Characterization of Vps13 in Drosophila melanogaster

Parkinson Disease (PD), the most common movement disorder, is a neurodegenerative disease that affects about 1% of the human population over the age of 65 years, and its prevalence increases with age. PD is clinically characterized by resting tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia as a result of the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta in the mid-brain. Mitochondria play a significant role in PD. The PD candidate gene VPS13C was identified in human using whole-exome sequencing (WES). The VPS13C protein is involved in intracellular trafficking, especially lipid transportation, between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and other organelles, such as the late endosome/lysosome, as well as in the mitophagy pathway. I have successfully characterized the homologue of the human VPS13C gene in flies, Vps13. As a result, I have successfully modelled aspects of PD in Drosophila melanogaster. I found that inhibition of Vps13 improves the longevity and locomotor ability, while overexpression of Vps13 mostly reduced both the survival and locomotor abilities of flies. Furthermore, I have demonstrated that overexpression of Vps13 significantly influences neurodevelopment when expressed in the developing Drosophila melanogaster eye. Our final set of experiments focused upon the consequences of the inhibition and overexpression of Vps13 when expressed with the co-inhibition of parkin, a well-known PD gene. These co-expressions can give valuable insights into the genetic and/or functional connections between the two genes or their protein products. These findings suggest that the inhibition of parkin may improve the effects of Vps13 overexpression

Born Suspect: Stop-and-Frisk Abuses and the Continued Fight to End Racial Profiling in America

The report provides a critical analysis of advocacy efforts to end racial profiling in New York, offering lessons learned and recommendations for advocates across the country. It also contains a review of every state racial profiling law, breaking each down to better understand the law's effectiveness and to identify where improvements are needed. The report concludes with several resources to help advocates build and manage campaigns to increase police accountability and enact community policing strategies that eliminate the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement

A Comparative Study of Sima, Manzar, and Chesm Andaz as Persian Equivalents of Landscape in English

With the translation of Kevin Lynch’s book, the “Image of the City”, new literature was added to Iranian architecture and urban planning. In this book, Image, the picture (or perception) of the city was translated to “Sima” regardless of its linguistic roots. With the introduction of the landscape architecture discipline, a new theoretical framework was added to the architecture and urban planning literature. Later, “Chesm Andaz” was also used by some experts as an equivalent for the term “landscape”. The use of these three words interchangeably has caused confusion in the translation of the concept of landscape or narrowed down its real meanings. This comparative study drew upon the European Commission’s definition of landscape to examine the extent to which vocabulary can convey the meaning of landscape in Persian. This study employed library research and lexicographical analysis. The two basic components of the landscape are dependence on the external place and the importance of the human mind and perception in his interactions with the environment. Nazar, in the language of Iranian thinkers, is a dynamic tool used for raising new awareness based on the perception of sensations, and “Manzar” is the name of the place in which this phenomenon occurs. Compared to “Sima,” and “Chesm Andaz”, “Manzar” conveys a more complete sensory perception, and especially compared to “Chesm Andaz”, perception is distant and does not necessarily have a positive attribute. “Manzar” and “Sima” are not synonymous and interchangeable in terms of meaning. “Sima”, in the late meaning, is focused on form and does not express the subjectivity behind the form, therefore it can be considered a landscape form. The observer’s continuous conflict with the form of “Manazar” and is accompanied by its memories implies him from the image to the landscape. Compared to the stability of “Sima” and “Chem Andaz”, the level of the “Manzar” is more compatible with the dynamics of the landscape

Impact of the Management Performance Evaluation Methods on the Data Quality in Accounting

The impact of the management performance evaluation methods on the information quality in accounting will be studied in this paper. The information plays two roles in the market-oriented economies; first, it allows the investors to evaluate the potential opportunities of the investment (prospective role) and, secondly, it enables the investors to monitor how to allocate and use their capital by the establishment of some mechanisms. The statistical sample includes the 112 companies in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2010 to 2013 that are selected by the systematic elimination method. These companies were totally 560 years old. The hypothesis of the linear regression test was used in this study to analyze the data and Eviews software is used for hypothesis test

