Gratitude to God: Jonathan Edwards and the Opening of the Self

The study of gratitude has become an increasingly important topic among psychologists to address the nature of human flourishing. Of more recent interest is how gratitude to God specifically functions within an account of human flourishing, with theologians seeking to provide a distinctively Christian account of the nature of gratitude. This article enters into the ongoing conversation by attending to Jonathan Edwards’s (1703-1758) theological anthropology and development of natural and supernatural gratitude. In particular, Edwards’s anthropology includes within it an account of how the self can, and should, enlarge to receive another in love. This “enlargement” is the creaturely mirror of God’s self-giving and is the supernatural response to the creature who has received God’s grace and been infused with divine love. As a supernatural response based on God’s action in the soul, this account of gratitude differs from its natural counterpart. On Edwards’s account, therefore, there is a need to develop studies that differentiate natural and supernatural gratitude. Furthermore, this article ends with a suggestion for a study that could pick up this task based on recent psychological studies that attend to how gratitude affects self-relation. On Edwards’s account of the enlargement of the self, as well as his notion of supernatural gratitude, there is meaningful research to be done on how these can help assess development in the formation of gratitude and human flourishing.

Transmembrane signalling by a bionic receptor: biological input and output, chemical mechanism of signal transduction

Signal transduction through sealed biological membranes is among the most important evolutionary achievements. Herein, we focus on the development of artificial signal transduction mechanisms and engineer a bionic receptor with capacity of transduction of biological signals across biological membranes using tools of chemistry. The bionic receptor described in this work exhibits similarity with the natural counterpart in the most essential characteristics: in having an exofacial ligand for signal capture, in being membrane anchored, and in featuring a releasable secondary messenger molecule, which performs enzyme activation in the endo volume. The main difference with the natural receptors is that signal transduction across the lipid bilayer was performed using the tools of organic chemistry, namely a self-immolative linker. The highest novelty of our work is that the artificial signalling cascade designed herein achieved transmembrane activation of enzymatic activity, as is the hallmark of activity by natural signalling receptors.

Exploring New Potential Anticancer Activities of the G-Quadruplexes Formed by [(GTG2T(G3T)3] and Its Derivatives with an Abasic Site Replacing Single Thymidine

In this paper, we report our investigations on five T30175 analogues, prepared by replacing sequence thymidines with abasic sites (S) one at a time, in comparison to their natural counterpart in order to evaluate their antiproliferative potential and the involvement of the residues not belonging to the central core of stacked guanosines in biological activity. The collected NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), CD (Circular Dichroism), and PAGE (Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis) data strongly suggest that all of them adopt G-quadruplex (G4) structures strictly similar to that of the parent aptamer with the ability to fold into a dimeric structure composed of two identical G-quadruplexes, each characterized by parallel strands, three all-anti-G-tetrads and four one-thymidine loops (one bulge and three propeller loops). Furthermore, their antiproliferative (MTT assay) and anti-motility (wound healing assay) properties against lung and colorectal cancer cells were tested. Although all of the oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) investigated here exhibited anti-proliferative activity, the unmodified T30175 aptamer showed the greatest effect on cell growth, suggesting that both its characteristic folding in dimeric form and its presence in the sequence of all thymidines are crucial elements for antiproliferative activity. This straightforward approach is suitable for understanding the critical requirements of the G-quadruplex structures that affect antiproliferative potential and suggests its application as a starting point to facilitate the reasonable development of G-quadruplexes with improved anticancer properties.

