The boron-based ceramics namely hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and boron phosphate (BPO4) were synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The surface properties of h-BN and BPO4 were examined by inverse gas chromatography method. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/calpeptin.html The dispersive surface energy and the acidic-basic character of h-BN, and BPO4 surfaces were estimated by the retention time with probes such as n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, n-nonane, n-decane, acetone, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, chloroform and tetrahydrofuran at infinite dilution region. The dispersive surface free energies calculated using both Schultz and Dorris-Gray methods, decreased linearly with increasing temperature. The specific adsorption free energy and the specific adsorption enthalpy corresponding to acid-base surface interactions were determined. By correlating with the donor and acceptor numbers of the probes, the acidic and the basic parameters of the h-BN and BPO4 were calculated. The values obtained for and parameters indicated that h-BN has a basic character, whereas BPO4 has an acidic character.Mutations in DNM2 cause autosomal dominant centronuclear myopathy (ADCNM), a rare disease characterized by skeletal muscle weakness and structural anomalies of the myofibres, including nuclear centralization and mitochondrial mispositioning. Following the clinical report of a Border Collie male with exercise intolerance and histopathological hallmarks of CNM on the muscle biopsy, we identified the c.1393C>T (R465W) mutation in DNM2, corresponding to the most common ADCNM mutation in humans. In order to establish a large animal model for longitudinal and preclinical studies on the muscle disorder, we collected sperm samples from the Border Collie male and generated a dog cohort for subsequent clinical, genetic and histological investigations. Four of the five offspring carried the DNM2 mutation and showed muscle atrophy and a mildly impaired gait. Morphological examinations of transverse muscle sections revealed CNM-typical fibres with centralized nuclei and remodelling of the mitochondrial network. Overall, the DNM2-CNM dog represents a faithful animal model for the human disorder, allows the investigation of ADCNM disease progression, and constitutes a valuable complementary tool to validate innovative therapies established in mice.
Body mass index (BMI) defined obesity is paradoxically associated with lower all-cause mortality in patients with known cardiovascular disease. This study aims to determine the role of physical fitness in the obesity paradox in women with ischaemic heart disease (IHD).

