4-Chloroacetophenone [1-(4-Methoxyphenyl)ethylidene]Hydrazone

The crystal structure of the title mixed azine, C17H17CIN2O, contains four independent molecules, A-D, and molecule B is disordered. All four molecules have an N-N gauche conformation, with C-N-N-C torsion angles of 136.5 (4), 137.0 (4), -134.7 (4) and -134.7 (4)°, respectively. The phenyl rings are also somewhat twisted with respect to the plane defined by Cipso and the imine bond. On average, the combined effect of these twists results in an angle of 64.7° between the best planes of the two phenyl rings. Arene-arene double T-contacts are the dominant intermolecular interaction. The methoxy-substituted phenyl ring of one azine molecule interacts to form a T-contact with the methoxy-substituted phenyl ring of an adjacent molecule and, similarly, two chloro-substituted phenyl rings of neighboring molecules interact to form another T-contact. The only exception is for molecule B, for which the disorder leads to the formation of T-contacts between methoxy- and chloro-substituted phenyl rings. The prevailing structural motif of T-contact formation between like-substituted arene rings results in a highly dipole-parallel-aligned crystal structure

4-Methoxybenzaldehyde Pentafluorophenyl-Methylidenehydrazone

The crystal structure of the mixed azine C15H9F5N2O is described. The molecule has a high degree of planarity. The two phenyl rings deviate from perfect planarity by less than 2° and the dihedral angles between the ipso-C atoms and the azine bridge also show a minute deviation from planarity of less than 2°. The only dihedral angle that indicates any significant twisting is the dihedral angle about the azine bridge [C1-N1-N2-C8 174.8 (6)°], and even this one is relatively small. Face-to-face arene-arene contacts are the dominant intermolecular interactions. There are double face-to-face contacts in which the two phenyl rings of one mixed azine interact with the two phenyl rings of another mixed azine. There are also single face-to-face contacts where one phenyl ring of one mixed azine interacts with a phenyl ring of another mixed azine. In the double face-to-face arene-arene contacts, the pentafluorinated phenyl ring of one mixed azine always interacts with the methoxy-substituted phenyl ring of another mixed azine. In the single face-to-face arene-arene contacts, the interactions are always between two pentafluorinated phenyl rings or two methoxy-substituted phenyl rings

Integration of HIV Care with Primary Health Care Services: Effect on Patient Satisfaction and Stigma in Rural Kenya.

HIV departments within Kenyan health facilities are usually better staffed and equipped than departments offering non-HIV services. Integration of HIV services into primary care may address this issue of skewed resource allocation. Between 2008 and 2010, we piloted a system of integrating HIV services into primary care in rural Kenya. Before integration, we conducted a survey among returning adults ≥18-year old attending the HIV clinic. We then integrated HIV and primary care services. Three and twelve months after integration, we administered the same questionnaires to a sample of returning adults attending the integrated clinic. Changes in patient responses were assessed using truncated linear regression and logistic regression. At 12 months after integration, respondents were more likely to be satisfied with reception services (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 2.71, 95% CI 1.32-5.56), HIV education (aOR 3.28, 95% CI 1.92-6.83), and wait time (aOR 1.97 95% CI 1.03-3.76). Men's comfort with receiving care at an integrated clinic did not change (aOR = 0.46 95% CI 0.06-3.86). Women were more likely to express discomfort after integration (aOR 3.37 95% CI 1.33-8.52). Integration of HIV services into primary care services was associated with significant increases in patient satisfaction in certain domains, with no negative effect on satisfaction

Information Literacy and Adult Learners: Using Authentic Assessment to Determine Skill Gaps

Information literacy (IL) skills are essential for adult learners in higher education, especially those unfamiliar with information systems. Citing a lack of literature assessing such skills in adult learners, this article examines the IL abilities of adult learners in an information literacy course. Using a rubric and annotated bibliographies from study participants, the authors rank the IL abilities of adult students. Similar to studies assessing IL skills in traditional undergraduates, the authors found adult students struggled to articulate their evaluations of sources. The authors make recommendations for improving IL instruction for adults and suggest future research

Soluble expression, purification and characterization of the full length IS2 Transposase

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The two-step transposition pathway of insertion sequences of the IS<it>3 </it>family, and several other families, involves first the formation of a branched figure-of-eight (F-8) structure by an asymmetric single strand cleavage at one optional donor end and joining to the flanking host DNA near the target end. Its conversion to a double stranded minicircle precedes the second insertional step, where both ends function as donors. In IS<it>2</it>, the left end which lacks donor function in Step I acquires it in Step II. The assembly of two intrinsically different protein-DNA complexes in these F-8 generating elements has been intuitively proposed, but a barrier to testing this hypothesis has been the difficulty of isolating a full length, soluble and active transposase that creates fully formed synaptic complexes <it>in vitro </it>with protein bound to both binding and catalytic domains of the ends. We address here a solution to expressing, purifying and structurally analyzing such a protein.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A soluble and active IS<it>2 </it>transposase derivative with GFP fused to its C-terminus functions as efficiently as the native protein in <it>in vivo </it>transposition assays. <it>In vitro </it>electrophoretic mobility shift assay data show that the partially purified protein prepared under native conditions binds very efficiently to cognate DNA, utilizing both N- and C-terminal residues. As a precursor to biophysical analyses of these complexes, a fluorescence-based random mutagenesis protocol was developed that enabled a structure-function analysis of the protein with good resolution at the secondary structure level. The results extend previous structure-function work on IS<it>3 </it>family transposases, identifying the binding domain as a three helix H + HTH bundle and explaining the function of an atypical leucine zipper-like motif in IS<it>2</it>. In addition gain- and loss-of-function mutations in the catalytic active site define its role in regional and global binding and identify functional signatures that are common to the three dimensional catalytic core motif of the retroviral integrase superfamily.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Intractably insoluble transposases, such as the IS<it>2 </it>transposase, prepared by solubilization protocols are often refractory to whole protein structure-function studies. The results described here have validated the use of GFP-tagging and fluorescence-based random mutagenesis in overcoming this limitation at the secondary structure level.</p

