Lack of Significant Central Component in β-Adrenergic Chronotropic Effect in Vagotomized Rats

Exercise has long been recognized as a beneficial living style for cardiovascular health. It has been applied to be a central component of cardiac rehabilitation for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), coronary heart disease (CHD), post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), post cardiac surgery or transplantation. Although the effect of exercise is multifactorial, in this review, we focus on the specific contribution of regular exercise on the heart and vascular system. We will summarize the known result of clinical findings and possible mechanisms of chronic exercise on the cardiovascular system.

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Repetitive Variety and Other Balancing Acts: Debussy's Transcendental Oscillations

Music Theory and Analysis (MTA) ◽

10.11116/mta.7.2.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 287-320

Author(s):

Maxwell Ramage

Keyword(s):

Central Component ◽

Pop Music

This article introduces the concept of the transcendental oscillation, in which two chords alternate with one another in a way that transcends traditional tonal practice. This harmonic device appears in a wide variety of settings from Wagner to modern pop music. After discussing some theoretical properties of transcendental oscillations, including their interactions with modality and chromaticism, I analyze transcendental oscillations in the works of Debussy, who made the technique a central component of his style. In Debussy's music, transcendental oscillations may be either intensifying or calming. They are symptomatic of what Sylveline Bourion calls Debussy's "duplication" tendency. As progressions foreign to common practice, they present a novel aspect, but as repetitive progressions, they are easy on the ears. These two central features of transcendental oscillations—their harmonic freshness and their repetitive quality—combine to make them well suited to Debussy's compositional project and attractive to composers to this day.

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Pattern Theory

10.1093/oso/9780198505709.001.0001 ◽

2006 ◽

Author(s):

Ulf Grenander ◽

Michael I. Miller

Keyword(s):

Computational Linguistics ◽

Parametric Representation ◽

Bayes Estimation ◽

Geometric Transformation ◽

Central Component ◽

Pattern Theory ◽

Infinite Dimensional ◽

Engineering Mathematics ◽

Dimensional Shape ◽

The Continuum

Pattern Theory provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of the modern challenges in signal, data, and pattern analysis in speech recognition, computational linguistics, image analysis and computer vision. Aimed at graduate students in biomedical engineering, mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering with a good background in mathematics and probability, the text includes numerous exercises and an extensive bibliography. Additional resources including extended proofs, selected solutions and examples are available on a companion website. The book commences with a short overview of pattern theory and the basics of statistics and estimation theory. Chapters 3-6 discuss the role of representation of patterns via condition structure. Chapters 7 and 8 examine the second central component of pattern theory: groups of geometric transformation applied to the representation of geometric objects. Chapter 9 moves into probabilistic structures in the continuum, studying random processes and random fields indexed over subsets of Rn. Chapters 10 and 11 continue with transformations and patterns indexed over the continuum. Chapters 12-14 extend from the pure representations of shapes to the Bayes estimation of shapes and their parametric representation. Chapters 15 and 16 study the estimation of infinite dimensional shape in the newly emergent field of Computational Anatomy. Finally, Chapters 17 and 18 look at inference, exploring random sampling approaches for estimation of model order and parametric representing of shapes.

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Treadmilling FtsZ polymers drive the directional movement of sPG-synthesis enzymes via a Brownian ratchet mechanism

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-20873-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Joshua W. McCausland ◽

Xinxing Yang ◽

Georgia R. Squyres ◽

Zhixin Lyu ◽

Kevin E. Bruce ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Wall ◽

Single Molecule ◽

Theoretical Modelling ◽

Binding Potential ◽

Central Component ◽

Macromolecular Complex ◽

Bacterial Cells ◽

Brownian Ratchet ◽

Ratchet Mechanism ◽

Directional Movement

AbstractThe FtsZ protein is a central component of the bacterial cell division machinery. It polymerizes at mid-cell and recruits more than 30 proteins to assemble into a macromolecular complex to direct cell wall constriction. FtsZ polymers exhibit treadmilling dynamics, driving the processive movement of enzymes that synthesize septal peptidoglycan (sPG). Here, we combine theoretical modelling with single-molecule imaging of live bacterial cells to show that FtsZ’s treadmilling drives the directional movement of sPG enzymes via a Brownian ratchet mechanism. The processivity of the directional movement depends on the binding potential between FtsZ and the sPG enzyme, and on a balance between the enzyme’s diffusion and FtsZ’s treadmilling speed. We propose that this interplay may provide a mechanism to control the spatiotemporal distribution of active sPG enzymes, explaining the distinct roles of FtsZ treadmilling in modulating cell wall constriction rate observed in different bacteria.