Women undergoing invasive coronary angiography with signs/symptoms of IHD in the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) prospective cohort (enrolled 1997-2001) were analysed. This study investigated the longer-term risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and all-cause mortality associated with BMI and physical fitness measured by Duke Activity Status Index (DASI). Overweight was defined as BMl ≥25 to 30 kg/m2, obese as BMI ≥30 kg/m2, unfit as DASI scores <25, equivalent to ≤7 metabolic equivalents. Among 899 women, 18.6% were normal BMI-fit, 11.4% overweight-fit, 10.4% obese-fit, 15.3% normal BMI-unfit, 23.8% overweight-unfit, and 30.4% obese-unfit. In adjusted models compared to normal BMI-fit, normal BMI-unfit women hadof MACE. Physical fitness may contribute to the obesity paradox in women, warranting future studies to better understand associations between body weight, body composition, and physical fitness to improve cardiovascular outcomes in women.The neostriatum plays a central role in cortico-subcortical circuitry underlying goal-directed behavior. The adult mammalian neostriatum shows chemical and cytoarchitectonic compartmentalization in line with the connectivity. However, it is poorly understood how and when fetal compartmentalization (AChE-rich islands, nonreactive matrix) switches to adult (AChE-poor striosomes, reactive matrix) and how this relates to the ingrowth of corticostriatal afferents. Here, we analyze neostriatal compartments on postmortem human brains from 9 postconceptional week (PCW) to 18 postnatal months (PM), using Nissl staining, histochemical techniques (AChE, PAS-Alcian), immunohistochemistry, stereology, and comparing data with volume-growth of in vivo and in vitro MRI. We find that compartmentalization (C) follows a two-compartment (2-C) pattern around 10PCW and is transformed into a midgestational labyrinth-like 3-C pattern (patches, AChE-nonreactive perimeters, matrix), peaking between 22 and 28PCW during accelerated volume-growth. Finally, compartmentalization resolves perinatally, by the decrease in transient "AChE-clumping," disappearance of AChE-nonreactive, ECM-rich perimeters, and an increase in matrix reactivity. The initial "mature" pattern appears around 9 PM. Therefore, transient, a 3-C pattern and accelerated neostriatal growth coincide with the expected timing of the nonhomogeneous distribution of corticostriatal afferents. The decrease in growth-related AChE activity and transfiguration of corticostriatal terminals are putative mechanisms underlying fetal compartments reorganization. Our findings serve as normative for studying neurodevelopmental disorders.Racial health inequities may be partially explained by area-level factors such as residential segregation. In this cross-sectional study, using a large, multiracial, representative sample of Brazilian adults (n = 37,009 individuals in the 27 state capitals; National Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde), 2013), we investigated 1) whether individual-level self-rated health (SRH) (fair or poor vs. good or better) varies by race (self-declared White, Brown, or Black) and 2) whether city-level economic or racial residential segregation (using dissimilarity index values in tertiles low, medium, and high) interacts with race, increasing racial inequities in SRH. Prevalence of fair or poor SRH was 31.5% (Black, Brown, and White people 36.4%, 34.0%, and 27.3%, respectively). Marginal standardization based on multilevel logistic regression models, adjusted for age, gender, and education, showed that Black and Brown people had, respectively, 20% and 10% higher prevalence of fair or poor SRH than did White people. Furthermore, residential segregation interacted with race such that the more segregated a city, the greater the racial gap among Black, Brown, and White people in fair or poor SRH for both income and race segregation. Policies to reduce racial inequities may need to address residential segregation and its consequences for health.Cells are highly organized machines with functionally specialized compartments. For example, membrane proteins are localized to axons or dendrites in neurons and to apical or basolateral surfaces in epithelial cells. Interestingly, many sensory cells-including vertebrate photoreceptors and olfactory neurons-exhibit both neuronal and epithelial features. Here, we show that Caenorhabditis elegans amphid neurons simultaneously exhibit axon-dendrite sorting like a neuron and apical-basolateral sorting like an epithelial cell. The distal ∼5-10 µm of the dendrite is apical, while the remainder of the dendrite, soma, and axon are basolateral. To determine how proteins are sorted among these compartments, we studied the localization of the conserved adhesion molecule SAX-7/L1CAM. Using minimal synthetic transmembrane proteins, we found that the 91-aa cytoplasmic tail of SAX-7 is necessary and sufficient to direct basolateral localization. Basolateral localization can be fully recapitulated using either of 2 short (10-aa or 19-aa) tail sequences that, respectively, resemble dileucine and Tyr-based motifs known to mediate sorting in mammalian epithelia. The Tyr-based motif is conserved in human L1CAM but had not previously been assigned a function. Disrupting key residues in either sequence leads to apical localization, while "improving" them to match epithelial sorting motifs leads to axon-only localization. Indeed, changing only 2 residues in a short motif is sufficient to redirect the protein between apical, basolateral, and axonal localization. Our results demonstrate that axon-dendrite and apical-basolateral sorting pathways can coexist in a single cell, and suggest that subtle changes to short sequence motifs are sufficient to redirect proteins between these pathways.The facet capsule ligament (FCL) is a structure in the lumbar spine that constrains motions of the vertebrae. Subfailure loads can produce microdamage resulting in increased laxity, decreased stiffness, and altered viscoelastic responses. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the mechanical and viscoelastic properties of the FCL under various magnitudes of strain from control samples and samples that had been through an impact protocol. Two hundred FCL tissue samples were tested (20 control and 180 impacted). Impacted FCL tissue samples were obtained from functional spinal units that had been exposed to one of nine subfailure impact conditions. All specimens underwent the following loading protocol preconditioning with five cycles of 5% strain, followed by a 30 s rest period, five cycles of 10% strain, and 1 cycle of 10% strain with a hold duration at 10% strain for 240 s (4 min). The same protocol was followed for 30% and 50% strain. Measures of stiffness, hysteresis, and force-relaxation were computed. No significant differences in stiffness were observed for impacted specimens in comparison to control. Impacted specimens from the 8 g flexed and 11 g flexed and neutral conditions exhibited greater hysteresis during the cyclic-30% and cyclic-50% portion of the protocol in comparison to controls. In addition, specimens from the 8 g and 11 g flexed conditions resulted in greater stress decay for the 50%-hold conditions. Results from this study demonstrate viscoelastic changes in FCL samples exposed to moderate and highspeed single impacts in a flexed posture.
Transgene-design is a web application to help design transgenes for use in mammalian studies. It is predicated on the recent discovery that human intronless transgenes and native retrogenes can be expressed very effectively if the GC content at exonic synonymous sites is high. In addition, as exonic splice enhancers resident in intron containing genes may have different utility in intronless genes, these can be reduced or increased in density. Input can be a native gene or a commercially "optimised" gene. The option to leave in the first intron and to protect or avoid other motifs is also permitted.

