[Review of] Fred McTaggart. Wolf That I Am: In Search of the Red Earth People

Fred McTaggart\u27s engaging narrative Wolf That I Am: In Search of the Red Earth People is as much a personalized story of self discovery as it is a discussion of surviving Mesquakie folklore. In the early 1970s, as a graduate student at the University of Iowa, McTaggart set out to gather and to analyze the folk stories told among Mesquakies, known historically to the non-Indian world as the combined Indian tribes of the Sac and Fox. Today the main body of this Native American group resides on a tribally-owned settlement (decidely [decidedly] not a government-controlled reservation as mentioned in the foreword) located along the Iowa River in east central Iowa

Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Represses GnRH Gene Expression via cFOS during Inflammation in Male Mice.

BackgroundThe mechanisms whereby neuroinflammation negatively affects neuronal function in the hypothalamus are not clear. Our previous study determined that obesity-mediated chronic inflammation elicits sex-specific impairment in reproductive function via reduction in spine density in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. Neuroinflammation and subsequent decrease in GnRH neuron spine density was specific for male mice, while protection in females was independent of ovarian estrogens.MethodsTo examine if neuroinflammation-induced cytokines can directly regulate GnRH gene expression, herein we examined signaling pathways and mechanisms in males in vivo and in GnRH-expressing cell line, GT1-7.ResultsGnRH neurons express cytokine receptors, and chronic or acute neuroinflammation represses GnRH gene expression in vivo. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in particular represses GnRH expression in GT1-7 cells, while other cytokines do not. STAT3 and MAPK pathways are activated following LIF treatment, but only MAPK pathway, specifically p38α, is sufficient to repress the GnRH gene. LIF induces cFOS that represses the GnRH gene via the -1,793 site in the enhancer region. In vivo, following high-fat diet, cFOS is induced in GnRH neurons and neurons juxtaposed to the leaky blood brain barrier of the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, but not in the neurons further away.ConclusionOur results indicate that the increase in LIF due to neuroinflammation induces cFOS and represses the GnRH gene. Therefore, in addition to synaptic changes in GnRH neurons, neuroinflammatory cytokines directly regulate gene expression and reproductive function, and the specificity for neuronal targets may stem from the proximity to the fenestrated capillaries

Phosphoproteins associated with cyclic nucleotide stimulation of ciliary motility in Paramecium

Permeabilized, MgATP-reactivated cells of Paramecium (models) respond to cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP by increasing forward swimming speed. In association with the motile response, cyclic AMP and 8-bromo-cyclic GMP (8-Br-cyclic GMP) stimulated protein phosphorylation. Cyclic AMP addition to permeabilized cells reproducibly stimulated the phosphorylation of 10 proteins, ranging in molecular weight from 15 to 110K (K = 10^3 M_r). 8-Br-cyclic GMP, which selectively activates the cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase of Paramecium, stimulated the phosphorylation of a subset of the proteins phosphorylated by cyclic AMP. Ca^(2+) addition caused backward swimming and stimulated the phosphorylation of four substrates, including a 25K target that may also be phosphorylated in response to cyclic nucleotide addition. Ba^(2+) and Sr^(2+) also induced backward swimming, but did not cause detectable phosphorylation. To identify ciliary targets of cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinase activity, permeabilized cells were deciliated following reactivation of motility with Mg-[y-^(32)P]ATP in the presence or absence of cyclic nucleotide. Soluble proteins of the deciliation supernatant were enriched in 15 cyclic AMP-stimulated phosphoproteins, ranging in molecular weight from 15 to 95K. Most of the ciliary substrates were axonemal and could be released by high salt solution. A 29K protein that copurified in sucrose gradients with the 22S dynein, and a high molecular weight protein (greater than 300K) in the 19 S region were phosphorylated when cyclic AMP was added to permeabilized, motile cells. These data suggest that regulation of ciliary motility by cyclic AMP may include phosphorylation of dynein-associated proteins

Viewpoints of elementary principals and their teachers concerning teachers' meetings as they are conducted within schools in five Massachusetts towns

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

[Review of] Frederick J. Dockstader. The Kachina and the White Man: The Influences of White Culture on the Hopi Kachina Cult

To the delight of scholars of Native American studies and all other readers with even a passing interest in traditional Puebloan cultures of the American Southwest, Frederick Dockstader\u27 s classic study, The Kachina and the White Man, now has been published in a revised and expanded version. This historical narrative of Hopi life, using spirit beings known as kachinas as its central focus, traces the changes and adaptations the Hopi have made in response to pressures placed upon that Indian culture by the seemingly -- inevitable contact with white society. In addition, the author describes in infinite detail the ceremonialism, costuming, masks, and other paraphernalia associated with the colorful Kachina dance rituals, and also discusses the Kachina dolls -- so popular among non-Indian art collectors and museum curators -- and places these figurines in proper cultural perspective, explaining their use in both educating and constantly reminding Hopi children of the religious beings and the appropriate behavior they represent

Today’s Undergraduate Students … Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs?

It is often said that owning a small business is part of the American Dream. Collectively, U.S. small businesses represent an estimated 99 percent of all employers (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2002). Interest in creating and owning a small business has never been greater than it is today: new business formation in the U.S. has broken successive records for the last few years, growing at a rate of between two and nine percent and totaling over one-half million annually

THE CONTRIBUTION OF NORTH DAKOTA'S COMMUNITY PHARMACIES TO THE STATE'S ECONOMY

A pharmacist shortage, mail and internet competition, thinning margins, and third-party payer issues are some of the issues challenging community pharmacies. Those challenges have raised concerns about the long-term viability of independent community pharmacies, especially those in rural areas. In addition to a pharmacy's role in the delivery of prescription drugs, community pharmacies also play an important role in the state and local economies, again, especially in rural communities. Community pharmacies consistently have been classified as a business that provides essential services. Because of the issues and challenges facing community pharmacies and their role as an essential service, this study was undertaken to quantify the economic contribution North Dakota's community pharmacies make to the state's economy and to examine community pharmacies' business characteristics, services provided, and other issues. This study estimates all relevant expenditures and returns associated with North Dakota's community pharmacies.Economic impact, pharmacy, pharmacists, drug stores, Health Economics and Policy,

Fast Lean Erasure-Coded Atomic Memory Object

In this work, we propose FLECKS, an algorithm which implements atomic memory objects in a multi-writer multi-reader (MWMR) setting in asynchronous networks and server failures. FLECKS substantially reduces storage and communication costs over its replication-based counterparts by employing erasure-codes. FLECKS outperforms the previously proposed algorithms in terms of the metrics that to deliver good performance such as storage cost per object, communication cost a high fault-tolerance of clients and servers, guaranteed liveness of operation, and a given number of communication rounds per operation, etc. We provide proofs for liveness and atomicity properties of FLECKS and derive worst-case latency bounds for the operations. We implemented and deployed FLECKS in cloud-based clusters and demonstrate that FLECKS has substantially lower storage and bandwidth costs, and significantly lower latency of operations than the replication-based mechanisms