Total Synthesis of Biologically Active Natural and Unnatural Products

Herbarin A and B were isolated from the fungal strains of Cladosporium herbarum found in marine sponges Aplysina aerophoba and Callyspongia aerizusa. Total synthesis of Herbarin A and B was achieved by carrying out a multi-step synthesis approach, and the antioxidant properties were evaluated using FRAP assay. Toxicity of these compounds was determined using a zebrafish embryo model. Furthermore, synthesis of C-6 alkyl-azaarene derivatives of nucleosides by Csp3-H bond functionalization were investigated. Effective incorporation of 2-methylazaarene moiety at the C-6 position of the protected inosine nucleoside provided a new class of compounds with anticipated enhanced biological activity

Lack of Progress in Treatment of Migrant Workers from The Grapes of Wrath to The Devil\u27s Highway

Immigration is without a doubt one of the most controversial topics throughout history and today. This comparative essay will analyze the similarities in how the migrant workers of the novel The Grapes of Wrath set in the 1930’s compare to the migrant workers of the novel The Devil’s Highway set in the 2000’s with the purpose of confirming that society has not improved their relations with refugees or immigrants. Even though the characters are separated by nearly seven decades, they face similar challenges and discrimination. During their exodus to their perceived “Promised Land”, California for the “Okies” and the United States for the Latinos, not only do the workers face opposition from their fellow man, but also from nature. They must fight an oppressive economic and political system much larger than they could imagine. In her analysis of The Grapes of Wrath, Kristine R. Yee describes migrant farmworkers as the people who remain unseen yet the public directly benefits from the fruits of their labor, literally. She also states that because we are human, we are inevitably going to repeat the mistakes of the past. In the 1930’s the general public simply wanted to reap the benefits of the migrant farmworkers but refused to help them in their time of need. The same actions hold true for the migrant workers from Mexico nearly seventy years later. By analyzing the similarities between the migrant workers’ experiences and the analysis from Kristine R. Yee, it is undeniable that we have made little if any progress at all in that span of seventy years and beyond. Keywords: Migrant Workers, Immigration, Discrimination, Refugees, Dehumanization, Work, Dust Bowl, Journey, Exodus, Literatur

The Victorian Obsession With Death

When considering the Victorian era, a common perspective of the culture is of one that was prudish, stuffy, and dynamic but perhaps with an underlying tone of darkness. The Victorian era brought England to its apex as a world power through rapid industrialization which, although it allowed Britain to rise, brought about many social and economic problems and discussions. The world around the Victorians was constantly changing and the culture itself adapted as well. However, among the many innovations of the era was one constant: death. When analyzing the Victorian culture, it is obvious that coping with one’s own mortality is a recurring theme. It permeates every aspect of Victorian life, from literature to the harsh reality of life in Victorian England plagued with deplorable working conditions for the poor and a rapid increase in murder. Death became such a prevalent aspect of Victorian life that mourning became an art form in their culture, exemplified by their ruler herself, Queen Victoria. By analyzing various aspects of Victorian culture, from the “art” of dying to published works of literature with macabre themes, one can clearly see that death was a morbid fascination for the Victorians that surrounded them in every facet of their lives. Key Words: Victorian Era; Death; Mortality; Literature; Poetry; Tennyson; Penny Dreadfuls; Obsession; England; Queen Victori

Female Rage, Revenge, and Catharsis: The Good for Her Genre Defined in Promising Young Woman (2020)

By analyzing relevant cultural contexts to the popularity of the “Good for Her” genre, such as the “#MeToo” movement, the Trump presidency, and the resurgence of conservatism in the United States, the development of the “Good for Her” genre and its impact can be made clear. Given the genre’s development through social discourse on social media, it has become a universal and collaborative representation of liberation from oppressive experiences under a patriarchal society. The lead women in these films give those who experience patriarchal oppression a reprieve and an opportunity for catharsis they would not typically get in a male-led, male-focused film. The genre reinforces and builds upon the works of feminist film theorists such as Carol Clover and Laura Mulvey by offering a more contemporary evolution of Clover’s “Final Girl” through the combination of slasher and Final Girl to create the “Good for Her” films’ “victim-villain” and Mulvey’s theory of the “male gaze” by subverting and satirizing the typical female objectification of the old-school horror genre. Promising Young Woman acts as a definitive example of the genre and a crucial representation of the reality of rape culture while depicting a sense of voyeuristic and vicarious revenge and catharsis against the systems of patriarchal oppression that exist within the United State

