Characterizing the Role of Syntaxin 1A in the Heart

The SNARE protein, STX1A, is expressed in various tissues. However, the role of STX1A in the heart remains unclear. Using a cardiac-specific STX1A knockout mouse model, this thesis explores the potential role of STX1A in excitation-contraction coupling. Echocardiography showed STX1A KO mice underwent transient systolic dysfunction persisting for 3 weeks. Ejection fraction and fractional shortening decreased in STX1A KO mice which returned to control levels by the 3rd week. No changes were observed in the control groups. Hypertrophy in STX1A KO hearts was not observed. Invasive hemodynamics revealed no change in LV or aortic pressures. Rate of pressure generation and relaxation were reduced in STX1A KO hearts at 0 weeks. Echocardiography also showed significant delay between the R-wave and onset of contraction in STX1A KO mice when compared to control mice. The observations of this study are indicative of STX1As role in the maintenance of normal excitation-contraction coupling in cardiomyocytes

Conversion of Waste Plastic into Liquid Hydrocarbons (ENERGY) by Cuco3 Catalyst: Application of Scientific Research on Plastic Pollution

Waste plastics were converted into valuable liquid hydrocarbon fuel. it is can be used as different purpose of  energy-source such as petrol engines, diesel engines, generators, vehicles and its good source of chemicals etc. Plastics have many properties like light weight, high durability so its demand increases in every sector. Pyrolysis of the waste plastic (hdpe) was carried out with CuCO3 catalysts and temperature range from 0 °C to 390 °C. The collected liquid hydrocarbons fuel was characterized by FT-IR, NMR, GCxGCMS spectrometer and fuel density was 78 g ml-1 and conversion was very good. The research paper exhibits concentrating on application for solving daily life issues and problems of plastic. Keywords: Pyrolysis, Liquid hydrocarbons fuel, CuCO3 catalysts, Conversion, Glass reactor, GCxGCMS

The cultural evolution of shamanism

Shamans, including medicine-men, mediums, and the prophets of religious movements, recur across human societies. Shamanism also existed among nearly all documented hunter-gatherers, likely characterized the religious lives of many ancestral humans, and is often proposed by anthropologists to be the “first profession”, representing the first institutionalized division of labor beyond age and sex. This paper proposes a cultural evolutionary theory to explain why shamanism consistently develops, and in particular, (1) why shamanic traditions exhibit recurrent features around the world, (2) why shamanism professionalizes early, often in the absence of other specialization, and (3) how shifting social conditions affect the form or existence of shamanism. According to this theory, shamanism is a set of traditions developed through cultural evolution that adapts to people’s intuitions to convince observers that a practitioner can influence otherwise unpredictable, significant events. The shaman does this by ostensibly transforming during initiation and trance, violating folk-intuitions of humanness to assure group-members that he or she can interact with the invisible forces that control uncertain outcomes. Entry requirements for becoming a shaman persist because the practitioner’s credibility depends on them “transforming”. This contrasts with dealing with problems that have identifiable solutions (like building a canoe), where credibility hinges on showing results and outsiders can invade the jurisdiction by producing the outcome. Shamanism is an ancient human institution that recurs because of the capacity of cultural evolution to produce practices adapted to innate psychological tendencies

Magic, explanations, and evil: On the origins and design of witches and sorcerers

In nearly every documented society, people believe that some misfortunes are attributable to malicious group mates employing magic or supernatural powers. Here I report cross-cultural patterns in these beliefs and propose a theory to explain them. Using the newly-created Survey of Mystical Harm, I show that several conceptions of evil, mystical practitioners recur around the world, including sorcerers (who use learned spells), possessors of the evil eye (who transmit injury through their stares and words), and witches (who possess superpowers, pose existential threats, and engage in morally abhorrent acts). I argue that these beliefs develop from three cultural selective processes – a selection for effective-seeming magic, a selection for plausible explanations of impactful misfortune, and a selection for demonizing myths that justify mistreatment. Separately, these selective schemes produce traditions as diverse as shamanism, conspiracy theories, and campaigns against heretics – but around the world, they jointly give rise to the odious and feared witch. I use the tripartite theory to explain the forms of beliefs in mystical harm and outline ten predictions for how shifting conditions should affect those conceptions. Societally-corrosive beliefs can persist when they are intuitively appealing or serve some believers’ agendas

Subjective selection and the evolution of complex culture

Why is culture the way it is? Here I argue that a major force shaping culture is subjective (cultural) selection, or the selective retention of cultural variants that people subjectively perceive as satisfying their goals. I show that people evaluate behaviors and beliefs according to how useful they are, especially for achieving goals. As they adopt and pass on those variants that seem best, they iteratively craft culture into increasingly effective-seeming forms. I argue that this process drives the development of many cumulatively complex cultural products, including effective technology, magic and ritual, aesthetic traditions, and institutions. I show that it can explain cultural dependencies, such as how certain beliefs create corresponding new practices, and I outline how it interacts with other cultural evolutionary processes. Cultural practices everywhere, from spears to shamanism, develop because people subjectively evaluate them to be effective means of satisfying regular goals

Subjective selection and the evolution of complex culture

Why is culture the way it is? Here I argue that a major force shaping culture is what I call subjective (cultural) selection, or the selective retention of cultural variants that people subjectively perceive as satisfying their goals. I show that people evaluate behaviors and beliefs according to how useful they are, especially for achieving goals. As they adopt and pass on those variants that seem best, they iteratively craft culture into increasingly effective-seeming forms. I argue that this process drives the development of many cumulatively complex cultural products, including effective technology, magic and ritual, aesthetic traditions, and institutions. I show that it can explain cultural dependencies, such as how certain beliefs create corresponding new practices, and I outline how it interacts with other cultural evolutionary processes. Cultural practices everywhere, from spears to shamanism, develop because people subjectively evaluate them to be effective means of satisfying regular goals