipsilateral anterior pathfinding that occurs in the absence of midline crossing is dependent on PCP signaling. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that anterior guidance decisions by CoPA axons are dependent on the function of planar cell polarity genes both prior to and after midline crossing

Functional Seizures: The Patient’s Perspective of a Diagnostic and Treatment Odyssey

Functional seizures can be challenging to properly diagnose, often leading to delays in treatment. The etiology of functional seizures is multifactorial, with psychological factors identified in many, but not all cases. Misdiagnosis may occur due to clinical features mimicking other medical conditions. Once a correct diagnosis is reached, delivery of definitive, evidence-based treatment may be challenging due to limited availability of specialized resources. Research shows psychological education and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have the greatest efficacy. However, individual differences, including acceptance of the diagnosis, therapeutic alliance, duration of symptoms, comorbidities, and access to care may influence outcomes. There is a critical need for reports that can help identify barriers to effective diagnosis and treatment. We present the diagnosis and treatment of a woman who visited the emergency room after an attack of predominant left-sided paralysis, speech dysfunction and altered awareness. Following multiple daily episodes and visits to multiple medical practitioners, testing led to a diagnosis of functional seizures. While the patient was recommended to undergo a variety of therapeutic interventions, including CBT, she ultimately terminated treatment. In a subsequent interview, the patient revealed her personal experience with perceived limitations of acute management strategies. We explore the complexities of diagnosing and treating individuals with functional seizures

Mechanosensitive channel MSL8 regulates osmotic forces during pollen hydration and germination

Pollen grains undergo dramatic changes in cellular water potential as they deliver the male germ line to female gametes, and it has been proposed that mechanosensitive ion channels may sense the resulting mechanical stress. Here, we identify and characterize MscS-like 8 (MSL8), a pollen-specific, membrane tension–gated ion channel required for pollen to survive the hypoosmotic shock of rehydration and for full male fertility. MSL8 negatively regulates pollen germination but is required for cellular integrity during germination and tube growth. MSL8 thus senses and responds to changes in membrane tension associated with pollen hydration and germination. These data further suggest that homologs of bacterial MscS have been repurposed in eukaryotes to function as mechanosensors in multiple developmental and environmental contexts

Oxidant-controlled regioselectivity in the oxidative arylation of N-acetylindoles

N-Acetylindoles can be oxidatively coupled with arenes such as benzene or pentafluorobenzene in dioxane. The use of Cu(OAc)2 as the stoichiometric oxidant produces selective arylation at the 3-position of indole while AgOAc produces selective arylation at indole’s 2-position. [Refer to PDF for graphical abstract

Promoting Teamwork in Translational Medical Teams: Insights and Recommendations from Science and Practice

Translational medical teams are transdisciplinary, highly collaborative, and operate within dynamic environments to solve time-sensitive and complex problems. These teams are tasked with turning observations in the laboratory and clinic into effective interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public. The nature of the problems they seek to solve requires coordination among clinicians, scientists, and experts from various scientific disciplines. Characteristically, translational medical teams have complex compositions, structure, and pluralistic goals, which pose significant challenges and barriers to enacting effective teamwork, compromising team performance. Given these challenges, it is imperative to glean insights from teams research and the science of team science on how to execute efficacious teamwork. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to discuss specific teamwork processes (i.e., trust, communication, self-correction, backup behavior, shared mental models, and conflict management) that are critical to translational medical team performance and offer mechanisms to better equip such teams. Utilizing a theoretical framework of transdisciplinary teamwork adapted from the science of team science and tailored to translational medical teams, we describe each of these processes, their relation to translational medical team outcomes, and how they can be leveraged to improve teamwork. Such a discussion aims to provide practical guidance for conceptualizing and enhancing teamwork in translational medical teams

The Development of Self-Efficacy to Work with Suicidal Clients

Suicide is a public health crisis which counselors must be prepared to address. In this grounded theory study, the researchers advance a model to show how counselors develop self-efficacy to work with suicidal clients. Counselor educators may use this model to improve programmatic training and supervision of students

Long-Term Behavioral Effects of Post-weaning Social Isolation in Males and Females

Adolescence is a developmental period associated with vast neural and behavioral changes which are accompanied by altered sensitivity to stimuli, both stressful and rewarding. Perturbations, especially stressful stimuli, during this period have been shown to alter behavior in adulthood. Social isolation rearing is one such perturbation. This review highlights the long-term behavioral consequences of adolescent social isolation rearing in rodents with a specific focus on anxiety- and addiction-related behaviors. Sex-specific effects are discussed where data are available. We then consider changes in monoaminergic neurotransmission as one possible mechanism for the behavioral effects described. This research on both normative and perturbed adolescent development is crucial to understanding and treating the increased vulnerability to psychiatric disorders seen in humans during this life stage

Frontiers in PROTACs

Targeting protein–protein interactions (PPI) is a key focus in the development of new and emerging small-molecule therapeutics. Shallow interacting surfaces can render PPI targeting notoriously difficult. This leaves many therapeutically captivating targets ‘undruggable’. Despite these challenges, there has been extraordinary progress circumventing this issue by hijacking the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) to target selected substrates for destruction using target-based degradation (TBD) strategies, including bifunctional molecules known as proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs). In this review, we discuss some of the most recent innovative concepts emerging from PROTAC research and related technologies

Mining the Plant-Herbivore Interface with a Leafmining Drosophila of Arabidopsis

Experimental infections of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) with genomically characterized plant pathogens such as Pseudomonas syringae have facilitated the dissection of canonical eukaryotic defence pathways and parasite virulence factors. Plants are also attacked by herbivorous insects, and the development of an ecologically relevant genetic model herbivore that feeds on Arabidopsis will enable the parallel dissection of host defence and reciprocal resistance pathways such as those involved in xenobiotic metabolism. An ideal candidate is Scaptomyza flava, a drosophilid fly whose leafmining larvae are true herbivores that can be found in nature feeding on Arabidopsis and other crucifers. Here, we describe the life cycle of S. flava on Arabidopsis and use multiple approaches to characterize the response of Arabidopsis to S. flava attack. Oviposition choice tests and growth performance assays on different Arabidopsis ecotypes, defence-related mutants, and hormone and chitin-treated plants revealed significant differences in host preference and variation in larval performance across Arabidopsis accessions. The jasmonate and glucosinolate pathways in Arabidopsis are important in mediating quantitative resistance against S. flava, and priming with jasmonate or chitin resulted in increased resistance. Expression of xenobiotic detoxification genes was reduced in S. flava larvae reared on Arabidopsis jasmonate signalling mutants and increased in plants pretreated with chitin. These results and future research directions are discussed in the context of developing a genetic model system to analyse insect–plant interactions.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog