The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

ATP synthase : constrained stoichiometry of the transmembrane rotor

Recent structural data suggest that the number of identical subunits (c or III) assembled into the cation-powered rotor of F(1)F(0) ATP synthase depends on the biological origin. Atomic force microscopy allowed individual subunits of the cylindrical transmembrane rotors from spinach chloroplast and from Ilyobacter tartaricus ATP synthase to be directly visualized in their native-like environment. Occasionally, individual rotors exhibit structural gaps of the size of one or more subunits. Complete rotors and arch-shaped fragments of incomplete rotors revealed the same diameter within one ATP synthase species. These results suggest the rotor diameter and stoichiometry to be determined by the shape of the subunits and their nearest neighbor interactions

Diseases of Renal Microcirculation: Diabetic Nephropathy

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its long-term vascular complications are increasing worldwide. Diabetic nephropathy is one of the main microvascular complications of diabetes and is characterized by the development of persistent macroalbuminuria (i.e., a urinary albumin excretion [UAE] >300 mg/24 h) or proteinuria (i.e., a urinary protein excretion >0.5 g/24 h). Characteristic glomerular changes of diabetic nephropathy include thickening of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM), mesangial expansion, and podocyte injury. Since type 1 and type 2 diabetic nephropathies share similar histologic characteristics as well as structural-functional relationships, one common classification is used to describe the pathologic classification of diabetic nephropathy for both type 1 and 2 diabetes. Although UAE should rather be considered as a continuous variable rather than using specific cutoff values, we describe the clinical course of diabetic nephropathy based on the classic approach using three stages based on urinary albumin excretion (i.e., normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria, and macroalbuminuria). Diabetic nephropathy is a major independent risk factor for diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. However, a number of interventions are available that can reduce the risk of developing diabetic nephropathy and slow the progression hereof. Key treatment strategies that could reduce the incidence and progression of diabetic nephropathy include blood glucose control, blood pressure control, lipid-lowering therapy, and lifestyle interventions