149 research outputs found

    The Graham Plan: A Missed Opportunity For Reform In Collegiate Athletics

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    Frank Porter Graham was arguably the greatest president of the UNC system, and certainly was an influential figure for following leaders in North Carolina’s higher education. In 1930, he became the president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and due to budgets cuts from the state, months later, became the president of the consolidated university system consisting of three universities in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. Frank Porter Graham continued to govern the consolidated university system, and Graham left his legacy as a respectable advocate for academic freedom, public education, and civil rights during his tenure. Frank Porter Graham also, in his advocacy for public education, fought vigorously to keep monetary interests from corrupting the mission of higher education. For my thesis, I would like to look into the political history of Frank Porter Graham’s contribution to the UNC system through the Graham Plan, the eleven point plan for the reformation of collegiate athletics. The core of the Graham plan was to eliminate any preferential or discriminatory treatment in financial aid for student athletes, and allowing greater control for the faculty to guide the future of collegiate athletics. Frank Porter Graham faced an enormous and quite vicious backlash, especially lead by alumnus and newspaper editorials during this movement, and had to eventually abort the mission. While the plan was aborted at the time, it also influenced President Bill Friday in the 1960s, and provides today an influential narrative for many to look up to. In this thesis, I seek to answer a few more questions including: what sort of ideologies held by Graham apparent in his other policies rationalized the Graham plan, what political climate created the need for this plan, who were the political oppositions to the Graham Plan and their specific criticism of the plan, and its lasting significance in the UNC system. This should all reconstruct the story of the plan’s genesis, presentation, passage, the ultimate fall of the plan, and convey the historical struggle with the role of athletics in universities

    The combination therapy with alfacalcidol and risedronate improves the mechanical property in lumbar spine by affecting the material properties in an ovariectomized rat model of osteoporosis

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We conducted the present study to investigate the therapeutic effects of a combination treatment of alfacalcidol (ALF) and risedronate (RIS) on the bone mechanical properties of bone and calcium (Ca) metabolism using an ovariectomized (OVX) rat model of osteoporosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Female Wistar rats were OVX- or sham-operated at 40 weeks of age. Twelve weeks post-surgery, rats were randomized into seven groups: 1) sham + vehicle, 2) OVX + vehicle, 3) OVX + ALF 0.025 μg/kg/day, 4) OVX + ALF 0.05 μg, 5) OVX + RIS 0.3 mg, 6) OVX + RIS 3.0 mg, 7) OVX + ALF 0.025 μg + RIS 0.3 mg. Each drug was administered orally five times a week for 12 weeks. After treatment, we evaluated the mechanical properties of the lumbar vertebra and femoral midshaft. In the lumbar vertebra, structural and material analyses were performed using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and microbeam X-ray diffraction (micro-XRD), respectively. Biochemical markers in serum and urine were also determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>(1) With respect to improvement in the mechanical strength of the lumbar spine and the femoral midshaft, the combination treatment of ALF and RIS at their sub-therapeutic doses was more effective than each administered as a monotherapy; (2) In the suppression of bone resorption and the amelioration of microstructural parameters, the effects of ALF and RIS were considered to be independent and additive; (3) The improvement of material properties, such as microstructural parameters and the biological apatite (Bap) c-axis orientation, contributed to the reinforcement of spinal strength; and (4) The combination treatment of ALF and RIS normalized urinary Ca excretion, suggesting that this treatment ameliorated the changes in Ca metabolism.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results demonstrate that the combination treatment of ALF and RIS at their sub-therapeutic doses can improve the mechanical properties of the spine as well as the femur and ameliorate changes in Ca metabolism in an animal model of osteoporosis, suggesting that the combination treatment of ALF and RIS has a therapeutic advantage over each monotherapy for the treatment of osteoporosis.</p

    HSP90α plays an important role in piRNA biogenesis and retrotransposon repression in mouse

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    HSP90, found in all kingdoms of life, is a major chaperone protein regulating many client proteins. We demonstrated that HSP90α, one of two paralogs duplicated in vertebrates, plays an important role in the biogenesis of fetal PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNA), which act against the transposon activities, in mouse male germ cells. The knockout mutation of Hsp90α resulted in a large reduction in the expression of primary and secondary piRNAs and mislocalization of MIWI2, a PIWI homolog. Whereas the mutation in Fkbp6 encoding a co-chaperone reduced piRNAs of 28–32 nucleotides in length, the Hsp90α mutation reduced piRNAs of 24–32 nucleotides, suggesting the presence of both FKBP6-dependent and -independent actions of HSP90α. Although DNA methylation and mRNA levels of L1 retrotransposon were largely unchanged in the Hsp90α mutant testes, the L1-encoded protein was increased, suggesting the presence of post-transcriptional regulation. This study revealed the specialized function of the HSP90α isofom in the piRNA biogenesis and repression of retrotransposons during the development of male germ cells in mammals

