Emergency Teaching

Ken Macrorie has for years been campaigning for the prohibition of instructors\u27 blood in the margins of their students\u27 freshman themes.! His admonition that marking all the weak points can easily discourage a student came immediately to mind when I was reading my first set of freshman papers this fall. One paper was so marred with fundamental stylistic errors that had I bloodied it with chicken scratches the paper would have been almost completely red. There would have been at least fifty marks and the paper totalled only about 500 words

A historical study of the search for oil in the Poverty Bay-East Coast district from 1874 to 1912 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University

This thesis deals with oil exploration in the Poverty Bay East Coast district between the years 1874 and 1912. The Geology of the district is outlined and a brief chronology of events is given. The achievements and problems of boring are related in Chapter I. Chapters III and IV unfold the story of exploration examining company promotion, share holding, public criticism and company expenditure. Chapter V gives brief biographies of most of the men of the district who promoted the companies. The occupations of the promoters are analysed. Public attitudes to the exploration are examined under three themes: the confidence that oil would be found, the question of local or foreign capital; and the benefits Poverty Bay would have received.[FROM INTRODUCTION

Drosophila EB1 is important for proper assembly, dynamics, and positioning of the mitotic spindle

EB1 is an evolutionarily conserved protein that localizes to the plus ends of growing microtubules. In yeast, the EB1 homologue (BIM1) has been shown to modulate microtubule dynamics and link microtubules to the cortex, but the functions of metazoan EB1 proteins remain unknown. Using a novel preparation of the Drosophila S2 cell line that promotes cell attachment and spreading, we visualized dynamics of single microtubules in real time and found that depletion of EB1 by RNA-mediated inhibition (RNAi) in interphase cells causes a dramatic increase in nondynamic microtubules (neither growing nor shrinking), but does not alter overall microtubule organization. In contrast, several defects in microtubule organization are observed in RNAi-treated mitotic cells, including a drastic reduction in astral microtubules, malformed mitotic spindles, defocused spindle poles, and mispositioning of spindles away from the cell center. Similar phenotypes were observed in mitotic spindles of Drosophila embryos that were microinjected with anti-EB1 antibodies. In addition, live cell imaging of mitosis in Drosophila embryos reveals defective spindle elongation and chromosomal segregation during anaphase after antibody injection. Our results reveal crucial roles for EB1 in mitosis, which we postulate involves its ability to promote the growth and interactions of microtubules within the central spindle and at the cell cortex

Nonlinear plasma waves excitation by intense ion beams in background plasma

Plasma neutralization of an intense ion pulse is of interest for many applications, including plasma lenses, heavy ion fusion, cosmic ray propagation, etc. An analytical electron fluid model has been developed to describe the plasma response to a propagating ion beam. The model predicts very good charge neutralization during quasi-steady-state propagation, provided the beam pulse duration {tau}{sub b} is much longer than the electron plasma period 2{pi}/{omega}{sub p}, where {omega}{sub p} = (4{pi}e{sup 2}n{sub p}/m){sup 1/2} is the electron plasma frequency and n{sub p} is the background plasma density. In the opposite limit, the beam pulse excites large-amplitude plasma waves. If the beam density is larger than the background plasma density, the plasma waves break. Theoretical predictions are compared with the results of calculations utilizing a particle-in-cell (PIC) code. The cold electron fluid results agree well with the PIC simulations for ion beam propagation through a background plasma. The reduced fluid description derived in this paper can provide an important benchmark for numerical codes and yield scaling relations for different beam and plasma parameters. The visualization of numerical simulation data shows complex collective phenomena during beam entry and exit from the plasma

Shared etiology of psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms in adolescence: a longitudinal twin study

Psychotic disorders and major depression, both typically adult-onset conditions, often co-occur. At younger ages psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms are often reported in the community. We used a genetically sensitive longitudinal design to investigate the relationship between psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms in adolescence. A representative community sample of twins from England and Wales was employed. Self-rated depressive symptoms, paranoia, hallucinations, cognitive disorganization, grandiosity, anhedonia, and parent-rated negative symptoms were collected when the twins were age 16 (N = 9618) and again on a representative subsample 9 months later (N = 2873). Direction and aetiology of associations were assessed using genetically informative cross-lagged models. Depressive symptoms were moderately correlated with paranoia, hallucinations, and cognitive disorganization. Lower correlations were observed between depression and anhedonia, and depression and parent-rated negative symptoms. Nonsignificant correlations were observed between depression and grandiosity. Largely the same genetic effects influenced depression and paranoia, depression and hallucinations, and depression and cognitive disorganization. Modest overlap in environmental influences also played a role in the associations. Significant bi-directional longitudinal associations were observed between depression and paranoia. Hallucinations and cognitive disorganization during adolescence were found to impact later depression, even after controlling for earlier levels of depression. Our study shows that psychotic experiences and depression, as traits in the community, have a high genetic overlap in mid-adolescence. Future research should test the prediction stemming from our longitudinal results, namely that reducing or ameliorating positive and cognitive psychotic experiences in adolescence would decrease later depressive symptoms

