Inherit the Wind

Inherit the Wind, the famous play about the Scopes trial, debuted at John Carroll University on November 7, 1986. A notice and a review of the play appeared on page 4 of the November 6th, 1986 The Carroll News and on page 6 of The Carroll News of November 13, 1986 respectively.https://collected.jcu.edu/plays/1101/thumbnail.jp

High-efficiency RNA cloning enables accurate quantification of miRNA expression by deep sequencing

Small RNA cloning and sequencing is uniquely positioned as a genome-wide approach to quantify miRNAs with single-nucleotide resolution. However, significant biases introduced by RNA ligation in current protocols lead to inaccurate miRNA quantification by 1000-fold. Here we report an RNA cloning method that achieves over 95% efficiency for both 5′ and 3′ ligations. It achieves accurate quantification of synthetic miRNAs with less than two-fold deviation from the anticipated value and over a dynamic range of four orders of magnitude. Taken together, this high-efficiency RNA cloning method permits accurate genome-wide miRNA profiling from total RNAs

Insulin clearance and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Hispanics and African Americans: the IRAS Family Study.

ObjectiveWe aimed to identify factors that are independently associated with the metabolic clearance rate of insulin (MCRI) and to examine the association of MCRI with incident type 2 diabetes in nondiabetic Hispanics and African Americans.Research design and methodsWe investigated 1,116 participants in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS) Family Study with baseline examinations from 2000 to 2002 and follow-up examinations from 2005 to 2006. Insulin sensitivity (S(I)), acute insulin response (AIR), and MCRI were determined at baseline from frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance tests. MCRI was calculated as the ratio of the insulin dose over the incremental area under the curve of insulin. Incident diabetes was defined as fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL or antidiabetic medication use by self-report.ResultsWe observed that S(I) and HDL cholesterol were independent positive correlates of MCRI, whereas fasting insulin, fasting glucose, subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue, and AIR were independent negative correlates (all P < 0.05) at baseline. After 5 years of follow-up, 71 (6.4%) participants developed type 2 diabetes. Lower MCRI was associated with a higher risk of incident diabetes after adjusting for demographics, lifestyle factors, HDL cholesterol, indexes of obesity and adiposity, and insulin secretion (odds ratio 2.01 [95% CI 1.30-3.10], P = 0.0064, per one-SD decrease in loge-transformed MCRI).ConclusionsOur data showed that lower MCRI predicts the incidence of type 2 diabetes

Advanced power sources for space missions

Approaches to satisfying the power requirements of space-based Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) missions are studied. The power requirements for non-SDI military space missions and for civil space missions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are also considered. The more demanding SDI power requirements appear to encompass many, if not all, of the power requirements for those missions. Study results indicate that practical fulfillment of SDI requirements will necessitate substantial advances in the state of the art of power technology. SDI goals include the capability to operate space-based beam weapons, sometimes referred to as directed-energy weapons. Such weapons pose unprecedented power requirements, both during preparation for battle and during battle conditions. The power regimes for these two sets of applications are referred to as alert mode and burst mode, respectively. Alert-mode power requirements are presently stated to range from about 100 kW to a few megawatts for cumulative durations of about a year or more. Burst-mode power requirements are roughly estimated to range from tens to hundreds of megawatts for durations of a few hundred to a few thousand seconds. There are two likely energy sources, chemical and nuclear, for powering SDI directed-energy weapons during the alert and burst modes. The choice between chemical and nuclear space power systems depends in large part on the total duration during which power must be provided. Complete study findings, conclusions, and eight recommendations are reported

Urinary ATP and visualization of intracellular bacteria: a superior diagnostic marker for recurrent UTI in renal transplant recipients?

Renal transplant recipients (RTR) are highly susceptible to urinary tract infections (UTIs) with over 50% of patients having at least one UTI within the first year. Yet it is generally acknowledged that there is considerable insensitivity and inaccuracy in routine urinalysis when screening for UTIs. Thus a large number of transplant patients with genuine urine infections may go undiagnosed and develop chronic recalcitrant infections, which can be associated with graft loss and morbidity. Given a recent study demonstrating ATP is released by urothelial cells in response to bacteria exposure, possibly acting at metabotropic P2Y receptors mediating a proinflammatory response, we have investigated alternative, and possibly more appropriate, urinalysis techniques in a cohort of RTRs.Mid-stream urine (MSU) samples were collected from 53 outpatient RTRs. Conventional leukocyte esterase and nitrite dipstick tests, and microscopic pyuria counts (in 1 ?l), ATP concentration measurements, and identification of intracellular bacteria in shed urothelial cells, were performed on fresh unspun samples and compared to ‘gold-standard’ bacterial culture results.Of the 53 RTRs, 22% were deemed to have a UTI by ‘gold-standard’ conventional bacteria culture, whereas 87%, 8% and 4% showed evidence of UTIs according to leukocyte esterase dipstick, nitrite dipstick, and a combination of both dipsticks, respectively. Intracellular bacteria were visualized in shed urothelial cells of 44% of RTRs, however only 1 of the 23 RTRs (44%) was deemed to have a UTI by conventional bacteria culture. A significant association of the ‘gold-standard’ test with urinary ATP concentration combined with visualization of intracellular bacteria in shed urothelial cells was determined using the Fisher’s exact test.It is apparent that standard bedside tests for UTIs give variable results and that seemingly quiescent bacteria in urothelial cells are very common in RTRs and may represent a focus of subclinical infection. Furthermore, our results suggest urinary ATP concentration combined with detection of intracellular bacteria in shed urinary epithelial cells may be a sensitive means by which to detect ‘occult’ infection in RTRs

