Inhibition of Escherichia coli viability by external guide sequences complementary to two essential genes

Narrow spectrum antimicrobial activity has been designed to reduce the expression of two essential genes, one coding for the protein subunit of RNase P (C5 protein) and one for gyrase (gyrase A). In both cases, external guide sequences (EGS) have been designed to complex with either mRNA. Using the EGS technology, the level of microbial viability is reduced to less than 10% of the wild-type strain. The EGSs are additive when used together and depend on the number of nucleotides paired when attacking gyrase A mRNA. In the case of gyrase A, three nucleotides unpaired out of a 15-mer EGS still favor complete inhibition by the EGS but five unpaired nucleotides do not.

Probing the pore region of recombinant N-methyl-D-aspartate channels using external and internal magnesium block.

Mg2+ ions block N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) channels by entering the pore from either the extracellular or the cytoplasmic side of the membrane in a voltage-dependent manner. We have used these two different block phenomena to probe the structure of the subunits forming NMDA channels. We have made several amino acid substitutions downstream of the Q/R/N site in the TMII region of both NR1 and NR2A subunits. Mutant NR1 subunits were coexpressed with wild-type NR2A subunits and vice versa in Xenopus oocytes. We found that individually mutating the first two amino acid residues downstream to the Q/R/N site affects mostly the block by external Mg2+. Mutations of residues five to seven positions downstream of the Q/R/N site do not influence the external Mg2+ block, but clearly influence the block by internal Mg2+. These data add support to the hypothesis that there are two separate binding sites for external and internal Mg2+ block. They also indicate that the C-terminal end of TMII contributes to the inner vestibule of the pore of NMDA channels and thus provide additional evidence that TMII forms a loop that reemerges toward the cytoplasmic side of the membrane.

Successful external fertilization in turbulent environments.

Mathematical and experimental simulations predict that external fertilization is unsuccessful in habitats characterized by high water motion. A key assumption of such predictions is that gametes are released in hydrodynamic regimes that quickly dilute gametes. We used fucoid seaweeds to examine whether marine organisms in intertidal and subtidal habitats might achieve high levels of fertilization by restricting their release of gametes to calm intervals. Fucus vesiculosus L. (Baltic Sea) released high numbers of gametes only when maximal water velocities were below ca. 0.2 m/s immediately prior to natural periods of release, which occur in early evening in association with lunar cues. Natural fertilization success measured at two sites was always close to 100%. Laboratory experiments confirmed that (i) high water motion inhibits gamete release by F. vesiculosus and by the intertidal fucoids Fucus distichus L. (Maine) and Pelvetia fastigiata (J. Ag.) DeToni (California), and (ii) showed that photosynthesis is required for high gamete release. These data suggest that chemical changes in the boundary layer surrounding adults during photosynthesis and/or mechanosensitive channels may modulate gamete release in response to changing hydrodynamic conditions. Therefore, sensitivity to environmental factors can lead to successful external fertilization, even for species living in turbulent habitats.

The 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12): Reliability,external validity and factor structure in the Spanish population

The purpose of this study was to analyze the internal consistency and the external and structure validity of the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in the Spanish general population. A stratified sample of 1001 subjects, ages between 25 and 65 years, taken from the general Spanish population was employed. The GHQ-12 and the Inventory of Situations and Responses of Anxiety-ISRA were administered. A Cronbach’s alpha of .76 (Standardized Alpha: .78) and a 3-factor structure (with oblique rotation and maximum likelihood procedure) were obtained. External validity of Factor I (Successful Coping) with the ISRA is very robust (.82; Factor II, .70; Factor III, .75). The GHQ-12 shows adequate reliability and validity in the Spanish population. Therefore, the GHQ-12 can be used with efficacy to assess people’s overall psychological well-being and to detect non-psychotic psychiatric problems. Additionally, our results confirm that the GHQ-12 can best be thought of as a multidimensional scale that assesses several distinct aspects of distress, rather than just a unitary screening measure.

The SEIQS stochastic epidemic model with external source of infection

This paper deals with a stochastic epidemic model for computer viruses with latent and quarantine periods, and two sources of infection: internal and external. All sojourn times are considered random variables which are assumed to be independent and exponentially distributed. For this model extinction and hazard times are analyzed, giving results for their Laplace transforms and moments. The transient behavior is considered by studying the number of times that computers are susceptible, exposed, infectious and quarantined during a period of time (0, t] and results for their joint and marginal distributions, moments and cross moments are presented. In order to give light this analysis, some numerical examples are showed.

Assessment of University External Internships. Towards a Mixed Model for Measuring the Acquisition of Skills and the Satisfaction of Parties Involved

The continuous improvement of management and assessment processes for curricular external internships has led a group of university teachers specialised in this area to develop a mixed model of measurement that combines the verification of skill acquisition by those students choosing external internships with the satisfaction of the parties involved in that process. They included academics, educational tutors of companies and organisations and administration and services personnel in the latter category. The experience, developed within University of Alicante, has been carried out in the degrees of Business Administration and Management, Business Studies, Economics, Advertising and Public Relations, Sociology and Social Work, all part of the Faculty of Economics and Business. By designing and managing closed standardised interviews and other research tools, validated outside the centre, a system of continuous improvement and quality assurance has been created, clearly contributing to the gradual increase in the number of students with internships in this Faculty, as well as to the improvement in satisfaction, efficiency and efficacy indicators at a global level. As this experience of educational innovation has shown, the acquisition of curricular knowledge, skills, abilities and competences by the students is directly correlated with the satisfaction of those parties involved in a process that takes the student beyond the physical borders of a university campus. Ensuring the latter is a task made easier by the implementation of a mixed assessment method, combining continuous and final assessment, and characterised by its rigorousness and simple management. This report presents that model, subject in turn to a persistent and continuous control, a model all parties involved in the external internships are taking part of. Its short-term results imply an increase, estimated at 15% for the last course, in the number of students choosing curricular internships and, for the medium and long-term, a major interweaving between the academic world and its social and productive environment, both in the business and institutional areas. The potentiality of this assessment model does not lie only in the quality of its measurement tools, but also in the effects from its use in the various groups and in the actions that are carried out as a result of its implementation and which, without any doubt and as it is shown below, are the real guarantee of a continuous improvement.