    本邦で分離されたカルバペネマーゼ産生肺炎桿菌の分子遺伝学的解析

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    Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae represent a serious public health threat worldwide. Carbapenemase genes, harbored on a transferable plasmid, have been isolated globally with distinct geographical features. Klebsiella pneumoniae, included in Enterobacteriaceae, also produces carbapenemase and often shows hypervirulence. Overlapping carbapenem resistance and hypervirulence in K. pneumoniae have been reported, but such strains have not yet been found in Japan. Here, we screened 104 carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae isolates collected from 37 hospitals and outpatient clinics in Japan between September 2014 and July 2015. PCR and DNA sequencing demonstrated IMP-1 in 21 isolates and IMP-6 in 83 isolates, 77 of which coharbored CTX-M-2. Most of the isolates showed low MICs toward imipenem and meropenem but high MICs toward penicillin and cephalosporins. Conjugation experiments with an Escherichia coli J53 recipient showed that most of the plasmids in IMP-6 producers were transferable, whereas only one-half of the plasmids in IMP-1 producers were transferable. PCR-based replicon typing and multiplex PCR identified five isolates belonging to the CG258 non-tonB79 cluster and no isolate belonging to the CG258-tonB79 cluster or sequence type 307 (ST307). Four K1-ST23 isolates, 10 K2-ST65 isolates, and 7 K2-ST86 isolates were detected that harbored virulence genes. The resistance genes in 85 isolates were transferable, but the virulence genes were not transferred. These results demonstrate the acquisition of IMP-type carbapenemase genes and CTX-M-type genes among hypervirulence isolates in Japan, warranting further attention and countermeasures. In this study, we have determined the molecular characteristics and epidemiology of IMP-6 producers that coharbored various CTX-M genes in Japan.IMPORTANCE Carbapenems serve as a last resort for the clinical treatment of multidrug-resistant infections. Therefore, the rapid spread of carbapenemase-producing strains represents a serious public health threat, further limiting antibiotic choices. The current findings of hypervirulent carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates in Japan demonstrate the potential broad spread and transfer of these genes, necessitating close surveillance.博士(医学)・乙第1509号・令和3年3月15日Copyright © 2020 Yonekawa et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

    A Case of Obstetrical DIC Probably Due to Uterine Type of Amniotic Fluid Embolism during Cesarean Section

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    A 42-year-old woman diagnosed as marginal placenta previa underwent cesarean section and bilateral tubal ligation under general anesthesia in 37th gestational week. Uterine contraction after delivery was good, but atonic bleeding progressed during tubal ligation. Oxytocic drugs were ineffective. We suspected obstetrical DIC and started treatment for DIC immediately, but the bleeding lasted. After total hysterectomy, she had stable vital signs. She broke away from DIC immediately after surgery. Intraoperative findings were satisfied the criteria for clinical uterine type amniotic fluid embolism (AFE). Although AFE indicates a bad prognosis, we saved her without any sequelae

    Pressure-induced phase transition of Bi2Te3 into the bcc structure

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    The pressure-induced phase transition of bismuth telluride, Bi2Te3, has been studied by synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements at room temperature using a diamond-anvil cell (DAC) with loading pressures up to 29.8 GPa. We found a high-pressure body-centered cubic (bcc) phase in Bi2Te3 at 25.2 GPa, which is denoted as phase IV, and this phase apperars above 14.5 GPa. Upon releasing the pressure from 29.8 GPa, the diffraction pattern changes with pressure hysteresis. The original rhombohedral phase is recovered at 2.43 GPa. The bcc structure can explain the phase IV peaks. We assumed that the structural model of phase IV is analogous to a substitutional binary alloy; the Bi and Te atoms are distributed in the bcc-lattice sites with space group Im-3m. The results of Rietveld analysis based on this model agree well with both the experimental data and calculated results. Therefore, the structure of phase IV in Bi2Te3 can be explained by a solid solution with a bcc lattice in the Bi-Te (60 atomic% tellurium) binary system.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
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