URI’s First Queer Town Hall

An article covering the events of the first ‘Queer Town Hall’ held to get student feedback on what direction on what changes to make for the campus LGBTQ Cente

Kinetic and Structual Characterization of Glutamine-Dependent NAD Synthetases

Multifunctional enzymes catalyzing successive reactions have evolved several mechanisms for the transport of intermediates between active sites. One mechanism, substrate channeling, allows the transport of the intermediate without releasing it into the solvent. Members of the glutamine amidotransferase (GAT) family often utilize substrate channeling for the transport of intermediates. GAT enzymes hydrolyze glutamine to ammonia, which is transported to an acceptor domain preventing wasteful hydrolysis of glutamine and increasing the efficiency of the reaction. Many GAT enzymes utilize molecular tunnels to shuttle ammonia between active sites. Often GAT enzymes synchronize the active site through conformational changes that occur during catalysis. Glutamine-dependent NAD synthetases are GAT enzymes and catalyze the last step in the biosynthesis of NAD, utilizing nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide (NaAD), ATP and glutamine. Steady-state kinetic characterizations and stoichiometric analysis of NAD synthetase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (NAD synthetaseTB) revealed a substrate channeling mechanism for ammonia transport and tight coordination of the active sites resulting in an enzyme that is highly efficient in the use of glutamine. The crystal structure of NAD synthetaseTB has revealed a 40 Å tunnel that connects the active sites and is postulated to play a role in the synchronized activities. Several regions of the enzyme were identified that may be important for regulation, such as the YRE loop which contacts the glutamine active site and key regions of the tunnel. Mutations of tunnel residues, such as D656A, show that interruption of important interactions can result in compromise in transfer of ammonia or active site communication. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that glutamine-dependent NAD synthetases have different levels of regulation. Three groups of enzymes were identified represented by NAD synthetase from M. tuberculosis, S. cerevisiae (NAD synthetaseYeast) and Thermotoga maritima (NAD synthetaseTM). Steady-state kinetic characterizations and stoichiometric analysis of NAD synthetaseTM has revealed a compromised coordination of the active sites compared to the highly synchronized NAD synthetaseTB and the moderate synchronization of NAD synthetaseYeast. Sequence alignment of these groups has allowed identification of residues that line the tunnel that may be responsible for the differences observed in active site coordination and are, therefore, important for active site communication

Nightly Prayer to the Unborn Child

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Controversias en el tintero: La retórica del "fundamentalismo religioso" entre musulmanes de Barcelona y Madrid

En las últimas dos décadas, el fundamentalismo ha sido abordado en las Ciencias Sociales como un estilo de creencia mediante el cual algunos fieles— asediados por la modernidad y la secularización—intentan preservar su identidad como pueblo ‘escogido’ (ver Bruce, 2000; Marty & Appleby, 1991, 1995; Ruthven, 2004). Sin embargo, este análisis resulta determinista y esencialista, en tanto que encajona la diversidad religiosa e ignora las variables políticas, éticas, culturales e históricas. Por tal motivo, en esta comunicación presentaré algunos hallazgos de mi reciente trabajo de campo en Barcelona y Madrid y expondré las maneras en que diversos grupos musulmanes han formado sus propias nociones del concepto. Después de todo, para comprender el significado de este concepto, es menester atender los modos en los que distintas personas manejan y reformulan las nociones del fundamentalismoOver the last two decades, fundamentalism has been approached in the Social Sciences as a style of belief through which some of the faithful – besieged by modernity and secularisation – try to preserve their identity as the ‘chosen’ people (see Bruce, 2000; Marty & Appleby, 1991, 1995; Ruthven, 2004). However, this analysis is deterministic and essentialist, in that it circumscribes religious diversity and ignores political, ethnic, cultural and historical variables. To this end, this report presents some findings from my recent fieldwork in Barcelona and Madrid and I will set forth the ways in which different Muslim groups have formed their own ideas of this concept. After all, to understand the meaning of the concept, it is necessary to study the ways in which different people manage and reformulate the ideas of fundamentalis

