Introduction—object habits: Legacies of fieldwork and the museum

This paper introduces the concept of ‘object habits’ for diversifying the scope of museum histories. The term is shorthand referring to an area’s customs relating to objects, taking into account factors that influence the types of things chosen, motivations for collecting, modes of acquisition, temporal variations in procurement, styles of engagements with artefacts or specimens, their treatment, documentation and representation, as well as attitudes to their presentation and reception. These customs emerge not only within the museum or out in the field, but significantly between the two, within the full agency of the world. The articles in this special issue explore the potential of ‘object habits’ in relation to the history of museums and collections across a selection of disciplines and a range of object types, including ancient artefacts, natural history specimens, archival documents, and photographic evidence

Book Reviews

HOW ARBITRATION WORKS (3rd Edition). By Frank Elkouri and Edna Asper Elkouri. Washington: Bureau of National Affairs, 1973. Pp. 797. $17.50. DEVIANCE-IN SOVIET SOCIETY-CRIME, DELINQUENCY AND ALCOHOLISM. By Walter D. Connor. New York: Columbia University Press. 1972. Pp. 327.$12.50. LEGAL RIGHTS OF CHILDREN: STATUS, PROGRESS AND PROPOSALS. A Symposium of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Fairlawn: R. E. Burdick, Inc., 1973. Pp. 212. $9.00

Bone-Inspired Materials by Design: Toughness Amplification Observed Using 3D Printing and Testing

Inspired by the fact that nature provides multifunctional composites by using universal building blocks, the authors design and test synthetic composites with a pattern inspired by the microstructure of cortical bone. Using a high-resolution multimaterial 3D printer, the authors are able to manufacture samples and investigate their fracture behavior in mechanical tests. The authors’ results demonstrate that the bone-inspired design is critical for toughness amplification and balance with material strength. The failure modes of the authors’ synthetic composites show similarities with the cortical bone, like crack deflection and branching, constrained microcracking, and fibril bridging. The authors’ results confirm that our design is eligible to reproduce the fracture and toughening mechanism of bone

Determinants of bone damage: An ex-vivo study on porcine vertebrae

Bone\u2019s resistance to fracture depends on several factors, such as bone mass, microarchitecture, and tissue material properties. The clinical assessment of bone strength is generally performed by Dual-X Ray Photon Absorptiometry (DXA), measuring bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone score (TBS). Although it is considered the major predictor of bone strength, BMD only accounts for about 70% of fragility fractures, while the remaining 30% could be described by bone \u201cquality\u201d impairment parameters, mainly related to tissue microarchitecture. The assessment of bone microarchitecture generally requires more invasive techniques, which are not applicable in routine clinical practice, or X-Ray based imaging techniques, requiring a longer post-processing. Another important aspect is the presence of local damage in the bony tissue that may also affect the prediction of bone strength and fracture risk. To provide a more comprehensive analysis of bone quality and quantity, and to assess the effect of damage, here we adopt a framework that includes clinical, morphological, and mechanical analyses, carried out by means of DXA, \u3bcCT and mechanical compressive testing, respectively. This study has been carried out on trabecular bones, taken from porcine trabecular vertebrae, for the similarity with human lumbar spine. This study confirms that no single method can provide a complete characterization of bone tissue, and the combination of complementary characterization techniques is required for an accurate and exhaustive description of bone status. BMD and TBS have shown to be complementary parameters to assess bone strength, the former assessing the bone quantity and resistance to damage, and the latter the bone quality and the presence of damage accumulation without being able to predict the risk of fracture

Functional Role of Glutamine 28 and Arginine 39 in Double Stranded RNA Cleavage by Human Pancreatic Ribonuclease

