The Bugaboo Man / music by J. A. Nicol; words by R. A. Barnet

Cover: drawing of a Caucasian woman telling a story to an African American girl; the drawing is lined with jack-o-lanterns; description reads: Supplement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sunday, June 10, 1900; Publisher: Arthur W. Tams (New York)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_b/1000/thumbnail.jp

Synthesis and applications of 2,4-disubstituted thiazoles derivatives as small molecule modulators of cellular development

Understanding how the structure of molecules relates to their function and biological activity is essential in the development of new analogues with targeted activity. This is especially relevant in mediating developmental processes in mammalian cells and the regulation of stem cell differentiation. In this study, thiazole-containing small molecules were synthesised and investigated for their ability to induce the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives. Analyses of cell morphology, cell viability, expression of cell surface markers and ability to induce cell differentiation and regulate neurite formation identified the analogue with the longest and most bulky hydrophobic side chain as possessing comparable or enhanced activity to all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA). Interestingly, a shorter, less bulky, known thiazole compound reported to be isoform selective for the retinoic acid receptor β2 (RARβ2) agonist did not mediate differentiation under the conditions tested; however, activity could be restored by adjusting the structure to a longer, more bulky molecule. These data provide further insight into the complexity of compound design in terms of developing small molecules with specific biological activities to control the development and differentiation of mammalian cells

Lrg1 Regulates β (1, 3)-Glucan Masking in Candida albicans through the Cek1 MAP Kinase Pathway

Candida albicans is among the most prevalent opportunistic human fungal pathogens. The ability to mask the immunogenic polysaccharide β (1,3)-glucan from immune detection via a layer of mannosylated proteins is a key virulence factor of C. albicans. We previously reported that hyperactivation of the Cek1 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway promotes β (1,3)-glucan exposure. In this communication, we report a novel upstream regulator of Cek1 activation and characterize the impact of Cek1 activity on fungal virulence. Lrg1 encodes a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) that has been suggested to inhibit the GTPase Rho1. We found that disruption of LRG1 causes Cek1 hyperactivation and β (1,3)-glucan unmasking. However, when GTPase activation was measured for a panel of GTPases, the lrg1ΔΔ mutant exhibited increased activation of Cdc42 and Ras1 but not Rho1 or Rac1. Unmasking and Cek1 activation in the lrg1ΔΔ mutant can be blocked by inhibition of the Ste11 MAP kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK), indicating that the lrg1ΔΔ mutant acts through the canonical Cek1 MAP kinase cascade. In order to determine how Cek1 hyperactivation specifically impacts virulence, a doxycycline-repressible hyperactive STE11ΔN467 allele was expressed in C. albicans. In the absence of doxycycline, this allele overexpressed STE11ΔN467, which induced production of proinflammatory tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) from murine macrophages. This in vitrophenotype correlates with decreased colonization and virulence in a mouse model of systemic infection. The mechanism by which Ste11ΔN467 causes unmasking was explored with RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis. Overexpression of Ste11ΔN467 caused upregulation of the Cph1 transcription factor and of a group of cell wall-modifying proteins which are predicted to impact cell wall architecture

Community professionals' management of client care : a mixed-methods systematic review

This is the final draft, after peer-review, of a manuscript published in Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. The definitive version, detailed above, is available online at www.rsmjournals.com.Peer reviewedPostprin

A Student\u27s Guide to giant Viruses Infecting Small Eukaryotes: From Acanthamoeba to Zooxanthellae

The discovery of infectious particles that challenge conventional thoughts concerning “what is a virus” has led to the evolution a new field of study in the past decade. Here, we review knowledge and information concerning “giant viruses”, with a focus not only on some of the best studied systems, but also provide an effort to illuminate systems yet to be better resolved. We conclude by demonstrating that there is an abundance of new host–virus systems that fall into this “giant” category, demonstrating that this field of inquiry presents great opportunities for future research

Red and Reddened Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We investigate the continuum and emission line properties of 4576 SDSS quasars as a function of their optical/UV SEDs. The optical/UV color distribution of our sample is roughly Gaussian, but with a red tail; we distinguish between 1) intrinsically blue (optically flat) quasars, 2) intrinsically red (optically steep) quasars, and 3) the 273 (6%) of our quasars whose continua are inconsistent with a single power-law and appear redder due to SMC-like dust reddening rather than synchrotron emission. The color distribution suggests that the population of moderately dust reddened broad-line quasars is smaller than that of unobscured quasars, but we estimate that a further 10% of the luminous quasar population is missing from the SDSS sample because of dust extinction with E(B-V)<0.5. We also investigate the emission and absorption line properties of these quasars as a function of color with regard to Boroson & Green type eigenvectors. Intrinsically red (optically steep) quasars tend to have narrower Balmer lines and weaker CIV, CIII], HeII and 3000A bump emission as compared with bluer (optically flatter) quasars. The change in strength of the 3000A bump appears to be dominated by the Balmer continuum and not by FeII emission. The dust reddened quasars have even narrower Balmer lines and weaker 3000A bumps, in addition to having considerably larger equivalent widths of [OII] and [OIII] emission. The fraction of broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) increases from ~3.4% for the bluest quasars to perhaps as large as 20% for the dust reddened quasars, but the intrinsic color distribution is affected by dust reddening. (abridged)Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures (3 color), 2 tables, accepted by AJ. For a version with higher quality figures, see ftp://astro.princeton.edu/gtr/redqsos/RichardsGT_redqsos.revised3.preprint.p

Garden and landscape-scale correlates of moths of differing conservation status: significant effects of urbanization and habitat diversity

Moths are abundant and ubiquitous in vegetated terrestrial environments and are pollinators, important herbivores of wild plants, and food for birds, bats and rodents. In recent years, many once abundant and widespread species have shown sharp declines that have been cited by some as indicative of a widespread insect biodiversity crisis. Likely causes of these declines include agricultural intensification, light pollution, climate change, and urbanization; however, the real underlying cause(s) is still open to conjecture. We used data collected from the citizen science Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) to explore the spatial association between the abundance of 195 widespread British species of moth, and garden habitat and landscape features, to see if spatial habitat and landscape associations varied for species of differing conservation status. We found that associations with habitat and landscape composition were species-specific, but that there were consistent trends in species richness and total moth abundance. Gardens with more diverse and extensive microhabitats were associated with higher species richness and moth abundance; gardens near to the coast were associated with higher richness and moth abundance; and gardens in more urbanized locations were associated with lower species richness and moth abundance. The same trends were also found for species classified as increasing, declining and vulnerable under IUCN (World Conservation Union) criteria

New Method to Calculate the Sign and Relative Strength of Magnetic Interactions in Low-Dimensional Systems on the Basis of Structural Data

The connection of strength of magnetic interactions and type ordering the magnetic moments with crystal chemical characteristics in low-dimensional magnets is investigated. The new method to calculate the sign and relative strength of magnetic interactions in low-dimensional systems on the basis of the structural data is proposed. This method allows to estimate magnetic interactions not only inside low-dimensional fragments but also between them, and also to predict the possibility of the occurrence of magnetic phase transitions and anomalies of the magnetic interactions. Moreover, it can be used for search of low-dimensional magnets among the compounds whose crystal structures are known. The possibilities of the method are illustrated in an example of research of magnetic interactions in familiar low-dimensional magnets SrCu2(BO3)2, CaCuGe2O6, CaV4O9, Cu2Te2O5Cl2, Cu2Te2O5Br2, BaCu2Si2O7, BaCu2Ge2O7, BaCuSi2O6, LiCu2O2, and NaCu2O2.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, published versio