Possible Triplet Electron Pairing and an Anisotropic Spin Susceptibility in Organic Superconductors (TMTSF)_2 X

We argue that (TMTSF)_2 PF_6 compound under pressure is likely a triplet superconductor with a vector order parameter d(k) \equiv (d_a(k) \neq 0, d_c(k) = ?, d_{b'}(k) = 0); |d_a(k)| > |d_c(k)|. It corresponds to an anisotropic spin susceptibility at T=0: \chi_{b'} = \chi_0, \chi_a \ll \chi_0, where \chi_0 is its value in a metallic phase. [The spin quantization axis, z, is parallel to a so-called b'-axis]. We show that the suggested order parameter explains why the upper critical field along the b'-axis exceeds all paramagnetic limiting fields, including that for a nonuniform superconducting state, whereas the upper critical field along the a-axis (a \perp b') is limited by the Pauli paramagnetic effects [I. J. Lee, M. J. Naughton, G. M. Danner and P. M. Chaikin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 3555 (1997)]. The triplet order parameter is in agreement with the recent Knight shift measurements by I. J. Lee et al. as well as with the early results on a destruction of superconductivity by nonmagnetic impurities and on the absence of the Hebel-Slichter peak in the NMR relaxation rate.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figur

A GABAergic cell type in the lateral habenula links hypothalamic homeostatic and midbrain motivation circuits with sex steroid signaling

Abstract The lateral habenula (LHb) has a key role in integrating a variety of neural circuits associated with reward and aversive behaviors. There is limited information about how the different cell types and neuronal circuits within the LHb coordinate physiological and motivational states. Here, we report a cell type in the medial division of the LHb (LHbM) in male rats that is distinguished by: (1) a molecular signature for GABAergic neurotransmission (Slc32a1/VGAT) and estrogen receptor (Esr1/ERα) expression, at both mRNA and protein levels, as well as the mRNA for vesicular glutamate transporter Slc17a6/VGLUT2, which we term the GABAergic estrogen-receptive neuron (GERN); (2) its axonal projection patterns, identified by in vivo juxtacellular labeling, to both local LHb and to midbrain modulatory systems; and (3) its somatic expression of receptors for vasopressin, serotonin and dopamine, and mRNA for orexin receptor 2. This cell type is anatomically located to receive afferents from midbrain reward (dopamine and serotonin) and hypothalamic water and energy homeostasis (vasopressin and orexin) circuits. These afferents shared the expression of estrogen synthase (aromatase) and VGLUT2, both in their somata and axon terminals. We demonstrate dynamic changes in LHbM VGAT+ cell density, dependent upon gonadal functional status, that closely correlate with motivational behavior in response to predator and forced swim stressors. The findings suggest that the homeostasis and reward-related glutamatergic convergent projecting pathways to LHbMC employ a localized neurosteroid signaling mechanism via axonal expression of aromatase, to act as a switch for GERN excitation/inhibition output prevalence, influencing depressive or motivated behavior

Triplet superconductivity in a one-dimensional ferromagnetic t-J model

In this paper we study the ground state phase diagram of a one-dimensional $t-U-J$ model, at half-filling. In the large-bandwidth limit and for ferromagnetic exchange with easy-plane anisotropy, a phase with gapless charge and massive spin excitations, characterized by the coexistence of triplet superconducting ($TS$) and spin density wave ($SDW^{z}$) instabilities is realized in the ground state. With reduction of the bandwidth, a transition into an insulating phase showing properties of the spin-1/2 XY model takes place. In the case of weakly anisotropic antiferromagnetic exchange the system shows a long range dimerized (Peierls) ordering in the ground state. The complete weak-coupling phase diagram of the model, including effects of the on-site Hubbard interaction, is obtained

Marginal Deformations of Field Theories with AdS_4 Duals

We generate new AdS_4 solutions of D=11 supergravity starting from AdS_4 x X_7 solutions where X_7 has U(1)^3 isometry. We consider examples where X_7 is weak G_2, Sasaki-Einstein or tri-Sasakian, corresponding to d=3 SCFTs with N=1,2 or 3 supersymmetry, respectively, and where the deformed solutions preserve N=1,2 or 1 supersymmetry, respectively. For the special cases when X_7 is M(3,2), Q(1,1,1) or N(1,1)_I we identify the exactly marginal deformation in the dual field theory. We also show that the volume of supersymmetric 5-cycles of N(1,1)_I agrees with the conformal dimension predicted by the baryons of the dual field theory.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures; v2. typos correcte