A comparison of the radial distribution of molecular gas and non-thermal radio continuum in spiral disks

The present study includes 65 spiral galaxies selected from the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory (FCRAO) Extragalactic CO Survey for which the major axis distributions of CO emission and 1.49 GHz radio continuum emission are well determined. The radial distribution of the CO emission has been measured with the FCRAO at positions along the major axis that are spaced by one half power beam width (HPBW) (45 seconds). The radial profile of the 1.49 GHz radio continuum emission was constructed by determining the radio emission at the location of the CO measurements from the 1.49 GHz maps of Condon (1987). Large, greater than a factor of ten, radially decreasing gradients in the star formation efficiency are observed for a small percentage, approx. 10 percent, of the spirals in this sample. The majority of spirals, however, are associated with small gradients in the star formation efficiency that do not systematically increase or decrease with radius. That the star formation efficiency does not systematically decrease with radius tends to argue against a global dynamical mechanism, such as a spiral density wave, for being the dominant mechanism triggering disk star formation for the majority of spirals in this sample. The results tend to support the view that the star formation in spiral disks is dominated by a local process that depends more on the molecular cloud properties than the dynamical structure of a galaxy

Targeting Neuropeptides to Bone Fractures for Accelerated Healing

In patients over the age of 65 especially, bone fractures represent a significant disease burden. Non-invasive drug therapies are not available for bone fractures which represents a problem for this population. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP), two neuromodulator peptides in the glucagon superfamily, have demonstrated positive regulation of osteoblast proliferation and activity. Using acidic oligopeptides, we have developed ligands that target to and accumulate at fracture sites. These targeting ligands can be synthesized in sequence with bone anabolic peptides to minimize off target effects and increase potency at the fracture site to create safer and more efficacious therapeutic molecules. The conjugation of PACAP and VIP to acidic oligopeptide targeting ligands results in compounds that demonstrate significant improvements in regeneration of bone at fracture site in vivo in terms of strength and mineralization of fracture callus

NMR implementation of Quantum Delayed-Choice Experiment

We report the first experimental demonstration of quantum delayed-choice experiment via nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. An ensemble of molecules each with two spin-1/2 nuclei are used as target and the ancilla qubits to perform the quantum circuit corresponding the delayed-choice setup. As expected in theory, our experiments clearly demonstrate the continuous morphing of the target qubit between particle-like and wave-like behaviors. The experimental visibility of the interference patterns shows good agreement with the theory.Comment: Revised text, more figures adde

'Heaven starts at your parents' feet' : adolescent bowing to parents and associated spiritual attitudes

In a quantitative survey of religious attitudes and practices in a multi-religious sample of 369 school pupils aged between 13 and 15 in London, the practice of bowing to parents was found widespread in 22% of adolescents spanning several religious affiliations and ethnicities – especially Buddhists, Hindus and those of Indian, African and ‘Other Asian’ ethnicity. Whether an adolescent bowed correlated significantly with spiritual attitudes such as wanting to abstain from alcohol, hearing religious stories, being inspired by religious festivals and liking the idea of seeing God in everything. Findings suggest bowing to parents can have religious significance on all three levels of Jackson’s Interpretive Approach and therefore cannot be regarded as a ‘cultural accretion’ of religion. Study of bowing to parents could form a unifying exercise in shared values for study of religion in the plural classroom and facilitate community cohesion in certain religious membership groups

A Src-Like Inactive Conformation in the Abl Tyrosine Kinase Domain

The improper activation of the Abl tyrosine kinase results in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The recognition of an inactive conformation of Abl, in which a catalytically important Asp-Phe-Gly (DFG) motif is flipped by approximately 180° with respect to the active conformation, underlies the specificity of the cancer drug imatinib, which is used to treat CML. The DFG motif is not flipped in crystal structures of inactive forms of the closely related Src kinases, and imatinib does not inhibit c-Src. We present a structure of the kinase domain of Abl, determined in complex with an ATP–peptide conjugate, in which the protein adopts an inactive conformation that resembles closely that of the Src kinases. An interesting aspect of the Src-like inactive structure, suggested by molecular dynamics simulations and additional crystal structures, is the presence of features that might facilitate the flip of the DFG motif by providing room for the phenylalanine to move and by coordinating the aspartate side chain as it leaves the active site. One class of mutations in BCR–Abl that confers resistance to imatinib appears more likely to destabilize the inactive Src-like conformation than the active or imatinib-bound conformations. Our results suggest that interconversion between distinctly different inactive conformations is a characteristic feature of the Abl kinase domain

The Influence of Fire on a Rare Serpentine Plant Assemblage: A Five Year Study of Darlingtonia Fens

Premise of the study: Serpentine soils have attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists for decades due to their high number of rare and endemic taxa, though less is known about the ecological factors that govern the diversity and composition of serpentine communities. Theory suggests that vegetation on these low-productivity soils will be relatively resilient to fire, the most common natural disturbance in serpentine systems. Methods: We studied the recovery of vegetation in Darlingtonia fens, a unique habitat dominated by herbaceous perennials, from a major fire that burned ~202,000 hectares in California and Oregon’s Klamath Mountains in 2002. We established permanent plots in 8 unburned and 8 burned fens in 2003 and recorded percent cover of vascular plant species. We re-sampled plots each year through 2007. Key results: Burned fens had less plant cover than unburned fens for two years after the fire. Average species density was ~10% lower in burned fens one year after the fire but ~4-8% higher for the next four years. Burned fens exhibited greater evenness, but not until four years after the fire. Differences in community composition were detected between the two fen types, but species ranks were similar, and species neither were added to, nor removed from, the burned assemblages. Conclusions: Burning of Darlingtonia fens has detectable, albeit modest effects on serpentine communities. Because fens have little or no canopy cover, fire has little influence on light availability in this system. This relatively small resource change, combined with high soil moisture and well-developed underground organs of fen plants, produces a highly resilient assemblage.Organismic and Evolutionary BiologyOther Research Uni