Independent Transport and Sorting of Functionally Distinct Protein Families in Tetrahymena thermophila Dense Core Secretory Granules

Dense core granules (DCGs) in Tetrahymena thermophila contain two protein classes. Proteins in the first class, called granule lattice (Grl), coassemble to form a crystalline lattice within the granule lumen. Lattice expansion acts as a propulsive mechanism during DCG release, and Grl proteins are essential for efficient exocytosis. The second protein class, defined by a C-terminal beta/gamma-crystallin domain, is poorly understood. Here, we have analyzed the function and sorting of Grt1p (granule tip), which was previously identified as an abundant protein in this family. Cells lacking all copies of GRT1, together with the closely related GRT2, accumulate wild-type levels of docked DCGs. Unlike cells disrupted in any of the major GRL genes, Delta GRT1 Delta GRT2 cells show no defect in secretion, indicating that neither exocytic fusion nor core expansion depends on GRT1. These results suggest that Grl protein sorting to DCGs is independent of Grt proteins. Consistent with this, the granule core lattice in Delta GRT1 Delta GRT2 cells appears identical to that in wild-type cells by electron microscopy, and the only biochemical component visibly absent is Grt1p itself. Moreover, gel filtration showed that Grl and Grt proteins in cell homogenates exist in nonoverlapping complexes, and affinity-isolated Grt1p complexes do not contain Grl proteins. These data demonstrate that two major classes of proteins in Tetrahymena DCGs are likely to be independently transported during DCG biosynthesis and play distinct roles in granule function. The role of Grt1p may primarily be postexocytic; consistent with this idea, DCG contents from Delta GRT1 Delta GRT2 cells appear less adhesive than those from the wild type.

亲子依恋对大学生人际关系影响的性别效应

Parent-child attachment refers to the emotional bond that forms between parent and child, which has great influences on the child’s interpersonal development. Present study applied both correlation method and secure attachment memory activation method to investigate the “gender relation effects” of parent-child attachment’s influences on college students’ close relationships, general attachment representation, and emotion and social loneliness. The basic hypotheses on “gender relation” were set as: “same-sex” parent-child attachment has more influences on college students’ “same-sex” interpersonal relationships, while “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment has more influences on college students’ “opposite-sex” interpersonal relationships. Major findings includes: 1. There was weak correlation of attachment security between father-child and mother-child relationships. The findings indicated that, among college students, the security of “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment representation is higher to some extent than that of “same-sex” parent-child attachment representation. 2. There were significant correlations between parent-child attachment and college students’ attachment anxiety in close relationships. Major findings indicated that “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment security negatively predicts college students’ attachment anxiety in both “same-sex” and “opposite-sex” close relationships. 3. Gender relation effects were significant in the correlations between parent-child attachment and college students’ level of avoidant attachment representation. “Same-sex” parent-child attachment security positively predicted avoidant attachment level in college students’ “same-sex” close relationships, while “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment security positively predicted avoidant attachment level in “opposite-sex” close relationships. 4. Parent-child attachment security memory activation had significant influences on college students’ general attachment representation, in which gender relation effects indicated that: the memory activation of father-child attachment security significantly increases participants’ security of self-model in general attachment representation to “male others”; while the memory activation of mother-child attachment security significantly increase participants’ security of others-model in general attachment representation to “female others”. 5. For male college students, father-son attachment security negatively predicted their emotion and social loneliness. For female college students, father-daughter attachment security negatively predicted their emotion loneliness, while mother-daughter attachment security negatively predicted their social loneliness. Attachment security memory activation had significant influences on college students’ social loneliness, in which gender relation effects was confirmed in that only father-child attachment security memory activation significantly decreased male participants’ level of social loneliness. The results indicated that gender relation effects are significant in the influences of parent-child attachment on college students’ interpersonal relationship representations, especially when the level of avoidant of attachment in college students’ close relationships was predicted by parent-child attachment representation, and when the memory activation of parent-child attachment influenced college students’ general attachment representation. The present study confirmed to some extent that gender relation consistency exists in attachment representations among different interpersonal relations, and serves as a new model for analysis of gender differences in the research fields. In the present study, however, gender relation effects were not confirmed in all the interpersonal relationship representations, which indicated the complexity in the problems of gender differences in the research fields of close relationships.