Transgene-design is based on a ruby for rails platform. The application is available at https//transgene-design.bath.ac.uk. The code is available under GNU General Public License from GitHub (https//github.com/smuehlh/transgenes).

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.For a century, since the pioneering work of Otto Warburg, the interwoven relationship between metabolism and cancer has been appreciated. More recently, with obesity rates rising in the U.S. and worldwide, epidemiologic evidence has supported a link between obesity and cancer. A substantial body of work seeks to mechanistically unpack the association between obesity, altered metabolism, and cancer. Without question, these relationships are multifactorial and cannot be distilled to a single obesity- and metabolism-altering hormone, substrate, or factor. However, it is important to understand the hormone-specific associations between metabolism and cancer. Here, we review the links between obesity, metabolic dysregulation, insulin, and cancer, with an emphasis on current investigational metabolic adjuncts to standard-of-care cancer treatment.

Redirecting Our Gaze

December 01, 2023
by Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Scriptures: 2 Kings 2:12–15; Matthew 17:1–13
Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. (Matthew 17:1–3)
The Christian's greatest goal is to be like Christ. We want to emulate His exemplary life, model His method of teaching, resist temptation as He resisted it, handle conflicts as He did, focus on the mission God calls us to accomplish as Christ focused on His. And certainly it is our desire to commune with the Father as the Son did throughout His ministry and suffering. No greater compliment can be given than this one: "When I am with that person, it's as if I'm in the presence of Jesus Himself."

Throughout this study of Elijah, I have often thought of how closely the great prophet's life resembled the Messiah, who was yet to come: the way he spent time alone; the courage he showed as he stood in the presence of his enemy and delivered God's message; the power he exhibited when it took a miracle to convince his audience that he was a man with a message from God—the one true God; the compassion he demonstrated when he cared about the widow's grief and brought her son back to life; even the anguish he felt in his own Gethsemane as he wrestled in his soul. And finally, how much like Christ was his departure. As others stood staring, he was taken up to heaven out of their sight.

Is it any surprise, then, that when our Savior asked His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" the answer from some was, "Elijah." Why, of course! Small wonder, for in many ways their lives paralleled. And when the two men appeared before Jesus and three of His disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, one was Moses, and the other was none other than Elijah (Matthew 17:3).

Elijah's heroic and humble life urges us to be like Christ—to lift our eyes from the grit and grind of today's woes and to turn our attention to the glory and hope of another land. Immanuel's land! And in that frame of mind, we'll redirect our gaze from who gets the glory to who gives the grace. Then, while fully focused on Him—our King of grace, the gentle Lamb of God—the deepest longings of our souls will be satisfied.

If you compare your life to Christ, how long would your list be of matching characteristics?

https://watch.formed.org/suggested-content-for-sunday/videos/daily-reflections-feast-of-the-transfiguration-august-6-2023?_hsmi=268827823&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9em-ys0ZJ_E-ma45Y-40qwZrBaE76_n_inDaO_60UmvtkJEgsz462o_cJCNn8jT9ekLPsqS1ZYKm1n3z-4-U_PvN43Kw

Alchemy and the Light Body - Jay Weidner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ariw8l4ggfM
Jay Weidner is interviewed by Steve and Joe at BG Cast concerning various subjects including the idea that the transfiguration of Jesus Christ is not a one time event.

Christian Despondency
MARCH 6, 2023

I was despondent. They dug a pit ahead of me, but they fell into it!
Psalm 57:6

Recommended Reading: Psalm 57
In his book, A Spiritual Clinic, J. Oswald Sanders devotes a chapter to despondency among Christians. “Who among us has not experienced that nameless feeling of misery and hopelessness?” he wrote. Sanders points out that such biblical heroes as Moses and Elijah had moments of great discouragement. For Moses, God prescribed the help of seventy elders; for Elijah, a time of withdrawal in a solitary place where the Lord met him.

“God prescribes individually for each of His patients. God delights to restore each depressed soul to a sphere of increased usefulness,” said Sanders.[1]

When we face daunting challenges, we can remember that God is always with us. He will give us wisdom and courage. He will deal with us individually, prescribing what is best. Take a moment to ask the Lord to show you the next immediate step you should take toward restoration and increased usefulness. He doesn’t want you to live in chronic despondency when His joy can be your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

It is not without its comfort that the two men who conversed with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration both broke under the strain of their ministry and prayed that they might die.
J. Oswald Sanders