Effect of charged lipids on the ionization behavior of glutamic acid containing transmembrane helices

Transmembrane proteins make up critical components of living cells. Protein function can be greatly impacted by the charged state of its respective components, the side chains of amino acid residues. Thus far, in the lipid membrane, little is known about the properties of residues such as glutamic acid. To explore these properties, I have included glutamic acid in a suitable model peptide-lipid system for fundamental biophysical experiments. Within the system, I have placed a glutamic acid residue instead of leucine in the L14 position of the helical hydrophobic peptide GWALP23 (acetyl-GGALWLALALALAL14ALALWLAGA-amide). Substitutions of glutamine and aspartic acid serve as controls for the properties of the peptide helix in lipid bilayer membranes. The GWALP23 peptide derivatives are placed in various lipid bilayer environments. Specifically, I investigated the impact of glutamic acid (position E14) when differently charged lipids are present in the bilayer. The underlying importance is to understand the charged or neutral state behavior of glutamic acid under conditions where it is important for the functioning of several types of membrane proteins, such as ion channels, drug transporters and others. For the experimental plan, core alanine resides of GWALP23 were labeled with deuterium to enable detection of helix characteristics by solid-state 2H NMR spectroscopy. The peptide-lipid samples included primarily the neutral lipid DMPC, 1,2-dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, (with 14-carbon acyl chains), along with 10% of a charged lipid. For each membrane system, I confirmed lipid bilayer formation for the particular peptide-lipid mixture by solid-state 31P NMR. The charged lipids consisted of the negatively charged lipid DMPG, 1,2-dimyristoylphosphatidylglycerol, and the positively charged lipid DMTAP, 1,2-dimyristoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane. These charged lipids were found to influence the properties of the GWALP23 helix when E14 was present. DMTAP, in particular, improves the 2H NMR spectra and the prospects for characterizing helix dynamics when a glutamic acid residue is present. While some experiments were cut short due to a global emergency, the results show promise for characterizing glutamic acid in model helices and actual membrane proteins

Countering the Cuts: The Class Politics of Austerity

The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in the UK is pursuing a class politics of austerity through a proposed radical reduction in public spending. This paper questions the assumptions underlying the logic of austerity and reveals it to be based on class politics designed to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich. It also suggests that the crisis which is being used as a catalyst for reform is actually a product of the particular form of capitalism pursued in the UK since the 1970s. Instead of promoting policies to reinstate that particular failed model of capitalist development, the government should instead pursue a radical alternative based on principles of social and environmental sustainability

Historical Legacies: A Model Linking Africa's Past to its Current Underdevelopment

Recent studies have found evidence linking Africa’s current underdevelopment to colonial rule and the slave trade. Given that these events ended long ago, why do they continue to matter today? I develop a model, exhibiting path dependence, that explains how these past events could have lasting impacts. The model has multiple equilibria: one equilibrium with secure property rights and a high level of production and others with insecure property rights and low levels of production. I show that external extraction, when severe enough, causes a society initially in the high production equilibrium to move to a low production equilibrium. Because of the stability of low production equilibria, the society remains trapped in this suboptimal equilibrium even after the period of external extraction ends. The model provides one explanation why Africa’s past events continue to matter today.

The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades

Can part of Africa's current underdevelopment be explained by its slave trades? To explore this question, I use data from shipping records and historical documents reporting slave ethnicities to construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa's slave trades. I find a robust negative relationship between the number of slaves exported from a country and current economic performance. To better understand if the relationship is causal, I examine the historical evidence on selection into the slave trades, and use instrumental variables. Together the evidence suggests that the slave trades have had an adverse effect on economic development.

Measuring Awareness of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations (2003) Among Employers in the Yorkshire and Humber Region

Regulations have been in place since 2003 to prevent discrimination in employment on the grounds of Religion or Belief. However, legislation is not on its own enough to secure fair practices in the workplace. Importantly, previous research has suggested that employers lack awareness of the regulations and may not have fully adjusted to the requirements and implications of the legislation. As such, the Government, through the DTI, has made funds available for capacity building among employers to support the implementation of the regulations. Using this funding, the Fair Play Partnership commissioned the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University to undertake research which will provide baseline information on the existing state of awareness, understanding, attitudes toward and implementation of both the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief and Sexual Orientation) Regulations. This report presents findings from a survey of employers in relation to the Religion or Belief Regulations. A separate report provides a similar review of findings in relation to the Sexual Orientation Regulations

The ‘Brain Drain’ Academic and Skilled Migration to the UK and its Impacts on Africa

In December 2004 the Association of University Teachers and the College and Lecturers Union NATFHE jointly commissioned research to review some of the literature on ‘the Brain Drain’ with a specific emphasis on developing countries in Africa and on academic labour in the UK. This report is the culmination of that research. The project aimed to review some of the available literature on the ‘Brain Drain’, to locate this in debates and contemporary approaches to international development and to consider especially the impact of the Brain Drain on Africa, where possible drawing reference to the impact on higher education. The report also considers the scale of migration to work in UK higher education and suggests ways in which AUT/NATFHE might work together and with others to offset the impact of Brain Drain factors and to build the capacity of higher education, and those working in it, in developing countries. Migration is an emotive issue and debate in this country is often shaped by populist and right-wing arguments, sometimes with racist and xenophobic undertones. This project aimed to develop a more progressive approach to the debate on migration, explicitly addressing the motivations behind migration decisions. This project was shaped by a background understanding that the UK undoubtedly benefits enormously from skilled labour migration, economically, socially and culturally. However, the project is also shaped by a concern to ensure that individual choices to migrate are taken freely, not as a result of political repression, a lack of life chances or vocational opportunities. The project also aimed to assess the extent to which skilled labour migration, and the unequal relationships between rich and developing countries which drives it, is further embedding that inequality. Failing to address these issues, risks leaving the debate on migration to those that seek to use the issue to generate a regressive and dangerous politics of fear and difference