Gorputz Hezkuntzaren garrantzia Haur Hezkuntzan garraioekin bateratutako unitate didaktikoaren bidez

La educación que se recibe en el primer y segundo ciclo de Educación Infantil es esencial y decisivo para el ser humano para el desarrolo completo que tendra como persona. Es por eso que en el siguiente trabajo se explicará la importancia que tiene la psicomotricidad en la educación de los primeros años de los niños. Se explicará qué es, cuales son sus contenidos y las metodologias mas relevantes. Este trabajo esta dirigido a los futuros maestros, por lo tanto, lo que se ofrece es un servicio que se puede poner en práctica en un colegio. La primera parte del trabajo esta basada en la lectura de libros sobre algunos autores de la psicomotricidad, asi, basandome en ello se a completado la segunda parte. La segunda parte es una Unidad Didáctica basada en los transportes con el cual, a través de los juegos los niños obtendrán conocimientos sobre ellos y a su vez conoceran su propio cuerpo

A influência do nível socioeconómico na leitura

Trabalho apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciada em Terapêutica da Fala

Os benefícios da amamentação

Projeto de Pós-Graduação/Dissertação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Medicina Dentária

Task-Irrelevant Perceptual Learning Specific to the Contrast Polarity of Motion Stimuli

Studies of perceptual learning have focused on aspects of learning that are related to early stages of sensory processing. However, conclusions that perceptual learning results in low-level sensory plasticity are of great controversy, largely because such learning can often be attributed to plasticity in later stages of sensory processing or in the decision processes. To address this controversy, we developed a novel random dot motion (RDM) stimulus to target motion cells selective to contrast polarity, by ensuring the motion direction information arises only from signal dot onsets and not their offsets, and used these stimuli in conjunction with the paradigm of task-irrelevant perceptual learning (TIPL). In TIPL, learning is achieved in response to a stimulus by subliminally pairing that stimulus with the targets of an unrelated training task. In this manner, we are able to probe learning for an aspect of motion processing thought to be a function of directional V1 simple cells with a learning procedure that dissociates the learned stimulus from the decision processes relevant to the training task. Our results show learning for the exposed contrast polarity and that this learning does not transfer to the unexposed contrast polarity. These results suggest that TIPL for motion stimuli may occur at the stage of directional V1 simple cells.

Parents' experiences of child growth and development concerns: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Background: Assessing child growth and development is complex. Delayed identification of growth or developmental problems until school entry has health, educational and social consequences for children and families. Health care professionals (HCPs), including Public Health Nurses work with parents to elicit and attend to their growth and development concerns. It is known that parents have concerns about their children’s growth and development which are not expressed in a timely manner. Measuring parental concern has not been fully effective to date and little is known about parents’ experiences of expressing concerns. Aim: To understand how parents make sense of child growth or development concerns. Method: The study was qualitative using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). A purposeful sample of 15 parents of pre-school children referred by their PHN to second tier services was used. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews. NVivo version 10 was used for data management purposes and IPA for analysis. Findings: Findings yielded two contextual themes which captured how parents described The Concern – ‘telling it as it is’ and their experiences of being Referred on. Four superordinate themes were found which encapsulated the Uncertainty – ‘a little bit not sure’ of parents as they made sense of the child’s growth and development problems. They were influenced by Parental Knowledge – ‘being and getting in the know’ which aided their sense-making before being prompted by Triggers to action. Parents then described Getting the child’s problem checked out as they went to express their concerns to HCPs. Conclusion and Implications: Parental expression of concerns about their child is a complex process that may not be readily understood by HCPs. A key implication of findings is to reappraise how parental concern is elicited and attended to in order to promote early referral and intervention of children who may have growth and development problems.