Psychological type profile of Methodist churchgoers in England

The present study draws on data provided by 263 adults attending seven services held in Methodist churches who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The profile of these Methodist churchgoers is then set alongside the profile of 3,302 Anglican churchgoers reported in an earlier study. While the two groups shared preferences for introversion (54% and 55%) sensing (80% and 86%), feeling (60% and 64%), and judging (86% and 89%), the proportion of sensing types was significantly higher in the Methodist churches. While 72% of Anglican churchgoers reported the SJ temperament, the proportion rose significantly to 80% among Methodist churchgoers

Spiritual awakening among Anglican clergy during the pandemic : exploring the effects of personal factors, personality, church orientation, and religious practice

The experience under consideration in this study is rooted in the Covid-19 pandemic as crystalised in the events in England and Wales between late March 2020 and July 2020, when the Government imposed a national lockdown and when the Church of England imposed a national lock-up on its churches. The religious tradition under consideration is the Christian theological response to human disease and suffering.For considerable periods during the Covid-19 pandemic, England and Wales were in lockdown and churches were closed. Church services were live-streamed or pre-recorded for internet-savvy members to access online at home. For some clergy the pandemic may have been a challenge to faith, while for others the experience of the pandemic may have been an opportunity to re-kindle faith. A sample of 1,050 Anglican clergy serving in England completed an online survey including the newly developed Lewis Index of Spiritual Awakening (LISA) alongside arange of other measures. The Lewis Index of Spiritual Awakening (LISA) was found to have good psychometric properties. The data demonstrated that considerably more Anglican clergy experienced a sense of spiritual awakening during the pandemic than experienced a spiritual decline. The data also demonstrated that higher levels of spiritual awakening among Anglican clergy were associated with two factors, one psychological and one ecclesial. Clergy who report higher scores of spiritual awakening are more emotionally stable, associated with one of the two wings of the Anglican Church (Evangelical or Anglo-Catholic) rather than with the middle way of Broad Church, and influenced by the Charismatic Movement

Observational Results of a Multi-Telescope Campaign in Search of Interstellar Urea [(NH2_2)2_2CO]

In this paper, we present the results of an observational search for gas phase urea [(NH$_2$)$_2$CO] observed towards the Sgr B2(N-LMH) region. We show data covering urea transitions from $\sim$100 GHz to 250 GHz from five different observational facilities: BIMA, CARMA, the NRAO 12 m telescope, the IRAM 30 m telescope, and SEST. The results show that the features ascribed to urea can be reproduced across the entire observed bandwidth and all facilities by best fit column density, temperature, and source size parameters which vary by less than a factor of 2 between observations merely by adjusting for telescope-specific parameters. Interferometric observations show that the emission arising from these transitions is cospatial and compact, consistent with the derived source sizes and emission from a single species. Despite this evidence, the spectral complexity, both of (NH$_2$)$_2$CO and of Sgr B2(N), makes the definitive identification of this molecule challenging. We present observational spectra, laboratory data, and models, and discuss our results in the context of a possible molecular detection of urea.Comment: 38 pages, 9 Figures, accepted in the Astrophysical Journa

Evidence that the insertion events of IS2 transposition are biased towards abrupt compositional shifts in target DNA and modulated by a diverse set of culture parameters

Insertion specificity of mobile genetic elements is a rather complex aspect of DNA transposition, which, despite much progress towards its elucidation, still remains incompletely understood. We report here the results of a meta-analysis of IS2 target sites from genomic, phage, and plasmid DNA and find that newly acquired IS2 elements are consistently inserted around abrupt DNA compositional shifts, particularly in the form of switch sites of GC skew. The results presented in this study not only corroborate our previous observations that both the insertion sequence (IS) minicircle junction and target region adopt intrinsically bent conformations in IS2, but most interestingly, extend this requirement to other families of IS elements. Using this information, we were able to pinpoint regions with high propensity for transposition and to predict and detect, de novo, a novel IS2 insertion event in the 3′ region of the gfp gene of a reporter plasmid. We also found that during amplification of this plasmid, process parameters such as scale, culture growth phase, and medium composition exacerbate IS2 transposition, leading to contamination levels with potentially detrimental clinical effects. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the role of target DNA structure in the mechanism of transposition of IS elements and extend our understanding of how culture conditions are a relevant factor in the induction of genetic instability.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/EBB-EBI/113650/2009)MIT-Portugal Progra