Compounds and Methods for Reducing the Occurrence of Post-Surgical Adhesions

Compounds and methods for reducing the occurrence of a post-surgical adhesion are provided. The compounds can include acrylic acid groups and ethylene glycol groups, and can be directed to an area of damaged tissue by the incorporation of a fibrin targeting peptide. The compounds can further include a brush-like portion, capable of creating a steric barrier between a damaged tissue or organ and adjacent tissues or organs, and a targeting portion, capable of directing the compounds to a damaged tissue or organ. Methods of detecting damaged tissue and kits are also provided

Cultural and sub-cultural comparisons in preferences for natural settings

Although studies of preferences for natural environments across cultures have tended to find rather high agreement, most studies have concentrated on correlational findings. Analyses of actual preference levels and of perceptual categories yield a more complete picture. Western Australian and American student preference ratings of scenes of the Western Australian landscape provided an opportunity to examine cross-cultural comparisons for both preference and perception. The inclusion of a third sample, however, makes evident even greater sub-cultural differences. A Western Australian group sharing an interest in flora and conservation showed distinctly different preference patterns to the Australian students. The study demonstrates the effect of different aspects of familiarity on environmental preference. Furthermore, preference ratings may serve as an effective participation tool to identify differences among interest groups.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26932/1/0000498.pd

Shortgrass Steppe LTER VI: examining ecosystem persistence and responses to global change, 2010-2014 proposal

Includes bibliographical references.The SGS-LTER research site was established in 1980 by researchers at Colorado State University as part of a network of long-term research sites within the US LTER Network, supported by the National Science Foundation. Scientists within the Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Biology Department at CSU, California State Fullerton, USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Wyoming, among others, have contributed to our understanding of the structure and functions of the shortgrass steppe and other diverse ecosystems across the network while maintaining a common mission and sharing expertise, data and infrastructure.The Shortgrass Steppe Long-term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) program focuses on how grassland ecosystems function and persist or change in the face of global change. Our conceptual framework asserts that climate, physiography, grazing, fire and landuse, operating over different spatial and temporal scales, are the dominant determinants of the structure, function, and persistence of the SGS. Using the shortgrass steppe (SGS) ecosystem of the North American Great Plains as a model, we seek to (1) identify the ecological attributes of grasslands that historically have resulted in their persistence and (2) understand these attributes in ways that will allow us to identify area of vulnerability and better forecast the future of grasslands in the face of global change. Given its geographic extent and history, the SGS encapsulates many of the features of a system driven by social-ecological interactions and the vulnerabilities of semiarid grasslands to global change. Our overarching question is: How will structure and function of the SGS respond to expected changes in climate, management, and land-use, and what will be the consequences

Brief Amici Curiae of Electronic Frontier Foundation, 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, and Profs. Jonathan Entin, David F. Forte, Andrew Geronimo, Raymond Ku, Stephen Lazarus, Kevin Francis O’Neill, Margaret Tarkington, Aaron H. Caplan, and Eugene Volokh in Support of Respondent-Appellant, Joni Bey and Rebecca Rasawehr v. Jeffrey Rasawehr, Supreme Court of Ohio (Case No. 2019-0295)

The brief argues that the Third District Court of Appeals, in violation of the First Amendment, erred in upholding an injunction that barred defendant from any online postings regarding plaintiff, whether or not those postings were to plaintiff or to third parties

Systemic Corticosteroids in Asthma : A Call to Action From World Allergy Organization and Respiratory Effectiveness Group

Acknowledgments This manuscript was endorsed by the World Allergy Organization and the Respiratory Effectiveness Group. Editorial support was funded by AstraZeneca and was provided by Katherine Hardy, PhD of Helios Medical Communications, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK Funding This manuscript was funded by a grant from AstraZeneca. The authors retained full control. AstraZeneca provided a review for scientific accuracy and did not participate in the content development.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Coupling of DNA binding and helicase activity is mediated by a conserved loop in the MCM protein

Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) helicases are the presumptive replicative helicases, thought to separate the two strands of chromosomal DNA during replication. In archaea, the catalytic activity resides within the C-terminal region of the MCM protein. In Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus the N-terminal portion of the protein was shown to be involved in protein multimerization and binding to single and double stranded DNA. MCM homologues from many archaeal species have highly conserved predicted amino acid similarity in a loop located between β7 and β8 in the N-terminal part of the molecule. This high degree of conservation suggests a functional role for the loop. Mutational analysis and biochemical characterization of the conserved residues suggest that the loop participates in communication between the N-terminal portion of the helicase and the C-terminal catalytic domain. Since similar residues are also conserved in the eukaryotic MCM proteins, the data presented here suggest a similar coupling between the N-terminal and catalytic domain of the eukaryotic enzyme