Spanish Friars in the Oregon Country, 1810-1811

"This record of explorations was not published until several years had elapsed and Mr. Lewis voices the plea that a search be made for the original journals of the friars…

Spanish Friars in the Oregon Country, 1810-1811

"This record of explorations was not published until several years had elapsed and Mr. Lewis voices the plea that a search be made for the original journals of the friars…

Somera visión de la América Española, en particular de los vecinos Virreinatos de México y la Nueva Granada.

Las siguientes observaciones fueron originalmente publicadas en 1815, en Georgetown, por la imprenta de Richards y Mallory bajo el título de A Cursory View of Spanish America, particularly the neighbouring vice-royalties of Mexico and New Grenada, chiefly intended to elucidate the policy of an early connection between the United States and those countries. Fueron traducidas al castellano por la historiadora mexicana Virgina Guedea, quien las publicó en el año 2003, bajo el sello de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, como apéndice de su traducción de las Memorias de la Revolución Mexicana que el mismo Robinson había publicado en Filadelfia en 1820. Natural de Filadelfia (1774), este comerciante estadounidense realizó operaciones mercantiles en Venezuela (1799 a 1806), Cuba, Barbados y Cartagena de Indias (1813). Comisionado por una casa comercial de Nueva York, ofreció a los insurgentes de Nueva España 10.000 fusiles a 25 pesos cada uno, a cambio de un permiso para introducir sin impuestosmercancías por un millón y medio de pesos. Fue en esta época en que se convirtió en un agente del Gobierno estadounidense. Las observaciones que siguen reflejan entonces los intereses estratégicos de ese gobierno durante la época de las independencias hispanoamericanas, pero ofrecen información valiosa sobre las circunstancias de la Nueva Granada en el tiempo de su Primera República, como la relacionada con los cálculosestratégicos de don Antonio Nariño, juzgado por Robertson como “el individuo que puede considerarse como el personaje más destacado de este joven imperio”

A Novel Transgenic Rat Model of Robust Cerebral Microvascular Amyloid with Prominent Vasculopathy

Accumulation of fibrillar amyloid β protein in blood vessels of the brain, a condition known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), is a common pathology of elderly individuals, a prominent comorbidity of Alzheimer disease, and a driver of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. Although several transgenic mouse strains have been generated that develop varying levels of CAA, consistent models of associated cerebral microhemorrhage and vasculopathy observed clinically have been lacking. Reliable preclinical animal models of CAA and microhemorrhage are needed to investigate the molecular pathogenesis of this condition. Herein, we describe the generation and characterization of a novel transgenic rat (rTg-DI) that produces low levels of human familial CAA Dutch/Iowa E22Q/D23N mutant amyloid β protein in brain and faithfully recapitulates many of the pathologic aspects of human small-vessel CAA. rTg-DI rats exhibit early-onset and progressive accumulation of cerebral microvascular fibrillar amyloid accompanied by early-onset and sustained behavioral deficits. Comparable to CAA in humans, the cerebral microvascular amyloid in rTg-DI rats causes capillary structural alterations, promotes prominent perivascular neuroinflammation, and produces consistent, robust microhemorrhages and small-vessel occlusions that are readily detected by magnetic resonance imaging. The rTg-DI rats provide a new model to investigate the pathogenesis of small-vessel CAA and microhemorrhages, to develop effective biomarkers for this condition and to test therapeutic interventions

Capturing Saddam Hussein: How the full story got away, and what conflict journalism can learn from it

The capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003 was reported with a sense of triumph which must have greatly satisfied the United States forces occupying Iraq. This was the victory they had been looking for; the seminal moment which signalled that the invasion had been a success. But the reporting of that event was also a missed opportunity: an example of incomplete story telling. In this article, I use my personal experience of reporting on the event for the BBC as a starting point to examine what it, and the way it was covered, tell us about the omissions which are frequently a feature of conflict reporting. The article argues that the way in which reporters had to work in Iraq then meant that they did not convey all of the event’s wider implications, and suggests how that might be improved

The gene-specific codon counting database: a genome-based catalog of one-, two-, three-, four- and five-codon combinations present in Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes

A codon consists of three nucleotides and functions during translation to dictate the insertion of a specific amino acid in a growing peptide or, in the case of stop codons, to specify the completion of protein synthesis. There are 64 possible single codons and there are 4096 double, 262 144 triple, 16 777 216 quadruple and 1 073 741 824 quintuple codon combinations available for use by specific genes and genomes. In order to evaluate the use of specific single, double, triple, quadruple and quintuple codon combinations in genes and gene networks, we have developed a codon counting tool and employed it to analyze 5780 Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes. We have also developed visualization approaches, including codon painting, combination and bar graphs, and have used them to identify distinct codon usage patterns in specific genes and groups of genes. Using our developed Gene-Specific Codon Counting Database, we have identified extreme codon runs in specific genes. We have also demonstrated that specific codon combinations or usage patterns are over-represented in genes whose corresponding proteins belong to ribosome or translation-associated biological processes. Our resulting database provides a mineable list of multi-codon data and can be used to identify unique sequence runs and codon usage patterns in individual and functionally linked groups of genes

Cryogenic Optical Position Encoders for Mechanisms in the JWST Optical Telescope Element Simulator (OSIM)

The JWST Optical Telescope Element Simulator (OSIM) is a configurable, cryogenic, optical stimulus for high fidelity ground characterization and calibration of JWST's flight instruments. OSIM and its associated Beam Image Analyzer (BIA) contain several ultra-precise, cryogenic mechanisms that enable OSIM to project point sources into the instruments according to the same optical prescription as the flight telescope images stars - correct in focal surface position and chief ray angle. OSIM's and BIA's fifteen axes of mechanisms navigate according to redundant, cryogenic, absolute, optical encoders - 32 in all operating at or below 100 K. OSIM's encoder subsystem, the engineering challenges met in its development, and the encoders' sub-micron and sub-arcsecond performance are discussed