Leisure and surveillance in Irish childhoods: A cross-class study of Cork city

This research provides an interpretive cross-class analysis of the leisure experience of children, aged between six and ten years, living in Cork city. This study focuses on the cultural dispositions underpinning parental decisions in relation to children’s leisure activities, with a particular emphasis on their child-surveillance practices. In this research, child-surveillance is defined as the adult monitoring of children by technological means, physical supervision, community supervision, or adult supervised activities (Nelson, 2010; Lareau, 2003; Fotel and Thomsen, 2004). This research adds significantly to understandings of Irish childhood by providing the first in-depth qualitative analysis of the surveillance of children’s leisure-time. Since the 1990s, international research on children has highlighted the increasingly structured nature of children’s leisure-time (Lareau, 2011; Valentine & McKendrick, 1997). Furthermore, research on child-surveillance has found an increase in the intensive supervision of children during their unstructured leisure-time (Nelson, 2010; Furedi, 2008; Fotel and Thomsen, 2004). This research bridges the gap between these two key bodies of literature, providing a more integrated overview of children’s experience of leisure in Ireland. Using Bourdieu’s (1992) model of habitus, field and capital, the dispositions that shape parents’ decisions about their children’s leisure time are interrogated. The holistic view of childhood adopted in this research echoes the ‘Whole Child Approach’ by analysing the child’s experience within a wider set of social relationships including family, school, and community. Underpinned by James and Prout’s (1990) paradigm on childhood, this study considers Irish children’s agency in negotiating with parents’ decisions regarding leisure-time. The data collated in this study enhances our understanding of the micro-interactions between parents and children and, the ability of the child to shape their own experience. Moreover, this is the first Irish sociological research to identify and discuss class distinctions in children’s agentic potential during leisure-time.

Becoming a father of a child with an intellectual disability- a narrative inquiry of Irish fathers’ stories

Background: This thesis explored men’s experiences of becoming a father of a child with an intellectual disability in the early years. In Ireland, it is estimated that there are almost 97% (n= 9,914) children with intellectual disabilities living at home in the care of parents, siblings, relatives or foster parents. While mothers and fathers are the primary caregivers, mothers’ experiences are well documented in comparison to the dearth of reports on fathers’ experiences. This descriptive narrative study aims to redress this gap in knowledge and understanding of men’s experiences of becoming a father of a child with an intellectual disability in the early years. Method: Narrative inquiry was employed for this study as it allows stories told by fathers to be collected as a means of exploring men’s transition to becoming a father of a child with an intellectual disability. A sample of 10 fathers of children with intellectual disabilities aged between thirteen months and five years of age were recruited from a large intellectual disability Health Service Provider (HSP) in the South of Ireland. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews which were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a narrative thematic approach. Findings: Findings are presented in four themes: i) ‘becoming a father’, ii) ‘something wrong with my child’, iii) ‘entering the world of disability’ and iv) ‘living a different life’. For all 10 fathers the time of being told that their child had an intellectual disability was laden with negative emotional responses irrespective of whether the diagnosis was at birth or more gradual over the child’s early developmental period. When fathers found out that ‘something was wrong’ they spoke of ‘moving on’ and entering the world of disability. In their narratives, becoming the father of a child with an intellectual disability had changed their lives and would inevitably change their futures. Fathers’ positivity was clearly evident with many fathers identifying that the diagnosis of their child with an intellectual disability was not a life ending event but rather a life changing event. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals have a critical role in supporting fathers during the transition to becoming a father of a child with an intellectual disability. Factors which require consideration include recognising that each father’s experience is unique; that fathers require support; and that fathers achieve personal growth because of their experiences of their transition to becoming a father of a child with an intellectual disability in the early years.

Doxorubicin-paclitaxel: a safe regimen in terms of cardiac toxicity in metastatic breast carcinoma patients. Results from a European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer multicenter trial.

