A GWAS sequence variant for platelet volume marks an alternative DNM3 promoter in megakaryocytes near a MEIS1 binding site

We recently identified 68 genomic loci where common sequence variants are associated with platelet count and volume. Platelets are formed in the bone marrow by megakaryocytes, which are derived from hematopoietic stem cells by a process mainly controlled by transcription factors. The homeobox transcription factor MEIS1 is uniquely transcribed in megakaryocytes and not in the other lineage-committed blood cells. By ChIP-seq, we show that 5 of the 68 loci pinpoint a MEIS1 binding event within a group of 252 MK-overexpressed genes. In one such locus in DNM3, regulating platelet volume, the MEIS1 binding site falls within a region acting as an alternative promoter that is solely used in megakaryocytes, where allelic variation dictates different levels of a shorter transcript. The importance of dynamin activity to the latter stages of thrombopoiesis was confirmed by the observation that the inhibitor Dynasore reduced murine proplatelet for-mation in vitro

The concept of transport capacity in geomorphology

The notion of sediment-transport capacity has been engrained in geomorphological and related literature for over 50 years, although its earliest roots date back explicitly to Gilbert in fluvial geomorphology in the 1870s and implicitly to eighteenth to nineteenth century developments in engineering. Despite cross fertilization between different process domains, there seem to have been independent inventions of the idea in aeolian geomorphology by Bagnold in the 1930s and in hillslope studies by Ellison in the 1940s. Here we review the invention and development of the idea of transport capacity in the fluvial, aeolian, coastal, hillslope, débris flow, and glacial process domains. As these various developments have occurred, different definitions have been used, which makes it both a difficult concept to test, and one that may lead to poor communications between those working in different domains of geomorphology. We argue that the original relation between the power of a flow and its ability to transport sediment can be challenged for three reasons. First, as sediment becomes entrained in a flow, the nature of the flow changes and so it is unreasonable to link the capacity of the water or wind only to the ability of the fluid to move sediment. Secondly, environmental sediment transport is complicated, and the range of processes involved in most movements means that simple relationships are unlikely to hold, not least because the movement of sediment often changes the substrate, which in turn affects the flow conditions. Thirdly, the inherently stochastic nature of sediment transport means that any capacity relationships do not scale either in time or in space. Consequently, new theories of sediment transport are needed to improve understanding and prediction and to guide measurement and management of all geomorphic systems

Friday Open Microphone Session

Audiovisual recording of the Friday Open Microphone Session from the 5th Annual UND Writers Conference, which took place on March 22, 1974. In this footage, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, Kenneth Rexroth, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti discuss various topics, including subsistence farming, agri-business, environmental issues, the drug trade and its political impact, as well as strip-mining, particularly in reference to western North Dakota. In addition, Lawrence Ferlinghetti reads Neruda in Spanish

Thursday Open Microphone Session

Audiovisual recording of the Thursday Open Microphone Session from the 5th Annual UND Writers Conference, which took place on March 21, 1974. In this footage, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, Kenneth Rexroth, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti discuss various topics, including drug use for mind expansion, women poets, jazz, and writing habits, among other things

Wednesday Open Microphone Session

In this audiovisual recording from Wednesday, March 20, 1974, as part of the 5th Annual UND Writers Conference: “City Lights in North Dakota,” Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, and Michael McClure take part in an open microphone session, in which they discuss energy conservation. Before the discussion, Miriam Patchen reads some poetry by her husband, Kenneth Patchen, including “Let Us Have Madness Openly,” “When in the Course of Human Events,” “It is For Us the Living,” “Joe Hill Listens to the Praying,” “He Thought of Mad Ellen’s Ravings and of the Wretched Skeleton on the Rock, Fall of the Evening Star,” “The Queer Client and the Forest-Inn,” “The Fox,” “Irkallas White Caves,” “We Go Out Into the Staring Town,” “She Knows it’s Raining,” “Delighted with Bluepink,” “When We Were Here Together,” and “O Now the Drenched Land Awakes.” In addition, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, and Michael McClure discuss energy conservation

Highlights of the 5th Annual Writers Conference

Audiovisual recording featuring highlights from the 5th Annual UND Writers Conference, which took place from March 18-22, 1974. Footage includes various members of the Beat Generation/San Francisco Renaissance reading poetry and discussing a number of topics, including the environment and ecology. The footage also includes what appears to be an unpublished poem by Allen Ginsberg written for the occasion

Tuesday Open Microphone Session

Audiovisual recording of the Tuesday Open Microphone Session from the 5th Annual UND Writers Conference, which took place on March 19, 1974. In this footage, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Michael McClure discuss various topics, including censorship, the military-industrial complex, Limits to Growth by Donella H. Meadows, environmental issues, farming, the history of the City Lights Bookstore, Robert Bly, Robert Graves, among many others