The Central Symbiosis of Molecular Biology: Molecules in Mutualism.

As illustrated by the mitochondrion and the eukaryotic cell, little in biology makes sense except in light of mutualism. Mutualisms are persistent, intimate, and reciprocal exchanges; an organism proficient in obtaining certain benefits confers those on a partner, which reciprocates by conferring different benefits. Mutualisms (i) increase fitness, (ii) inspire robustness, (iii) are resilient and resistant to change, (iv) sponsor co-evolution, (v) foster innovation, and (vi) involve partners that are distantly related with contrasting yet complementary proficiencies. Previous to this work, mutualisms were understood to operate on levels of cells, organisms, ecosystems, and even societies and economies. Here, the concepts of mutualism are extended to molecules and are seen to apply to the relationship between RNA and protein. Polynucleotide and polypeptide are Molecules in Mutualism. RNA synthesizes protein in the ribosome and protein synthesizes RNA in polymerases. RNA and protein are codependent, and trade proficiencies. Protein has proficiency in folding into complex three-dimensional states, contributing enzymes, fibers, adhesives, pumps, pores, switches, and receptors. RNA has proficiency in direct molecular recognition, achieved by complementary base pairing interactions, which allow it to maintain, record, and transduce information. The large phylogenetic distance that characterizes partnerships in organismal mutualism has close analogy with large distance in chemical space between RNA and protein. The RNA backbone is anionic and self-repulsive and cannot form hydrophobic structural cores. The protein backbone is neutral and cohesive and commonly forms hydrophobic cores. Molecules in Mutualism extends beyond RNA and protein. A cell is a consortium of molecules in which nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides, phospholipids, and other molecules form a mutualism consortium that drives metabolism and replication. Analogies are found in systems such as stromatolites, which are large consortia of symbiotic organisms. It seems reasonable to suggest that 'polymers in mutualism relationships' is a useful and predictive definition of life

Can Organizational Practices Inadvertently Silence Potential Whistleblowers?

This study examines how employee perceptions of organizational ethics, safety practices, and manager-subordinate relationships might influence employees’ silence in regards to workplace hazards using a sample of 178 workers in the mining, manufacturing, and petrochemical industries. The findings support a model in which employee perceptions of endangerment by their organization and fear of retaliation for whistleblowing mediate the relationship between manager-subordinate relationships and the practice of withholding negative (and sometimes vital) information from organizational management. Results suggest that even with high quality superior/subordinate relationships, employees may still withhold important information due to the overall perception of the current safety climate

NKG2D-mediated Natural Killer Cell Protection Against Cytomegalovirus Is Impaired by Viral gp40 Modulation of Retinoic Acid Early Inducible 1 Gene Molecules

Natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in the innate immune response against cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections. Although CMV encodes several gene products committed to evasion of adaptive immunity, viral modulation of NK cell activity is only beginning to be appreciated. A previous study demonstrated that the mouse CMV m152-encoded gp40 glycoprotein diminished expression of ligands for the activating NK cell receptor NKG2D on the surface of virus-infected cells. Here we have defined the precise ligands that are affected and have directly implicated NKG2D in immune responses to CMV infection in vitro and in vivo. Murine CMV (MCMV) infection potently induced transcription of all five known retinoic acid early inducible 1 (RAE-1) genes (RAE-1α, RAE-1β, RAE-1δ, RAE-1ɛ, and RAE-1γ), but not H-60. gp40 specifically down-regulated the cell surface expression of all RAE-1 proteins, but not H-60, and diminished NK cell interferon γ production against CMV-infected cells. Consistent with previous findings, a m152 deletion mutant virus (Δm152) was less virulent in vivo than the wild-type Smith strain of MCMV. Treatment of BALB/c mice with a neutralizing anti-NKG2D antibody before infection increased titers of Δm152 virus in the spleen and liver to levels seen with wild-type virus. These experiments demonstrate that gp40 impairs NK cell recognition of virus-infected cells through disrupting the RAE-1–NKG2D interaction

Letters, Lumbees, and Lists

Book 12 of Readings in Bulloch County History is divided into three sections. The first is devoted primarily to correspondence and includes letters from Confederate soldier James Waters, Samuel W. Hodges, and a letter addressed to Rhoda Quinn in Wilkes County. These are followed by notes on the Hodges family by Smith Callaway Banks. The second section of this book is composed of two articles on the Lumbee Indians in Bulloch County, and the third section contains a history of Statesboro High School by Mattie Lively and an early roster of the school’s students and faculty.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/bchs-pubs/1019/thumbnail.jp

Yours ever (well, maybe): Studies and signposts in letter writing

Electronic mail and other digital communications technologies seemingly threaten to end the era of handwritten and typed letters, now affectionately seen as part of snail mail. In this essay, I analyze a group of popular and scholarly studies about letter writing-including examples of pundits critiquing the use of e-mail, etiquette manuals advising why the handwritten letter still possesses value, historians and literary scholars studying the role of letters in the past and what it tells us about our present attitudes about digital communications technologies, and futurists predicting how we will function as personal archivists maintaining every document including e-mail. These are useful guideposts for archivists, providing both a sense of the present and the past in the role, value and nature of letters and their successors. They also provide insights into how such documents should be studied, expanding our gaze beyond the particular letters, to the tools used to create them and the traditions dictating their form and function. We also can discern a role for archivists, both for contributing to the literature about documents and in using these studies and commentaries, suggesting not a new disciplinary realm but opportunities for new interdisciplinary work. Examining a documentary form makes us more sensitive to both the innovations and traditions as it shifts from the analog to the digital; we can learn not to be caught up in hysteria or nostalgia about one form over another and archivists can learn about what they might expect in their labors to document society and its institutions. At one time, paper was part of an innovative technology, with roles very similar to the Internet and e-mail today. It may be that the shifts are far less revolutionary than is often assumed. Reading such works also suggests, finally, that archivists ought to rethink how they view their own knowledge and how it is constructed and used. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Lessons from the evaluation of the UK's NHS R&D Implementation Methods Programme

Background: Concern about the effective use of research was a major factor behind the creation of the NHS R&D Programme in 1991. In 1994, an advisory group was established to identify research priorities in research implementation. The Implementation Methods Programme (IMP) flowed from this, and its commissioning group funded 36 projects. In 2000 responsibility for the programme passed to the National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R&D, which asked the Health Economics Research Group (HERG), Brunel University, to conduct an evaluation in 2002. By then most projects had been completed. This evaluation was intended to cover: the quality of outputs, lessons to be learnt about the communication strategy and the commissioning process, and the benefits from the projects. Methods: We adopted a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods. They included: documentary analysis, interviews with key actors, questionnaires to the funded lead researchers, questionnaires to potential users, and desk analysis. Results: Quantitative assessment of outputs and dissemination revealed that the IMP funded useful research projects, some of which had considerable impact against the various categories in the HERG payback model, such as publications, further research, research training, impact on health policy, and clinical practice. Qualitative findings from interviews with advisory and commissioning group members indicated that when the IMP was established, implementation research was a relatively unexplored field. This was reflected in the understanding brought to their roles by members of the advisory and commissioning groups, in the way priorities for research were chosen and developed, and in how the research projects were commissioned. The ideological and methodological debates associated with these decisions have continued among those working in this field. The need for an effective communication strategy for the programme as a whole was particularly important. However, such a strategy was never developed, making it difficult to establish the general influence of the IMP as a programme. Conclusion: Our findings about the impact of the work funded, and the difficulties faced by those developing the IMP, have implications for the development of strategic programmes of research in general, as well as for the development of more effective research in this field