History of the Jews in America : from the period of the discovery of the new world to the present time

by Peter Wiernik

Implications for the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life: A Theological Approach

Recent remarks of Pope Francis spark anew an important discussion: are we alone in the Universe? The article follows traces of the idea of extraterrestrial life throughout philosophy, evaluates the current considerations about the probability of extraterrestrial life and discusses the potential implications for the discovery of such life from a theological point of view. This “thought experiment” covers basic insights on creation, revelation and redemption.

Charge exchange in cometary coma: Discovery of H- ions in the solar wind close to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

As Rosetta was orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the Ion and Electron Sensor detected negative particles with angular distributions like those of the concurrently measured solar wind protons but with fluxes of only about 10% of the proton fluxes and energies of about 90% of the proton energies. Using well-known cross sections and energy-loss data, it is determined that the fluxes and energies of the negative particles are consistent with the production of H- ions in the solar wind by double charge exchange with molecules in the coma.

Can we constrain the interior structure of rocky exoplanets from mass and radius measurements?

Aims. We present an inversion method based on Bayesian analysis to constrain the interior structure of terrestrial exoplanets, in the form of chemical composition of the mantle and core size. Specifically, we identify what parts of the interior structure of terrestrial exoplanets can be determined from observations of mass, radius, and stellar elemental abundances. Methods. We perform a full probabilistic inverse analysis to formally account for observational and model uncertainties and obtain confidence regions of interior structure models. This enables us to characterize how model variability depends on data and associated uncertainties. Results. We test our method on terrestrial solar system planets and find that our model predictions are consistent with independent estimates. Furthermore, we apply our method to synthetic exoplanets up to 10 Earth masses and up to 1.7 Earth radii, and to exoplanet Kepler-36b. Importantly, the inversion strategy proposed here provides a framework for understanding the level of precision required to characterize the interior of exoplanets. Conclusions. Our main conclusions are (1) observations of mass and radius are sufficient to constrain core size; (2) stellar elemental abundances (Fe, Si, Mg) are principal constraints to reduce degeneracy in interior structure models and to constrain mantle composition; (3) the inherent degeneracy in determining interior structure from mass and radius observations does not only depend on measurement accuracies, but also on the actual size and density of the exoplanet. We argue that precise observations of stellar elemental abundances are central in order to place constraints on planetary bulk composition and to reduce model degeneracy. We provide a general methodology of analyzing interior structures of exoplanets that may help to understand how interior models are distributed among star systems. The methodology we propose is sufficiently general to allow its future extension to more complex internal structures including hydrogen- and water-rich exoplanets.

From protein microarray to biology: The discovery of epigenetic regulatory molecules

Chromatin, composed of repeating nucleosome units, is the genetic polymer of life. To aid in DNA compaction and organized storage, the double helix wraps around a core complex of histone proteins to form the nucleosome, and is therefore no longer freely accessible to cellular proteins for the processes of transcription, replication and DNA repair. Over the course of evolution, DNA-based applications have developed routes to access DNA bound up in chromatin, and further, have actually utilized the chromatin structure to create another level of complexity and information storage. The histone molecules that DNA surrounds have free-floating tails that extend out of the nucleosome. These tails are post-translationally modified to create docking sites for the proteins involved in transcription, replication and repair, thus providing one prominent way that specific genomic sequences are accessed and manipulated. Adding another degree of information storage, histone tail-modifications paint the genome in precise manners to influence a state of transcriptional activity or repression, to generate euchromatin, containing gene-dense regions, or heterochromatin, containing repeat sequences and low-density gene regions. The work presented here is the study of histone tail modifications, how they are written and how they are read, divided into two projects. Both begin with protein microarray experiments where we discover the protein domains that can bind modified histone tails, and how multiple tail modifications can influence this binding. Project one then looks deeper into the enzymes that lay down the tail modifications. Specifically, we studied histone-tail arginine methylation by PRMT6. We found that methylation of a specific histone residue by PRMT6, arginine 2 of H3, can antagonize the binding of protein domains to the H3 tail and therefore affect transcription of genes regulated by the H3-tail binding proteins. Project two focuses on a protein we identified to bind modified histone tails, PHF20, and was an endeavor to discover the biological role of this protein. Thus, in total, we are looking at a complete process: (1) histone tail modification by an enzyme (here, PRMT6), (2) how this and other modifications are bound by conserved protein domains, and (3) by using PHF20 as an example, the functional outcome of binding through investigating the biological role of a chromatin reader. ^

