Reassessing the History of U.S. Hazardous Waste Disposal Policy - Problem Definition, Expert Knowledge and Agenda-Setting

The authors show that in the 1940\u27s technical consensus began to develop about the effects of land-based waste disposal on groundwater degradation. They go on to explain why this understanding was only slowly reflected in federal legislation

Reinterpreting the Meaning of the ‘ S ingapore Model’: State Capitalism and Urban Planning

For city planners and policymakers in many parts of the world, Singapore has come to embody a model of efficient and growth‐oriented urban development. Yet there has been very little research that goes beyond descriptive assessments of urban design and urban policy and understands the political economy that has produced the current system of planning in Singapore. This article explores the role of land acquisition and land management in Singapore's urban development. It argues that Singapore is best understood as a model of urban planning under state capitalism. Drawing largely on academic studies, reports of Singapore government agencies and government‐linked corporations, and interviews the article analyzes the mechanisms through which the Singaporean state has used direct involvement in the commercial real‐estate market as a powerful tool to gain access to revenue, achieve urban redevelopment objectives and exert powerful influence over the Singaporean society and economy. Through the commercial exploitation of state landholdings and through stakes in state‐owned and private enterprises, the Singaporean state has harnessed urban development to an agenda of political hegemony, nation building and economic development within a framework of globalization.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102246/1/ijur12095.pd

RAM function is dependent on Kapβ2-mediated nuclear entry

Eukaryotic gene expression is dependent on the modification of the first transcribed nucleotide of pre-mRNA by the addition of the 7-methylguanosine cap. The cap protects transcripts from exonucleases and recruits complexes which mediate transcription elongation, processing and translation initiation. The cap is synthesized by a series of reactions which link 7-methylguanosine to the first transcribed nucleotide via a 5′ to 5′ triphosphate bridge. In mammals, cap synthesis is catalysed by the sequential action of RNGTT (RNA guanylyltransferase and 5′-phosphatase) and RNMT (RNA guanine-7 methyltransferase), enzymes recruited to RNA pol II (polymerase II) during the early stages of transcription. We recently discovered that the mammalian cap methyltransferase is a heterodimer consisting of RNMT and the RNMT-activating subunit RAM (RNMT-activating mini-protein). RAM activates and stabilizes RNMT and thus is critical for cellular cap methylation and cell viability. In the present study we report that RNMT interacts with the N-terminal 45 amino acids of RAM, a domain necessary and sufficient for maximal RNMT activation. In contrast, smaller components of this RAM domain are sufficient to stabilize RNMT. RAM functions in the nucleus and we report that nuclear import of RAM is dependent on PY nuclear localization signals and Kapβ2 (karyopherin β2) nuclear transport protein

Purification of a factor that restores translation of vesicular stomatitis virus mRNA in extracts from poliovirus-infected HeLa cells

It was previously shown that the poliovirus-induced inhibition of translation of capped mRNAs can be reversed by a protein found in preparations of the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF-4B [Rose, J. K., Trachsel, H., Leong, K. & Baltimore, D. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75, 2732--2736]. This "restoring factor" has now been purified from a high-salt wash of rabbit reticulocyte ribosomes by taking advantage of its tight association with factor eIF-3 at low salt concentrations. It did not copurify with the major M_r 80,000 polypeptide of eIF-4B preparations but did copurify with a M_r 24,000 polypeptide previously shown to bind to the cap structures of mRNAs [Sonenberg, N., Rupprecht, K. M., Hecht, S. M. & Shatkin, A. J. (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76, 4345--4349]. Both the electrophoretic mobility and the tryptic peptide pattern of the restoring factor were indistinguishable from those of the cap-binding protein, and the restoring factor could be crosslinked to the 5'-terminal cap on mRNA. Thus, is appears that poliovirus inhibits cellular protein synthesis by inactivation of some crucial property of the cap-binding protein

Interaction of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4G with the nuclear cap-binding complex provides a link between nuclear and cytoplasmic functions of the m7 guanosine cap

In eukaryotes the majority of mRNAs have an m7G cap that is added cotranscriptionally and that plays an important role in many aspects of mRNA metabolism. The nuclear cap-binding complex (CBC; consisting of CBP20 and CBP80) mediates the stimulatory functions of the cap in pre-mRNA splicing, 3' end formation, and U snRNA export. As little is known about how nuclear CBC mediates the effects of the cap in higher eukaryotes, we have characterized proteins that interact with CBC in HeLa cell nuclear extracts as potential mediators of its function. Using cross-linking and coimmunoprecipitation, we show that eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4G (eIF4G), in addition to its function in the cytoplasm, is a nuclear CBC-interacting protein. We demonstrate that eIF4G interacts with CBC in vitro and that, in addition to its cytoplasmic localization, there is a significant nuclear pool of eIF4G in mammalian cells in vivo. Immunoprecipitation experiments suggest that, in contrast to the cytoplasmic pool, much of the nuclear eIF4G is not associated with eIF4E (translation cap binding protein of eIF4F) but is associated with CBC. While eIF4G stably associates with spliceosomes in vitro and shows close association with spliceosomal snRNPs and splicing factors in vivo, depletion studies show that it does not participate directly in the splicing reaction. Taken together the data indicate that nuclear eIF4G may be recruited to pre-mRNAs via its interaction with CBC and accompanies the mRNA to the cytoplasm, facilitating the switching of CBC for eIF4F. This may provide a mechanism to couple nuclear and cytoplasmic functions of the mRNA cap structure