ECB interest rate hikes will damage climate protection policies

On 21 July, the European Central Bank decided to raise interest rates for the first time since 2011 in a bid to curb inflation. With further rate rises potentially on the horizon, Philipp Heimberger and Lea Steininger argue that climate protection policies could be an unexpected casualty from the central bank’s shift in approach

Concept for Individual and Lifetime-Adaptive Modeling of the Dynamic Behavior of Machine Tools

The increasing demand for personalized products and the lack of skilled workers, intensified by demographic change, are major challenges for the manufacturing industry in Europe. An important framework for addressing these issues is a digital twin that represents the dynamic behavior of machine tools to support the remaining skilled workers and optimize processes in virtual space. Existing methods for modeling the dynamic behavior of machine tools rely on the use of expert knowledge and require a significant amount of manual effort. In this paper, a concept is proposed for individualized and lifetime-adaptive modeling of the dynamic behavior of machine tools with the focus on the machine’s tool center point. Therefore, existing and proven algorithms are combined and applied to this use case. Additionally, it eliminates the need for detailed information about the machine’s kinematic structure and utilizes automated data collection, which reduces the dependence on expert knowledge. In preliminary tests, the algorithm for the initial model setup shows a fit of 99.88% on simulation data. The introduced re-fit approach for online parameter actualization is promising, as in preliminary tests, an accuracy of 95.23% could be reached

Immunosuppressive mechanisms in glioblastoma

Despite maximal surgical and medical therapy, the treatment of glioblastoma remains a seriously vexing problem, with median survival well under 2 years and few long-term survivors. Targeted therapy has yet to produce significant advances in treatment of these lesions in spite of advanced molecular characterization of glioblastoma and glioblastoma cancer stem cells. Recently, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising mode for some of the hardest to treat tumors, including metastatic melanoma. Although immunotherapy has been evaluated in glioblastoma in the past with limited success, better understanding of the failures of these therapies could lead to more successful treatments in the future. Furthermore, there is a persistent challenge for the use of immune therapy to treat glioblastoma secondary to the existence of redundant mechanisms of tumor-mediated immune suppression. Here we will address these mechanisms of immunosuppression in glioblastoma and therapeutic approache

The natural history of EGFR and EGFRvIII in glioblastoma patients

BACKGROUND: The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is over expressed in approximately 50–60% of glioblastoma (GBM) tumors, and the most common EGFR mutant, EGFRvIII, is expressed in 24–67% of cases. This study was designed to address whether over expressed EGFR or EGFRvIII is an actual independent prognostic indicator of overall survival in a uniform body of patients in whom gross total surgical resection (GTR; ≥ 95% resection) was not attempted or achieved. METHODS: Biopsed or partially/subtotally resected GBM patients (N = 54) underwent adjuvant conformal radiation and chemotherapy. Their EGFR and EGFRvIII status was determined by immunohistochemistry and Kaplan-Meier estimates of overall survival were obtained. RESULTS: In our study of GBM patients with less than GTR, 42.6% (n = 23) failed to express EGFR, 25.9% (n = 14) had over expression of the wild-type EGFR only and 31.5 % (n = 17) expressed the EGFRvIII. Patients within groups expressing the EGFR, EGFRvIII, or lacking EGFR expression did not differ in age, Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score, extent of tumor resection. They all had received postoperative radiation and chemotherapy. The median overall survival times for patients with tumors having no EGFR expression, over expressed EGFR only, or EGFRvIII were 12.3 (95% CI, 8.04–16.56), 11.03 (95% CI, 10.18–11.89) and 14.07 (95% CI, 7.39–20.74) months, respectively, log rank test p > 0.05). Patients with tumors that over expressed the EGFR and EGFRvIII were more likely to present with ependymal spread, 21.4% and 35.3% respectively, compared to those patients whose GBM failed to express either marker, 13.0%, although the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference in multifocal disease or gliomatosis cerebri among EGFR expression groups. CONCLUSION: The over expressed wild-type EGFR and EGFRvIII are not independent predictors of median overall survival in the cohort of patients who did not undergo extensive tumor resection