Functional genomic characterization of metallothioneins in brown trout (Salmo trutta L.). using synthetic genetic analysis

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData Availability: The authors state that all data necessary for confirming the conclusions presented in the article are represented fully within the article.The publisher correction to this article is available in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/40821Metal pollution has made a significant impact on the earth’s ecosystems and tolerance to metals in a wide variety of species has evolved. Metallothioneins, a group of cysteine-rich metal-ion binding proteins, are known to be a key physiological mechanism in regulating protection against metal toxicity. Many rivers across the southwest of England are detrimentally affected by metal pollution, but brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) populations are known to reside within them. In this body of work, two isoforms of metallothionein (MetA and MetB) isolated from trout occupying a polluted and a control river are examined. Using synthetic genetic array (SGA) analyses in the model yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, functional genomics is used to explore the role of metallothionein isoforms in driving metal tolerance. By harnessing this experimental system, S. cerevisiae is used to (i) determine the genetic interaction maps of MetA and MetB isoforms; (ii) identify differences between the genetic interactions in both isoforms and (iii) demonstrate that pre-exposure to metals in metal-tolerant trout influences these interactions. By using a functional genomics approach leveraged from the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we demonstrate how such approaches could be used in understanding the ecology and evolution of a non-model species

Developing Career Development Profiles of Student-Athletes: A Comparison with Non-Athletes

Student-athletes' and non-athletes' scores on several career-related assessments were compared. During the 1990-91 academic year at a medium-sized, state-supported university in the South, a sample of 41 student-athletes (83% males and 17% females) and 178 non-athletes (29% males and 71% females) completed the Values Scale (Super & Nevill, 1985b), Career Development Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1981), and Salience Inventory (Super & Nevill, 1985a). Completion of these instruments was required for a semester-long, three-credit course in career/life planning. The student-athletes were non-revenue scholarship athletes representing a NCAA Division II institution in soccer, basketball, and tennis. Both groups contained students representing all class ranks, with a majority in both groups being white (93% of the student-athlete group and 69% of the non-athlete group. Results of two-way ANOVAs indicated that student-athletes highly value physical activity and spend more time in leisure activities than non-athletes. Only one significant gender effect was found: females had a higher score on the combined knowledge scale (M = 100.29) than males (M = 85.16) (F(1, 138) = 8.43, p < .006). The combined knowledge scale score is a linear combination of scores in decision-making and world-of-work information. This result indicates that females may be better able to apply career development principles to decision-making scenarios as well as demonstrate more knowledge of what it takes to get a job and succeed. No differences in career maturity scores were found. Implications for programming to accommodate the special needs of student-athletes are discussed

Open tension free repair of inguinal hernias; the Lichtenstein technique

BACKGROUND: Recurrences have been a significant problem following hernia repair. Prosthetic materials have been increasingly used in hernia repair to prevent recurrences. Their use has been associated with several advantages, such as less postoperative pain, rapid recovery, low recurrence rates. METHODS: In this retrospective study, 540 tension-free inguinal hernia repairs were performed between August 1994 and December 1999 in 510 patients, using a polypropylene mesh (Lichtenstein technique). The main outcome measure was early and late morbidity and especially recurrence. RESULTS: Inguinal hernia was indirect in 55 % of cases (297 patients), direct in 30 % (162 patients) and of the pantaloon (mixed) type in 15 % (81 patients). Mean patient age was 53.7 years (range, 18 – 85). Follow-up was completed in 407 patients (80 %) by clinical examination or phone call. The median follow-up period was 3.8 years (range, 1 – 6 years). Seroma and hematoma formation requiring drainage was observed in 6 and 2 patients, respectively, while transient testicular swelling occurred in 5 patients. We have not observed acute infection or abscess formation related to the presence of the foreign body (mesh). In two patients, however, a delayed rejection of the mesh occurred 10 months and 4 years following surgery. There was one recurrence of the hernia (in one of these patients with late mesh rejection) (recurrence rate = 0.2 %). Postoperative neuralgia was observed in 5 patients (1 %). CONCLUSION: Lichtenstein tension-free mesh inguinal hernia repair is a simple, safe, comfortable, effective method, with extremely low early and late morbidity and remarkably low recurrence rate and therefore it is our preferred method for hernia repair since 1994