ANALISA PENGARUH PENERAPAN SISTEM MONITORING REAL-TIME PADA OXYGEN PLANT TERHADAP KESEHATAN DAN KESELAMATAN KERJA

Dalam pengolahan emas, kandungan oksigen sangat dibutuhkan untuk mempercepat reaksi sianidasi emas atau biasa disebut proses leaching. Proses leaching adalah proses ekstraksi bijih emas (Au) dan perak (Ag) oleh sianida dengan bantuan oksigen terlarut. Kenyataannya dengan mengandalkan oksigen alami di udara bebas untuk proses leaching saja tidak cukup, maka dari itu dibangunlah Oxygen Plant, untuk menjaga kualitas oksigen sehingga dapat terus mensuplai oksigen terlarut sekitar 30 g/m3. Operator harus menjaga parameter oksigen dengan melakukan pengecekan secara berkala pada area Oxygen Plant. Tindakan tersebut memiliki potensi  bahaya bagi kesehatan dan keselamatan operator karena area Oxygen Plant memiliki intensitas suara sekitar 96 dBA dan merupakan area yang sangat berbahaya. Dengan menggunakan metode HIRARC dalam mengidentifikasi dan menganalisa potensi bahaya serta memberikan penilaian risiko dan pengendalian risiko terkait pekerjaan maupun tahapan proses pada area Oxygen Plant. Penerapan pengendalian risiko berupa rekayasa teknik, monitoring area Oxygen Plant secara real-time dengan menggunakan citect SCADA dapat mencegah terjadinya potensi bahaya pada area Oxygen Plant. Setelah dilakukannya pengendalian risiko pada area Oxygen Plant maka data sebelum dan sesudah akan diolah dengan menggunakan uji paired T-test.Hasil metode HIRARC berupa pengendalian risiko rekayasa teknik memberikan dampak yang baik bagi operator, hal ini dibuktikan menggunakan analisa statistik dengan menggunakan paired t-test yang hasil hitung sebelum dan sesudah dilakukannya pengendalian risiko yaitu nilai  t-hitung adalah 62.321  dan nilai t-tabel adalah 1.699, sehingga nilai t-hitung > nilai t-tabel sehingga ada perbedaan yang signifikan sebelum dan sesudahnya dilakukan pengendalian risiko, maka pengurangan intensitas suara yang dirasakan operator yaitu sebesar 19%

Studies on Regulation of Dihydrotestosterone Binding to and Releasing from the Androgen Receptor

The androgen receptor (AR) is a nuclear receptor that responds to testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by modulating gene expression in a variety of cells, including prostate and muscle tissues. Studies of small molecule interaction with AR have shown diphenyl compounds inhibiting through a binding site labeled Binding Function 3 (BF3). The goal of this research is to analyze the interaction of the BF3 site with DDT and related compounds. Amino acids that are exposed on the surface of the BF3 that might interact with different compounds were mutated. Mutant proteins were tested experimentally for their impact on the inhibition the AR. Results show that mutations in F673, G724, and L830 prevent the inhibition of DDE, suggesting that DDE and related compounds act by interacting at the BF3 site of the AR. Understanding how the BF3 site binds with these compounds may lead to the development of new anticancer medications

Introducing ‘resonance’:Revisioning the relationship between youth and later life in women born 1939–52

This article proposes ‘resonance’ as a fruitful way of conceptualising the relationship between youth and later life and reflecting on its significance: resonance is how a person’s ‘youth’ is lived with in the present of their later life. Resonance revisions youth, engaging with the complexity of its presence in the lifecourse. Relinquishing a preoccupation with continuity and linearity, youth seen from the vantage point of later life contributes fresh insights into what matters for people and how. This conceptualisation emerged from a qualitative study of women born 1939–52 which revealed that experiences attributed to the teens and early twenties have a presence in a person’s later life in ways unrecognised in established approaches, namely longitudinal life-course studies and socio-cultural approaches. These resonances are often historically inflected such that some cohorts may live with their youth in later life in ways that distinguish them from their predecessors and successors