The Covenant of Husband and Wife

Edward A. Synan examines the biblical prophetic analogy and vocabulary of marriage, wife, husband and love that is used to express the bond of the covenant between God and Israel and surveys various related rabbinic and talmudic writings that offer commentary on this subject

Sundae

Childhood memories are relived during the consumption of an ice cream sundae

Book Review: \u27Guideposts in Modern Judaism\u27 by Jacob B. Agus

A review of the book, Guideposts in Modern Judaism, which was published by Bloch Publishing in 1954 and authored by Jacob B. Agus

Book Review: \u27Guideposts in Modern Judaism\u27 by Jacob B. Agus

A review of the book, Guideposts in Modern Judaism, which was published by Bloch Publishing in 1954 and authored by Jacob B. Agus

Abraham Heschel and Prayer

This article responds to Abraham Heschel\u27s presentation, The Spirit of Jewish Prayer, which was published in the Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly of America

Bahya Ibn Pakuda, Tutor of Hearts

This essay examines the philosophical and scholastic threads woven through Bahya Ibn Pakuda\u27s An Introduction to the Duties of Hearts

Maternal and Other Social Influences on Signature Whistle Structure of a Captive Group of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are social animals that use acoustics as a major method of communicating across a marine environment. They also live in fission-fusion groups and thus interact with many conspecifics over a lifetime. Individual dolphins have a signature whistle that functions as an identity call and serves to maintain group cohesion in murky waters or during reconciliation. Dolphins exhibit vocal learning and the signature whistle of a calf may be modeled after the whistle of their mother or another individual in the pod as they develop. Mother-calf pairs or other related animals sometimes have similar whistle types. Some research has reported that male offspring have a similar whistle contour to their mother, whereas the female offspring may not resemble the maternal call. The goal of this study was to assess the whistle similarities in a group of fourteen bottlenose dolphins living in a captive, open ocean facility, The Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences, off the coast of Roatan, Honduras. The pod included eight offspring of varying ages and sex and six mothers. Data was collected from a hydrophone multiple times a day during a one-week span, during training sessions and free-swimming times. Data was analyzed and categorized using two methods: 1) the parameters of whistles were measured using Raven Pro and 2) the contours, or overall shape, of whistles were categorized by human judges. Whistles were also arranged into an acoustic family tree to better visualize the whistle types of related dolphins

The effectiveness of local authority social services for older people in Great Britain: a critical literature review

Introduction: Older people are the main users of adult social care services in Great Britain. Evidence suggests that occupational therapists employed by local authorities are providing interventions that promote and maintain older people’s independence, and decrease dependency on other services. However, such evidence is disparate in nature and lacks synthesis. Method: This literature review systematically selected, critically appraised, and thematically synthesized the post 2000 published and unpublished evidence on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for older people in social care services. Findings: Identified themes established: the localized nature of social care services for older people; organizational and policy impacts on services, and factors influencing effectiveness and cost effectiveness. Although occupational therapists are increasingly involved in rehabilitation and reablement, there is a continuing focus on equipment and adaptations provision. A high level of service user satisfaction was identified, once timely occupational therapy services were received. Conclusion: Overall, occupational therapy in social care is perceived as effective in improving quality of life for older people and their carers, and cost effective in making savings for other social and healthcare services. However, the complex nature of social care services makes it difficult to disaggregate the effectiveness of occupational therapy from other services

Rhus coriaria induces senescence and autophagic cell death in breast cancer cells through a mechanism involving p38 and ERK1/2 activation

Here, we investigated the anticancer effect of Rhus coriaria on three breast cancer cell lines. We demonstrated that Rhus coriaria ethanolic extract (RCE) inhibits the proliferation of these cell lines in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. RCE induced senescence and cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. These changes were concomitant with upregulation of p21, downregulation of cyclin D1, p27, PCNA, c-myc, phospho-RB and expression of senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity. No proliferative recovery was detected after RCE removal. Annexin V staining and PARP cleavage analysis revealed a minimal induction of apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Electron microscopy revealed the presence of autophagic vacuoles in RCE-treated cells. Interestingly, blocking autophagy by 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or chloroquine (CQ) reduced RCE-induced cell death and senescence. RCE was also found to activate p38 and ERK1/2 signaling pathways which coincided with induction of autophagy. Furthermore, we found that while both autophagy inhibitors abolished p38 phosphorylation, only CQ led to significant decrease in pERK1/2. Finally, RCE induced DNA damage and reduced mutant p53, two events that preceded autophagy. Our findings provide strong evidence that R. coriaria possesses strong anti-breast cancer activity through induction of senescence and autophagic cell death, making it a promising alternative or adjunct therapeutic candidate against breast cancer.UAEU Program for Advanced Research (Grant 31S111-UPAR) and by the Zayed Center for Health Sciences (ZCHS) research grant (grant 31R021) and College of Science Individual Research Grant (grant 31S123) to Rabah Iratni