Numerological Tradition In The Works Of Jupiter Hammon

Englis

Speaking pictures : the sacramental vision of Philip Sidney

textThis dissertation examines some of the Catholic ideas and people found in the life and writings of Philip Sidney. Due to Sidney’s aggressive advocacy of a pro-Protestant English foreign policy during the 1570s and 1580s, and to the anti-Catholic biases of many British and American academics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, previous studies have almost unanimously approached Sidney from an exclusively Protestant angle. This Sidney is the hero of English Protestant nationalism, the perfect poet-knight. The Sidney that emerges from the present study is much less unified: thoroughly anti-papal and anti-Spanish in his politics but warmly Catholic in his apparent metaphysical convictions. Catholic theology and devotional traditions were far from dead in Sidney’s England, and he was far from hostile toward them. By recovering Sidney’s engagement with Catholicism, from his consistent generosity to individual Catholics to the numerous sympathetic allusions to Catholic tradition in all his major works, this dissertation provides a new yet historically grounded way of reading Sidney. It also encourages a broader understanding of confessional diversity in the Elizabethan period.Englis

Nyctalopin is required for localization of the TRPM1 channel to the retinal depolarizing bipolar cell dendrites.

Mutations in the NYX gene, encoding the novel protein nyctalopin, cause human congenital stationary night blindness type 1 (CSNB1). CSNB1 is an X-linked recessive condition and is identified by a loss of the electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave while the a-wave remains intact (Miyake et al., 1986). The b-wave in normal patients is generated by the depolarization of one class of bipolar cells, which receive signals from the photoreceptors. This indicates that CSNB1 is a loss of signaling from the photo receptors to the depolarizing bipolar cells. Normal stimulation of photoreceptors by light causes the photoreceptors to hyperpolarize and reduce the amount of neurotransmitter, glutamate, released into the synaptic cleft. The decrease in glutamate causes Grm6, a metabotropic glutamate receptor, at the postsynaptic depolarizing bipolar cell dendrites to reduce its activity. This signal is relayed by a second messenger system to result in the opening of a non-selective cation channel, which depolarizes one class of bipolar cells. The signaling to the non-selective cation channel in depolarizing bipolar cells is disrupted when nyctalopin is absent. Recent data shows that the non-selective cation channel is the transient receptor potential subfamily M member 1 (TRPM1) channel (Shen et al., 2009; Morgans et al., 2009; Koike et al., 2009). The focus of my studies has been to understand the function of nyctalopin in the depolarizing bipolar cells. I characterized TRPM1 expression in the retina, investigated the interdependence between nyctalopin, Grm6 and TRPM1 and determined the interactions between nyctalopin and Grm6 or TRPM1. There are five retinal splice variants of TRPM1. Variants containing all six transmembrane domains have a developmental expression profile similar to bipolar cells. Immunohistochemical analysis shows TRPM1 is localized to BC somas and dendritic tips where it co-localizes with YFP-nyctalopin. Nyctalopin interacts with the TRPMl channel is required for proper localization of the TRPMl channel to the bipolar cell dendritic tips

The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution

The previous oldest known fossil snakes date from ∼100 million year old sediments (Upper Cretaceous) and are both morphologically and phylogenetically diverse, indicating that snakes underwent a much earlier origin and adaptive radiation. We report here on snake fossils that extend the record backwards in time by an additional ∼70 million years (Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous). These ancient snakes share features with fossil and modern snakes (for example, recurved teeth with labial and lingual carinae, long toothed suborbital ramus of maxillae) and with lizards (for example, pronounced subdental shelf/gutter). The paleobiogeography of these early snakes is diverse and complex, suggesting that snakes had undergone habitat differentiation and geographic radiation by the mid-Jurassic. Phylogenetic analysis of squamates recovers these early snakes in a basal polytomy with other fossil and modern snakes, where Najash rionegrina is sister to this clade. Ingroup analysis finds them in a basal position to all other snakes including Najash.Fil: Caldwell, Michael Wayne. University of Alberta; CanadáFil: Nydam, Randall L.. Department Of Anatomy, Midwestern University, Glendale; Estados UnidosFil: Palci, Alessandro. South Australian Museum. Earth Sciences Section; AustraliaFil: Apesteguía, Sebastián. Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Celebrating the common law rights of man — a note on Blackstone’s work on natural law and natural rights