External Practices Net. Evaluación y tutorización continua como garantía de calidad en las prácticas externas

La presente comunicación muestra una experiencia de innovación docente desarrollada actualmente en el seno de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales de la Universidad de Alicante. El establecimiento de un novedoso sistema de evaluación de las prácticas externas curriculares en empresas e instituciones, garantiza la calidad docente/discente y persigue la satisfacción de las distintas partes implicadas, haciéndolas partícipes del proceso y consultándoles de forma periódica y metódica acerca del mismo. Mediante el diseño y administración de diversos instrumentos de investigación, principalmente entrevistas estandarizadas cerradas validadas externamente, se consigue un sistema de mejora continua y de garantía de calidad en los periodos formativos de prácticas externas. El objetivo último es fomentar las competencias y destrezas profesionales de estudiantes de las titulaciones de Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ADE), Economía, Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas, Sociología y Trabajo Social y así, completar su formación académica facilitando su inserción en el mercado laboral.

Paleogene evolution of the External Betic Zone and geodynamic implications

Interdisciplinary studies combining field data (geological and tectonic mapping, lithostratigraphic reconstructions, lithofacies characterization, correlations and sampling) and laboratory analyses (biostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, clay mineralogy and sandstone petrography) of eight Senonian-Paleogene successions from the Sierra de La Pila and Sierra de El Carche areas (Murcia province, SE Spain) belonging to the External Betic Zone are presented. Field evidence of tectonic activity (slumps, olistostromes, syn-genetic folds, lateral variability, changes in thicknesses, para- and unconformity boundaries, stratigraphic gaps, shallowing upward trends to emersion, etc.) was found in several Paleogene intervals. The results enable a better reconstruction of the stratigraphic architecture and chronostratigraphy of the Paleogene record, highlighting in particular: facies evolution, discontinuities, depositional sequences (Middle-Upper Maastrichtian, Upper Paleocene-Middle Eocene, Oligocene-Lower Aquitanian), environmental evolution (homogeneous conditions during the Late Cretaceous and successive realm diversification from platform to slope to basin) and correlations, along the Prebetic to Subbetic transition, which is a key sector to understand the northeastward variations of the South Iberian margin. A conclusive paleogeographic and geodynamic evolutionary model for the study area is proposed, hypothesizing that Paleogene compressive tectonics affected the eastern External Betic Zone. In addition, correlations with successions from the western External Betic Zone evidenced asynchronous deformation from east to west along the internalmost External Betic Zone. Moreover, a comparison with the external Tunisian Tell enables the recognition of similar sedimentarytectonic events, imposing new constraints in the Paleogene geodynamic reconstruction throughout the western Tethys.

Paleogene-Aquitanian Tectonic Breakup in the Eastern External Betic Zone (Alicante, SE Spain)

Six Paleogene-Aquitanian successions have been reconstructed in the Alicante area (eastern External Betic Zone). The lithofacies association evidences “catastrophic” syn-sedimentary tectonic processes consisting of slumps, mega-olisthostromes, “pillow-beds” and turbiditic deposits. This kind of sedimentation is related to unconformity surfaces delimiting sequence and para-sequence cycles in the stratigraphic record. The data compiled have enabled the reconstruction of the Paleogene-Aquitanian paleogeographic and geodynamic evolution of this sector of the External Betics. During the Eocene the sedimentary basin is interpreted as a narrow trough affected by (growth) folding related to blind thrust faulting with a source area from the north-western margin, while the southeastern margin remained inactive. During the Oligocene-Aquitanian, the sourcing margin becames the southeastern margin of the basin affected by a catastrophic tectonic. The activity of the margins is identified from specific sediment source areas for the platform-slope-trough system and from tectofacies analysis. The southeastern South Iberian Margin is thought to be closer to the Internal Betic Zone, which was tectonically pushing towards the South Iberian Margin. This pushing could generate a lateral progressive elimination of subbetic paleogeographic domains in the eastern Betics. This geodynamic frame could explain the development of such “catastrophic” tectono-sedimentary processes during the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene.

Bienes muebles de mudéjares castellonenses. Siglo XV

Transcripción y estudio de 23 inventarios de bienes muebles de mudéjares castellonenses a través de los libros del Corte de Justicia para Castellón, Segorbe y Onda, fuente de muchos datos de diverso tipo sobre la vida de estos mudéjares y que generalmente se redactan post mortem para satisfacer deudas del fallecido. Se centra el análisis en la propiedad de animales de tiro y transporte, el trabajo de las fibras textiles y los elementos externos que los diferencian de los cristianos.

The external morphology of the inner ear in bats from the phosphorites of Quercy / Walter Segall --.

v.33:no.4(1974)

A statement of the monies which have been paid, & of the debts which are still due to Thomas Adams formerly College Butler. 15 April 1794

Statement with list of creditors paid with cash from the student accounts.

A statement of the bills due to Thomas Adams, late Butler of Harvard College and the amount of their appropriations to discharge his debts, 1794

Statement with list of creditors owed funds. Verso is dated 1797, and includes list of cash paid out to creditors.