Towards a Geography of NAMA

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The Liberties Transformed: The Emergence of New Commercial and Residential Spaces in Inner Dublin

Over the past twenty years, Dublin’s inner city has been transformed socially, economically and physically. Recent shifts include the emergence of new industrial and financial spaces, the large-scale construction of private apartments targeted at middle- and upper-income groups, the rapid escalation of land and house prices, the displacement of indigenous residents and locally-relevant employment together with the disappearance of much of the city’s traditional industrial fabric. The pace of change in inner Dublin has been remarkable and its initiation set against a backdrop of widespread inner-city decay and dereliction, high levels of unemployment and poverty and a prolonged period of depopulation and disinvestment

The Liberties Transformed: The Emergence of New Commercial and Residential Spaces in Inner Dublin

Over the past twenty years, Dublin’s inner city has been transformed socially, economically and physically. Recent shifts include the emergence of new industrial and financial spaces, the large-scale construction of private apartments targeted at middle- and upper-income groups, the rapid escalation of land and house prices, the displacement of indigenous residents and locally-relevant employment together with the disappearance of much of the city’s traditional industrial fabric. The pace of change in inner Dublin has been remarkable and its initiation set against a backdrop of widespread inner-city decay and dereliction, high levels of unemployment and poverty and a prolonged period of depopulation and disinvestment

Spirobicyclic Diamines 2: Synthesis of Homochiral Diastereoisomeric Proline Derived [4,4]-Spirolactams

L-Proline derived diastereoisomeric [4.4]-spirolactams have been prepared by a reductive-amination reaction of (R)- or (S)-alanine methyl ester followed by thermal cyclisation of the resulting amine onto the proline ester group in refluxing toluene. Under similar conditions (R)- or (S)-phenylalanine methyl ester gave no cyclisation products, while R- or S-a-methylbenzylamine required treatment with NaNH2 in refluxing toluene to induce cyclisation giving diastereoisomeric [4.4]-spirolactam

Spirobicyclic Diamines 1: Synthesis of Proline-derived Spirolactams via Thermal Intramolecular Ester Aminolysis

Proline derived [4.4]-spirolactams have been synthesised in good yields by a reductive-amination reaction followed by thermal cyclisation of the resulting amine onto the proline ester group in refluxing toluene. The synthesis of the corresponding [4.5]-spirolactams by the same method gave much reduced yields

Quantitative analysis of ruminal methanogenic microbial populations in beef cattle divergent in phenotypic residual feed intake (RFI) offered contrasting diets

peer-reviewedBackground Methane (CH4) emissions in cattle are an undesirable end product of rumen methanogenic fermentative activity as they are associated not only with negative environmental impacts but also with reduced host feed efficiency. The aim of this study was to quantify total and specific rumen microbial methanogenic populations in beef cattle divergently selected for residual feed intake (RFI) while offered (i) a low energy high forage (HF) diet followed by (ii) a high energy low forage (LF) diet. Ruminal fluid was collected from 14 high (H) and 14 low (L) RFI animals across both dietary periods. Quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis was conducted to quantify the abundance of total and specific rumen methanogenic microbes. Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the association between the relative abundance of methanogens and animal performance, rumen fermentation variables and diet digestibility. Results Abundance of methanogens, did not differ between RFI phenotypes. However, relative abundance of total and specific methanogen species was affected (P < 0.05) by diet type, with greater abundance observed while animals were offered the LF compared to the HF diet. Conclusions These findings suggest that differences in abundance of specific rumen methanogen species may not contribute to variation in CH4 emissions between efficient and inefficient animals, however dietary manipulation can influence the abundance of total and specific methanogen species.Funding for the development and main work of this research was provided under the National Development Plan, through the Research Stimulus Fund, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Ireland RSF 05 224

Spirobicyclic Diamines. Part 3: Synthesis and Metal Complexation of Proline-Derived [4,4]-Spirodiamines.

The syntheses of racemic and homochiral [4.4]-spirolactams, starting from L-proline, in good yields are described. Reduction of the lactam carbonyl group of spirolactams, containing chiral substituents on the lactam nitrogen, with lithium aluminium hydride, gives a series of homochiral [4.4]-spirodiamines. The crystal structure of one of these spirodiamines on complexation with zinc chloride was obtained. Interestingly it showed a hydrogen-bonded dimeric structure, where the monomers are diastereoisomeric diamines

Structure-Reactivity Relationships of L-Proline Derived Spirolactams and a-Methyl Prolinamide Organocatalysts in the Asymmetric Michael Addition Reaction of Aldehydes to Nitroolefins.

L-Proline derived spirolactams and a-methyl prolinamides act as organocatalysts for the asymmetric conjugate addition of aldehydes to nitroolefins in excellent yields, with good diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity. Furthermore, low catalyst loadings (5 mol%) and a low aldehyde molar excess (1.5 molar equivalents) were achieved

The Effects of Psychosis Risk Variants on Brain Connectivity: A Review

In light of observed changes in connectivity in schizophrenia and the highly heritable nature of the disease, neural connectivity may serve as an important intermediate phenotype for schizophrenia. However, how individual variants confer altered connectivity and which measure of brain connectivity is more proximal to the underlying genetic architecture (i.e., functional or structural) has not been well delineated. In this review we consider these issues and the relative sensitivity of imaging methodologies to schizophrenia-related changes in connectivity. We searched PubMed for studies considering schizophrenia risk genes AND functional or structural connectivity. Where data was available, summary statistics were used to determine an estimate of effect size (i.e., Cohen’s d). A random-effects meta-analysis was used to consider (1) the largest effect and (2) all significant effects between functional and structural studies. Schizophrenia risk variants involved in neurotransmission, neurodevelopment and myelin function were found to be associated with altered neural connectivity. On average, schizophrenia risk genes had a large effect on functional (mean d = 0.76) and structural connectivity (mean d = 1.04). The examination of the largest effect size indicated that the outcomes of functional and structural studies were comparable (Q = 2.17, p > 0.05). Conversely, consideration of effect size estimates for all significant effects suggest that reported effect sizes in structural connectivity studies were more variable than in functional connectivity studies, and that there was a significant lack of homogeneity across the modalities (Q = 6.928, p = 0.008). Given the more variable profile of effect sizes associated with structural connectivity, these data may suggest that structural imaging methods are more sensitive to a wider range of effects, as opposed to functional studies which may only be able to determine large effects. These conclusions are limited by methodological considerations, and require further investigation involving larger samples, multiple genes, and novel analysis techniques for confirmation