C-terminal sequences in R-Ras are involved in integrin regulation and in plasma membrane microdomain distribution

The small GTPases R-Ras and H-Ras are highly homologous proteins with contrasting biological properties, for example, they differentially modulate integrin affinity: H-Ras suppresses integrin activation in fibroblasts whereas R-Ras can reverse this effect of H-Ras. To gain insight into the sequences directing this divergent phenotype, we investigated a panel of H-Ras/R-Ras chimeras and found that sequences in the R-Ras hypervariable C-terminal region including amino acids 175-203 are required for the R-Ras ability to increase integrin activation in CHO cells; however, the proline-rich site in this region, previously reported to bind the adaptor protein Nck, was not essential for this effect. In addition, we found that the GTPase TC21 behaved similarly to R-Ras. Because the C-termini of Ras proteins can control their subcellular localization, we compared the localization of H-Ras and R-Ras. In contrast to H-Ras, which migrates out of lipid rafts upon activation, we found that activated R-Ras remained localized to lipid rafts. However, functionally distinct H-Ras/R-Ras chimeras containing different C-terminal R-Ras segments localized to lipid rafts irrespective of their integrin phenotype. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Writing the body of the mother: Narrative moments in Tsushima Yuko, Ariyoshi Sawako and Enchi Fumiko

This discussion argues the transformative potential inherent in the corporeal experience of motherhood as represented in selected textual moments of Japanese narrative. Narratives that address the experiences of the body of the mother are informed and given substance by an intense physicality, and thus have the potential to contest processes of social inscription in addition to suggesting alternative possibilities for all readers, not just those occupying an embodied maternal space. The discussion features brief events from the work of three writers who have written as mothers: Tsushima Y(u)macrko, Ariyoshi Sawako and Enchi Fumiko. In Yama o hashiru onna (1980; translated as Woman Running in the Mountains, 1991), Tsushima Y(u)macrko invites the reader to consider the embodied response to light of Takiko, a young pregnant woman. Emiko, the protagonist of Hishoku (Without Colour, 1967) by Ariyoshi Sawako, is the Japanese wife of an African American and has just given birth to a child. The daughter protagonist in Enchi Fumiko's 'Kami' ('Hair', 1957) operates a hairdressing business that is viable only with her mother's unpaid labour. The narratives are read through a matrix of post-structuralist theories of embodiment, drawing on the work of writers such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Elizabeth Grosz.

Work at hand: an exploration of gesture in the context of work and everyday life to inform the design of gestural input devices

This research explores gestures used in the context of activities in the workplace and in everyday life in order to understand requirements and devise concepts for the design of gestural information appliances. A collaborative method of video interaction analysis devised to suit design explorations, the Video Card Game, was used to capture and analyse how gesture is used in the context of six different domains: the dentist's office; PDA and mobile phone use; the experimental biologist's laboratory; a city ferry service; a video cassette player repair shop; and a factory flowmeter assembly station. Findings are presented in the form of gestural themes, derived from the tradition of qualitative analysis but bearing some similarity to Alexandrian patterns. Implications for the design of gestural devices are discussed.

The role of R&D technology in asymmetric research joint ventures

We characterize asymmetric equilibria in two-stage process innovation games and show that they are prevalent in the different models of R&D technology considered in the literature. Indeed, cooperation in R&D may be accompanied by high concentration in the product market. We show that while such an increase may be profitable, it may be socially inefficient.

A comparison of peak power in the shoulder press and shoulder throw

The ability to generate peak power is central for performance in many sports. Currently two distinct resistance training methods are used to develop peak power, the heavy weight/slow velocity and light weight/fast velocity regimes. When using the light weight/fast velocity power training method it was proposed that peak power would be greater in a shoulder throw exercise compared with a normal shoulder press. Nine males performed three lifts in the shoulder press and shoulder throw at 30% and 40% of their one repetition maximum (1RM). These lifts were performed identically, except for the release of the bar in the throw condition. A potentiometer attached to the bar measured displacement and duration of the lifts. The time of bar release in the shoulder throw was determined with a pressure switch. ANOVA was used to examine statistically significant differences where the level of acceptance was set at p

Everyday incivility: towards a benchmark

Commonplace incivility is a topic of longstanding interest within social theory, perhaps best exemplified by Goffman's studies of the interaction order. Nevertheless we know very little about its distribution and expression in everyday life. Current empirical work is dominated by criminological agendas. These tend to focus on more serious and illegal activities rather than minor deviant acts that are simply inconsiderate or rude. The paper reports findings from a focus group study conducted in Melbourne, Australia that set out to benchmark everyday incivilities. The results suggest that perpetrators of incivility have a surprisingly broad social distribution as does the range of locales that might be characterised as 'high risk'. Turning to the work of Putnam and Wolfe, we call for a research focus on low-level incivilities as key symptoms of the state of civic virtue and the strength of moral ties within civil society. Drawing on Virilio, Bauman and Durkheim, it is suggested that the experience of incivility is underpinned by the growth of freedom and movement in contemporary urban settings, and has ambivalent implications that not only invoke boundary maintenance and retreatism, but also offer the possibility for boundary expansion and tolerance of difference.

Hormone replacement therapy and everyday memory in mid-aged New Zealand women

While empirical research to date has generally supported positive effects of estrogen on verbal memory performance in women, the literature examining specific effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) on cognitive functioning in mid-life women is more equivocal. The Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test-Extended Version (RBMT-E), a measure of everyday memory functioning in adults within an average range of cognitive functioning, was administered to a sample of 104 New Zealand women aged 40 to 60 years who had self-selected to either use or not use HRT (53 HRT users and 51 non-users). Self-report. measures of mood, stress, general health and menopausal symptoms were also administered. These variables, along with age and education level, were used in analyses of group differences on the everyday memory measures. Results showed significant differences between the groups for three sub-tests of the RBMT-E:'Story Immediate', 'Story Delayed', and 'Message Delayed'. Women who use HRT scored higher on these subtests than those who do not use HRT. After calculation of a total profile score (adjusting for age and IQ), HRT users score higher than HRT non-users on the RBMT-E overall measure of Everyday Memory. These pilot results suggest that HRT use in this sample-is related to enhanced verbal memory in everyday memory tasks and that the RBMT-E may be a useful tool for further work in this area of research.

Localisation of gelatinase activity in epidermal hoof lamellae by in situ zymography

In situ gelatin zymography is a technique, which utilises a gelatin-based emulsion overlay to detect and, more importantly, localise the gelatinase activity in underlying tissue. Gelatinase A [matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2)] and gelatinase B [matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9)] are present in equine hoof homogenates and supernatants from cultured hoof explants by SDS-PAGE gelatin zymography, and it has been assumed that the enzymes are derived solely from matrix and epithelia and not from other sources such as leucocytes. Using in situ zymography, gelatinases are shown to be localised within the equine epidermal hoof lamellae and, more specifically, are apparently produced by epidermal basal and/or parabasal cells. The pattern of expression correlates with that expected based on the progression of pathological changes observed during the onset of laminitis, thus providing further evidence that laminitis pathology probably arises as a result of inadequate local MMP regulation.