Help Reverse Global Warming: Drive an All-Electric Vehicle

Overview: Global warming is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today, so I wrote this paper primarily to determine what technologies could possibly impact the trend of this global threat enough to help reverse it. Since transportation contributes 29 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States I chose to focus on this economic sector, and more specifically, light use vehicle alternative fuel technologies. I further narrowed my scope to a discussion of ethanol, bio-diesel, hydrogen and electric fuel technologies because each represents one of the four alternative fuel categories. I evaluated the fuels on the following criteria: a complete or major percentage reduction in greenhouse emissions, a reasonably fast nationwide implementation, economic viability and the technology must be a sustainable solution. My paper begins with a tweet from Elon Musk stating, We will not stop until every car on the road is electric. I conclude my paper in agreement with this statement. Author\u27s reflection: I am currently a sophomore marketing major at St. John Fisher and I chose Climate Change as my Researched Based Writing class because the topic interested me. Prior to college, my knowledge of global warming primarily consisted of the basic science behind the problem and some of its more common causes and effects. Reading The Story of More, by Hope Jahren, at the beginning of our class opened my mind to this problem’s complex nature of intertwined environmental, economic, political and social issues. Her narrative and jaw-dropping statistics comprising the chapter devoted to transportation truly caught my attention, which provided the impetus to focus my research on alternative fuels. Writing and researching this paper provided many challenges like deciding how to evaluate the chosen fuel technologies. Perhaps the biggest challenge stemmed from the need to decide what evidence or data to include in order to support my hypothesis, as my research continuously provided new, relevant and sometimes better evidence. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the process of putting this conundrum together. I invite you to read my paper and also encourage you to make your next car purchase an electric one

Quantitative analyses of interactions between SpoVG and RNA/DNA

The Borrelia burgdorferi SpoVG protein has previously been found to be a DNA- and RNA-binding protein. To aid in the elucidation of ligand motifs, affinities for numerous RNAs, ssDNAs, and dsDNAs were measured and compared. The loci used in the study were spoVG, glpFKD, erpAB, bb0242, flaB, and ospAB, with particular focus on the untranslated 5′ portion of the mRNAs. Performing binding and competition assays yielded that the 5′ end of spoVG mRNA had the highest affinity while the lowest observed affinity was to the 5’ end of flaB mRNA. Mutagenesis studies of spoVG RNA and ssDNA sequences suggested that the formation of SpoVG-nucleic acid complexes are not entirely dependent on either sequence or structure. Additionally, exchanging uracil for thymine in ssDNAs did not affect protein-nucleic acid complex formation

Insulin and GH Signaling in Human Skeletal Muscle In Vivo following Exogenous GH Exposure: Impact of an Oral Glucose Load

GH induces acute insulin resistance in skeletal muscle in vivo, which in rodent models has been attributed to crosstalk between GH and insulin signaling pathways. Our objective was to characterize time course changes in signaling pathways for GH and insulin in human skeletal muscle in vivo following GH exposure in the presence and absence of an oral glucose load.Eight young men were studied in a single-blinded randomized crossover design on 3 occasions: 1) after an intravenous GH bolus 2) after an intravenous GH bolus plus an oral glucose load (OGTT), and 3) after intravenous saline plus OGTT. Muscle biopsies were taken at t = 0, 30, 60, and 120. Blood was sampled at frequent intervals for assessment of GH, insulin, glucose, and free fatty acids (FFA).GH increased AUC(glucose) after an OGTT (p<0.05) without significant changes in serum insulin levels. GH induced phosphorylation of STAT5 independently of the OGTT. Conversely, the OGTT induced acute phosphorylation of the insulin signaling proteins Akt (ser(473) and thr(308)), and AS160.The combination of OGTT and GH suppressed Akt activation, whereas the downstream expression of AS160 was amplified by GH. WE CONCLUDED THE FOLLOWING: 1) A physiological GH bolus activates STAT5 signaling pathways in skeletal muscle irrespective of ambient glucose and insulin levels 2) Insulin resistance induced by GH occurs without a distinct suppression of insulin signaling proteins 3) The accentuation of the glucose-stimulated activation of AS 160 by GH does however indicate a potential crosstalk between insulin and GH.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00477997