Attributive subcomparatives in Japanese

This paper aims to explain the difference in grammaticality between Japanese attributive subcomparatives with quantity adjectives (e.g., ooku/takusan ‘many’) and those with non-quantity adjectives (e.g., omosiroi ‘interesting’). My analysis assumes that Japanese clausal comparatives involve degree abstraction (Shimoyama 2012, see also Bhatt and Takahashi 2011). Degree abstraction is generally assumed to require movement of a null degree operator. In the case of attributive clausal comparatives, the movement takes place from the left branch position. If no operation that alleviates a left branch island violation is available, we would expect that the resulting sentences would be ungrammatical. I propose that in Japanese, quantifier float can play a role in ameliorating extraction out of the left branch islands. More specifically, I argue that (i) Japanese attributive subcomparatives with quantity adjectives involve quantifier float of the quantity adjectives, and that (ii) quantifier float carries the degree operators associated with the adjectives to a position where degree operator movement can originate

RECORDS OF TEN FRESHWATER OLIGOCHAETE SPECIES (ANNELIDA, CLITELLATA) FROM SUMATRA, JAVA AND KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA

Descriptions and taxonomic remarks are provided for ten species offreshwater oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata) from Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan, Indonesia. They include six naidines (Slavina appendiculata, Dero pectinata, Aulophorus hymanae, Branchiodrilus semperi, Pristina amphibiotica and P. osborni) and two tubificines (Limnodrilus claparedianus and L. grandisetosus) new to Indonesia. Enlarged ventral chaetae were described as an infraspecific variation in Pristina biserrata.Keywords: Clitellata, Oligochaeta, Naidinae, Tubificinae, taxonomy, new records, Indonesi

A Novel Alternative Spliced Variant of the Transcription Factor AP2α Is Expressed in the Murine Ocular Lens

AbstractThe AP2α gene encodes a transcription factor containing a basic, helix–span–helix DNA-binding/dimerization domain, which is developmentally regulated and retinoic acid inducible. Recent reports about AP2α null mice indicate that AP2α plays an important role in embryogenesis, especially in craniofacial development and midline fusion. Ocular development is also affected in these null mice. As AP2α may be involved in transcriptional regulation in the lens, it was important to examine the expression of the AP2α gene in the lens. Four AP2α mRNA variants have been previously isolated from whole mouse embryos. Variants 1, 3, and 4 are transcriptional activators that are transcribed from different promoters and variant 2 is a repressor lacking the activation domain encoded by exon 2. Usingin situ-PCR, we found that AP2α is expressed in the lens epithelia but not in the lens fibers. RT-PCR analysis of lens mRNA with amplimers specific for each variant revealed that AP2α variants 1, 2, and 3 are expressed in newborn mouse lenses. However, variant 4 is not expressed in the lens. In this report we characterized a novel isoform, which we named variant 5, expressed in the lens and kidney. Variant 5, which is generated by alternative splicing, may function as a repressor due to the partial deletion of the proline-rich transactivation domain encoded by exon 2. This is the first molecular characterization of AP2α gene expression in the lens. Our results indicate that two activator and two repressor AP2α isoforms may play a role in regulating gene expression in the lens