Around the Fed : Lending during the Volker disinflation

Economics

Research spotlight : Does democracy lead to economic growth?

Related link: http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/region_focus/2009/winter/research_spotlight_weblinks.cfmEconomics

Research spotlight : Microbanks : subsidy dependent or self-sufficient?

Banks and banking

SCU Courses

Registering for classes is a nightmare that students at Santa Clara University undergo three or more times a year while juggling midterm exams. It’s hard to find a schedule that works well for you, balancing the need to take classes that will satisfy degree progress with the need to work around obligations outside of class and avoid getting stuck in an 8am lecture. SCU Courses is a web app where students input their current degree progress and receive a list of possible schedules to take next quarter, collapsing the time-consuming process of carefully crafting a schedule into just one step: choose your favorite

Short Takes : State and local governments curtail spending

Federal Reserve District, 5th ; Budget ; Cities and towns

Snorkel Research on Anadromous Fishes (Poster)

Dam construction has had a large impact on anadromous fish in the Pacific Northwest. All anadromous salmonids in the Pacific Northwest have been deemed as endangered species.  In addition, climate change, and commercial and sport fishing have also had an impact on the anadromous populations. As a result, state and federal organizations have made an effort to augment populations with hatcheries, habitat restoration, and improved fish passages through dam systems. In efforts to understand the tributaries and spawning grounds used by chinook salmon and steelhead trout, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has created population research groups in the form of snorkel crews. One goal of the snorkel crew was to gain a better understanding of which tributaries are frequented by each species of fish. Snorkel transects consisted of regular sites that were snorkeled annually, as well as sites chosen at random.  Transects were lengths of water from 65 to 200 meters long. Snorkelers moved in a serpentine pattern through the stream to cover maximal area. Fish size, number and species were recorded only after fish were passed by a snorkeler. Periodically, the snorkeler would relay data to a person nearby designated to data collection. Sites were chosen at random to be evaluated using a mark re-sight method to estimate efficiency. Anglers fished an area, caught fish were marked and recorded and then released. After fishing the site was left untouched for at least 24 hours before it was snorkeled. After snorkeling an in depth habitat evaluation was conducted

The Innovation Station: A 3D Printing Vending Machine for UT Austin Students

The Innovation Station is designed to provide on-demand, web-enabled 3D printing securely in a public space. The overarching goal is to lower the barriers to 3D printing at a university, to facilitate innovation and creativity, and to inspire future engineers. Both hardware and software innovations were required to realize this capability. From the hardware side, we invented a process to automatically remove parts from the 3D printer and sweep them into a bin from which users can retrieve them without directly accessing the 3D printer. From the software side, in partnership with the Faculty Innovation Center (FIC) at UT Austin, we created a web portal that allows students to upload parts remotely and access detailed directions for creating parts. It also allows administrators to remotely manage the queue and initiate builds. Together, the hardware and the software innovations enable printing multiple jobs continuously without user intervention and remote cancellation of jobs. Plans for the entire station, both hardware and software, are intended to be open source, with a startup cost of less than $4,000 for recreating the station at a new location.Mechanical Engineerin

Inhibitors of Mammalian Aquaporin Water Channels

Aquaporins (AQPs) are water channel proteins that are essential to life, being expressed in all kingdoms. In humans, there are 13 AQPs, at least one of which is found in every organ system. The structural biology of the AQP family is well-established and many functions for AQPs have been reported in health and disease. AQP expression is linked to numerous pathologies including tumor metastasis, fluid dysregulation, and traumatic injury. The targeted modulation of AQPs therefore presents an opportunity to develop novel treatments for diverse conditions. Various techniques such as video microscopy, light scattering and fluorescence quenching have been used to test putative AQP inhibitors in both AQP-expressing mammalian cells and heterologous expression systems. The inherent variability within these methods has caused discrepancy and many molecules that are inhibitory in one experimental system (such as tetraethylammonium, acetazolamide, and anti-epileptic drugs) have no activity in others. Some heavy metal ions (that would not be suitable for therapeutic use) and the compound, TGN-020, have been shown to inhibit some AQPs. Clinical trials for neuromyelitis optica treatments using anti-AQP4 IgG are in progress. However, these antibodies have no effect on water transport. More research to standardize high-throughput assays is required to identify AQP modulators for which there is an urgent and unmet clinical need

Human aquaporins: regulators of transcellular water flow

Background: Emerging evidence supports the view that (AQP) aquaporin water channels are regulators of transcellular water flow. Consistentwith their expression in most tissues, AQPs are associatedwith diverse physiological and pathophysiological processes. Scope of review: AQP knockout studies suggest that the regulatory role of AQPs, rather than their action as passive channels, is their critical function. Transport through all AQPs occurs by a common passive mechanism, but their regulation and cellular distribution varies significantly depending on cell and tissue type; the role of AQPs in cell volumeregulation (CVR) is particularly notable. This reviewexamines the regulatory role of AQPs in transcellular water flow, especially in CVR.We focus on key systems of the human body, encompassing processes as diverse as urine concentration in the kidney to clearance of brain oedema. Major conclusions: AQPs are crucial for the regulation of water homeostasis, providing selective pores for the rapidmovement ofwater across diverse cellmembranes and playing regulatory roles in CVR. Gatingmechanisms have been proposed for human AQPs, but have only been reported for plant andmicrobial AQPs. Consequently, it is likely that the distribution and abundance of AQPs in a particular membrane is the determinant of membrane water permeability and a regulator of transcellular water flow. General significance: Elucidating the mechanisms that regulate transcellular water flow will improve our understanding of the human body in health and disease. The central role of specific AQPs in regulating water homeostasis will provide routes to a range of novel therapies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Aquaporins