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Phylogenetic comparison and splice site conservation of eukaryotic U1 snRNP-specific U1-70K gene family

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91693-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tao Fan ◽

Yu-Zhen Zhao ◽

Jing-Fang Yang ◽

Qin-Lai Liu ◽

Yuan Tian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Family ◽

Splice Site ◽

Messenger Rna ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Protein Structures ◽

Single Copy ◽

Central Component ◽

Animal Kingdom ◽

Functional Studies ◽

U1 Snrnp

AbstractEukaryotic cells can expand their coding ability by using their splicing machinery, spliceosome, to process precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) into mature messenger RNA. The mega-macromolecular spliceosome contains multiple subcomplexes, referred to as small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs). Among these, U1 snRNP and its central component, U1-70K, are crucial for splice site recognition during early spliceosome assembly. The human U1-70K has been linked to several types of human autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. However, its phylogenetic relationship has been seldom reported. To this end, we carried out a systemic analysis of 95 animal U1-70K genes and compare these proteins to their yeast and plant counterparts. Analysis of their gene and protein structures, expression patterns and splicing conservation suggest that animal U1-70Ks are conserved in their molecular function, and may play essential role in cancers and juvenile development. In particular, animal U1-70Ks display unique characteristics of single copy number and a splicing isoform with truncated C-terminal, suggesting the specific role of these U1-70Ks in animal kingdom. In summary, our results provide phylogenetic overview of U1-70K gene family in vertebrates. In silico analyses conducted in this work will act as a reference for future functional studies of this crucial U1 splicing factor in animal kingdom.

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Homenagem: Remembering the Life and Work of Abdias Nascimento

Journal of Black Studies ◽

10.1177/00219347211011587 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002193472110115

Author(s):

Keisha-Khan Y. Perry ◽

Anani Dzidzienyo

Keyword(s):

Military Service ◽

Black Studies ◽

Central Component ◽

Special Issue ◽

Art And Politics ◽

Black Politicians ◽

Brown University ◽

Black World ◽

The Relationship

This essay provides a brief introduction to this special issue focused on the life and work of Black Brazilian scholar-activist Abdias Nascimento. The contributors include, Vera Lucia Benedito, Ollie Johnson, Zachary Morgan, Elisa Larkin Nascimento, and Cheryl Sterling who all participated in a 2015 conference at Africana Studies at Brown University. This group of scholars aptly illustrate that Nascimento had long contributed to the internationalization of Black Studies as a field in US academe and he was crucial in establishing Brazil as a central component of the Black World. The essays have much to teach us about Nascimento’s views on the relationship between art and politics, the role of military service in shaping his activism, the significance of black politicians in the reconceptualization of Brazilian democracy, and the importance of preserving archives and expanding our understanding of the Black radical tradition.

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The Relationship between Affect Integration and Psychopathology in Patients with Personality Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study

Medicina ◽

10.3390/medicina57060627 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 57 (6) ◽

pp. 627

Author(s):

Christina Frederiksen ◽

Ole André Solbakken ◽

Rasmus Wentzer Licht ◽

Carsten René Jørgensen ◽

Maria Rodrigo-Domingo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Personality Disorders ◽

Interpersonal Problems ◽

Symptom Distress ◽

Central Component ◽

Psychotherapeutic Treatment ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Personality Functioning ◽

