The Effects of “No Pro Homo” Policies on LGBTQ+ Perceptions in the American South

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works to discover how “no pro homo” policies impact perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community around the country. Six personal interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of the lived, individualized experiences of each participant. An analysis of the findings from these interviews discovered four significant conclusions about how queerness is perceived and treated in the American South: these policies perpetuate the notion that queerness does not exist in the real world, they associate queerness with sexual deviancy and bad behavior, they cast queerness as “other,” and they negatively impact the ways in which LGBTQ+ students perceive themselves. Through this discovery, this study encourages the eradication of these policies in order to protect the safety and well-being of all individuals in public education settings while liberating LGBTQ+ students and teachers around the country. Keywords: LGBTQ, public schools, sex education, policy, perceptions, American Sout

Action of HMGB1 on miR221/222 cluster in neuroblastoma cell lines

microRNA (miR/miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs that control gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by targeting mRNAs. Aberrant expression of miRNAs is often observed in different types of cancer. Specific miRNAs function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes and interfere with various aspects of carcinogenesis, including differentiation, proliferation and invasion. Upregulation of miRNAs 221 and 222 has been shown to induce a malignant phenotype in numerous human cancers via inhibition of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid malignancy in children, which is characterized by cellular heterogeneity that corresponds to different clinical outcomes. The different cellular phenotypes are associated with different gene mutations and miRs that control genetic and epigenetic factors. For this reason miRs are considered a potential therapeutic target in neuroblastoma. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanisms by which extracellular high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) promotes cell growth in neuroblastoma. SK-N-BE(2) and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma derived cell lines were transfected with the antisense oligonucleotides, anti-miR-221 and -222, followed by treatment with HMGB1 to investigate the expression of the oncosuppressor PTEN. In this study, it was demonstrated that HMGB1, which is released by damaged cells and tumor cells, upregulates miR-221/222 oncogenic clusters in the two human neuroblastoma derived cell lines. The results revealed that the oncogenic cluster miRs 221/222 were more highly expressed by the most undifferentiated cell line [SK-N-BE(2)] compared with the the less tumorigenic cell line (SH-SY5Y) and that exogenous HMGB1 increases this expression. In addition, HMGB1 modulates PTEN expression via miR-221/222, as demonstrated by transiently blocking miR-221/222 with anti-sense oligonucleotides. These results may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for neuroblastoma

Un portale per l’archeologia medievale

Thanks to the great development in the use of the Internet, even in Archaeology the Net can be exploited both as a means to spread new research results, and to create a dialogue between different institutions like Universities, Superintendences, archaeological and cultural associations. Nowadays, through thousands of web sites, users have acquired a good experience in surfing and are able to choose which site to visit and not. This article presents a detailed description of our web site for Medieval Archaeology, which counts more than 6000 web pages since it was put on line in 1996. It has become a benchmark and a starting point for every kind of research in medieval archaeology on the Interne

Atmosphere Loss by Aerial Bursts

We present a simple analytic description of atmospheric mass loss by aerial bursts and demonstrate that mass loss from aerial bursts becomes significant when the maximum impactor size that leads to an aerial burst rather than a ground explosion, $r_o$, is larger than the minimum impactor size needed to achieve atmospheric loss, $r_{min}$. For vertical trajectories, which give the most stringent limit, this condition is approximately satisfied when $\rho_o/\rho_i \gtrsim 0.4 v_e/v_\infty$, which implies atmospheric densities need to be comparable to impactor densities for impactor velocities that are a few times the escape velocity of the planet. The range of impactor radii resulting in aerial burst-induced mass loss, $r_o-r_{min}$, increases with the ratio of the atmosphere to the impactor density and with the trajectory angle of the impactor. The range of impactor radii that result in aerial burst-induced mass loss and the atmospheric mass lost is larger in adiabatic atmospheres than isothermal atmospheres of equivalent total mass, scale height, and atmospheric surface density. Our results imply that aerial bursts are not expected to significantly contribute to the atmospheric mass-loss history of Earth, but are expected to play an important role for planets and exoplanets similar to Neptune with significant atmospheres. For Neptune-like atmospheres, the atmospheric mass ejected per impactor mass by aerial bursts is comparable to that lost by ground explosions, which implies that, for impactors following a Dohnanyi size distribution, overall loss by aerial busts is expected to exceed that by ground explosions by a factor of $(r_{ground}/r_{aerial})^{0.5}$.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

HAZMAT VI: The Evolution of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation Emitted from Early M Star