Synthesis and photoswitching properties of bioinspired dissymmetric gamma-pyrone, analogue of cyclocurcumin

Cyclocurcumin, a turmeric curcuminoid with potential therapeutic properties, is also a natural photoswitch that may undergo E/Z photoisomerization under UV light. In order to be further exploited in relevant biological applications, photoactivation under near infrared (NIR) irradiation is required. Such requirement can be met through opportune chemical modifications,and most notably by favoring two-photon absorption (TPA) probability. Herein, a general and efficient synthesis of a biomimetic 2,6-g-pyrone analogue of cyclocurcumin is described, motivated by the fact that molecular modeling previews an order of magnitude increase of the NIR TPA cross-section for the latter compared to the natural counterpart. Three retrosynthetic pathways have been identified (i) via an aryl-oxazole intermediate or via an aryl-diynone through (ii) a bottom-up or (iii) a top-down approach. While avoiding the passage through unstable synthons or low yield intermediate reactions, only the latest approach could conveniently afford the 2,6-g-pyrone analogue of cyclocurcumin, in ten steps and with an overall yield of 18%. The photophysical properties of our biomimetic analogue have also been characterized showing an improved photo-isomerization yield over the parent natural compound. The potentially improved non-linear optical properties, as well an enhanced stability, may be correlated to the enforcement of the planarity of the pyrone moiety leading to a quadrupolar D-p-A-p-D system.<br>

Real-Valued Systemic Risk Measures

We describe the axiomatic approach to real-valued Systemic Risk Measures, which is a natural counterpart to the nowadays classical univariate theory initiated by Artzner et al. in the seminal paper “Coherent measures of risk”, Math. Finance, (1999). In particular, we direct our attention towards Systemic Risk Measures of shortfall type with random allocations, which consider as eligible, for securing the system, those positions whose aggregated expected utility is above a given threshold. We present duality results, which allow us to motivate why this particular risk measurement regime is fair for both the single agents and the whole system at the same time. We relate Systemic Risk Measures of shortfall type to an equilibrium concept, namely a Systemic Optimal Risk Transfer Equilibrium, which conjugates Bühlmann’s Risk Exchange Equilibrium with a capital allocation problem at an initial time. We conclude by presenting extensions to the conditional, dynamic framework. The latter is the suitable setup when additional information is available at an initial time.

Living Shorelines Achieve Functional Equivalence to Natural Fringe Marshes across Multiple Ecological Metrics

Nature-based features provide a welcome class of adaptations to promote ecological resilience in the face of climate change. Along coastlines, living shorelines are among the preferred adaptation strategies to both reduce erosion and provide ecological functions. As an alternative to shoreline armoring, living shorelines are viewed favorably among coastal managers, wetlands boards, and some private property owners, but they have yet to undergo a thorough examination of how their levels of ecosystem functions compare to their closest natural counterpart: fringing marshes. Here, we provide a synthesis of results from a multi-year, large-spatial-scale study in which we compared numerous ecological metrics measured in thirteen pairs of living shorelines and natural fringing marshes throughout coastal Virginia, USA. Overall, we found that living shorelines were functionally equivalent to natural marshes in nearly all measured aspects, except for a lag in sediment composition. These data support the prioritization of living shorelines as a coastal adaptation strategy.

Tuning the Structure of Nylon 6,6 Electrospun Bundles to Mimic the Mechanical Performance of Tendon Fascicles

Tendon and ligament injuries are triggered by mechanical loading, but the specific mechanisms are not yet clearly identified. It is well established however, that the inflection and transition points in tendon stress-strain curves represent thresholds that may signal the onset of irreversible fibrillar sliding. This phenomenon often results in a progressive macroscopic failure of these tissues. With the aim to simulate and replace tendons, electrospinning has been demonstrated to be a suitable technology to produce nanofibers similar to the collagen fibrils in a mat form. These nanofibrous mats can be easily assembled in higher hierarchical levels to reproduce the whole tissue structure. Despite the fact that several groups have developed electrospun tendon-inspired structures, an investigation of the inflection and transition point mechanics is missing. Comparing their behavior with that of the natural counterpart is important to adequately replicate their behavior at physiological strain levels. To fill this gap, in this work fascicle-inspired electrospun nylon 6,6 bundles were produced with different collector peripheral speeds (i.e., 19.7 m s–1; 13.7 m s–1; 7.9 m s–1), obtaining different patterns of nanofibers alignment. The scanning electron microcopy revealed a fibril-inspired structure of the nanofibers with an orientation at the higher speed similar to those in tendons and ligaments (T/L). A tensile mechanical characterization was carried out showing an elastic-brittle biomimetic behavior for the higher speed bundles with a progressively more ductile behavior at slower speeds. Moreover, for each sample category the transition and the inflection points were defined to study how these points can shift with the nanofiber arrangement and to compare their values with those of tendons. The results of this study will be of extreme interest for the material scientists working in the field, to model and improve the design of their electrospun structures and scaffolds and enable building a new generation of artificial tendons and ligaments.

