Jimmy Swaggart's Secular Confession

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version is available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02773940902766748 .Following the exposure of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart’s illicit rendezvous with a New Orleans prostitute, the Assemblies of God simultaneously orchestrated a massive attempt to silence those who would discuss the tryst and arranged the most widely publicized confession in American history theretofore. The coincidence of a “silence campaign” with the vast distribution of a public confession invites us to reconsider the nature of the public confession. For what place has a public confession, the discourse of disclosure par excellence, in a silence campaign? This question is best answered, I argue, if we understand public confession not as a stable a-historical form, but as a practice that is informed by multiple, competing traditions. I argue that by situating Swaggart’s performance in a philosophically modern and secular tradition of public confession we can understand both its complicity in a silence campaign and, more generally, the political logic of the modern public confession

The gastrointestinal nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis down-regulates immune gene expression in migratory cells in afferent lymph

Background: Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections are the predominant cause of economic losses in sheep. Infections are controlled almost exclusively by the use of anthelmintics which has lead to the selection of drug resistant nematode strains. An alternative control approach would be the induction of protective immunity to these parasites. This study exploits an ovine microarray biased towards immune genes, an artificially induced immunity model and the use of pseudo-afferent lymphatic cannulation to sample immune cells draining from the intestine, to investigate possible mechanisms involved in the development of immunity.\ud \ud Results: During the development of immunity to, and a subsequent challenge infection with Trichostrongylus colubriformis, the transcript levels of 2603 genes of cells trafficking in afferent intestinal lymph were significantly modulated (P < 0.05). Of these, 188 genes were modulated more than 1.3-fold and involved in immune function. Overall, there was a clear trend for down-regulation of many genes involved in immune functions including antigen presentation, caveolar-mediated endocytosis and protein ubiquitination. The transcript levels of TNF receptor associated factor 5 (TRAF5), hemopexin (HPX), cysteine dioxygenase (CDO1), the major histocompatability complex Class II protein (HLA-DMA), interleukin-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), ephrin A1 (EFNA1) and selenoprotein S (SELS) were modulated to the greatest degree.\ud \ud Conclusions: This report describes gene expression profiles of afferent lymph cells in sheep developing immunity to nematode infection. Results presented show a global down-regulation of the expression of immune genes which may be reflective of the natural temporal response to nematode infections in livestock

Crop Updates 2010 - Farming Systems

This session covers twenty papers from different authors: Pests and Disease 1. Preserving phosphine for use in Grain Storage Industry, Christopher R Newman, Department of Agriculture and Food Farming Systems Research 2. Demonstrating the benefits of grazing canola in Western Australia, Jonathan England, Stephen Gherardi and Mohammad Amjad, Department of Agriculture and Food 3. Buloke barley yield when pasture-cropped across subtropical perennial pastures, David Ferris, Department of Agriculture and Food, Phil Ward and Roger Lawes, CSIRO 4. Is pasture cropping viable in WA? Grower perceptions and EverCrop initiatives to evaluate, David Ferris, Tim Wiley, Perry Dolling, Department of Agriculture and Food, Philip Barrett-Lennard, Evergreen farming 5. Best-bet management for dual-purpose canola, John Kirkegaard, Susan Sprague, Hugh Dove and Walter Kelman, CSIRO, Canberra, Peter Hamblin, Agritech Research, Young, NSW 6. Pasture in cropping systems – with and without sheep, Brad Nutt and Angelo Loi, Department of Agriculture and Food 7. Can technology substitute for a lupin break? Wayne Parker, Department of Agriculture and Food 8. Canola row spacing with and without long term stubble retention on a sandy clay loam at Merredin, Glen Riethmuller, Department of Agriculture and Food 9. Impact of stubble retention on water balance and crop yield, Phil Ward1, Ken Flower2,3, Neil Cordingley2 and Shayne Micin1, 1CSIRO, Wembley, Western Australia, 2Western Australian No-Till Farmers Association, 3University of Western Australia Analysis and Modelling 10. Using POAMA rainfall forecasts for crop management in South-West WA, Senthold Asseng1, Peter McIntosh2,3, Mike Pook2,3, James Risbey2,3, Guomin Wang3, Oscar Alves3, Ian Foster4, Imma Farre4 and Nirav Khimashia1, 1CSIRO Plant Industry, Perth, 2CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, 3Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR), A partnership between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, Melbourne, 4Department of Agriculture and Food 11. Adaption to changing climates and variability – results of the Agribusiness Changing Climates regional workshop, Anderson W3, Beard D3, Blake J3, Grieve R1, Lang M3, Lemon J3, McTaggart R3, Gray D3, Price M2 and Stephens D3, 1Roderick Grieve Farm Management Consultants, 2Coffey International P/L, 3Department of Agriculture and Food 12. Farmers’ management of seasonal variability and climate change in WA, DA Beard, DM Gray, P Carmody, Department of Agriculture and Food 13. Is there a value in having a frost forecast for wheat in South-West WA? Imma Farre1, Senthold Asseng2, Ian Foster1 and Doug Abrecht3, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, CSIRO, Floreat, 2CSIRO Plant Industry, Perth 3Department of Agriculture and Food, Centre for Cropping Systems 14. Does buying rainfall pay? Greg Kirk, Planfarm Agricultural Consultants 15. Which region in the WA wheatbelt makes best use of rainfall? Peter Rowe, Bankwest Agribusiness 16. POAMA – the Predictive Ocean-Atmosphere Model for Australia, Guomin Wang and Oscar Alves, Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR), A partnership between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, Melbourne 17. Exploring the link between water use efficiency and farm profitability, Cameron Weeks, Planfarm and Peter Tozer, PRT Consulting Precision Agriculture 18. A plethora of paddock information is available – how does it stack up? Derk Bakker, Department of Agriculture and Food 18. Variable rate prescription mapping for lime inputs based on electromagnetic surveying and deep soil testing, Frank D’Emden, Quenten Knight and Luke Marquis, Precision Agronomics, Australia 19. Trial design and analysis using precision agriculture and farmer’s equipment, Roger Lawes, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Floreat 20. Farmer perspectives of precision agriculture in Western Australia: Issues and the way forward, Dr Roger Mandel, Curtin Universit

