The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty

The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty was opened for signature on August 5, 1985, on the 40th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima. The Treaty prohibits Party states from controlling or assisting in the manufacture of nuclear explosive devices and from allowing devices not in their control stationing within their territory or land space. The Protocols to the Treaty enjoin the nuclear weapon sates and the states with territories within the Zone to adhere to the principles of the Treaty and to refrain from control or use of any nuclear explosive devices within the Zone. The principle concern of nuclear weapon states with regard to the implications of the provisions of the Treaty and the Protocols is the prohibition of testing of nuclear explosive devices and the possible restriction of passage through the ocean space encompassed by the Treaty. This is a study of the forces which led to the development of the Treaty, a discussion of the provisions of the Treaty and the Protocols, and an analysis of the implications of these provisions and international reaction to them

Subunit interactions influence the biochemical and biological properties of Hsp104

Point mutations in either of the two nucleotide-binding domains (NBD) of Hsp104 (NBD1 and NBD2) eliminate its thermotolerance function in vivo. In vitro, NBD1 mutations virtually eliminate ATP hydrolysis with little effect on hexamerization; analogous NBD2 mutations reduce ATPase activity and severely impair hexamerization. We report that high protein concentrations overcome the assembly defects of NBD2 mutants and increase ATP hydrolysis severalfold, changing V(max) with little effect on K(m). In a complementary fashion, the detergent 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate inhibits hexamerization of wild-type (WT) Hsp104, lowering V(max) with little effect on K(m). ATP hydrolysis exhibits a Hill coefficient between 1.5 and 2, indicating that it is influenced by cooperative subunit interactions. To further analyze the effects of subunit interactions on Hsp104, we assessed the effects of mutant Hsp104 proteins on WT Hsp104 activities. An NBD1 mutant that hexamerizes but does not hydrolyze ATP reduces the ATPase activity of WT Hsp104 in vitro. In vivo, this mutant is not toxic but specifically inhibits the thermotolerance function of WT Hsp104. Thus, interactions between subunits influence the ATPase activity of Hsp104, play a vital role in its biological functions, and provide a mechanism for conditionally inactivating Hsp104 function in vivo

The Importance of Clarifying Evolutionary Terminology Across Disciplines and in the Classroom: A Reply to Kampourakis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111218/1/cogs12197.pd

You Get What You Need: An Examination of Purpose‐Based Inheritance Reasoning in Undergraduates, Preschoolers, and Biological Experts

This set of seven experiments examines reasoning about the inheritance and acquisition of physical properties in preschoolers, undergraduates, and biology experts. Participants ( N =  390) received adoption vignettes in which a baby animal was born to one parent but raised by a biologically unrelated parent, and they judged whether the offspring would have the same property as the birth or rearing parent. For each vignette, the animal parents had contrasting values on a physical property dimension (e.g., the birth parent had a short tail; the rearing parent had a long tail). Depending on the condition, the distinct properties had distinct functions (“function‐predictive”) were associated with distinct habitats (“habitat‐predictive”), or had no implications (“non‐predictive”). Undergraduates' bias to view properties as inherited from the birth parent was reduced in the function‐ and habitat‐predictive conditions. This result indicates a purpose‐based view of inheritance, whereby animals can acquire properties that serve a purpose in their environment. This stance was not found in experts or preschoolers. We discuss the results in terms of how undergraduates' purpose‐based inheritance reasoning develops and relates to larger‐scale misconceptions about Darwinian evolutionary processes, and implications for biology education.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106669/1/cogs12097.pd

El Title IX en el Contexto Global de los años 70: Perspectiva Internacional del Activismo Deportivo de las Mujeres