Comparison of the Effects of Omega 3 and Vitamin E on Palcitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy

BACKGROUND: Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy is the most important side effect limiting the use of this medication. AIM: This study aimed to compare the effects of omega-3 and vitamin E on the incidence of peripheral neuropathy in patients receiving Taxol. METHODS: In this clinical trial, 63 patients who were a candidate for receiving taxol, were enrolled based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. In group O, patients received 640 mg omega-3 three times a day, and group E, received 300 mg vitamin E two times a day. Patients took the supplements up to three months after the onset of Taxol. Group P received placebo for a similar period. All patients referred to a neurologist for electrophysiological evaluation before the onset of chemotherapy and at months 1 and 3. The presence of neuropathy and its progression was recorded by the neurologist. RESULTS: Neurological examination in this study indicated that 6 patients (28.6%) in Group O, 7 patients (33.3%) in group E, and 15 patients (71.4%) in placebo group started peripheral neuropathy. There was a significant difference between intervention groups and the placebo group (p = 0.0001) and no significant difference between intervention groups (p = 0.751). CONCLUSION: Our data suggested that vitamin E and omega-3 may significantly reduce the incidence of Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy. Routine administration of such supplements that have no special side effect for patients under chemotherapy may greatly enhance their quality of life

A Multi-layer Architecture Based on MCDM Methods to Select the Best E-Readiness Assessment Model According to SWOT Analysis

E-readiness is one of the major prerequisites for effective implementation of e-government. For the correct implementation of e-government, it is needed to accurately assess the state of e-readiness in desired community. In this regard, there are models to assess, but the correct choice of model is one of the most important challenges in this area. The process of evaluating and selecting the appropriate options in the implementation of e-government due to the involvement of different groups of decision-makers, existence of interrelationships between technology and desired community as well as existing platforms is a complex process. In recent decades, with access to computational methods and powerful decision making systems selecting more accurate options, effective analysis of qualitative and quantitative characteristic and studying the interaction between them are provided. This article tries to examine the performance of e-readiness assessment models and multi criteria decision making methods and introduces the best selection of the e-readiness model for effective implementation of e-government. In order to reach this purpose, we introduced a layered architecture based on multi-criteria decision making methods and SWOT Analysis. The proposed layered architecture, reduces decision making errors and increases the accuracy in choosing the appropriate e-readiness assessment model

Conventional and extended intramammary therapy of persistent subclinical mastitis using nafcillin-penicillin- dihydrostreptomycin in lactating dairy cattle

Summary The objective of the present study was to compare the efficacy of conventional and extended intramammary (IMM) therapy of persistent subclinical mastitis in lactating dairy cattle using nafcillinpenicillin-dihydrostreptomycin combination (NPD). Sixty-five dairy cows with 126 infected quarters were enrolled in the study. Infected cows were allocated randomly to 1 of 3 different treatment regimens: (1) conventional group: NPD administered IMM 3 times at 24-h intervals (20 infected cows, 43 intramammary infections [IMI]), (2) extended group: NPD administered IMM 6 times at 24-h intervals (23 cows, 43 IMI), and (3) untreated control group (22 cows, 40 IMI). The overall bacteriological cure (BC) rates for subclinical IMI were 86.04%, 100%, and 20% for the conventional, extended and the control groups, respectively; indicating a higher BC rate (P<0.0001) for the treated groups than the control group. Significant difference (P=0.029) concerning the BC rate was also observed between the extended and the conventional groups. Significant difference (P=0.0021) in somatic cell count (SCC) was detected between the extended and the control group. Fat percentage increased in the conventional (P=0.029) and in the extended (P<0.0001) groups, and protein percentage increased only in the extended group (P=0.0016). There was no significant difference in posttreatment milk production between the groups (P>0.05). Results of this study indicate that NPD therapy was effective in eliminating subclinical IMI in lactating dairy cows, and that extended therapy enhanced BC rate and reduced SCC

