Alexandreis, poema di Gautier de Châtillon.

Mode of access: Internet.

Gauthier de Châtillon est-il l'auteur du Moralium dogma? /

Bibliography: p. [85]-88.

Alexanders geesten van Jacob van Maerlant.

Based on Gautier de Châtillon's Alexandreis.

Welsh Walter of Henley

Falileyev, A. (Ed.). (2006). Welsh Walter of Henley. Mediaeval and Modern Welsh series, 12. Dublin: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. RAE2008

Memoriale fratris Walteri de Coventria. The historical collections of Walter of Coventry.

Mode of access: Internet.

NY NOW President Diane Welsh speaks out at protest against murder of abortion doctor John Britton of Pensacola, FL

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Production of human factor VIII-FL in 293T cells using the bicistronic MGMT(P140K)-retroviral vector

Hemophilia A is the most common X-linked bleeding disorder; it is caused by deficiency of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII). Replacement therapy with rFVIII produced from human cell line is a major goal for treating hemophilia patients. We prepared a full-length recombinant FVIII (FVIII-FL), using the pMFG-P140K retroviral vector. The IRES DNA fragment was cloned upstream to the P140K gene, providing a 9.34-kb bicistronic vector. FVIII-FL cDNA was then cloned upstream to IRES, resulting in a 16.6-kb construct. In parallel, an eGFP control vector was generated, resulting in a 10.1-kb construct. The 293T cells were transfected with these constructs, generating the 293T-FVIII-FL/P140K and 293T-eGFP/P140K cell lines. In 293T-FVIII-FL/P140K cells, FVIII and P140K mRNAs levels were 4,410 (+/- 931.7)- and 295,400 (+/- 75,769)-fold higher than in virgin cells. In 293T-eGFP/P140K cells, the eGFP and P140K mRNAs levels were 1,501,000 (+/- 493,700)- and 308,000 (+/- 139,300)-fold higher than in virgin cells. The amount of FVIII-FL was 0.2 IU/mL and 45 ng/mL FVIII cells or 4.4 IU/mu g protein. These data demonstrate the efficacy of the bicistronic retroviral vector expressing FVIII-FL and MGMT(P140K), showing that it could be used for producing the FVIII-FL protein in a human cell line.

A rapid and label-free dual detection of Hg (II) and cysteine with the use of fluorescence switching of graphene quantum dots

A simple and rapid method of analysis for mercury ions (Hg2+) and cysteine (Cys) was developed with the use of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as a fluorescent probe. In the presence of GQDs, Hg2+ cations are absorbed on their negatively charged surface by means of electrostatic interactions. Thus, the fluorescence (FL) of the GQDs would be significantly quenched as a result of the FL charge transfer, e.g. 92% quenching at 450 nm occurs for a 5 μmol L−1 Hg2+ solution. However, when Cys was added, a significant FL enhancement was observed (510% at 450 nm for a 8.0 μmol L−1 Cys solution), and Hg2+ combined with Cys rather than with the GQDs in an aqueous solution. This occurred because a strong metalsingle bondthiol bond formed, displacing the weak electrostatic interactions, and this resulted in an FL enhancement of the GQDs. The limits of detection (LOD) for Hg2+ and Cys were 0.439 nmol L−1 and 4.5 nmol L−1, respectively. Also, this method was used successfully to analyze Hg2+ and Cys in spiked water samples.

Complicated Presence : The Unity of Being in Parmenides and Heidegger

The attempt to refer meaningful reality as a whole to a unifying ultimate principle - the quest for the unity of Being - was one of the basic tendencies of Western philosophy from its beginnings in ancient Greece up to Hegel's absolute idealism. However, the different trends of contemporary philosophy tend to regard such a speculative metaphysical quest for unity as obsolete. This study addresses this contemporary situation on the basis of the work of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). Its methodological framework is Heidegger's phenomenological and hermeneutical approach to the history of philosophy. It seeks to understand, in terms of the metaphysical quest for unity, Heidegger's contrast between the first (Greek) beginning or "onset" (Anfang) of philosophy and another onset of thinking. This other onset is a possibility inherent in the contemporary situation in which, according to Heidegger, the metaphysical tradition has developed to its utmost limits and thereby come to an end. Part I is a detailed interpretation of the surviving fragments of the Poem of Parmenides of Elea (fl. c. 500 BC), an outstanding representative of the first philosophical beginning in Heidegger's sense. It is argued that the Poem is not a simple denial of apparent plurality and difference ("mortal acceptances," doxai) in favor of an extreme monism. Parmenides' point is rather to show in what sense the different instances of Being can be reduced to an absolute level of truth or evidence (aletheia), which is the unity of Being as such (to eon). What in prephilosophical human experience is accepted as being is referred to the source of its acceptability: intelligibility as such, the simple and undifferentiated presence to thinking that ultimately excludes unpresence and otherness. Part II interprets selected key texts from different stages in Heidegger's thinking in terms of the unity of Being. It argues that one aspect of Heidegger's sustained and gradually deepening philosophical quest was to think the unity of Being as singularity, as the instantaneous, context-specific, and differential unity of a temporally meaningful situation. In Being and Time (1927) Heidegger articulates the temporal situatedness of the human awareness of meaningful presence. His later work moves on to study the situational correlation between presence and the human awareness. Heidegger's "postmetaphysical" articulation seeks to show how presence becomes meaningful precisely as situated, in an event of differentiation from a multidimensional context of unpresence. In resigning itself to this irreducibly complicated and singular character of meaningful presence, philosophy also faces its own historically situated finitude. This resignation is an essential feature of Heidegger's "other onset" of thinking.

