Black Feminist Citational Praxis and Disciplinary Belonging

What does a Black feminist citational practice look and feel like? This contribution to the #CiteBlackWomen colloquy focuses on two arguments: First, that Black feminist citational praxis is one of the major interventions Black women scholars contribute to the academy; and second, that anthropology’s neglect and erasure of Black feminist anthropologists relates to disciplinary (un)belonging. I explore how citation and “disciplinary belonging” influence hiring practices, doctoral training, intellectual genealogies, and what is valued as anthropological knowledge

Experimental evidence of new tetragonal polymorphs of silicon formed through ultrafast laser-induced confined microexplosion

Ordinary materials can transform into novel phases at extraordinary high pressure and temperature. The recently developed method of ultrashort laser-induced confined microexplosions initiates a non-equilibrium disordered plasma state. Ultra-high quenching rates overcome kinetic barriers to the formation of new metastable phases, which are preserved in the surrounding pristine crystal for subsequent exploitation. Here we demonstrate that confined microexplosions in silicon produce several metastable end phases. Comparison with an ab initio random structure search reveals six energetically competitive potential phases, four tetragonal and two monoclinic structures. We show the presence of bt8 and st12, which have been predicted theoretically previously, but have not been observed in nature or in laboratory experiments. In addition, the presence of the as yet unidentified silicon phase, Si-VIII and two of our other predicted tetragonal phases are highly likely within laser-affected zones. These findings may pave the way for new materials with novel and exotic properties

Thermal stability of simple tetragonal and hexagonal diamond germanium

Exotic phases of germanium, that form under high pressure but persist under ambient conditions, are of technological interest due to their unique optical and electrical properties. The thermal evolution and stability of two of these exotic Ge phases, the simple tetragonal (st12) and hexagonal diamond (hd) phases, are investigated in detail. These metastable phases, formed by high pressure decompression in either a diamond anvil cell or by nanoindentation, are annealed at temperatures ranging from 280 to 320 C for st12-Ge and 200 to 550 C for hd-Ge. In both cases, the exotic phases originated from entirely pure Ge precursor materials. Raman microspectroscopy is used to monitor the phase changes ex situ following annealing. Our results show that hd-Ge synthesized via a pure form of a-Ge first undergoes a subtle change in structure and then an irreversible phase transformation to dc-Ge with an activation energy of (4.3 6 0.2) eV at higher temperatures. St12-Ge was found to transform to dc-Ge with an activation energy of (1.44 6 0.08) eV. Taken together with results from previous studies, this study allows for intriguing comparisons with silicon and suggests promising technological applications.This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Project Scheme. L.Q.H. is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. J.E.B. acknowledges the ARC for the award of a Future Fellowship. B.H. was supported through a Weinberg Fellowship (ORNL) and the Neutron Scattering User Facilities (ORNL), supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Sciences, Basic Energy Sciences. The ORNL is funded under DOE-BES Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 and the Alvin M. Weinberg Fellowship by the ORNL LDRD scheme under Project No. 7620

Formation of an r8-Dominant Si Material

The rhombohedral phase of Si (r8-Si), a promising semiconducting material, is formed by indentation together with the body-centered cubic phase (bc8-Si). Using a novel sample preparation method, x-ray diffraction is used to determine the relative volume of these phases in indented Si and allow observation of a distorted unit cell along the direction of indentation loading. Theoretical calculations together with these observations suggest the indent contains an intrinsic compression of ∼4  GPa that stabilizes the r8 phase.We would like to acknowledge and thank Beamline Scientist Ruqing Xu for his help in obtaining the X-ray data. J. E. B. would like to acknowledge the Australian Research Council (ARC) (FT130101355). B. H. gratefully acknowledges funding through a Weinberg Fellowship sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy and ORNL’s Neutron Facilities, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A. M. acknowledges support from MINECO Project No. MAT2016-75586-C4-3-P (Spain)

Organic acidurias: Major gaps, new challenges, and a yet unfulfilled promise

Organic acidurias (OADs) comprise a biochemically defined group of inherited metabolic diseases. Increasing awareness, reliable diagnostic work-up, newborn screening programs for some OADs, optimized neonatal and intensive care, and the development of evidence-based recommendations have improved neonatal survival and short-term outcome of affected individuals. However, chronic progression of organ dysfunction in an aging patient population cannot be reliably prevented with traditional therapeutic measures. Evidence is increasing that disease progression might be best explained by mitochondrial dysfunction. Previous studies have demonstrated that some toxic metabolites target mitochondrial proteins inducing synergistic bioenergetic impairment. Although these potentially reversible mechanisms help to understand the development of acute metabolic decompensations during catabolic state, they currently cannot completely explain disease progression with age. Recent studies identified unbalanced autophagy as a novel mechanism in the renal pathology of methylmalonic aciduria, resulting in impaired quality control of organelles, mitochondrial aging and, subsequently, progressive organ dysfunction. In addition, the discovery of post-translational short-chain lysine acylation of histones and mitochondrial enzymes helps to understand how intracellular key metabolites modulate gene expression and enzyme function. While acylation is considered an important mechanism for metabolic adaptation, the chronic accumulation of potential substrates of short-chain lysine acylation in inherited metabolic diseases might exert the opposite effect, in the long run. Recently, changed glutarylation patterns of mitochondrial proteins have been demonstrated in glutaric aciduria type 1. These new insights might bridge the gap between natural history and pathophysiology in OADs, and their exploitation for the development of targeted therapies seems promising