Quantifying the evolution of stellar extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 100 -- 1000 $\overset{\circ}{A}$) emission is critical for assessing the evolution of planetary atmospheres and the habitability of M dwarf systems. Previous studies from the HAbitable Zones and M dwarf Activity across Time (HAZMAT) program showed the far- and near-UV (FUV, NUV) emission from M stars at various stages of a stellar lifetime through photometric measurements from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). The results revealed increased levels of short-wavelength emission that remain elevated for hundreds of millions of years. The trend for EUV flux as a function of age could not be determined empirically because absorption by the interstellar medium prevents access to the EUV wavelengths for the vast majority of stars. In this paper, we model the evolution of EUV flux from early M stars to address this observational gap. We present synthetic spectra spanning EUV to infrared wavelengths of 0.4 $\pm$ 0.05 M$_{\odot}$ stars at five distinct ages between 10 and 5000 Myr, computed with the PHOENIX atmosphere code and guided by the GALEX photometry. We model a range of EUV fluxes spanning two orders of magnitude, consistent with the observed spread in X-ray, FUV, and NUV flux at each epoch. Our results show that the stellar EUV emission from young M stars is 100 times stronger than field age M stars, and decreases as t$^{-1}$ after remaining constant for a few hundred million years. This decline stems from changes in the chromospheric temperature structure, which steadily shifts outward with time. Our models reconstruct the full spectrally and temporally resolved history of an M star's UV radiation, including the unobservable EUV radiation, which drives planetary atmospheric escape, directly impacting a planet's potential for habitability.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, accepted to Ap

The contribution of the major planet search surveys to EChO target selection

The EChO core science will be based on a three tier survey, each with increasing sensitivity, in order to study the population of exo-planets from super-Earths to Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (temperatures of 300 K - 3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. To achieve a meaningful outcome an accurate selection of the target sample is needed. In this paper we analyse the targets, suitable for EChO observations, expected to result from a sample of present and forthcoming detection surveys. Exoplanets currently known are already sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. However we expect the results from these surveys to increase the sample of smaller planets that will allow us to optimize the EChO sample selection.Comment: Submitted to Experimental Astronom

Parallel packing of &#945;-helices in crystals of the zervamicin IIA analog Boc-Trp-Ile-Ala-Aib-Ile-Val-Aib-Leu-Aib-Pro-OMe.2H<SUB>2</SUB>0

An apolar synthetic analog of the first 10 residues at the NH2-terminal end of zervamicin HA crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1 with cell dimensions a = 10.206 &#177; 0.002 A, b = 12.244 &#177; 0.002 A, c = 15.049 &#177; 0.002 A, &#945; = 93.94 &#177; 0.01&#176;, &#946; = 95.10 &#177; 0.01&#176;, &#947; = 104.56 &#177; 0.01&#176;, Z = 1, C60H97N1103.2H2O. Despite the relatively few a-aminoisobutyric acid residues, the peptide maintains a helical form. The first intrahelical hydrogen bond is of the 310 type between N(3) and 0(0), followed by five &#945;-helix-type hydrogen bonds. Solution 1H NMR studies in chloroform also favor a helical conformation, with seven solvent-shielded NH groups. Continuous columns are formed by head-to-tail hydrogen bonds between the helical molecules along the helix axis. The absence of polar side chains precludes any lateral hydrogen bonds. Since the peptide crystallizes with one molecule in a trilinic space group, aggregation of the helical columns must necessarily be parallel rather than antiparallel. The packdng of the columns is rather inefficient, as indicated by very few good van der Waals' contacts and the occurrence of voids between the molecules

Cooperatives in Ohio’s Economy: Their Contribution and the Impact of Covid-19

Ohio is home to 452 cooperatives, including some of the largest agricultural co-ops in the country, and is the birthplace of rural electric cooperatives in the U.S. However, prior to this analysis there was little information about the economic impact of those cooperatives on the state’s economy. The research team used various public sources and interviews to gather data on 58 agricultural and food cooperatives and 25 rural electric cooperatives in Ohio. This study found that agriculture, food, and rural electric cooperatives supported an estimated 12,910 full-time and part-time jobs in the state, attained $875 million in labor income, and contributed$2 billion to value-added and $4 billion to output in 2019. The pandemic had a largely neutral impact on job counts, with cooperatives employing roughly the same number of people in 2021 as they did pre-pandemic. Perhaps the most significant negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Ohio’s cooperatives were supply chain issues, including significant delays in procuring goods, instability in pricing, and challenges planning for the long-term. The pandemic positively impacted cooperatives’ operations by accelerating the adoption of digital technologies