Human pancreatic ribonuclease (HPR), a member of RNase A superfamily, has a high activity on double stranded (ds) RNA. By virtue of this activity HPR appears to be involved in the host-defense against pathogenic viruses. To delineate the mechanism of dsRNA cleavage by HPR, we have investigated the role of glutamine 28 and arginine 39 of HPR in its activity on dsRNA. A non-basic residue glycine 38, earlier shown to be important for dsRNA cleavage by HPR was also included in the study in the context of glutamine 28 and arginine 39. Nine variants of HPR respectively containing Q28A, Q28L, R39A, G38D, Q28A/R39A, Q28L/R39A, Q28A/G38D, R39A/G38D and Q28A/G38D/R39A mutations were generated and functionally characterized. The far-UV CD-spectral analysis revealed all variants, except R39A, to have structures similar to that of HPR. The catalytic activity of all HPR variants on single stranded RNA substrate was similar to that of HPR, whereas on dsRNA, the catalytic efficiency of all single residue variants, except for the Q28L, was significantly reduced. The dsRNA cleavage activity of R39A/G38D and Q28A/G38D/R39A variants was most drastically reduced to 4% of that of HPR. The variants having reduced dsRNA cleavage activity also had reduction in their dsDNA melting activity and thermal stability. Our results indicate that in HPR both glutamine 28 and arginine 39 are important for the cleavage of dsRNA. Although these residues are not directly involved in catalysis, both arginine 39 and glutamine 28 appear to be facilitating a productive substrate-enzyme interaction during the dsRNA cleavage by HPR

Implementation of Fire Policies in Brazil: An Assessment of Fire Dynamics in Brazilian Savanna.

Abstract: In 2012, the Brazilian government implemented the Federal Brigades Program (FBP), a fire policy strategy to hire and train firefighters to combat wildfires. This study analyzed the impact of this program on fire behavior before (2008?2012) and after (2013?2017) its implementation in the Parque do Araguaia Indigenous Land, the largest indigenous territory with the highest occurrence of fires in the Brazilian tropical savanna. We analyzed the annual pattern of fire incidence in the dry season, the fire impact per vegetation type, the recurrence, and the relationship between fire and precipitation. The datasets were based on active fire products derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Landsat and Resourcesat-based burned area products, and the records of the fire combat operations. Our results showed that FBP contributed to the reduction of the number of areas affected by fires and to the formation of a more heterogeneous environment composed of fire-resistant and fire-sensitive native vegetation fragments. On the other hand, after the implementation of the FBP, there was an increase in the recurrence of 3?4 years of fires. We concluded that the FBP is an important public policy capable of providing improvements in fire management activities

Erythrina velutina Willd. alkaloids : piecing biosynthesis together from transcriptome analysis and metabolite profiling of seeds and leaves

Introduction: Natural products of pharmaceutical interest often do not reach the drug market due to the associated low yields and difficult extraction. Knowledge of biosynthetic pathways is a key element in the development of biotechnological strategies for plant specialized metabolite production. Erythrina species are mainly used as central nervous system depressants in folk medicine and are important sources of bioactive tetracyclic benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), which can act on several pathology-related biological targets. Objectives: In this sense, in an unprecedented approach used with a non-model Fabaceae species grown in its unique arid natural habitat, a combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses (seeds and leaves) is presented. Methods: The Next Generation Sequencing-based transcriptome (de novo RNA sequencing) was carried out in a NextSeq 500 platform. Regarding metabolite profiling, the High-resolution Liquid Chromatography was coupled to DAD and a micrOTOF-QII mass spectrometer by using electrospray ionization (ESI) and Time of Flight (TOF) analyzer. The tandem MS/MS data were processed and analyzed through Molecular Networking approach. Results: This detailed macro and micromolecular approach applied to seeds and leaves of E. velutina revealed 42 alkaloids, several of them unique. Based on the combined evidence, 24 gene candidates were put together in a putative pathway leading to the singular alkaloid diversity of this species. Conclusion: Overall, these results could contribute by indicating potential biotechnological targets formodulation of erythrina alkaloids biosynthesis as well as improve molecular databases with omic data from a non-model medicinal plant, and reveal an interesting chemical diversity of Erythrina BIA harvested in Caatinga