From text: William Blackstone’s (1723-1780) Commentaries, a four-volume work, the first edition of which appeared in 1765, was produced in an epoch of natural law theory which marked the transition from “justification” to the “exposition” of natural law precepts and the shift from the ground of obligation of natural law to the formulation of detailed rules in natural law jurisprudence. Similar in style to E de Vattel’s Le Droit des Gens, ou Principes de la Loi Naturelle (1758), and T Rutherford’s Institutes of Natural Law (1748), Blackstone focused on the detailed rules of natural law rather than indulging in the philosophical underpinnings of natural law theory as such

The first known chamopsiid lizard (Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe (Csehbanya Formation; Hungary, Bakony Mts)

The Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Iharkut terrestrial vertebrate locality, in Hungary, has yielded several lacertilian taxa since its discovery in 2000. One of these is represented by a left mandible fragment and two dentary fragments. The characters observed on these remains support assignment to the family Chamopsiidae (Scincomorpha). Moreover, the remains belong to a new genus and species, Pelsochamops infrequens n. g. n. sp. Pelsochamops is the first known occurrence of chamopsiids outside North America and adds another scincomorphan lizard to the Iharkut fauna. It represents an additional evidence for dispersal routes between North America and Europe. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Creation and Maintenance of Variation in Allorecognition Loci: Molecular Analysis in Various Model Systems

Allorecognition is the ability of an organism to differentiate self or close relatives from unrelated conspecifics. Effective allorecognition systems are critical to the survival of organisms; they prevent inbreeding and facilitate fusions between close relatives. Where the loci governing allorecognition outcomes have been identified, the corresponding proteins often exhibit exceptional polymorphism. Two important questions about this polymorphism remain unresolved: how is it created, and how is it maintained. Because the genetic bases of several allorecognition systems have now been identified, including alr1 and alr2 in Hydractinia, fusion histocompatibility in Botryllus, the het (vic) loci in fungi, tgrB1 and tgrC1 in Dictyostelium, and self-incompatibility (SI) loci in several plant families, we are now poised to achieve a clearer understanding of how these loci evolve. In this review, we summarize what is currently known about the evolution of allorecognition loci, highlight open questions, and suggest future directions

Species Boundaries In A Broadcast Spawning Marine Invertebrate

The first chapter of the thesis contains a mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) phylogeny of shallow-water species in the genus Ciona. The mtCOI sequences of Northeast Pacific/Mediterranean (Type A) and Northwest Atlantic (Type B) Ciona intestinalis differ by ~12% and Ciona roulei is nested within Type B. Ciona savignyi differs from all other haplotypes by 13-16%. A previously undescribed but morphologically distinct Ciona sp. found at the Banyuls-sur-Mer site was [GREATER THAN] 10% divergent from all other haplotypes. The second chapter builds upon the mtCOI phylogeny and includes six nuclear genealogies for the genus Ciona. From these genealogies, I conclude that Type A and Type B are well-supported monophyletic groups. In spite of their morphological similarity, Type A vs. Type B divergences range from 0.035 to 0.124. In contrast, the morphologically distinct C. roulei is embedded within Type B in all genealogies, and Ciona sp. appears to be associated with Type B/C. roulei to the exclusion of Type A. In the third chapter, I investigated the distribution of Type A and B in areas of potential sympatry to determine whether these two types occur together and if so, whether they show evidence of hybridization and introgression. Then I combine my data with other studies to investigate general patterns of reproductive isolation vs. divergence in marine broadcast spawners. Type A and B do occur sympatrically and their genomes show low levels of introgression. Type A and B may be near the upper limit of the range of divergence values where introgression is still possible. However, introgression at divergence levels similar to those found in Ciona does occur, prompting questions about the strength of postmating prezygotic reproductive barriers in marine broadcast spawners. In the fourth chapter, I identified three candidate sperm GRPs and used these to test whether reinforcement is occurring in this system by testing whether positive selection (as a proxy for prezygotic isolation) is stronger in sympatry than allopatry. While little evidence for reinforcement was found in these three candidate GRPs, tests such as those performed here may provide important insights into the process of speciation in marine broadcast spawners

Interactions of Health, Disease and Nutrition in Dairy Calves

This information was presented at the 2011 Herd Health and Nutrition Conferences, organized by the PRO-DAIRY program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. This conference provides an opportunity for dairy producers, veterinarians, feed industry representatives and agriservice personnel to increase their knowledge of current herd health and nutrition management techniques while interacting with other professionals. Full conference proceedings may be purchased online at http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/dm/proceedings_orders.html