Asian American Pacific Islander Hate: A Breakdown

Design and Visual Communications Major in Peck School of the Art

Adherence of pseudomonas aeruginosa and staphylococcus aureus to hydrocurve II soft contact lenses

There are over 13 million people in the U.S. who wear soft contact lenses (SCL) for refractive correction. Patients who wear SCL are at increased risk for bacterial keratitis. Most bacterial infections of the cornea in these patients are caused by Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus. One of the reasons that these organisms may infect the cornea is their ability to adhere to SCL. Therefore, we investigated bacterial adherence of Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus to soft contact lenses using the agar sandwich technique. Unused hydrocurve II lenses were soaked in a saline solution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus aureus. The lenses were then put on nutrient agar and covered with a thin layer of liquid nutrient agar. After incubation, the number of colony forming units (cfu) on the SCL were counted and used to determine the percent of bacterial adherence. Both organisms adhered to the soft lenses with no significant difference between their mean percent adherence

Shuttle S-band communications technical concepts

Using the S-band communications system, shuttle orbiter can communicate directly with the Earth via the Ground Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (GSTDN) or via the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). The S-band frequencies provide the primary links for direct Earth and TDRSS communications during all launch and entry/landing phases of shuttle missions. On orbit, S-band links are used when TDRSS Ku-band is not available, when conditions require orbiter attitudes unfavorable to Ku-band communications, or when the payload bay doors are closed. the S-band communications functional requirements, the orbiter hardware configuration, and the NASA S-band communications network are described. The requirements and implementation concepts which resulted in techniques for shuttle S-band hardware development discussed include: (1) digital voice delta modulation; (2) convolutional coding/Viterbi decoding; (3) critical modulation index for phase modulation using a Costas loop (phase-shift keying) receiver; (4) optimum digital data modulation parameters for continuous-wave frequency modulation; (5) intermodulation effects of subcarrier ranging and time-division multiplexing data channels; (6) radiofrequency coverage; and (7) despreading techniques under poor signal-to-noise conditions. Channel performance is reviewed

PDE8 controls CD4(+) T cell motility through the PDE8A-Raf-1 kinase signaling complex

The levels of cAMP are regulated by phosphodiesterase enzymes (PDEs), which are targets for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. We have previously shown that PDE8 regulates T cell motility. Here, for the first time, we report that PDE8A exerts part of its control of T cell function through the V-raf-1 murine leukemia viral oncogene homolog 1 (Raf-1) kinase signaling pathway. To examine T cell motility under physiologic conditions, we analyzed T cell interactions with endothelial cells and ligands in flow assays. The highly PDE8-selective enzymatic inhibitor PF-04957325 suppresses adhesion of in vivo myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) activated inflammatory CD4(+) T effector (Teff) cells to brain endothelial cells under shear stress. Recently, PDE8A was shown to associate with Raf-1 creating a compartment of low cAMP levels around Raf-1 thereby protecting it from protein kinase A (PKA) mediated inhibitory phosphorylation. To test the function of this complex in Teff cells, we used a cell permeable peptide that selectively disrupts the PDE8A-Raf-1 interaction. The disruptor peptide inhibits the Teff-endothelial cell interaction more potently than the enzymatic inhibitor. Furthermore, the LFA-1/ICAM-1 interaction was identified as a target of disruptor peptide mediated reduction of adhesion, spreading and locomotion of Teff cells under flow. Mechanistically, we observed that disruption of the PDE8A-Raf-1 complex profoundly alters Raf-1 signaling in Teff cells. Collectively, our studies demonstrate that PDE8A inhibition by enzymatic inhibitors or PDE8A-Raf-1 kinase complex disruptors decreases Teff cell adhesion and migration under flow, and represents a novel approach to target T cells in inflammation

The effect of ionic strength on the kinetic stability of NADH oxidase in a bubble column

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Genomic correlates of recombination rate and its variability across eight recombination maps in the western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.)

Background: Meiotic recombination has traditionally been explained based on the structural requirement to stabilize homologous chromosome pairs to ensure their proper meiotic segregation. Competing hypotheses seek to explain the emerging findings of significant heterogeneity in recombination rates within and between genomes, but intraspecific comparisons of genome-wide recombination patterns are rare. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) exhibits the highest rate of genomic recombination among multicellular animals with about five cross-over events per chromatid. Results: Here, we present a comparative analysis of recombination rates across eight genetic linkage maps of the honey bee genome to investigate which genomic sequence features are correlated with recombination rate and with its variation across the eight data sets, ranging in average marker spacing ranging from 1 Mbp to 120 kbp. Overall, we found that GC content explained best the variation in local recombination rate along chromosomes at the analyzed 100 kbp scale. In contrast, variation among the different maps was correlated to the abundance of microsatellites and several specific tri- and tetra-nucleotides. Conclusions: The combined evidence from eight medium-scale recombination maps of the honey bee genome suggests that recombination rate variation in this highly recombining genome might be due to the DNA configuration instead of distinct sequence motifs. However, more fine-scale analyses are needed. The empirical basis of eight differing genetic maps allowed for robust conclusions about the correlates of the local recombination rates and enabled the study of the relation between DNA features and variability in local recombination rates, which is particularly relevant in the honey bee genome with its exceptionally high recombination rate. © 2014 Ross et al

Cyclic AMP-specific phosphodiesterase, PDE8A1, is activated by protein kinase A-mediated phosphorylation

The cyclic AMP-specific phosphodiesterase PDE8 has been shown to play a pivotal role in important processes such as steroidogenesis, T cell adhesion, regulation of heart beat and chemotaxis. However, no information exists on how the activity of this enzyme is regulated. We show that under elevated cAMP conditions, PKA acts to phosphorylate PDE8A on serine 359 and this action serves to enhance the activity of the enzyme. This is the first indication that PDE8 activity can be modulated by a kinase, and we propose that this mechanism forms a feedback loop that results in the restoration of basal cAMP levels. (C) 2012 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserve