Facile syntheses of building blocks for the construction of phosphotyrosine mimetics

The copper-catalysed zinc phosphonate chemistry described by Yokomatsu and Shibuya can be used to enter the classical organometallic coupling repertoire via Stille and Suzuki–Miyaura couplings. 1,4-Diiodobenzene underwent coupling with the organozinc reagent derived from diethyl bromodifluoromethylphosphonate with copper(I) catalysis to afford diethyl (4-iodophenyl)difluoromethylphosphonate. Higher yielding couplings were run with (4-trifluoromethylsulfonyloxy)- and (4-nonafluorobutylsulfonyloxy)-iodobenzenes. The iodide and the triflate coupled under palladium-catalysed conditions with a range of stannanes and boronic acids in moderate to excellent yields. Shibuya–Yokomatsu couplings were also successful with more functionalised iodoarenes and heteroarenes presenting the important phosphate mimic on a range of scaffolds

Students’ interpersonal connections with peers and staff at the start of higher education

Establishing positive social relationships is important for students’ success and retention in higher education (HE). This can be especially challenging during the transition into HE since students often move to a larger educational setting and need to build relationships with new peers and staff. Research is needed to better understand social connections during this critical time, including the role of demographics, curricular and extracurricular participation, and how peer and staff connections predict academic achievement. Surveys of 290 first-year students at a large US public university assessed with whom students were interacting, how often, for what reasons, and with what modes of communication. Results include a detailed description of students’ interpersonal connections at the transition into HE, differences by demographics, curricular, and extracurricular participation, and the associations between students’ patterns of relationships and their academic achievement

Scalable Fluidic Injector Arrays for Viral Targeting of Intact 3-D Brain Circuits

Our understanding of neural circuits--how they mediate the computations that subserve sensation, thought, emotion, and action, and how they are corrupted in neurological and psychiatric disorders--would be greatly facilitated by a technology for rapidly targeting genes to complex 3-dimensional neural circuits, enabling fast creation of "circuit-level transgenics." We have recently developed methods in which viruses encoding for light-sensitive proteins can sensitize specific cell types to millisecond-timescale activation and silencing in the intact brain. We here present the design and implementation of an injector array capable of delivering viruses (or other fluids) to dozens of defined points within the 3-dimensional structure of the brain (Figure. 1A, 1B). The injector array comprises one or more displacement pumps that each drive a set of syringes, each of which feeds into a polyimide/fused-silica capillary via a high-pressure-tolerant connector. The capillaries are sized, and then inserted into, desired locations specified by custom-milling a stereotactic positioning board, thus allowing viruses or other reagents to be delivered to the desired set of brain regions. To use the device, the surgeon first fills the fluidic subsystem entirely with oil, backfills the capillaries with the virus, inserts the device into the brain, and infuses reagents slowly (<0.1 microliters/min). The parallel nature of the injector array facilitates rapid, accurate, and robust labeling of entire neural circuits with viral payloads such as optical sensitizers to enable light-activation and silencing of defined brain circuits. Along with other technologies, such as optical fiber arrays for light delivery to desired sets of brain regions, we hope to create a toolbox that enables the systematic probing of causal neural functions in the intact brain. This technology may not only open up such systematic approaches to circuit-focused neuroscience in mammals, and facilitate labeling of brain regions in large animals such as non-human primates, but may also open up a clinical translational path for cell-specific optical control prosthetics, whose precision may enable improved treatment of intractable brain disorders. Finally, such devices as described here may facilitate precisely-timed fluidic delivery of other payloads, such as stem cells and pharmacological agents, to 3-dimensional structures, in an easily user-customizable fashion.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2 OD002002-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Challenge Grant 1RC1MH088182-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Grand Opportunities Grant 1RC2DE020919-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Grand Opportunities Grant NIH 1R01NS067199-01)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF 0848804)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF 0835878)McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT (Neurotechnology Award Program)National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan FoundationDr. Gerald Burnett and Marjorie BurnettUnited States. Dept. of DefenseSociety for Neuroscience (SFN Research Award for Innovation in Neuroscience)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media LaboratoryBenesse FoundationWallace H. Coulter Foundatio

A brighter future : recommendations for the capacity building of the development sector in sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the poorest and least developed regions in the world. A lack of development capacity and the flight of human capital hamper the region's development efforts. The SCED is a leader in the field of community economic development and has recently made the decision to expand their academic and professional training programs throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The SCED's limited knowledge of the needs of development practitioners and the composition of the development sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is limiting its capacity to offer demand-driven capacity building programs to help build the region's development sector. This paper provides a comparison of CED and LED, examines the evolution of LED and explores the role of NGOs. The paper presents training program needs, methods of evaluation and best practices for capacity building. This paper recommends that to ensure the achievement of the long-term outcomes the School must design training programs which incorporate local experts as facilitators and context-specific curriculum which trains for the full life-cycle of skills needed by practitioners. Program-related activities must include training of trainers within the sector, partnerships with reputable local academic and development organizations and a longitudinal evaluation tool which measures learning and impact on the sector. (Author abstract)Stuart, S. M. (2008). A Brighter Future Recommendations for the Capacity Building of the Development Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.eduMaster of Science (M.S.)School of Community Economic Developmen

Phenological characteristics of global coccolithophore blooms

Coccolithophores are recognized as having a significant influence on the global carbon cycle through the production and export of calcium carbonate (often referred to as particulate inorganic carbon or PIC). Using remotely sensed PIC and chlorophyll data, we investigate the seasonal dynamics of coccolithophores relative to a mixed phytoplankton community. Seasonal variability in PIC, here considered to indicate changes in coccolithophore biomass, is identified across much of the global ocean. Blooms, which typically start in February–March in the low-latitude (~30°) Northern Hemisphere and last for ~6–7 months, get progressively later (April–May) and shorter (3–4 months) moving poleward. A similar pattern is observed in the Southern Hemisphere, where blooms that generally begin around August–September in the lower latitudes and which last for ~8 months get later and shorter with increasing latitude. It has previously been considered that phytoplankton blooms consist of a sequential succession of blooms of individual phytoplankton types. Comparison of PIC and chlorophyll peak dates suggests instead that in many open ocean regions, blooms of coccolithophores and other phytoplankton can co-occur, conflicting with the traditional view of species succession that is thought to take place in temperate regions such as the North Atlantic

Inherent tracers for carbon capture and storage in sedimentary formations: composition and applications

Inherent tracers - the “natural” isotopic and trace gas composition of captured CO₂ streams – are potentially powerful tracers for use in CCS technology. This review outlines for the first time the expected carbon isotope and noble gas compositions of captured CO₂ streams from a range of feedstocks, CO₂-generating processes and carbon capture techniques. The C-isotope composition of captured CO₂ will be most strongly controlled by the feedstock, but significant isotope fractionation is possible during capture; noble gas concentrations will be controlled by the capture technique employed. Comparison with likely baseline data suggests that CO₂ generated from fossil fuel feedstocks will often have δ13C distinguishable from storage reservoir CO₂. Noble gases in amine-captured CO₂ streams are likely to be low concentration, with isotopic ratios dependant on the feedstock, but CO₂ captured from oxyfuel plants may be strongly enriched in Kr and Xe which are potentially valuable subsurface tracers. CO₂ streams derived from fossil fuels will have noble gas isotope ratios reflecting a radiogenic component that will be difficult to distinguish in the storage reservoir, but inheritance of radiogenic components will provide an easily recognisable signature in the case of any unplanned migration into shallow aquifers or to the surface