scholarly journals Historical Roles of Selenium and Selenoproteins in Health and Development: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Petra A. Tsuji ◽  
Didac Santesmasses ◽  
Byeong J. Lee ◽  
Vadim N. Gladyshev ◽  
Dolph L. Hatfield

Selenium is a fascinating element that has a long history, most of which documents it as a deleterious element to health. In more recent years, selenium has been found to be an essential element in the diet of humans, all other mammals, and many other life forms. It has many health benefits that include, for example, roles in preventing heart disease and certain forms of cancer, slowing AIDS progression in HIV patients, supporting male reproduction, inhibiting viral expression, and boosting the immune system, and it also plays essential roles in mammalian development. Elucidating the molecular biology of selenium over the past 40 years generated an entirely new field of science which encompassed the many novel features of selenium. These features were (1) how this element makes its way into protein as the 21st amino acid in the genetic code, selenocysteine (Sec); (2) the vast amount of machinery dedicated to synthesizing Sec uniquely on its tRNA; (3) the incorporation of Sec into protein; and (4) the roles of the resulting Sec-containing proteins (selenoproteins) in health and development. One of the research areas receiving the most attention regarding selenium in health has been its role in cancer prevention, but further research has also exposed the role of this element as a facilitator of various maladies, including cancer.

Author(s):  
Benjamin F. Trump ◽  
Irene K. Berezesky ◽  
Raymond T. Jones

The role of electron microscopy and associated techniques is assured in diagnostic pathology. At the present time, most of the progress has been made on tissues examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and correlated with light microscopy (LM) and by cytochemistry using both plastic and paraffin-embedded materials. As mentioned elsewhere in this symposium, this has revolutionized many fields of pathology including diagnostic, anatomic and clinical pathology. It began with the kidney; however, it has now been extended to most other organ systems and to tumor diagnosis in general. The results of the past few years tend to indicate the future directions and needs of this expanding field. Now, in addition to routine EM, pathologists have access to the many newly developed methods and instruments mentioned below which should aid considerably not only in diagnostic pathology but in investigative pathology as well.


Author(s):  
Nannaji Saka

The many seminal contributions made by Professor Nam P. Suh to the theories of wear, such as the delamination wear and the solution wear, are well known. The contributions made by him and his associates to the theories of friction, however, are less known; but they are equally significant. In this article, I first briefly survey, to provide an historical context, the laws and theories of sliding friction as proposed over the past centuries and decades. Then the contributions of Prof. Suh and his associates in recent decades are reviewed. Specifically, the role of wear particles in the frictional phenomena of dry and boundary-lubricated sliding is examined. A novel concept of undulating, or patterned, surfaces has been advanced to minimize friction in both dry and boundary-lubricated sliding. The undulating surfaces trap wear debris and thus minimize plowing friction in dry sliding, above the transition temperature in boundary-lubricated sliding, and even in hydrodynamic bearings during start/stop operations. The concept is especially appropriate for heavily loaded tribological systems with tighter clearances in which the likelihood of seizure is imminent.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 265-287
Author(s):  
Feras Krimsti ◽  
John-Paul Ghobrial

Abstract This introduction to the special issue “The Past and its Possibilities in Nahḍa Scholarship” reflects on the role of the past in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century nahḍa discourse. It argues that historical reflection played a pivotal role in a number of scholarly disciplines besides the discipline of history, notably philosophy and logic, grammar and lexicography, linguistics, philology, and adab. Nahḍawīs reflected on continuities with the past, the genealogies of their present, and the role of history in determining their future. The introduction of print gave new impulses to the engagement with the historical heritage. We argue for a history of the nahḍa as a de-centred history of possibilities that recovers a wider circle of scholars and intellectuals and their multiple and overlapping local and global audiences. Such a history can also shed light on the many ways in which historical reflection, record-keeping practices, and confessional, sectarian, or communalist agendas are entwined.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-446
Author(s):  
LEIGH ANNE DUCK

Lee Daniels’ The Butler(2013) might seem an unlikely candidate for intervening in Hollywood's civil rights genre, given both its nationalistic ending and its recuperation of iconic styles and images. This paper argues, however, that the film's pastiche interrogates past cinematic tropes for race and space; in this sense, it provescounterhistorical, a term indicating not a lack of accuracy but a commitment to illuminating the role of visual media in shaping contemporary understandings of history and to encouraging fresh perspectives on the past. Examining the many forms of constraint produced by iconic images of black and gendered personhood, the film also takes on the spatial icon with which many of these figures are associated – the southern plantation. Both exposing and challenging the ways in which spectacular accounts of southern racism occlude the geographic and political reach of African American movements against oppression, the film inconsistently insists on the importance of thinking across conventional demarcations of space and time. At these moments, it suggests possibilities for how even commercial cinema might contribute to new conceptions of black political history and possibility.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-94
Author(s):  
Lyle Story

AbstractThe Holy Spirit is vitally and dynamically involved in the sanctification of individuals and their faith-communities. An examination of the Pauline terms and texts reveal that sanctification through the Spirit includes: 1) God's Provision in his gracious call, 2) The Process of sanctification in Christian growth in moral purity and love, 3) The Consummation at the Parousia. To that end, we will provide brief historical and theological arguments as to how the Spirit works in sanctification, primarily within the holiness Pentecostal traditions. Often, various writings highlight one aspect to the neglect of other emphases. The paper argues for the comprehensive role of the Spirit in the past event, present experience, and future hope of the people of God and argues for a consistency between the three activities related to sanctification, including the essential element of love.