Influence of Solvent on Photoinduced Electron-Transfer Reaction: Time-Resolved Resonance Raman Study

Time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy (TR3) has been used to study the effect of solvent polarity on the mechanism and nature of intermediates formed in photoinduced electron-transfer reaction between triplet flouranil ((FL)-F-3) and tetramethylbenzene (TMB). Comparison of the TR3 spectra in polar, nonpolar, and medium polar media suggests that formation of radical anion due to electron-transfer reaction between (FL)-F-3 and TMB is favored in more polar solvents, whereas ketyl radical formation is more favored in less polar media. Compared to ketyl radical, the extent of radical anion formation is negligible in nonpolar solvents. Therefore, it is inferred that in nonpolar media ketyl radical is mainly generated by hydrogen-transfer reaction in the encounter complex between (FL)-F-3 and TMB. In solvents of medium polarity, the ion-pair decay leads to the formation of both ketyl radical and ketyl radical formed from the encounter between triplet state and the donor. Thus, competition between the formation of ketyl radical and ion pair is influenced by the solvent polarity. The nature of the ion pair in different solvent polarity has been investigated from the changes observed in the vibrational frequency of (fluoranil) FL part of the complex.

Conformation of a 16-residue zervamicin IIA analog peptide containing three different structural features: 310-helix, alpha helix and ß-bend ribbon

Boc-Trp-Ile-Ala-Aib-Ile-Val-Aib-Leu-Aib- Pro-Ala-Aib-Pro-Aib-Pro-Phe-OM(we here Boc is t-butoxycarbonyla nd Aib is a-aminoisobutyriac cid), a synthetica polar analog of the membrane-activefu ngal peptide antibioticz ervamtycinII A, crystallizesi n spaceg roupP 1 withZ =1 and cell parameters a = 9.086 ?0.002 A, b = 10.410 ?+ 0.002 A, c = 28.188 ? 0.004 A, a = 86.13 ? 0.01?, 13 = 87.90 ? 0.01?, and y = 89.27 ? 0.01?;o veralla greementf actorR = 7.3% for 7180 data (Fo > 3cr) and 0.91-A resolution. The peptide backbone makes a continuous spiral that begins as a 310-helix at the N-terminus, changes to an a-helix for two turns, and ends in a spiral of three fl-bends in a ribbon. Each of the fl-bends contains a proline residue at one of the corners. The torsion angles 4i range from -51? to -91? (average value -64o), and the torsion angles ai range from -1? to -46? (average value -31?). There are 10 intramolecularN H...OCh ydrogenb onds in the helix and two directh ead-to-taihl ydrogenb ondsb etween successive molecules. Two H20 and two CH30H solvent molecules fill additional space with appropriate hydrogen bonding in the head-to-tail region, and two additional H20 molecules form hydrogen bonds with carbonyl oxygens near the curve in the helix at Pro-10. Since there is only one peptide molecule per cell in space group P1, the molecules repeat only by translation, and consequently the helices pack parallel to each other.

An Antitubulin Agent BCFMT Inhibits Proliferation of Cancer Cells and Induces Cell Death by Inhibiting Microtubule Dynamics

Using cell based screening assay, we identified a novel anti-tubulin agent (Z)-5-((5-(4-bromo-3-chlorophenyl)furan-2-yl)methylene)-2-thioxothiazoli din-4-one (BCFMT) that inhibited proliferation of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) (IC50, 7.2 +/- 1.8 mu M), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) (IC50, 10.0 +/- 0.5 mu M), highly metastatic breast adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231) (IC50, 6.0 +/- 1 mu M), cisplatin-resistant human ovarian carcinoma (A2780-cis) (IC50, 5.8 +/- 0.3 mu M) and multi-drug resistant mouse mammary tumor (EMT6/AR1) (IC50, 6.5 +/- 1 mu M) cells. Using several complimentary strategies, BCFMT was found to inhibit cancer cell proliferation at G2/M phase of the cell cycle apparently by targeting microtubules. In addition, BCFMT strongly suppressed the dynamics of individual microtubules in live MCF-7 cells. At its half maximal proliferation inhibitory concentration (10 mu M), BCFMT reduced the rates of growing and shortening phases of microtubules in MCF-7 cells by 37 and 40%, respectively. Further, it increased the time microtubules spent in the pause (neither growing nor shortening detectably) state by 135% and reduced the dynamicity (dimer exchange per unit time) of microtubules by 70%. In vitro, BCFMT bound to tubulin with a dissociation constant of 8.3 +/- 1.8 mu M, inhibited tubulin assembly and suppressed GTPase activity of microtubules. BCFMT competitively inhibited the binding of BODIPY FL-vinblastine to tubulin with an inhibitory concentration (K-i) of 5.2 +/- 1.5 mu M suggesting that it binds to tubulin at the vinblastine site. In cultured cells, BCFMT-treatment depolymerized interphase microtubules, perturbed the spindle organization and accumulated checkpoint proteins (BubR1 and Mad2) at the kinetochores. BCFMT-treated MCF-7 cells showed enhanced nuclear accumulation of p53 and its downstream p21, which consequently activated apoptosis in these cells. The results suggested that BCFMT inhibits proliferation of several types of cancer cells including drug resistance cells by suppressing microtubule dynamics and indicated that the compound may have chemotherapeutic potential.