Locating the Copper-Colored Mountain: Buddhist Cosmology, Himalayan Geography, and Maps of Imagined Worlds

This article explores various ways in which Tibetan authors have attempted to locate the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain (Tib. zangs mdog dpal ri), considered to be the present abode of Padmasambhava, the tantric guru famous for establishing Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century. Literary sources ranging from the twelfth through the nineteenth century are considered as examples of the cultural work of place-making. Their authors are shown to draw upon multiple frameworks to map the Copper-Colored Mountain as a sacred site. Using a list of place-names associated with the mountain that are found in the closing chapters of Nyangrel Nyima Oser’s seminal biography of Padmasambhava—The Copper Palace (Tib. zangs gling ma)—as a starting point, four different systems of spatial ordering are identified and explored. These are: 1) the traditional cosmology found in the Abhidharma, 2) the tales of demon-inhabited islands found in jātaka and avadāna stories, 3) the sacred geography of the tantras with their networks of sacred sites corresponding to different parts of the body, and 4) the empirical models of modern geography that started to influence Tibetan conceptions of space in the eighteenth century

Impact of Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha Conditional Knockout on Ovarian Follicle Development in the Mouse

When there is abnormal endocrine signaling in the follicles, infertility, and ovarian diseases such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), premature ovarian failure (POF), and different types of ovarian cancers may occur. Retinoic acid (RA), a biologically active derivative of vitamin A, is a critical signaling molecule that plays a vital role in various physiological processes, including embryonic development, tissue differentiation, and reproductive function. RA has been observed to influence granulosa cell proliferation through a cell signaling cascade involving Retinoic Acid Receptors (RARs), which have three isoforms alpha, beta, and gamma. We characterized a new retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) conditional knockout mouse by using the Cre/Lox system. Our findings unveiled the indispensable role of retinoic acid signaling, mediated through RARA, in orchestrating various stages of ovarian development. The absence of RARA in the granulosa cell layer of the ovary resulted in distinct disruptions in follicular formation and maturation, increase in ovarian pathologies, and phenotypic evidence of POF. Overall, this study provides compelling evidence of the critical involvement of retinoic acid signaling, mediated by RARA, in ovarian development and fertility. This study will help better understand the prevention and treatment of ovarian diseases

Obesity and the Rate of Time Preference: Is there a Connection?

We hypothesize that recent trends in U.S. and worldwide obesity are, in part, related to an increase in the marginal rate of time preference, where time preference refers to the rate at which people are willing to trade current benefit for future benefit. The higher the rate of time preference, the larger is the factor by which individuals discount the future health risks associated with current consumption. Data from the United States, as well as international evidence, suggests that a relationship between these two variables is plausible. We encourage researchers to explore the possible link between obesity and time preference, as important insights are likely to result.time preference; obesity