2014 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-246
Author(s):  
Wyger R.E. Velema

Since the publication of Peter Gay’s The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, scholarly interest in the classical presence in Enlightenment culture has waned. Over the past decade, however, this topic has returned to center stage. This review article discusses the ways in which recent research has contributed to the rediscovery of the classical past in the Enlightenment. It starts with an evaluation of the current reinterpretation of the Querelle des anciens et des modernes, continues with an overview of recent scholarship on the various intellectual and institutional environments in which knowledge of the classical past was acquired and transmitted, and ends with a discussion of the crucial role of the ancient world in eighteenth-century historiography and political thought. In its conclusion the article draws attention to the many ways in which recent scholarship on the eighteenth-century reception of the classics has broken new ground. It also argues that the ‘classical turn in Enlightenment studies’ is still unjustifiably neglected in general interpretations of the Enlightenment.


Author(s):  
Joseph A. Bellanti

Background: Vaccine hesitancy has been defined as a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines, despite the availability ofvaccine services. In the past, despite an impressive record of vaccine effectiveness in the United States, several factors havecontributed to a decreased acceptance of vaccines that has resulted in outbreaks of infectious diseases, e.g., measles. More recently, vaccine hesitancy has spread to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. There are many causes of vaccine hesitancy, such as misinformation, fallacies, and myths, that have contributed to vaccine hesitancy.Objective: The purpose of the present report is to address the many causes of vaccine hesitancy and to suggest ways that the allergist/immunologist can be involved in the promotion of vaccine acceptance.Methods: The current COVID-19 vaccines were reviewed, together with their mechanisms(s) of action and adverse reactions to them.Results: The many causes of vaccine hesitancy include many doubts and concerns related to COVID-19 vaccines as well asa diminished level of confidence and trust by segments of the public in the nation's leaders in government, medical, and business communities, that those groups once enjoyed.Conclusion: Vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines is the only way that COVID-19 will be eliminated or at least controlled today, and vaccine hesitancy is the potential nemesis. The present report describes how the allergist/immunologist not only plays a major role in the delivery of specialized therapy of COVID-19 but also in educating the public with regard to the importance of COVID-19 vaccines, in dispelling misinformation, and in promoting trust for vaccine acceptance but must be informed with the most accurate and current information to do so.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 473-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heba Elshandidy ◽  
Sherif Mazen

In the past few years, there has been an increasing awareness of the important role of requirements engineering (RE) in a project’s success, in both research and industry. Developing consistent requirements specifications that meet the customers’ needs, in traditional development, is likely to be infeasible. For one reason, customers do not usually have a clear picture of what they really want. Secondly, the business domain could be changing quickly, especially if it heavily depends on technologies. Agile software development (ASD), on the other hand, supports iterative and incremental development and emphasises customers’ involvement in the development process. We argue that adopting ASD in RE overcomes the limitations of the traditional development. ASD, however, is no silver bullet and its adoption comes at a price. This paper helps the reader to: (1) get a quick yet a comprehensive grasp of RE in traditional and ASD; (2) understand the synergies/commonalities between the two approaches in handling RE; (3) recognise the associated challenges of adopting ASD; and (4) identify the current prominent agile RE research areas.


Author(s):  
Lisa Yildiz Brown

Storytelling, it can be argued, is an essential element of the archaeologist’s craft. It is because of the necessity for storytelling that archaeology has one foot in the arts and the other in the sciences. Storytelling is more than interpretation borne of observation and the gathering and testing of evidence. It inevitably brings us as individuals into the reconstructions of the past that we assemble during the course of our work. Yet while it is inevitable that we ‘bring to the ‘‘facts’’ our feelings’, supposition, hypothesis, and theory are not enough. Theoretical constructs are necessary, yet archaeologists are engaged in a constant search to find replacements for those that have failed. Archaeologists, professional and amateur alike, have long agreed in principle that acceptable practice demands good data, well collected, and accurately recorded in order to lend credibility to interpretation. An empirical approach to archaeological research relies on the recording of observable manifestations of culture, reasoning backwards from phenomenon to mechanism. This method of exploring human behaviour directly through observed evidence is not always in vogue but is more satisfying to some archaeologists than juggling conceptual abstractions. Archaeologists are individuals, possessed of distinctive personalities, talents and inclinations. We work differently, see differently, feel differently, but for all that we have a bond of commonality—we all understand imperfectly. Honest dispute engenders scrutiny, inspires exploration and promotes progress in a Weld of investigation in which understanding is imperfect and veriWcation elusive. Debate and challenge are key tools in the advancement of archaeological enquiry and the profession demands that, in the interests of progress, we cast ourselves constantly in the role of devil’s advocate. Honesty dictates, however, that we also acknowledge the sources of our inspiration, the ‘giants’ on whose shoulders we have stood in our search for the new horizons, the building blocks we have used as the basis of our research. Underpinning fruitful research is data, the record of the evidence, in whatever form it takes—the archives of unpublished fieldwork, the mountain of ‘grey literature’ that grows with each passing year, the finds and manuscripts under the bed, the published reports.


2013 ◽  
Vol 726-731 ◽  
pp. 401-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Yu Cao ◽  
Wei Yang ◽  
Jian Li Lui ◽  
Hai Xin Ai

Fungus has been valued as one of edible and medicinal resources, and bioactive substances have been identified in many fungus species. In all of them, polysaccharides are the most famous and potent fungus-derived substances with antioxidant, antitumor, immunoregulation and so on. Although the isolation process and bioactive activity of fungal mycelium polysaccharides have been investigated in the past decade, the new bioactive activity and the mechanism of fungal mycelium polysaccharides are not systematic studied. These studies are still in progress and the role of polysaccharides as bioactive activity is especially under intense debate. The purpose of the present review is to summarize the available information of isolation process and bioactive activity, and to reflect the current status of these research areas with a view for future direction.


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