Brief telegraph, Thomas McCay to R.C. McCay, 19 January 1855

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/bernard/1030/thumbnail.jp

Brief telegraph, Thomas McCay to R.C. McCay, 17 January 1855

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/bernard/1029/thumbnail.jp

Sirt1 Regulates Insulin Secretion by Repressing UCP2 in Pancreatic β Cells

Sir2 and insulin/IGF-1 are the major pathways that impinge upon aging in lower organisms. In Caenorhabditis elegans a possible genetic link between Sir2 and the insulin/IGF-1 pathway has been reported. Here we investigate such a link in mammals. We show that Sirt1 positively regulates insulin secretion in pancreatic β cells. Sirt1 represses the uncoupling protein (UCP) gene UCP2 by binding directly to the UCP2 promoter. In β cell lines in which Sirt1 is reduced by SiRNA, UCP2 levels are elevated and insulin secretion is blunted. The up-regulation of UCP2 is associated with a failure of cells to increase ATP levels after glucose stimulation. Knockdown of UCP2 restores the ability to secrete insulin in cells with reduced Sirt1, showing that UCP2 causes the defect in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Food deprivation induces UCP2 in mouse pancreas, which may occur via a reduction in NAD (a derivative of niacin) levels in the pancreas and down-regulation of Sirt1. Sirt1 knockout mice display constitutively high UCP2 expression. Our findings show that Sirt1 regulates UCP2 in β cells to affect insulin secretion

Towards a self-deploying and gliding robot

Strategies for hybrid locomotion such as jumping and gliding are used in nature by many different animals for traveling over rough terrain. This combination of locomotion modes also allows small robots to overcome relatively large obstacles at a minimal energetic cost compared to wheeled or flying robots. In this chapter we describe the development of a novel palm sized robot of 10\,g that is able to autonomously deploy itself from ground or walls, open its wings, recover in midair and subsequently perform goal- directed gliding. In particular, we focus on the subsystems that will in the future be integrated such as a 1.5\,g microglider that can perform phototaxis; a 4.5\,g, bat-inspired, wing folding mechanism that can unfold in only 50\,ms; and a locust-inspired, 7\,g robot that can jump more than 27 times its own height. We also review the relevance of jumping and gliding for living and robotic systems and we highlight future directions for the realization of a fully integrated robot

Laurentian margin evolution and the Caledonian Orogeny : a template for Scotland and East Greenland

The orthotectonic Scottish Caledonides constitute only a small fragment of the Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic margin of Laurentia, albeit one which lies at a prominent bend in that margin. Sequences exposed in the Scottish outcrop include Mesoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic and Cambro-Ordovician strata which record sedimentation, volcanism and deformation related to the latter stages of the amalgamation of Rodinia, the subsequent breakout of Laurentia, and growth of the Iapetus Ocean. Metamorphic and tectonic overprints then record the destruction of that ocean through Ordovician arc accretion and mid-to-late Silurian collision of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia with the final closure of Iapetus by end-Silurian time. New isotopic data and recent advances in the understanding of the late Mesoproterozoic (Stenian) to Cambro-Ordovician stratigraphical framework now better constrain the sequence and timing of events across the ‘Scottish Corner’ and invite a dynamic comparison with the current research into the East Greenland Caledonides summarised in this volume. Although many broad similarities exist, the comparisons described here reveal for the first time a number of significant contrasts in the spatial arrangement of depocentres, location of rifting, patterns and timing of magmatism, metamorphism and contractional deformation. This expanded understanding of the late Neoproterozoic evolution of these adjacent sectors of Laurentia provides an important basis for reconstructions of the subsequent lower Paleozoic Caledonian orogenic evolution of the present North Atlantic region