The Lantern Vol. 17, No. 1, Fall 1948

• In the Arms of the Sea • The Expressed Should Be Repressed • Puppy Love • Tommy • How to Eat a Ravioli Dinner • The Divine Blessing • On Thunder • There Is No Hell • Old Love Re-met • Autumn Eve • Dr. Cornelius Weygandthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1046/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 17, No. 1, Fall 1948

• In the Arms of the Sea • The Expressed Should Be Repressed • Puppy Love • Tommy • How to Eat a Ravioli Dinner • The Divine Blessing • On Thunder • There Is No Hell • Old Love Re-met • Autumn Eve • Dr. Cornelius Weygandthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1046/thumbnail.jp

Dynamic Integration of Reward and Stimulus Information in Perceptual Decision-Making

In perceptual decision-making, ideal decision-makers should bias their choices toward alternatives associated with larger rewards, and the extent of the bias should decrease as stimulus sensitivity increases. When responses must be made at different times after stimulus onset, stimulus sensitivity grows with time from zero to a final asymptotic level. Are decision makers able to produce responses that are more biased if they are made soon after stimulus onset, but less biased if they are made after more evidence has been accumulated? If so, how close to optimal can they come in doing this, and how might their performance be achieved mechanistically? We report an experiment in which the payoff for each alternative is indicated before stimulus onset. Processing time is controlled by a “go” cue occurring at different times post stimulus onset, requiring a response within msec. Reward bias does start high when processing time is short and decreases as sensitivity increases, leveling off at a non-zero value. However, the degree of bias is sub-optimal for shorter processing times. We present a mechanistic account of participants' performance within the framework of the leaky competing accumulator model [1], in which accumulators for each alternative accumulate noisy information subject to leakage and mutual inhibition. The leveling off of accuracy is attributed to mutual inhibition between the accumulators, allowing the accumulator that gathers the most evidence early in a trial to suppress the alternative. Three ways reward might affect decision making in this framework are considered. One of the three, in which reward affects the starting point of the evidence accumulation process, is consistent with the qualitative pattern of the observed reward bias effect, while the other two are not. Incorporating this assumption into the leaky competing accumulator model, we are able to provide close quantitative fits to individual participant data

Search for time-dependent B0s - B0s-bar oscillations using a vertex charge dipole technique

We report a search for B0s - B0s-bar oscillations using a sample of 400,000 hadronic Z0 decays collected by the SLD experiment. The analysis takes advantage of the electron beam polarization as well as information from the hemisphere opposite that of the reconstructed B decay to tag the B production flavor. The excellent resolution provided by the pixel CCD vertex detector is exploited to cleanly reconstruct both B and cascade D decay vertices, and tag the B decay flavor from the charge difference between them. We exclude the following values of the B0s - B0s-bar oscillation frequency: Delta m_s < 4.9 ps-1 and 7.9 < Delta m_s < 10.3 ps-1 at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, replaced by version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.D; results differ slightly from first versio

A change in the optical polarization associated with a gamma-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279

It is widely accepted that strong and variable radiation detected over all accessible energy bands in a number of active galaxies arises from a relativistic, Doppler-boosted jet pointing close to our line of sight. The size of the emitting zone and the location of this region relative to the central supermassive black hole are, however, poorly known, with estimates ranging from light-hours to a light-year or more. Here we report the coincidence of a gamma-ray flare with a dramatic change of optical polarization angle. This provides evidence for co-spatiality of optical and gamma-ray emission regions and indicates a highly ordered jet magnetic field. The results also require a non-axisymmetric structure of the emission zone, implying a curved trajectory for the emitting material within the jet, with the dissipation region located at a considerable distance from the black hole, at about 10^5 gravitational radii.Comment: Published in Nature issued on 18 February 2010. Corresponding authors: Masaaki Hayashida and Greg Madejsk