Effect of smoking on the association between periodontitis and incidence of coronary heart disease: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Multiple studies have shown an association between periodontitis and coronary heart disease due to the chronic inflammatory nature of periodontitis. Also, studies have indicated similar risk factors and patho-physiologic mechanisms for periodontitis and CHD. Among these factors, smoking has been the most discussed common risk factor and some studies suggested the periodontitis - CHD association to be largely a result of confounding due to smoking or inadequate adjustment for it. We conducted a secondary data analysis of the Dental ARIC Study, an ancillary study to the ARIC Study, to evaluate the effect of smoking on the periodontitis - CHD association using three periodontitis classifications namely, BGI, AAP-CDC, and Dental-ARIC classification (Beck et al 2001). We also compared these results with edentulous ARIC participants. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we found that the individuals with the most severe form of periodontitis in each of the three classifications (BGI: HR = 1.56, 95%CI: 1.15 – 2.13; AAP-CDC: HR = 1.42, 95%CI: 1.13 – 1.79; and Dental-ARIC: HR = 1.49, 95%CI: 1.22 – 1.83) were at a significantly higher risk of incident CHD in the unadjusted models; whereas only BGI-P3 showed statistically significant increased risk in the smoking adjusted models (HR = 1.43, 95%CI: 1.04 – 1.96). However none of the categories in any of the classifications showed significant association when a list of traditional CHD risk factors was introduced into the models. On the other hand, edentulous participants showed significant results when compared to the dentate ARIC participants in the crude (HR = 1.56, 95%CI: 1.34 – 1.82); smoking adjusted (HR = 1.39, 95%CI: 1.18 – 1.64) age, race and sex adjusted (HR = 1.52, 95%CI: 1.30 – 1.77); and ARIC traditional risk factors (except smoking) adjusted (HR = 1.27, 95%CI: 1.02 – 1.57) models. Also, the risk remained significantly higher even when smoking was introduced in the age, sex and race adjusted model (HR = 1.38, 95%CI: 1.17 – 1.63). Smoking did not reduce the hazard ratio by more than 8% when it was included in any of the Cox models. ^ This is the first study to include the three most recent case definitions of periodontitis simultaneously while looking at its association with incident coronary heart disease. We found smoking to be partially confounding the periodontitis and coronary heart disease association and edentulism to be significantly associated with incident CHD even after adjusting for smoking and the ARIC traditional risk factors. The difference in the three periodontitis classifications was not found to be statistical significant when they were tested for equality of the area under their ROC curves but this should not be confused with their clinical significance.^

THE p63 ISOFORM ∆Np63α INHIBITS EPITHELIAL – MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION BY PROMOTING THE EXPRESSION OF MIR-205 IN HUMAN BLADDER CANCER CELLS

p63, a p53 family member, is a transcription factor that has complex roles in cancer. This study focuses on the role of the ∆Np63α isoform in bladder cancer (BC). Epithelial – mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a physiological process that plays an important part in metastasis and drug resistance. At the molecular level, EMT is characterized by the loss of the epithelial marker E-cadherin, and the acquisition of the transcriptional repressors of E-cadherin (ZEB1, ZEB2, TWIST, SNAI1 and SNAI2). Recent publications highlight the role of microRNAs belonging to the miR-200 family and miR-205 in preventing EMT through suppression of ZEB1 and ZEB2. p53, the homologue of p63, is implicated in regulating EMT by modulating the expression of miR-200c; however, the mechanisms underlying miR-205 control remain unclear. Here we show that ∆Np63α regulates the transcription of miR-205 and controls EMT in human BC cells. We observed a strong correlation between the expression of ∆Np63α, miR-205 and E-cadherin in a panel of BC cell lines (n=28) and also in bladder primary tumors from a cohort of patients (n=98). A remarkably inverse correlation is observed between ∆Np63α and ZEB1/2 in cell lines. Stable knockdown (KD) ∆Np63α in UC6, an “epithelial” BC cell line, decreased the expression of miR-205 and induced ZEB1/2 expression, the effects that were reversed by expression of exogenous miR-205. Moreover, overexpressing ∆Np63α in UC3, a “messenchymal” BC cell line, brought about opposite results, an increase in miR-205 expression and a reduction in ZEB1/2 expression. Modulation of ∆Np63α expression resulted in a parallel change in the expression of miR-205 and miR-205 “host” gene (miR-205HG). Nuclear run-on and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that ∆Np63α regulates the transcription of miR-205 through controlling the recruitment of RNA Polymerase II to the promoter of miR-205HG. Interestingly, high miR-205 expression correlated with poor clinical outcome in BC patients, consistent with our recent publication highlighting the enrichment of ∆Np63 in a lethal subset of muscle invasive BC. In summary, our data present the important roles of ∆Np63α in preventing EMT mediated by miR-205. Our study also identifies miR-205 as a potential molecular marker to predict clinical outcome in BC patients.