Title IX, a piece of federal legislation passed in 1972, spurred dramatic growth in the opportunities for women and girls to participate in sports and athletics in the United States, especially in the 1970s. Whereas only 1 out of 27 high school girls participated in sports in 1971, by the end of the decade the figure was 1 out of 3. These breakthroughs were confined to the U.S. Women’s sports activism did not emerge as a global phenomenon until the 1990s. A key factor in facilitating its emergence were the networks and coalitions encouraged by the United Nations World Conferences on Women, beginning with Mexico City in 1975 and especially Beijing in 1995.El Title IX, ley federal aprobada en 1972, estimuló espectacularmente el crecimiento de las oportunidades para las mujeres y las chicas a participar en los deportes y el atletismo en los Estados Unidos, especialmente en la década de 1 970. Mientras que sólo 1 de cada 27 chicas de secundaria participaban en deportes en 1971, a finales de la década, la cifra fue de 1 de cada 3. Estos avances se limitaron al activismo deportivo de las Mujeres de EE.UU, no emergiendo como un fenómeno mundial hasta la década de 1 990. Un factor clave para facilitar su surgimiento fueron las redes y ailanzas promovidas por las Conferencias Mundiales de las Naciones Unidas sobre la Mujer, iniciándose en la ciudad de México en 1 975 y especialmente en la de Pekín en 1995

Uist Lagoons Survey

Scotland has around a hundred saline lagoons, coastal lochs that are not quite as saline as the sea. A small number of organisms are confined to these lochs, but most of these are very small and belong to groups that are difficult to identify. A consortium of specialists in identification at the National Museum of Scotland and ecologists sampled most of the saline lagoons on designated sites (SSSI and SAC) in the Uists, the area believed to have the best biodiversity of lagoon organisms in Scotland. The study not only confirmed the presence of these specialist species, but also that they were more widely distributed in the Uists than had been believed. Samples of the organisms have been placed in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Scotland and (for plants) in the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, where they will be available for future study

A Systematic Review of Research on Staff Training as an Intervention to Develop Communication in Children and Adults with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities

Introduction: This paper aims to identify to what extent staff training interventions are successful in enhancing the development of communication skills in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Methods: A systematic review was undertaken, conforming to PRISMA guidelines. English language, peer reviewed, empirical studies of staff training interventions to enhance the communication of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities were included. Databases Scopus, Web of Science, Proquest, Linguistics and Language Behaviour Abstracts (LLBA) and Medline were searched in July 2015 and updated in December 2022. Quality appraisal was conducted on 13 studies using Crowe's Critical Appraisal Tool (CCAT). Results: Few good quality evaluations of interventions were found. Challenges to research rigour included the diversity of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, small sample sizes, intervention intensity and the management of fidelity. Conclusions: Manualised and bespoke interventions showed promise in improving staff communication and responsiveness.</p

Mupirocin for the reduction of colonization of internal jugular cannulae: a randomized controlled trial

In a prospective study, 218 cardiothoracic patients, in whom 'Abbocath-T' cannulae had been inserted preoperatively into the internal jugular vein, were randomized to receive skin preparation of the insertion site with tincture of iodine (108 controls) or tincture of iodine followed by application of sterile 2% calcium mupirocin ointment (110 test patients). Cannulae were usually removed within 48 h of the operation. Patients receiving mupirocin were less likely to develop significant colonization of one or more of their cannulae as judged by Maki's criterion of a yield of greater than 15 colony forming units (cfu) from a cannula segment rolled on an agar plate (17% of mupirocin treated patients compared with 54% of the controls, P less than 0.001). Coagulase-negative staphylococci, micrococci, or both, were the commonest isolates and were cultured from 70% of the 186 control cannulae compared with 24% of 172 cannulae inserted through mupirocin-treated skin (P less than 0.001). A count of more than 15 cfu was found on the tips of 25% control cannulae compared with 5% of the cannulae from mupirocin-treated patients, an effect which was independent of in-situ time (P less than 0.001). For cannulae with colonized tips, the same species was isolated from the skin of the insertion site in 67%, from the exterior of the hub in 61% and from the lumen in only 15%. There were no side effects attributed to mupirocin or superinfection with resistant organisms. We conclude that in cardiothoracic patients the application of mupirocin after standard skin preparation with tincture of iodine significantly reduces the colonization of central venous cannulae by organisms derived from the skin insertion site