On the Trail of Fine Ale: The Role of Factor Conditions in the Location of Craft Breweries in the United States

Since their origin in the late 1970s, craft breweries have diffused throughout the United States, greatly changing American perceptions of beer in the process. The manner in which craft breweries have spread throughout the nation has not been ubiquitous; at all scales of analysis, a great deal of variation exists. Some areas are far more developed than others in terms of the number of craft breweries present. The data indicate that, while population does play a role in influencing the development of craft breweries, other sociological and demographic conditions also appear to be of great importance in explaining the spatial distribution of these breweries. This thesis examines the relationship between craft breweries and many factor conditions in an attempt to pinpoint the factors which are most closely associated with the provision of craft breweries. Beginning at the national scale, the focus is narrowed down in scale, including regional, subregional, state and, finally, metropolitan levels. At the state and metropolitan levels of analysis, regression models are developed in an attempt to determine the factors that influence craft brewing development to the greatest degree. Additionally, marketing techniques are examined in an effort to better understand locational variations of how craft beers are being marketed. The results of the state-level analysis suggest the importance of a number of factors which influence the degree of craft brewing development. At the state level, the presence of highly educated residents, the extent of intrastate hierarchical diffusion of craft breweries to non-metropolitan areas, and the per capita state expenditures are among the variables related to the degree of craft brewing development. At the metropolitan scale, median household income, the extent of wage inequality, the provision of arts and culture, the presence of crime, the percentage of highly educated residents, the relative emphasis placed on education, cost of living, and general quality of life are the variables that exert the greatest amount of predictive power over the number of craft breweries per capita in a metropolitan area. At both state and metropolitan scales, the limited effect of raw population numbers in influencing the number of craft breweries is apparent. The results also indicate, however, that there are many other, immeasurable factors that influence the extent of craft brewing to a greater degree than any of the independent variables included in the model were able to capture

THE ROLE OF FACTOR CONDITIONS IN

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Comparative ultrastructure of collagen fibrils in uterine leiomyomas and normal myometrium

Objective: To examine the ultrastructural characteristics of extracellular matrix and mature collagen fibrils in uterine leiomyomas and compare them with those in adjacent normal myometrium. Design: Analysis of paired leiomyoma-myometrium in surgical specimens. Result(s): Observation of specimens at ϫ12,500 magnification indicated that collagen fibrils were more abundant, loosely packed, and arrayed in a nonparallel manner in leiomyomas compared with myometrium. Random areas were examined at ϫ6,500 to ϫ64,000 magnification and revealed collagen fibrils of equal diameter in both leiomyomas and myometrium. However, an ordered and regular barbed appearance was present in collagen fibrils from myometrium but was lacking in leiomyomas. Conclusion(s): Leiomyomas contain an abnormal collagen fibril structure and orientation, which suggests that the well-regulated fibril formation in myometrium is altered in leiomyomas. Alterations in collagen genes may play a role in the pathogenesis of leiomyomas. (Fertil Steril 2004;82(Suppl 3):118282(Suppl 3): -118

Regulation of renal proximal tubule Na-K-ATPase by prostaglandins

Prostaglandins (PGs) play a number of roles in the kidney, including regulation of salt and water reabsorption. In this report, evidence was obtained for stimulatory effects of PGs on Na-K-ATPase in primary cultures of rabbit renal proximal tubule (RPT) cells. The results of our real-time PCR studies indicate that in primary RPTs the effects of PGE2, the major renal PG, are mediated by four classes of PGE (EP) receptors. The role of these EP receptors in the regulation of Na-K-ATPase was examined at the transcriptional level. Na-K-ATPase consists of a catalytic α-subunit encoded by the ATP1A1 gene, as well as a β-subunit encoded by the ATP1B1 gene. Transient transfection studies conducted with pHβ1-1141 Luc, a human ATP1B1 promoter/luciferase construct, indicate that both PGE1 and PGE2 are stimulatory. The evidence for the involvement of both the cAMP and Ca2+ signaling pathways includes the inhibitory effects of the myristolylated PKA inhibitor PKI, the adenylate cyclase (AC) inhibitor SQ22536, and the PKC inhibitors Gö 6976 and Ro-32-0432 on the PGE1 stimulation. Other effectors that similarly act through cAMP and PKC were also stimulatory to transcription, including norepinephrine and dopamine. In addition to its effects on transcription, a chronic incubation with PGE1 was observed to result in an increase in Na-K-ATPase mRNA levels as well as an increase in Na-K-ATPase activity. An acute stimulatory effect of PGE1 on Na-K-ATPase was observed and was associated with an increase in the level of Na-K-ATPase in the basolateral membrane