Vocational and occupational counsseling: a strategy of preventive intervention directed to Young men and women from the interior of the province of Buenos Aires

This work belongs to one of the activities that are carried out in the Vocational and Occupational Guidance Center (V.O.G.C.) of the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences at the L.P.N.U. In the year 1994 the Vocational/Occupational Guidance Programme for Municipalities was created, destined for work with adolescents who are attending their last year at secondary schools in the interior of the Province of Buenos Aires . The Programme aims at fostering the development of spaces for reflection related to the educational/working projects of the adolescents who are close to entering university. The proposal is based on the methodology of work groups, in the journeys preoccupations are sheared, the worries and fears experienced by the students are shared with their hosts, possibilities are used as ground for construction, dealing both with aspects of their current situation and their future possibilities. From the analysis of the group productions collected throughout these years, we have developed a student's profile that - although it resembles the one obtained from local adolescents- adds new questions and points of view, thus increasing the complexity of the balance of forces related to the question of having to make a choice.

Vocational and occupational counsseling: a strategy of preventive intervention directed to Young men and women from the interior of the province of Buenos Aires

This work belongs to one of the activities that are carried out in the Vocational and Occupational Guidance Center (V.O.G.C.) of the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences at the L.P.N.U. In the year 1994 the Vocational/Occupational Guidance Programme for Municipalities was created, destined for work with adolescents who are attending their last year at secondary schools in the interior of the Province of Buenos Aires . The Programme aims at fostering the development of spaces for reflection related to the educational/working projects of the adolescents who are close to entering university. The proposal is based on the methodology of work groups, in the journeys preoccupations are sheared, the worries and fears experienced by the students are shared with their hosts, possibilities are used as ground for construction, dealing both with aspects of their current situation and their future possibilities. From the analysis of the group productions collected throughout these years, we have developed a student's profile that - although it resembles the one obtained from local adolescents- adds new questions and points of view, thus increasing the complexity of the balance of forces related to the question of having to make a choice.

Vocational and occupational counsseling: a strategy of preventive intervention directed to Young men and women from the interior of the province of Buenos Aires

This work belongs to one of the activities that are carried out in the Vocational and Occupational Guidance Center (V.O.G.C.) of the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences at the L.P.N.U. In the year 1994 the Vocational/Occupational Guidance Programme for Municipalities was created, destined for work with adolescents who are attending their last year at secondary schools in the interior of the Province of Buenos Aires . The Programme aims at fostering the development of spaces for reflection related to the educational/working projects of the adolescents who are close to entering university. The proposal is based on the methodology of work groups, in the journeys preoccupations are sheared, the worries and fears experienced by the students are shared with their hosts, possibilities are used as ground for construction, dealing both with aspects of their current situation and their future possibilities. From the analysis of the group productions collected throughout these years, we have developed a student's profile that - although it resembles the one obtained from local adolescents- adds new questions and points of view, thus increasing the complexity of the balance of forces related to the question of having to make a choice.

Discovery of τ Neutrino Appearance in the CNGS Neutrino Beam with the OPERA Experiment

The OPERA experiment was designed to search for νµ → ντ oscillations in appearance mode, i.e. by detecting the τ leptons produced in charged current ντ interactions. The experiment took data from 2008 to 2012 in the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso beam. The observation of the νµ → ντ appearance, achieved with four candidate events in a subsample of the data, was previously reported. In this Letter, a fifth ντ candidate event, found in an enlarged data sample, is described. Together with a further reduction of the expected background, the candidate events detected so far allow us to assess the discovery of νµ → ντ oscillations in appearance mode with a significance larger than 5 σ.