BACKGROUND: The potential cardiotoxicity of the doxorubicin-paclitaxel regimen, when paclitaxel is given shortly after the end of the anthracycline infusion, is an issue of concern, as suggested by small single institution Phase II studies. METHODS: In a large multicenter Phase III trial, 275 anthracycline naive metastatic breast carcinoma patients were randomized to receive either doxorubicin (60 mg/m(2)) followed 30 minutes later by paclitaxel (175 mg/m(2) 3-hour infusion; AT) or a standard doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide regimen (AC; 60/600 mg/m(2)). Both treatments were given once every 3 weeks for a maximum of six cycles. Close cardiac monitoring was implemented in the study design. RESULTS: Congestive heart failure (CHF) occurred in three patients in the AT arm and in one patient in the AC arm (P = 0.62). Decreases in left ventricular ejection fraction to below the limit of normal were documented in 33% AT and 19% AC patients and were not predictive of CHF development. CONCLUSIONS: AT is devoid of excessive cardiac risk among metastatic breast carcinoma patients, when the maximum planned cumulative dose of doxorubicin does not exceed 360 mg/m(2).

Solo and Chamber Music of Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composers

The Pulitzer Prize in Music, established in 1943, is one of America's most prestigious awards. It has been awarded to fifty-three composers for a "distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." Composers who have won the Pulitzer Prize are considered to be at the pinnacle of their creativity and have provided the musical world with classical music compositions worthy of future notice. By tracing the history of Pulitzer Prize-winning composers and their compositions, researchers and musicians enhance their understanding of the historical evolution of American music, and its impact on American culture. Although the clarinet music of some of these composers is rarely performed today, their names will be forever linked to the Pulitzer, and because of that, their compositions will enjoy a certain sense of immortality. Of the fifty-four composers who have won the award, forty-seven have written for the clarinet in a solo or chamber music setting (five or less instruments). Just as each Pulitzer Prize-winning composition is a snapshot of the state of American music at that time, these works trace the history of American clarinet musical development, and therefore, they are valuable additions to the clarinet repertoire and worthy of performance. This dissertation project consists of two recitals featuring the solo and chamber clarinet music of sixteen Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, extended program notes containing information on each composer's life, their music, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composition and the recital selection, and a complete list of all Pulitzer Prize-winning composers and their solo and chamber clarinet music. Featured Composers Dominick Argento, To Be Sung Upon the Water Leslie Bassett, Soliloquies William Bolcom, Little Suite of Four Dances Aaron Copland, As it Fell Upon a Day John Corigliano, Soliloquy Norman Dello Joio, Concertante Morton Gould, Benny's Gig Charles Ives, Largo Douglas Moore, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings George Perle, Three Sonatas Quincy Porter, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings Mel Powell, Clarinade Shulamit Ran, Private Game Joseph Schwantner, Entropy Leo Sowerby, Sonata Ernst Toch, Adagio elegiaco

Reflections on Children

In the Fall 2004, while preparing my dissertation project “Reflections on children,” I realized that whether art songs, operatic arias or scenes, the classical repertory offers a wide variety of masterpieces regarding all aspects of children’s life. My first dissertation recital is called “Journeys” and was performed on December 6th 2004 at 8:00pm in the Tawes Recital Hall. Change is the only inevitable condition in life and as such, it has been thought-provoking to many poets and composers. The narrator in Mahler’s Wayfarer Songs experiences the pain of love for the first time and emerges transformed into an adult. The narrator in Barber’s Knoxville is an adult looking back at his journey in an attempt to understand himself. The mothers in Britten’s Charm of Lullabies each make every effort to accept the changes in their own life after the birth of her baby. Finally, both Brahms’ songs are about risks and losses. “Destinies” is the title of the second dissertation recital as it attempts to capture the dark fate of Mignon and of Rückert/Mahler’s children. It was performed on April 8th 2005 in the Tawes Recital Hall. Mignon’s grief is portrayed through songs full of sadness and hopelessness in mourning of a long lost childhood. Rückert wrote 425 Kindertotenlieder in memory of his children’s deaths over a period of twenty years and Mahler orchestrated five of them. Mahler’s choices deal with light and darkness, symbolizing eternal life and hope versus despair and death, in both the literal and the literary sense. Finally, the third dissertation recital called “Blessings” was performed on May 19th 2005 in the Tawes Recital Hall. It relies on the evocation of moods and scenes created by a variety of composers and poets. Poulenc’s La Courte Paille are brief works in the style of a child’s song with unrelated and unexpected images juxtaposed, creating a sense of inner monologues. John Greer’s House of Tomorrow, Guastavino’s Cradle Songs and the rest of the composers offer wonderful pieces of immense power and expression in their directness and sensitive contour.

