Interesting Dialogue: Mark Twain\u27s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Amy Blair, and Edith Wharton\u27s “Vice of Reading”

This essay seeks to explore Mark Twain\u27s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in relation to Edith Wharton\u27s The Vice of Reading and Amy Blair\u27s Reading Up, which contains detailed analysis of the societal conditions that so perturbed Wharton. Although reading Twain\u27s novel was published nearly 20 years before Wharton\u27s article, the author argues that the uncanny similarities between certain characters\u27 behavioral relationships and what Wharton described as “mechanical” and “born” readers, and what Blair termed trusted intellectuals , suggests that such issues already existed, but merely intensified, in the interceding years. The first part deals with Colonel Sherburn\u27s relationship with Boggs and the lynch mob instigated by Buck Harkness. Sherburn is argued to represent born readers like Wharton, who also being an author, sought to regain control of her works from those who misread them, while Boggs and the mob represent mechanical readers. Boggs misreading of Sherburn\u27s death threat leads to his murder: the lynch mob\u27s misreading of the the murder leads to its formation, and its misreading of proper lynching etiquette leads to its dispersal. The second part deals with the relationships between the King and the Duke, the Wilks sisters (as a whole), Dr. Robinson, Joanna Wilks, Mary Jane Wilks, and Huckleberry Finn. The King and the Duke represent trusted intellectuals to the Wilks sisters, whose trust in them leads them to ignore the admonishments of the born reader Dr. Robinson, and subsequently to trusting all of their property to the frauds. Joanna expresses limited born reader tendencies when faced with the trusted intellectuals , of which Huckleberry is included, but she ultimately fails to live up to the role. Mary Jane is argued to be a completely mechanical reader , as she unquestioningly accepts advice from all trusted trusted intellectuals, including Huckleberry

Implementation and evaluation of group -based prevention of eating concerns using self -efficacy and knowledge enhancement

The project implemented and evaluated a prevention program for eating concerns with first year college women. Two prevention conditions were examined. One condition provided information about eating concerns, from definitions to biopsychosocial risks and consequences. The second condition built self-efficacy and skills in the participants along with presenting information. The evaluation component was unique compared to other evaluations in the eating concerns prevention literature. It used pre and post intervention assessments, a control group, and had a larger sample of participants compared to other similar published programs. Both quantitative and qualitative assessment techniques were used to evaluate participants\u27 experience in the program and their outcomes. It appeared that using self-efficacy as a means for prevention of eating concerns was effective, though results were mixed. Methodological and sampling issues limited the internal and external validity of the results from the evaluation of the new prevention program. Future research should address these limitations, as well as extend the program to samples beyond the college population, modify the components and structure of the program, and explore how self-efficacy may fit into a larger theoretical framework to explain and prevent eating concerns at both ends of the weight continuum

Inhibition of Bacterial Growth and Biofilm Production by Metabolites from Hypericum spp

Biofilm embedded bacterial pathogens such as Staphylococcus spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii are difficult to eradicate and are major sources of bacterial infections. New drugs are needed to combat these pathogens. Hypericum is a plant genus that contains species known to have antimicrobial properties. However, the specific metabolites responsible for the antimicrobial properties are not entirely known, nor have most compounds been tested as inhibitors of biofilm development. The investigation presented here tested seven secondary metabolites isolated from the species Hypericum densiflorum, Hypericum ellipticum, Hypericum prolificum and Hypericum punctatum as inhibitors of bacterial growth and biofilm production. Assays were conducted against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Five of the seven metabolites demonstrated growth inhibition against the Gram-positive bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranging from 1.95 µg/mL to 7.81 µg/mL. Four of the metabolites inhibited biofilm production by certain Gram-positive strains at sub-MIC concentrations

Nicastrin Functions as a γ-Secretase-Substrate Receptor

Summaryγ-secretase catalyzes the intramembrane cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and Notch after their extracellular domains are shed by site-specific proteolysis. Nicastrin is an essential glycoprotein component of the γ-secretase complex but has no known function. We now show that the ectodomain of nicastrin binds the new amino terminus that is generated upon proteolysis of the extracellular APP and Notch domains, thereby recruiting the APP and Notch substrates into the γ-secretase complex. Chemical- or antibody-mediated blocking of the free amino terminus, addition of purified nicastrin ectodomain, or mutations in the ectodomain markedly reduce the binding and cleavage of substrate by γ-secretase. These results indicate that nicastrin is a receptor for the amino-terminal stubs that are generated by ectodomain shedding of type I transmembrane proteins. Our data are consistent with a model where nicastrin presents these substrates to γ-secretase and thereby facilitates their cleavage via intramembrane proteolysis

Dnmt3a regulates emotional behavior and spine plasticity in the nucleus accumbens.

Despite abundant expression of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts) in brain, the regulation and behavioral role of DNA methylation remain poorly understood. We found that Dnmt3a expression was regulated in mouse nucleus accumbens (NAc) by chronic cocaine use and chronic social defeat stress. Moreover, NAc-specific manipulations that block DNA methylation potentiated cocaine reward and exerted antidepressant-like effects, whereas NAc-specific Dnmt3a overexpression attenuated cocaine reward and was pro-depressant. On a cellular level, we found that chronic cocaine use selectively increased thin dendritic spines on NAc neurons and that DNA methylation was both necessary and sufficient to mediate these effects. These data establish the importance of Dnmt3a in the NAc in regulating cellular and behavioral plasticity to emotional stimuli

Stress, sex, and motivated behaviors

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137361/1/jnr23815.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137361/2/jnr23815_am.pd

TET enzymes and DNA hydroxymethylation in neural development and function : how critical are they?

Epigenetic modifications of the genome play important roles in controlling gene transcription thus regulating several molecular and cellular processes. A novel epigenetic modification - 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) - has been recently described and attracted a lot of attention due to its possible involvement in the active DNA demethylation mechanism. TET enzymes are dioxygenases capable of oxidizing the methyl group of 5-methylcytosines (5mC) and thus converting 5mC into 5hmC. Although most of the work on TET enzymes and 5hmC has been carried out in embryonic stem (ES) cells, the highest levels of 5hmC occur in the brain and in neurons, pointing to a role for this epigenetic modification in the control of neuronal differentiation, neural plasticity and brain functions. Here we review the most recent advances on the role of TET enzymes and DNA hydroxymethylation in neuronal differentiation and function.We apologize to those researchers whose important work we were not able to cite. We would like to thank all members of the Neurosciences Research Domain (ICVS) for useful discussions, in particular Luisa Pinto and Joao Oliveira for critically reading the manuscript. Our work is funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) and Compete Program with the project reference PTDC/BIA-BCM/121276/2010. C.J. Marques is the recipient of an FCT Investigator Starting Grant