Caveats in science-based news stories communicate caution without lowering interest

Science stories in the media are strongly linked to changes in health-related behavior. Science writers (including journalists, press officers, and researchers) must therefore frame their stories to communicate scientific caution without disrupting coherence and disengaging the reader. In this study we investigate whether caveats (“Further research is needed to validate the results”) satisfy this dual requirement. In four experiments participants read news reports with and without caveats. In Experiments 1 to 3, participants judged how cautious or confident researchers were, and how interesting or comprehensible they found the reports. News reports with caveats were judged as more cautious that those without, but levels of reader interest and comprehensibility were unaffected. In a fourth experiment, we created a mock newsroom and recruited journalism students to make judgments about which press releases should be published. Here, neither caveats nor the introduction of qualifying expressions in headlines had an effect on judgments of newsworthiness, consistent with Experiments 1 to 3. The reasons participants gave for rejecting a press release rarely referred to the caveat. Our results therefore suggest that science writers should include caveats in news reporting and that they can do so without fear of disengaging their readers or losing news uptak

PI3K(p110 alpha) Protects Against Myocardial Infarction-Induced Heart Failure Identification of PI3K-Regulated miRNA and mRNA

Objective: Myocardial infarction (MI) is a serious complication of atherosclerosis associated with increasing mortality attributable to heart failure. Activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase [PI3K(p110α)] is considered a new strategy for the treatment o

Iron deposition and inflammation in multiple sclerosis. Which one comes first?

Whether iron deposition is an epiphenomenon of the multiple sclerosis (MS) disease process or may play a primary role in triggering inflammation and disease development remains unclear at this time, and should be studied at the early stages of disease pathogenesis. However, it is difficult to study the relationship between iron deposition and inflammation in early MS due to the delay between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis, and the poor availability of tissue specimens. In a recent article published in BMC Neuroscience, Williams et al. investigated the relationship between inflammation and iron deposition using an original animal model labeled as "cerebral experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis", which develops CNS perivascular iron deposits. However, the relative contribution of iron deposition vs. inflammation in the pathogenesis and progression of MS remains unknown. Further studies should establish the association between inflammation, reduced blood flow, iron deposition, microglia activation and neurodegeneration. Creating a representative animal model that can study independently such relationship will be the key factor in this endeavor

Lista de gêneros de Hymenoptera (Insecta) do Espírito Santo, Brasil

The first checklist of genera of Hymenoptera from Espírito Santo state, Brazil is presented. A total of 973 genera of Hymenoptera is listed, of which 555 (57%) are recorded for the first time from this state. Ichneumonoidea and Chalcidoidea are the two superfamilies with the most genera, 241 and 203 respectively. Braconidae, with 141 genera, are the richest family.The first checklist of genera of Hymenoptera from Espírito Santo state, Brazil is presented. A total of 973 genera of Hymenoptera is listed, of which 555 (57%) are recorded for the first time from this state. Ichneumonoidea and Chalcidoidea are the two superfamilies with the most genera, 241 and 203 respectively. Braconidae, with 141 genera, are the richest family.Fil: Azevedo, Celso O.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Molin, Ana Dal. Texas A&M University; Estados UnidosFil: Penteado-Dias, Angelica. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Macedo, Antonio C. C.. Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo; BrasilFil: Rodriguez-V, Beatriz. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Dias, Bianca Z. K.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Waichert, Cecilia. State University of Utah; Estados UnidosFil: Aquino, Daniel Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Smith, David. Smithsonian Institution; Estados UnidosFil: Shimbori, Eduardo M.. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Noll, Fernando B.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Gibson, Gary. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; CanadáFil: Onody, Helena. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Carpenter, James M.. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Lattke, John. Universidad Nacional de Loja; EcuadorFil: Ramos, Kelli dos S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Williams, Kevin. Florida State Collection of Arthropods; Estados UnidosFil: Masner, Lubomir. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; CanadáFil: Kimsey, Lynn. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Tavares, Marcelo T.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Olmi, Massimo. Università degli Studi della Tuscia; ItaliaFil: Buffington, Matthew L.. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Ohl, Michael. Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Sharkey, Michael. University of Kentucky; Estados UnidosFil: Johnson, Norman F.. Ohio State University; Estados UnidosFil: Kawada, Ricardo. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Gonçalves, Rodrigo B.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Feitosa, Rodrigo. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Heydon, Steven. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Guerra, Tânia M.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: da Silva, Thiago S. R.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Costa, Valmir. Instituto Biológico; Brasi

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN