The "Jatakanidanakatha": A critical study, Tibetan edition and annotated.

This thesis provides a critical study, an annotated translation, and a diplomatic edition of the Tibetan text of the Jatakanidana. Its overall aim is the study of the Tibetan text and its relationship to the Pali version. This is accompanied by a study of the bodhisatta ideal as it is found in this Pali text, and in other related canonical and commentarial works. The thesis is divided into the following three parts: Part One consists of a study in five chapters: Chapter one provides a description of the methodologies used in the thesis and the historical background to the text. Chapter two defines the genre of literature to which the Jatakanidana belongs, and also discusses the doctrine of past buddhas as it is presented in the text. Chapter three deals with the doctrine of the bodhisatta as it is presented in the text, and provides an analysis of the doctrines peculiar to this Pali bodhisatta concept. Chapter four provides a detailed study of the concept and nature of the ten paramis, and shows how the paramis are defined in the literature produced prior to the Jatakanidana. Chapter five examines the way the Jatakanidana presents the life of Gotama as a bodhisatta. Part Two provides an annotated translation of the Jatakanidana based on the edited text of its Tibetan version. Part Three provides a Tibetan edition that has been produced utilising five different Tibetan editions of the text, together with appendices and bibliography. The appendices include the following items: (i) Dhammapada verses occurring in the Jatakanidana, their Tibetan translations, with Sanskrit and Prakrit parallels. (ii) Miscellaneous Pali verses in the Jatakanidana, their Tibetan translations together with Sanskrit and Prakrit parallels. (iii) Jatakanidana verses with no identifiable Pali canonical source. (iv) Jataka verses in the Jatakanidana varying from the extant Jataka verses. The Bibliography consists of primary sources in Tibetan, Pali and Sanskrit which are cited in the thesis, and secondary sources referred to in the study

Analysis of travelling waves associated with the modelling of aerosolised skin grafts

A previous model developed by the authors investigates the growth patterns of keratinocyte cell colonies after they have been applied to a burn site using a spray technique. In this paper, we investigate a simplified one-dimensional version of the model. This model yields travelling wave solutions and we analyse the behaviour of the travelling waves. Approximations for the rate of healing and maximum values for both the active healing and the healed cell densities are obtained

Identification of a Sjögren's syndrome susceptibility locus at OAS1 that influences isoform switching, protein expression, and responsiveness to type I interferons

Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a common, autoimmune exocrinopathy distinguished by keratoconjunctivitis sicca and xerostomia. Patients frequently develop serious complications including lymphoma, pulmonary dysfunction, neuropathy, vasculitis, and debilitating fatigue. Dysregulation of type I interferon (IFN) pathway is a prominent feature of SS and is correlated with increased autoantibody titers and disease severity. To identify genetic determinants of IFN pathway dysregulation in SS, we performed cis-expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analyses focusing on differentially expressed type I IFN-inducible transcripts identified through a transcriptome profiling study. Multiple cis-eQTLs were associated with transcript levels of 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1) peaking at rs10774671 (PeQTL= 6.05 × 10−14). Association of rs10774671 with SS susceptibility was identified and confirmed through meta-analysis of two independent cohorts (Pmeta= 2.59 × 10−9; odds ratio = 0.75; 95% confidence interval = 0.66–0.86). The risk allele of rs10774671 shifts splicing of OAS1 from production of the p46 isoform to multiple alternative transcripts, including p42, p48, and p44. We found that the isoforms were differentially expressed within each genotype in controls and patients with and without autoantibodies. Furthermore, our results showed that the three alternatively spliced isoforms lacked translational response to type I IFN stimulation. The p48 and p44 isoforms also had impaired protein expression governed by the 3' end of the transcripts. The SS risk allele of rs10774671 has been shown by others to be associated with reduced OAS1 enzymatic activity and ability to clear viral infections, as well as reduced responsiveness to IFN treatment. Our results establish OAS1 as a risk locus for SS and support a potential role for defective viral clearance due to altered IFN response as a genetic pathophysiological basis of this complex autoimmune disease. © 2017 Public Library of Science. All Rights Reserved