On the ‘nature’ of the ‘artificial’

Since the work by Herbert Simon, no particular attention has been paid to the distinction between conventional technology and technology directed at the reproduction of natural instances. Nevertheless, if we had a general knowledge of the methodological aspects that any attempt to reproduce natural objects or processes unavoidably requires, then we would understand why, as a rule, no artificial device can ‘converge’ to its natural counterpart and why, on the contrary, the more it advances, the further away it goes from it. As a result, our efforts should be oriented to deeply investigate the artificial as it were a truly new ‘nature’ in itself.

Synthesis and Photoswitching Properties of Bioinspired Dissymmetric 2,6-Gamma-Pyrone, Analogue of Cyclocurcumin

Cyclocurcumin, a turmeric curcuminoid with potential therapeutic properties, is also a natural photoswitch that may undergo E/Z photoisomerization under UV light. In order to be further exploited in relevant biological applications, photoactivation under near infrared (NIR) irradiation is required. Such requirement can be met through opportune chemical modifications,and most notably by favoring two-photon absorption (TPA) probability. Herein, a general and efficient synthesis of a biomimetic 2,6-g-pyrone analogue of cyclocurcumin is described, motivated by the fact that molecular modeling previews an order of magnitude increase of the NIR TPA cross-section for the latter compared to the natural counterpart. Three retrosynthetic pathways have been identified (i) via an aryl-oxazole intermediate or via an aryl-diynone through (ii) a bottom-up or (iii) a top-down approach. While avoiding the passage through unstable synthons or low yield intermediate reactions, only the latest approach could conveniently afford the 2,6-g-pyrone analogue of cyclocurcumin, in ten steps and with an overall yield of 18%. The photophysical properties of our biomimetic analogue have also been characterized showing an improved photo-isomerization yield over the parent natural compound. The potentially improved non-linear optical properties, as well an enhanced stability, may be correlated to the enforcement of the planarity of the pyrone moiety leading to a quadrupolar D-p-A-p-D system.<br>

Synthesis and Photoswitching Properties of Bioinspired Dissymmetric 2,6-Gamma-Pyrone, Analogue of Cyclocurcumin

Cyclocurcumin, a turmeric curcuminoid with potential therapeutic properties, is also a natural photoswitch that may undergo E/Z photoisomerization under UV light. In order to be further exploited in relevant biological applications, photoactivation under near infrared (NIR) irradiation is required. Such requirement can be met through opportune chemical modifications,and most notably by favoring two-photon absorption (TPA) probability. Herein, a general and efficient synthesis of a biomimetic 2,6-g-pyrone analogue of cyclocurcumin is described, motivated by the fact that molecular modeling previews an order of magnitude increase of the NIR TPA cross-section for the latter compared to the natural counterpart. Three retrosynthetic pathways have been identified (i) via an aryl-oxazole intermediate or via an aryl-diynone through (ii) a bottom-up or (iii) a top-down approach. While avoiding the passage through unstable synthons or low yield intermediate reactions, only the latest approach could conveniently afford the 2,6-g-pyrone analogue of cyclocurcumin, in ten steps and with an overall yield of 18%. The photophysical properties of our biomimetic analogue have also been characterized showing an improved photo-isomerization yield over the parent natural compound. The potentially improved non-linear optical properties, as well an enhanced stability, may be correlated to the enforcement of the planarity of the pyrone moiety leading to a quadrupolar D-p-A-p-D system.<br>