Poloxomer 188 Has a Deleterious Effect on Dystrophic Skeletal Muscle Function

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked, fatal muscle wasting disease for which there is currently no cure and limited palliative treatments. Poloxomer 188 (P188) is a tri-block copolymer that has been proposed as a potential treatment for cardiomyopathy in DMD patients. Despite the reported beneficial effects of P188 on dystrophic cardiac muscle function, the effects of P188 on dystrophic skeletal muscle function are relatively unknown. Mdx mice were injected intraperitoneally with 460 mg/kg or 30 mg/kg P188 dissolved in saline, or saline alone (control). The effect of single-dose and 2-week daily treatment was assessed using a muscle function test on the Tibialis Anterior (TA) muscle in situ in anaesthetised mice. The test comprises a warm up, measurement of the force-frequency relationship and a series of eccentric contractions with a 10% stretch that have previously been shown to cause a drop in maximum force in mdx mice. After 2 weeks of P188 treatment at either 30 or 460 mg/kg/day the drop in maximum force produced following eccentric contractions was significantly greater than that seen in saline treated control mice (P = 0.0001). Two week P188 treatment at either dose did not significantly change the force-frequency relationship or maximum isometric specific force produced by the TA muscle. In conclusion P188 treatment increases susceptibility to contraction-induced injury following eccentric contractions in dystrophic skeletal muscle and hence its suitability as a potential therapeutic for DMD should be reconsidered

Metabolic profiling of human saliva before and after induced physiological stress by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-ion mobility-mass spectrometry

A method has been developed for metabolite profiling of the salivary metabolome based on protein precipitation and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with ion mobility-mass spectrometry (UHPLC–IM–MS). The developed method requires 0.5 mL of human saliva, which is easily obtainable by passive drool. Standard protocols have been established for the collection, storage and pre-treatment of saliva. The use of UHPLC allows rapid global metabolic profiling for biomarker discovery with a cycle time of 15 min. Mass spectrometry imparts the ability to analyse a diverse number of species reproducibly over a wide dynamic range, which is essential for profiling of biofluids. The combination of UHPLC with IM–MS provides an added dimension enabling complex metabolic samples to be separated on the basis of retention time, ion mobility and mass-to-charge ratio in a single chromatographic run. The developed method has been applied to targeted metabolite identification and untargeted metabolite profiling of saliva samples collected before and after exercise-induced physiological stress. δ-Valerolactam has been identified as a potential biomarker on the basis of retention time, MS/MS spectrum and ion mobility drift time

Hexamerization-enhanced CD20 antibody mediates complement-dependent cytotoxicity in serum genetically deficient in C9

We examined complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) by hexamer formation-enhanced CD20 mAb Hx-7D8 of patient-derived chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells that are relatively resistant to CDC. CDC was analyzed in normal human serum (NHS) and serum from an individual genetically deficient for C9. Hx-7D8 was able to kill up to 80% of CLL cells in complete absence of C9. We conclude that the narrow C5b-8 pores formed without C9 are sufficient for CDC due to efficient antibody-mediated hexamer formation. In the absence of C9, we observed transient intracellular increases of Ca2 + during CDC (as assessed with FLUO-4) that were extended in time. This suggests that small C5b-8 pores allow Ca2 + to enter the cell, while dissipation of the fluorescent signal accompanying cell disintegration is delayed. The Ca2 + signal is retained concomitantly with TOPRO-3 (viability dye) staining, thereby confirming that Ca2 + influx represents the most proximate mediator of cell death by CDC

From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism

A fast growing field, the study of infants at risk because of having an older sibling with autism (i.e. infant sibs) aims to identify the earliest signs of this disorder, which would allow for earlier diagnosis and intervention. More importantly, we argue, these studies offer the opportunity to validate existing neuro-developmental models of autism against experimental evidence. Although autism is mainly seen as a disorder of social interaction and communication, emerging early markers do not exclusively reflect impairments of the “social brain”. Evidence for atypical development of sensory and attentional systems highlight the need to move away from localized deficits to models suggesting brain-wide involvement in autism pathology. We discuss the implications infant sibs findings have for future work into the biology of autism and the development of interventions