J. Christian Greer and Michelle K. Oing, Kumano Kodo : Pilgrimage to Powerspots

departmental bulletin pape

<Translation>Narrating the Spread of Shinto and Shugendō in the Eighteenth Century : An Introduction to and Translation of the Shugen Ichijitsu Reisō Shintō mikki

The Shugen Ichijitsu Reisō Shintō mikki is an origin account for a religious lineage constructed at Mount Togakushi (present-day Nagano Prefecture) in the early eighteenth century. In addition to providing a fascinating glimpse into thought, practice, and politics at this site at the time, the account offers a lucid example of four contingent features of religious culture in early modern Japan. The first, and well-known among scholars, is the hybrid nature of religious life before the Meiji era, evident in the text\u27s indulgent synthesis of Shinto, Shugendō, and Buddhism. At a time when nativist (kokugaku) doctrines were on the rise, this work reveals that combinatory discourse remained alive and well. Second is the rapid growth of Shinto and Shugendō into new regions during the Edo period—a geographical development that belies modern, nation-centered assumptions about either. Third, this spread was enabled through site-based narratives that wove imported trends into local histories, thereby legitimizing their presence at these new places. Finally, such narratives reflect a growing appetite among the lay public to visit and mingle with the intoxicating mix of gods, mythological imprints, and legendary figures reported in them

Concert recording 2016-04-09c

[Track 01]. Into the air / Ivan Trevino -- [Track 02]. Preludes. II ; [Track 03]. III ; [Track 04]. I / Michael Burritt -- [Track 05]. Arabesque no. 2 / Claude Debussy ; arranged by Caleb Evans -- [Track 06]. Somewhere over the rainbow / Harold Arlen ; arranged by Max Seide Leth -- [Track 07]. Pure imagination / Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newly ; arranged by Alex Stopa -- [Track 08]. Claire de lune / Claude Debussy ; arranged by Nick Baron -- [Track 09]. Trio per uno. II ; [Track 10]. I / Nebosja Zivkovic

The When and Why: Student Entrepreneurial Aspirations

Although connections between university enterprise courses and entrepreneurial activity have been examined, less work has investigated the intended timing of future entrepreneurial activities. Using data from a survey of U.K. business students, it is found that those intending to enter entrepreneurship right away place less emphasis on avoiding stress and responsibility, seeing themselves as natural leaders. They were also more confident of succeeding, but not because of superior knowledge. A greater emphasis on entrepreneurial activities in all institutional environments, including the corporate, may help balance the need to harness enthusiasm while it lasts with the need to acquire relevant experience

Dwarfism on Dwarf Millets

Our research team studied the effect of Dwarf mutations on Millet plant growth. To study these effects a plant hormone named Gibberellin was periodically added to the plants. Gibberellin is a hormone used in plants to grow, elongate, and flower the plant stems. With the addition of Gibberellin to millet plants, we compared the elongation of Millet stem length (cm) to the Millet wild-type generations. We hypothesized the implementation of Gibberellin would boost the growth rate and size of dwarf mutated millet

Concert recording 2016-04-16

[Track 01]. Meditation no. 1 / Casey Cangelosi -- [Track 02]. Into the air / Ivan Trevino -- [Track 03]. Ku-ka ilimoku / Christopher Rouse -- [Track 04]. Good vibes / Oscar Hernandez -- [Track 05]. Arabesque no. 2 / Claude Debussy ; arranged by Evans -- [Track 06]. The odyssey, according to Penelope. Afternoon at the park ; [Track 07]. Toddling waltz ; [Track 08]. Babble songs ; [Track 09]. Naptime prelude ; [Track 10]. Run amok rondo / Kevin Bobo -- [Track 11]. Tiger dance / Jeffery Dennis Smith

Auriculocondylar syndrome 2 results from the dominant-negative action of PLCB4 variants.

Auriculocondylar syndrome 2 (ARCND2) is a rare autosomal dominant craniofacial malformation syndrome linked to multiple genetic variants in the coding sequence of phospholipase C β4 (PLCB4). PLCB4 is a direct signaling effector of the endothelin receptor type A (EDNRA)-Gq/11 pathway, which establishes the identity of neural crest cells (NCCs) that form lower jaw and middle ear structures. However, the functional consequences of PLCB4 variants on EDNRA signaling is not known. Here, we show, using multiple signaling reporter assays, that known PLCB4 variants resulting from missense mutations exert a dominant-negative interference over EDNRA signaling. In addition, using CRISPR/Cas9, we find that F0 mouse embryos modeling one PLCB4 variant have facial defects recapitulating those observed in hypomorphic Ednra mouse models, including a bone that we identify as an atavistic change in the posterior palate/oral cavity. Remarkably, we have identified a similar osseous phenotype in a child with ARCND2. Our results identify the disease mechanism of ARCND2, demonstrate that the PLCB4 variants cause craniofacial differences and illustrate how minor changes in signaling within NCCs may have driven evolutionary changes in jaw structure and function. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk outcome associations. Methods: We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings: In 2017,34.1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33.3-35.0) deaths and 121 billion (144-1.28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61.0% (59.6-62.4) of deaths and 48.3% (46.3-50.2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10.4 million (9.39-11.5) deaths and 218 million (198-237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7.10 million [6.83-7.37] deaths and 182 million [173-193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6.53 million [5.23-8.23] deaths and 171 million [144-201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4.72 million [2.99-6.70] deaths and 148 million [98.6-202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1.43 million [1.36-1.51] deaths and 139 million [131-147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4.9% (3.3-6.5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23.5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18.6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation: By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Projections and the Potential Societal Impact of the Future of Neurotechnologies

Traditionally, recording from and stimulating the brain with high spatial and temporal resolution required invasive means. However, recently, the technical capabilities of less invasive and non-invasive neuro-interfacing technology have been dramatically improving, and laboratories and funders aim to further improve these capabilities. These technologies can facilitate functions such as multi-person communication, mood regulation and memory recall. We consider a potential future where the less invasive technology is in high demand. Will this demand match that the current-day demand for a smartphone? Here, we draw upon existing research to project which particular neuroethics issues may arise in this potential future and what preparatory steps may be taken to address these issues