Emotional Dysfunction ◽

The Relationship

Background and Objectives: Emotional dysfunction is considered a key component in personality disorders; however, only few studies have examined the relationship between the two. In this study, emotional dysfunction was operationalized through the Affect Integration Inventory, and the aim was to examine the relationships between the level of affect integration and the levels of symptom distress, interpersonal problems, and personality functioning in patients diagnosed with personality disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition. Materials and Methods: Within a hospital-based psychiatric outpatient setting, 87 patients with personality disorder referred for treatment were identified for assessment with the Affect Integration Inventory and other measures (e.g., the Symptom Checklist-90, Revised, the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems 64 circumplex version, and the Severity Indices of Personality Problems). Results: The analyses revealed that problems with affect integration were strongly and statistically significantly correlated with high levels of symptom distress, interpersonal problems, and maladaptive personality functioning. Additionally, low scores on the Affect Integration Inventory regarding discrete affects were associated with distinct and differentiated patterns of interpersonal problems. Conclusion: Taken together, emotional dysfunction, as measured by the Affect Integration Inventory, appeared to be a central component of the pathological self-organization associated with personality disorder. These findings have several implications for the understanding and psychotherapeutic treatment of personality pathology. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of considering the integration of discrete affects and their specific contributions in the conceptualization and treatment of emotional dysfunction in patients with personality disorders.

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Colonial management as a social field: The Palestinian remaking of Israel’s system of spatial control

Current Sociology ◽

10.1177/00113921211024695 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 001139212110246

Author(s):

Walid Habbas ◽

Yael Berda

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Central Component ◽

Colonial Rule ◽

Spatial Mobility ◽

The West ◽

Social Field ◽

Spatial Control ◽

Racial Hierarchy ◽

Economic Elite ◽

The Everyday

This article delves into the everyday dynamics of colonial rule to outline a novel way of understanding colonized–colonizer interactions. It conceives colonial management as a social field in which both the colonized and colonizers negotiate and exchange resources, despite their decidedly unequal positions within a racial hierarchy. Drawing their example from the West Bank, the authors argue that a Palestinian economic elite has proactively participated in the co-production of the colonial management of spatial mobility, a central component of Israeli colonial rule. The study employs interviews and document analysis to investigate how the nexus between Palestine’s commercial-logistical needs and Israel’s security complex induced large-scale Palestinian producers to exert agency and reorder commercial mobility. The authors describe and explain the evolution of a ‘Door-to-Door’ logistical arrangement, in which large-scale Palestinian traders participate in extending Israeli’s system of spatial control in exchange for facilitating logistical mobility. This horizontal social encounter that entails pay-offs is conditioned, but not fully determined, by vertical relations of domination and subordination.

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Quantity and Quality of Aquaculture Enrichments Influence Disease Epidemics and Provide Ecological Alternatives to Antibiotics

Antibiotics ◽

10.3390/antibiotics10030335 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 335

Author(s):

Anssi Karvonen ◽

Ville Räihä ◽

Ines Klemme ◽

Roghaieh Ashrafi ◽

Pekka Hyvärinen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Transmission ◽

Bacterial Infections ◽

Environmental Heterogeneity ◽

Pathogen Transmission ◽

Central Component ◽

Flavobacterium Columnare ◽

Disease Epidemics ◽

The Impact ◽

Environmental Microbes

Environmental heterogeneity is a central component influencing the virulence and epidemiology of infectious diseases. The number and distribution of susceptible hosts determines disease transmission opportunities, shifting the epidemiological threshold between the spread and fadeout of a disease. Similarly, the presence and diversity of other hosts, pathogens and environmental microbes, may inhibit or accelerate an epidemic. This has important applied implications in farming environments, where high numbers of susceptible hosts are maintained in conditions of minimal environmental heterogeneity. We investigated how the quantity and quality of aquaculture enrichments (few vs. many stones; clean stones vs. stones conditioned in lake water) influenced the severity of infection of a pathogenic bacterium, Flavobacterium columnare, in salmonid fishes. We found that the conditioning of the stones significantly increased host survival in rearing tanks with few stones. A similar effect of increased host survival was also observed with a higher number of unconditioned stones. These results suggest that a simple increase in the heterogeneity of aquaculture environment can significantly reduce the impact of diseases, most likely operating through a reduction in pathogen transmission (stone quantity) and the formation of beneficial microbial communities (stone quality). This supports enriched rearing as an ecological and economic way to prevent bacterial infections with the minimal use of antimicrobials.

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