Drosophila SOCS Proteins

The importance of signal transduction cascades such as the EGFR and JAK/STAT pathways for development and homeostasis is highlighted by the high levels of molecular conservation maintained between organisms as evolutionary diverged as fruit flies and humans. This conservation is also mirrored in many of the regulatory mechanisms that control the extent and duration of signalling in vivo. One group of proteins that represent important physiological regulators of both EGFR and JAK/STAT signalling is the members of the SOCS family. Only 3 SOCS-like proteins are encoded by the Drosophila genome, and despite this low complexity, Drosophila SOCS proteins share many similarities to their human homologues. SOCS36E is both a target gene and negative regulator of JAK/STAT signalling while SOCS44A and SOCS36E represent positive and negative regulators of EGFR signalling. Here we review our current understanding of Drosophila SOCS proteins, their roles in vivo, and future approaches to elucidating their functions

Positive mass theorems for spin initial data sets with arbitrary ends and dominant energy shields

We prove a positive mass theorem for spin initial data sets $(M,g,k)$ that contain an asymptotically flat end and a shield of dominant energy (a subset of $M$ on which the dominant energy scalar $\mu-|J|$ has a positive lower bound). In a similar vein, we show that for an asymptotically flat end $\mathcal{E}$ that violates the positive mass theorem (i.e. $\mathrm{E} < |\mathrm{P}|$), there exists a constant $R>0$, depending only on $\mathcal{E}$, such that any initial data set containing $\mathcal{E}$ must violate the hypotheses of Witten's proof of the positive mass theorem in an $R$-neighborhood of $\mathcal{E}$. This implies the positive mass theorem for spin initial data sets with arbitrary ends, and we also prove a rigidity statement. Our proofs are based on a modification of Witten's approach to the positive mass theorem involving an additional independent timelike direction in the spinor bundle.Comment: 18 page

Modulation of human JAK-STAT pathway signaling by functionally conserved regulators

Both the core JAK-STAT pathway components and their in vivo roles have been widely conserved between vertebrates and invertebrate models such as Drosophila melanogaster. Misregulation of JAK-STAT pathway activity has also been identified as a key factor in the development of multiple human malignancies. Recently, whole genome RNA interference (RNAi) screens in cultured Drosophila cells have identified both positively and negatively acting JAK-STAT pathway regulators. Here, we describe the analysis of 73 human genes representing homologs of 56 Drosophila genes originally identified by genome-wide RNAi screening as regulators of JAK-STAT signaling. Using assays for human STAT1 and STAT3 protein levels and phosphorylation status, as well as assays measuring the expression of endogenous STAT1 and STAT3 transcriptional targets, we have tested siRNAs targeting these 73 human genes and have identified potential JAK-STAT pathway regulatory roles in 69 (95%) of these. The genes identified represent a wide range of human JAK-STAT pathway regulators and include genes not previously known to modulate this signaling cascade. These results underline the value of model system based approaches for the identification of pathway regulators and have led to the identification of loci whose misregulation may ultimately be implicated in JAK-STAT pathway-mediated human disease

Linguistic means of representation of the concept "city" in Russian language (on the basis of Russian tourists reviews about China)

Настоящее исследование посвящено анализу языковой репрезентации лингвокультурного концепта «город» в отзывах российских туристов о Китае. Актуальность работы определяется продуктивностью антропоцентрического подхода к описанию языка, усилением внимания и потребностью современного языкознания в исследовании ключевых концептов культуры, к которым относится и описываемый концепт «город», представляющий собой одну из глобальных ментальных единиц в составе русской концептосферы. В ходе исследования применялся метод научного описания, позволивший выявить структуру концепта, описать микроконцепты, его составляющие, - древний город, современный город и город-сад (пляжный город), а также языковые средства, объективирующие данное лингвокультурное образование в жанре отзыва. The present study focuses on the analysis of language representation of linguocultural concept “city” in a review of Russian tourists about China. The relevance of the paper is determined by the productivity of anthropocentric approach to language description, increased attention and the need of modern linguistics in the study of the key concepts of the culture to which relates the described concept “city”, which is one of the global mental units within the Russian sphere of concepts. As part of the study the method of scientific description was used to discover and clarify the concept of structure, describe microconcepts, its components - the ancient city, the modern city and city-garden (beach town) as well as linguistic means, objectifying this linguocultural education in the genre of comment

Addressing Joshua Fishman’s Ideological Clarification: Working With Pre-service Teachers

