Functional genomics in the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat: genome wide and candidate gene analysis

The stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) is an inbred model of hypertension. Renal microarrays and functional genomic strategies investigated chromosome 2 candidate hypertension genes, focussing on the oxidative-stress defence gene, glutathione s-transferse mu type 1 (Gstm1). Ingenuity pathway analysis of renal microarrays in 5 and 16-week SHRSP, normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and chromosome 2 congenic rats identified differential expression of several glutathione cycling genes. The Gstm1 promoter was investigated by luciferase and Transfac bioinformatic analysis, implicating two polymorphism clusters and several transcription factors in reduced SHRSP Gstm1 expression. Recombinant adenoviruses expressing Gstm1 and short-hairpin RNA-interference sequences to reduce Gstm family expression were produced. In-vivo overexpression of Gstm1 did not improve endothelial nitric-oxide bioavailability in SHRSP carotid arteries. Bacterial artificial chromosome and linear expression constructs were purified for production of Gstm1 transgenic rats, putative transgenic rats were screened by PCR. The strategies developed in this project are an example of thorough functional genomic analysis in experimental hypertension research

Improvement of oral reports through the students' use of audio-visual aids

Author misnumbered thesis. Please note that there are TWO page 108s, but the continuity is the same. Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Effect of Light Quality and Vernalization on Late-Flowering Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana

We have analyzed the response to vernalization and light quality of six classes of late-flowering mutants (fb, fca, fe, fg, ft, and fy) previously isolated following mutagenesis of the early Landsberg race of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. When grown in continuous fluorescent illumination, four mutants (fca, fe, ft, and fy) and the Landsberg wild type exhibited a reduction in both flowering time and leaf number following 6 weeks of vernalization. A significant decrease in flowering time was also observed for all the mutants and the wild type when constant fluorescent illumination was supplemented with irradiation enriched in the red and far red regions of the spectrum. In the most extreme case, the late-flowering phenotype of the fca mutant was completely suppressed by vernalization, suggesting that this mutation has a direct effect on flowering. The fe and fy mutants also showed a more pronounced response than wild type to both vernalization and incandescent supplementation. The ft mutant showed a similar response to that of the wild type. The fb and fg mutants were substantially less sensitive to these treatments. These results are interpreted in the context of a multifactorial pathway for induction of flowering, in which the various mutations affect different steps of the pathway.This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (DMB 8351595) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-76ERO-1338). J. M. Z. was supported in part by a Fulbright fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer reviewe

Whole-genome sequencing

The costs of whole-genome sequencing have rapidly decreased, and it is being increasingly deployed in large-scale clinical research projects and introduced into routine clinical care. This will lead to rapid diagnoses for patients with genetic disease but also introduces uncertainty because of the diversity of human genomes and the potential difficulties in annotating new genetic variants for individual patients and families. Here we outline the steps in organising whole-genome sequencing for patients in the neurology clinic and emphasise that close liaison between the clinician and the laboratory is essential

Selbstbeschränkung aus religiöser Gewissheit: Politischer Liberalismus aus dem Geist des Christentums

Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach den Bedingungen religiöser Liberalität in sich selbst als neutral verstehenden politischen Gemeinwesen nach. Die These lautet, dass Selbstbeschränkung aus religiöser Gewissheit möglich ist. Unter Bezug auf das Frühwerk von John Rawls wird zunächst auf die theologischen Ressourcen sowohl seiner späteren Gerechtigkeitstheorie als auch des Politischen Liberalismus verwiesen, um dann vor diesem Hintergrund Elemente eines politischen Liberalismus aus dem Geiste des Christentums zu skizzieren. In reformatorischer Tradition kann ein selbstreflexiv begriffenes Sündenbewusstsein wie auch ein in sich differenziertes Gesetzesverständnis wesentliche Motive zur religiösen Selbstbeschränkung und damit zur Pluralismusfähigkeit des Christentums bereitstellen.The article asks for conditions of religious liberalism in plural societies. The author argues for a successful self-constraint of religious traditions out to their own world-views. In a discussion of John Rawls's Senior Thesis on the Meaning of Sin and Faith it can be shown that - at least for Christianity - a combination of the self-reflexive consciousness of man as a sinner and an understanding of what can be called the double sense of Lex Dei provides a set of arguments and convictions that does not only develop a political liberalism out of the Spirit of Christianity but also helps the latter to become more open to pluralism

Protestantische Ethik und Demokratie. Ein deutschsprachiger Literaturbericht seit 1945

ZusammenfassungDer Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit wichtigen Stationen der Annäherung von Demokratie und Protestantismus auf dem Gebiet der deutschsprachigen, protestantischen Ethik nach 1945. Standen zu Beginn – unter dem Eindruck der Folgen der NS-Diktatur – vor allem die Ansätze von Karl Barth und Dietrich Bonhoeffer im Mittelpunkt, denen es um den Nachweis der Affinität demokratischer Werte mit christlichen Glaubensgrundsätzen ging, so konzentrierte sich in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren die Debatte um die politischen Implikationen der christlichen Freiheit (libertas christiana). Liberaltheologische Stimmen mit ihrer Betonung der individuellen Autonomie fanden sich Positionen gegenüber, die stärker die Gleichursprünglichkeit von Individuum und Gemeinschaft betonten. Nach Wende und Wiedervereinigung rückten Phänomene wie der religiöse Pluralismus sowie das Problem der weltanschaulichen Neutralität des Staates in den Vordergrund. Bis heute konzentriert sich die protestantische Ethik der Demokratie vornehmlich auf rechtliche Aspekte. Andere Fragestellungen, wie nach der Rolle der zivilgesellschaftlichen Öffentlichkeit in einer Mediendemokratie oder der Autonomie des Rechts gegenüber Moral und Politik, blieben bislang weitgehend ausgespart.AbstractThis paper takes a look at important stages in the convergence of democracy and Protestantism within German protestant ethics after 1945. If at first and in the aftermath of the Nazi regime the debate focused on the approaches of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, both of whom emphasised the affinities of democratic values and Christian belief, there was a notable shift towards the political implications of Christian liberty (libertas christiana) in the 1970s and 80s. Liberal theologians with their emphasis on individual autonomy found themselves opposed to stances insisting on the equiprimordiality of individual and community. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the German reunification, questions of religious pluralism and the state’s ideological neutrality came to the fore. To date, the Protestant ethics of democracy chiefly concentrate on legal issues. Other matters, such as the question of the role of the civil public in a media democracy, or the autonomy of law from morality and politics, have so far been left unconsidered