BOULANGER, SATIE, AND DEBUSSY: THEIR SPHERES OF INFLUENCE ON FRENCH MELODIE AND AMERICAN ART SONG

This dissertation project explored the spheres of influence on art song by Nadia Boulanger, Erik Satie, and Claude Debussy within Boulangeries, Les Six, and Les Apaches. After World War I, American composers flocked to Paris to study with Boulanger. Boulanger gave her students the confidence to explore their native talents instead of mimicking foreign models. Works by Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Theodore Chanler, John Duke, and Richard Hundley were included in the first dissertation recital on January 31, 2010: The Legacy of Nadia Boulanger: Her Influence on American Song Composers. Satie established a new modern French musical style, and was a catalyst for the formation of Les Six. Ned Rorem came to Paris, and had a close association with Les Six. Works by Satie, and three members of Les Six, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud; and Rorem were featured in the second recital on September 1, 2010: Satie, Selected Members of Les Six, and Rorem in Paris. Debussy was one of the most significant French composers in the late nineteenth century, predating Boulanger and Satie. Young composers exploring new directions were inspired by Debussy, forming the group Les Apaches. The final recital, April 7, 2011, featured works by Debussy and two members of Les Apaches, Maurice Ravel and Manuel de Falla: Debussy: A Catalyst for Les Apaches, Ravel and Falla. Falla‘s less well-known repertoire was presented. This dissertation showed the influence of these three major figures and that they embraced innovation in their own time, along with their followers. Recordings of these three performances may be obtained from the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library in Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.

PIANO AS A PARTNER IN TWENTIETH­ CENTURY ART SONG REPERTOIRE: A RECORDING PROJECT

The piano's role in art song repertoire has evolved from a modest one during its formative years to the versatility, complexity and creativity found in the twentieth-century. The art song repertoire of the twentieth century is vast and has secured the reputation for being the most diverse, innovative, illustrative, atmospheric and colorful in all of art song literature. Within this time period, there are compositions that reach back to the romantic works of nineteenth century, others which combine old and new traditions, and finally those which adopt new means and new ends. In choosing the material for this project, I have focused on compositions with uniquely challenging and unusual piano accompaniments in order to achieve a balance between well- known and rarely performed works, as well as those pieces that combine various languages and styles. Selections range from Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss, Sergey Rachmaninoff, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter, Francis Poulenc, Fernando Obradors, and Joaquin Rodrigo to composers such as Samuel Barber, Marc Blitzstein, Dominick Argento, William Bolcom, and John Duke, including arrangements of traditional spirituals by Harry T. Burleigh and Florence B. Price, all of which helped to establish the American Art Song. My objective is to trace the development of the twentieth-century art song from the late Romantic Period through nationalistitrends to works which show the influences of jazz and folk elements. The two CD's for this dissertation recording project are available on compact discs which can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM). The performers were Daniel Armstrong, baritone, Giles Herman, baritone, Thomas Glenn, tenor, Valerie Yinzant, soprano, Aaron Odom, tenor, Jennifer Royal, soprano, Kenneth Harmon, tenor, Karen Sorenson, soprano and Maxim Ivanov, baritone.