Chromosomes are target sites for photodynamic therapy as demonstrated by subcellular laser microirradiation

The present investigation has been undertaken to examine the possibility that the cell nucleus, and specifically the genetic material, is a target site for photodynamic therapy. PTK2 and Hep-2 cells are pretreated with a medium containing 15 microg/ml (0.09 mM) 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). Individual fluorescence images are recorded for each selected cell using a cooled charge-coupled device (CCD). A laser microbeam system generating 630 nm is used for subcellular-region irradiation of specific targets: chromosomes, the mitotic spindle, the perispindle region and the peripheral cytoplasm. Nuclei of interphase cells are also irradiated. Data comparing the sensitivities of the different subcellular microirradiation sites in ALA-treated mitotic cells demonstrate that under the irradiation conditions used, the chromosome is the most sensitive subcellular target followed by the perispindle region, the peripheral cytoplasm and spindle, and, lastly, the interphase nucleus

Exploring the interaction of quercetin-3-O-sophoroside with SARS-CoV-2 main proteins by theoretical studies: A probable prelude to control some variants of coronavirus including Delta

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of interaction between quercetin-3-O-sophoroside and different SARS-CoV-2’s proteins which can bring some useful details about the control of different variants of coronavirus including the recent case, Delta. The chemical structure of the quercetin-3-O-sophoroside was first optimized. Docking studies were performed by CoV disease-2019 (COVID-19) Docking Server. Afterwards, the molecular dynamic study was done using High Throughput Molecular Dynamics (HTMD) tool. The results showed a remarkable stability of the quercetin-3-O-sophoroside based on the calculated parameters. Docking outcomes revealed that the highest affinity of quercetin-3-O-sophoroside was related to the RdRp with RNA. Molecular dynamic studies showed that the target E protein tends to be destabilized in the presence of quercetin-3-O-sophoroside. Based on these results, quercetin-3-O-sophoroside can show promising inhibitory effects on the binding site of the different receptors and may be considered as effective inhibitor of the entry and proliferation of the SARS-CoV-2 and its different variants. Finally, it should be noted, although this paper does not directly deal with the exploring the interaction of main proteins of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant with quercetin-3-O-sophoroside, at the time of writing, no direct theoretical investigation was reported on the interaction of ligands with the main proteins of Delta variant. Therefore, the present data may provide useful information for designing some theoretical studies in the future for studying the control of SARS-CoV-2 variants due to possible structural similarity between proteins of different variants

Factors influencing the decision to study abroad for students of color: moving beyond the barriers.

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2009. Major: Educational Policy and Administration. Advisor: Gerald W. Fry. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 208 pages, appendices A-F.U.S. higher education institutions, professionals in the field of international education exchange, and the federal government recognize the importance of a study abroad experience for American undergraduate students. While the total number of U.S. undergraduate students studying abroad has continually increased since the 1980s, the number of participating students of color remains low. The purpose of this study is to move beyond the barriers and outcomes of study abroad, and focus on those students of color who have made the decision to participate and the factors that influenced their decision. The barriers between applicants and non-applicants are also explored in order to recognize similar or different factors between the two groups. Using Fishbein and Ajzen's (1970) theory of reasoned action, this study seeks to address the personal, social, and institutional factors positively influencing students of color to decide to study abroad; how the factors differ by demographics; and the barriers applicants and non-applicants encounter in their decision. Using a mixed methods approach this study focuses on two groups of students. The first group consisted of undergraduate students of color who had recently been accepted to a study abroad program through the University of California, San Diego in 2008. The second group included all sophomores and above, regardless of race, who had decided not to apply for a study abroad program. The personal and social factors were found to be the primary factors influencing the student's decision to apply. Finances and academics were the main barriers students in both groups faced in their decision. Despite these barriers and family or cultural resistance, the students in the first group overcame the obstacles through information seeking, use of external messengers, personal determination, and internal drive in deciding to participate in study abroad.Kasravi, Jinous. (2009). Factors influencing the decision to study abroad for students of color: moving beyond the barriers.. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/55058