GIT2 Acts as a Potential Keystone Protein in Functional Hypothalamic Networks Associated with Age-Related Phenotypic Changes in Rats

The aging process affects every tissue in the body and represents one of the most complicated and highly integrated inevitable physiological entities. The maintenance of good health during the aging process likely relies upon the coherent regulation of hormonal and neuronal communication between the central nervous system and the periphery. Evidence has demonstrated that the optimal regulation of energy usage in both these systems facilitates healthy aging. However, the proteomic effects of aging in regions of the brain vital for integrating energy balance and neuronal activity are not well understood. The hypothalamus is one of the main structures in the body responsible for sustaining an efficient interaction between energy balance and neurological activity. Therefore, a greater understanding of the effects of aging in the hypothalamus may reveal important aspects of overall organismal aging and may potentially reveal the most crucial protein factors supporting this vital signaling integration. In this study, we examined alterations in protein expression in the hypothalami of young, middle-aged, and old rats. Using novel combinatorial bioinformatics analyses, we were able to gain a better understanding of the proteomic and phenotypic changes that occur during the aging process and have potentially identified the G protein-coupled receptor/cytoskeletal-associated protein GIT2 as a vital integrator and modulator of the normal aging process

Skin Lesions on Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from Three Sites in the Northwest Atlantic, USA

Skin disease occurs frequently in many cetacean species across the globe; methods to categorize lesions have relied on photo-identification (photo-id), stranding, and by-catch data. The current study used photo-id data from four sampling months during 2009 to estimate skin lesion prevalence and type occurring on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from three sites along the southeast United States coast [Sarasota Bay, FL (SSB); near Brunswick and Sapelo Island, GA (BSG); and near Charleston, SC (CHS)]. The prevalence of lesions was highest among BSG dolphins (P = 0.587) and lowest in SSB (P = 0.380), and the overall prevalence was significantly different among all sites (p<0.0167). Logistic regression modeling revealed a significant reduction in the odds of lesion occurrence for increasing water temperatures (OR = 0.92; 95%CI:0.906–0.938) and a significantly increased odds of lesion occurrence for BSG dolphins (OR = 1.39; 95%CI:1.203–1.614). Approximately one-third of the lesioned dolphins from each site presented with multiple types, and population differences in lesion type occurrence were observed (p<0.05). Lesions on stranded dolphins were sampled to determine the etiology of different lesion types, which included three visually distinct samples positive for herpesvirus. Although generally considered non-fatal, skin disease may be indicative of animal health or exposure to anthropogenic or environmental threats, and photo-id data provide an efficient and cost-effective approach to document the occurrence of skin lesions in free-ranging populations

MscS-like mechanosensitive channels in plants and microbes

The challenge of osmotic stress is something all living organisms must face as a result of environmental dynamics. Over the past three decades, innovative research and cooperation across disciplines have irrefutably established that cells utilize mechanically gated ion channels to release osmolytes and prevent cell lysis during hypoosmotic stress. Early electrophysiological analysis of the inner membrane of Escherichia coli identified the presence of three distinct mechanosensitive activities. The subsequent discoveries of the genes responsible for two of these activities, the mechanosensitive channels of large (MscL) and small (MscS) conductance, led to the identification of two diverse families of mechanosensitive channels. The latter of these two families, the MscS family, consists of members from bacteria, archaea, fungi, and plants. Genetic and electrophysiological analysis of these family members has provided insight into how organisms use mechanosensitive channels for osmotic regulation in response to changing environmental and developmental circumstances. Furthermore, determining the crystal structure of E. coli MscS and several homologues in several conformational states has contributed to our understanding of the gating mechanisms of these channels. Here we summarize our current knowledge of MscS homologues from all three domains of life and address their structure, proposed physiological functions, electrophysiological behaviors, and topological diversity

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe