Understanding the role of shame and its consequences in female hypersexual behaviours: A pilot study

Background and aims: Hypersexuality and sexual addiction among females is a little understudied phenomenon. Shame is thought to be intrinsic to hypersexual behaviours, especially in women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand both hypersexual behaviours and consequences of hypersexual behaviours and their respective contributions to shame in a British sample of females (n = 102). Methods: Data were collected online via Survey Monkey. Results: Results showed the Sexual Behaviour History (SBH) and the Hypersexual Disorder Questionnaire (HDQ) had significant positive correlation with scores on the Shame Inventory. The results indicated that hypersexual behaviours (HBI and HDQ) were able to predict a small percentage of the variability in shame once sexual orientation (heterosexual vs. non-heterosexual) and religious beliefs (belief vs. no belief) were controlled for. Results also showed there was no evidence that religious affiliation and/or religious beliefs had an influence on the levels of hypersexuality and consequences of sexual behaviours as predictors of shame. Conclusions: While women in the UK are rapidly shifting to a feminist way of thinking with or without technology, hypersexual disorder may often be misdiagnosed and misunderstood because of the lack of understanding and how it is conceptualised. The implications of these findings are discussed

The ChlD subunit links the motor and porphyrin binding subunits of magnesium chelatase

Magnesium chelatase initiates chlorophyll biosynthesis, catalysing the MgATP2- dependent insertion of a Mg2+ ion into protoporphyin IX. The catalytic core of this large enzyme complex consists of three subunits: Bch/ChlI, Bch/ChlD and Bch/ChlH (in bacteriochlorophyll and chlorophyll producing species respectively). The D and I subunits are members of the AAA+ (ATPases associated with various cellular activities) superfamily of enzymes, and they form a complex that binds to H, the site of metal ion insertion. In order to investigate the physical coupling between ChlID and ChlH in vivo and in vitro , ChlD was FLAG-tagged in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed interactions with both ChlI and ChlH. Co-production of recombinant ChlD and ChlH in Escherichia coli yielded a ChlDH. Quantitative analysis using microscale thermophoresis (MST) showed magnesium-dependent binding ( K d 331 ± 58 nM) between ChlD and H. The physical basis for a ChlD-H interaction was investigated using chemical crosslinking coupled with mass spectrometry (XL-MS), together with modifications that either truncate ChlD or modify single residues. We found that the C-terminal integrin I domain of ChlD governs association with ChlH, the Mg2+ dependence of which also mediates the cooperative response of the Synechocystis chelatase to magnesium. Our work, showing the interaction site between the AAA+ motor and the chelatase domain of magnesium chelatase, will be essential for understanding how free energy from the hydrolysis of ATP on the AAA+ ChlI subunit is transmitted via the bridging subunit ChlD to the active site on ChlH

Symmetries of a class of nonlinear fourth order partial differential equations

In this paper we study symmetry reductions of a class of nonlinear fourth order partial differential equations \be u_{tt} = \left(\kappa u + \gamma u^2\right)_{xx} + u u_{xxxx} +\mu u_{xxtt}+\alpha u_x u_{xxx} + \beta u_{xx}^2, \ee where $\alpha$, $\beta$, $\gamma$, $\kappa$ and $\mu$ are constants. This equation may be thought of as a fourth order analogue of a generalization of the Camassa-Holm equation, about which there has been considerable recent interest. Further equation (1) is a ``Boussinesq-type'' equation which arises as a model of vibrations of an anharmonic mass-spring chain and admits both ``compacton'' and conventional solitons. A catalogue of symmetry reductions for equation (1) is obtained using the classical Lie method and the nonclassical method due to Bluman and Cole. In particular we obtain several reductions using the nonclassical method which are no} obtainable through the classical method

Mutational Analysis of Hedgehog Signaling Pathway Genes in Human Malignant Mesothelioma

Background The Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway is critical for embryonic development and adult homeostasis. Recent studies have identified regulatory roles for this pathway in certain cancers with mutations in the HH pathway genes. The extent to which mutations of the HH pathway genes are involved in the pathogenesis of malignant mesothelioma (MMe) is unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings Real-time PCR analysis of HH pathway genes PTCH1, GLI1 and GLI2 were performed on 7 human MMe cell lines. Exon sequencing of 13 HH pathway genes was also performed in cell lines and human MMe tumors. In silico programs were used to predict the likelihood that an amino-acid substitution would have a functional effect. GLI1, GLI2 and PTCH1 were highly expressed in MMe cells, indicative of active HH signaling. PTCH1, SMO and SUFU mutations were found in 2 of 11 MMe cell lines examined. A non-synonymous missense SUFU mutation (p.T411M) was identified in LO68 cells. In silico characterization of the SUFU mutant suggested that the p.T411M mutation might alter protein function. However, we were unable to demonstrate any functional effect of this mutation on Gli activity. Deletion of exons of the PTCH1 gene was found in JU77 cells, resulting in loss of one of two extracellular loops implicated in HH ligand binding and the intracellular C-terminal domain. A 3-bp insertion (69_70insCTG) in SMO, predicting an additional leucine residue in the signal peptide segment of SMO protein was also identified in LO68 cells and a MMe tumour. Conclusions/Significance We identified the first novel mutations in PTCH1, SUFU and SMO associated with MMe. Although HH pathway mutations are relatively rare in MMe, these data suggest a possible role for dysfunctional HH pathway in the pathogenesis of a subgroup of MMe and help rationalize the exploration of HH pathway inhibitors for MMe therapy

Statistical Survey of Type III Radio Bursts at Long Wavelengths Observed by the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)/Waves Instruments: Radio Flux Density Variations with Frequency

We have performed a statistical study of $152$ Type III radio bursts observed by Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)/Waves between May 2007 and February 2013. We have investigated the flux density between $125$kHz and $16$MHz. Both high- and low-frequency cutoffs have been observed in $60\,$ of events suggesting an important role of propagation. As already reported by previous authors, we observed that the maximum flux density occurs at $1$MHz on both spacecraft. We have developed a simplified analytical model of the flux density as a function of radial distance and compared it to the STEREO/Waves data.Comment: published in Solar Physic

Dependence of direct detection signals on the WIMP velocity distribution

The signals expected in WIMP direct detection experiments depend on the ultra-local dark matter distribution. Observations probe the local density, circular speed and escape speed, while simulations find velocity distributions that deviate significantly from the standard Maxwellian distribution. We calculate the energy, time and direction dependence of the event rate for a range of velocity distributions motivated by recent observations and simulations, and also investigate the uncertainty in the determination of WIMP parameters. The dominant uncertainties are the systematic error in the local circular speed and whether or not the MW has a high density dark disc. In both cases there are substantial changes in the mean differential event rate and the annual modulation signal, and hence exclusion limits and determinations of the WIMP mass. The uncertainty in the shape of the halo velocity distribution is less important, however it leads to a 5% systematic error in the WIMP mass. The detailed direction dependence of the event rate is sensitive to the velocity distribution. However the numbers of events required to detect anisotropy and confirm the median recoil direction do not change substantially.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, v2 version to appear in JCAP, minor change

A Universal Vertical Stellar Density Distribution Law for the Galaxy

We reduced the observational logarithmic space densities in the vertical direction up to 8 kpc from the galactic plane, for stars with absolute magnitudes (5,6], (6,7] and [5,10] in the fields #0952+5245 and SA114, to a single exponential density law. One of three parameters in the quadratic expression of the density law corresponds to the local space density for stars with absolute magnitudes in question. There is no need of any definition for scaleheights or population types. We confirm with the arguments of non-discrete thin and thick discs for our Galaxy and propose a single structure up to several kiloparsecs from the galactic plane. The logarithmic space densities evaluated by this law for the ELAIS field fit to the observational ones. Whereas, there are considerable offsets for the logarithmic space densities produced by two sets of classical galactic model parameters from the observational ones, for the same field.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure and 10 tables, accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Loss of function of the carbon catabolite repressor CreA leads to low but inducer-independent expression from the feruloyl esterase B promoter in Aspergillus niger

Microbial Biotechnolog

Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape: Remembering Kant, Forgetting Proust

This article draws on Samuel Beckett’s recently published letters and archival scholarship to consider the place of Immanuel Kant’s critical epistemology within Beckett’s early thinking and his subsequent works. Beginning from Beckett’s engagement with Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, demonstrated by notes taken from Wilhelm Windelband’s A History of Philosophy between 1932 and 1933, excerpts from Jules de Gaultier’s From Kant to Nietzsche in the “Whoroscope” Notebook, and Beckett’s acquisition of Immanuel Kants Werke in 1938, I offer a close analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of Beckett’s parody of Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu in Krapp’s Last Tape. The larger purpose of this article is to argue that a critique of metaphysical thought can be found in Beckett’s work and to demonstrate that Kant’s influence as a philosophical source of this critique has been largely overlooked in Beckett criticism