The drastic and tragic loss of Indigenous languages in Canada is of grave concern, as about half of the approximately 50 languages are either endangered or close to extinction (Canada, 2002). Reversing language shift ([RLS) (Fishman, 2001) involves many considerations, including the value and social status of language in homes and communities. This paper explains how a found poetry exercise that 52 pre-service teachers completed has implications for RLS through a movement towards ideological clarification. The poems demonstrate the essence of both Indigenous identity and language, and the classroom-teacher-to-be impressions of that, in rather moving and powerful expressions. These found poems not only speak to the profound loss of languages, but also demonstrate how the activity itself promoted both a personal and a collective understanding of what language obsolescence means to them and their culture. Potentially, they can work as well towards activating goodwill towards Indigenous languages among those who read and reflect on them ---- La perte drastique et tragique des langues autochtones au Canada est profondément préoccupante, car environ la moitié des quelque 50 langues sont en danger ou en voie de disparition. Inverser le changement de langue (Reversing language shift, RLS; Fishman, 2001) demande de considérer plusieurs facteurs, y compris la valeur et le statut social de la langue dans les foyers et dans les communautés. Cet article décrit comment un exercice de « poésie trouvée » complété par 52 enseignants pré-emplois peut avoir des implications pour le RLS au moyen d’un mouvement vers une clarification idéologique. Les poèmes exhibent l’essence même de l’identité et de la langue autochtone pour les futurs enseignants, de façon émouvante et puissante. Ces poèmes trouvés parlent non seulement de la perte profonde de la langue, mais démontrent également comment l’activité elle-même a promu une compréhension à la fois personnelle et collective de ce que l’obsolescence de langue signifie, pour eux et pour leur culture. Potentiellement, ils pourront d’ailleurs travailler pour l’activation de la bonne volonté envers les langues autochtones parmi ceux qui liront et réfléchiront là-dessus

Frequency of neuroimaging for pediatric minor brain injury is determined by the primary treating medical department

To investigate the use of neuroimaging in children and adolescents with minor brain injury in pediatric and non-pediatric departments.In this observational cohort study data were extracted from a large German statutory health insurance (AOK Plus Dresden ∼3.1 million clients) in a 7-year period (2010-2016). All patients with International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code S06.0 (concussion; minor brain injury; commotio cerebri) aged ≤ 18 years were included. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed by logistic regression analysis for associations with the use of CT and MRI (independent variables: gender, age, length of stay, pediatric vs non-pediatric department, university vs non-university hospital).A total of 14,805 children with minor brain injuries (mean age 6.0 ± 5.6; 45.5% females) were included. Treatment was provided by different medical departments: Pediatrics (N = 8717; 59%), Pediatric Surgery (N = 3582, 24%), General Surgery (N = 2197, 15%), Orthopedic Trauma Surgery (N = 309, 2.1%). Patients admitted to pediatric departments (Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery) underwent head CT-imaging significantly less frequently (3.8%) compared to patients treated in non-pediatric departments (18.5%; P < .001; General Surgery: 15.6%; Orthopedic Trauma Surgery: 39.2%). Logistic regression confirmed a significantly higher odds ratio (OR) for the use of cranial CT by the non-pediatric departments (OR: 3.2 [95-%-CI: 2.72-3.76]).CT was significantly less frequently used in pediatric departments. Educational efforts and quality improvement initiatives on physicians, especially in non-pediatric departments may be an effective approach to decreasing rates of CT after minor traumatic brain injuries

New Enabling Technologies to Observe and Characterise Urban Environments with Big Data from Space – the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform

Modern Earth Observation (EO) satellite missions provide valuable opportunities to support sustainable urban planning and management by delivering dedicated information on the spatiotemporal development of the built environment and its key morphological and physical characteristics such as imperviousness, greenness, built-up density, building volume, albedo – from global down to local scale. However, the transformation of the raw EO imagery into ready-to-use thematic data and indicators for scientist or planners on the one hand and actionable information for decision makers on the other hand requires detailed technical expert knowledge. Moreover, the imagery collected by satellite missions such as the US Landsat program or the European fleet of Sentinel satellites, but also by airborne systems or drones, rapidly adds up to a multiple of the data volume that can effectively be handled with standard work stations and software solutions. Hence, this contribution introduces the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (https://urban-tep.eo.esa.int) that utilizes modern information and communication technology to bridge the gap between the mass data collections of the technology-driven EO sector and the demand of science, planning, and policy for up-to-date information on the status, properties and dynamics of the urban system. Key components of the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP) are an open, web-based portal that is connected to distributed high-level computing clusters and clouds and that also provides key functionalities for i) high-performance data access, analysis and visualization, ii) customized development and sharing of algorithms, products and services, and iii) networking, communication and exchange of data and information. The overarching objective here is to enable any interested (non-expert) user to easily generate actionable indicators and information for effective sustainable urban development based on a joint analysis of various data sources such as official survey data, EO mission data, socio-economic statistics, and data collected via social media or citizen science. So far more than 3.5 PB of data have been processed and analyzed by means of the U-TEP to finally provide a broad spectrum of urban information products and related services for visualization and analytics that have yet successfully been used by more than 240 institutions (science, planning, NGOs, policy) from 41 countries (i.a. World Bank Group, United Nations, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Food Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Group on Earth Observation, Global Platform for Sustainable Cities)