Forensic examinations can assist in crimes such as stabbings and shootings. The investigation of ballistic and edged weapon penetration events often requires a substrate to replicate the effects of ...human tissue and skin. Textile damage examinations can test weapons to determine whether they could have caused evidential damage such as stab and slash cuts. Currently when weapons such as knives and screw drivers are tested in the forensic laboratory, pork belly is used as the skin simulant. A synthetic skin simulant was developed for use in casework to address the concerns of the PCAST report regarding method accuracy. A layered silicone foam simulant was developed, and factors affecting the preparation and use of the simulant will be reported. Use of the foam silicone simulant achieved higher accuracy above the use of traditionally used pork belly for testing stabbing actions, and it is recommended for use in forensic testing laboratories.
Despite their limited area relative to the global ocean, coastal zones-the regions where land meets the sea-play a disproportionately important role in generating ecosystem services. However, coastal ...ecosystems are under increasing pressure from human populations. In particular, urban stormwater is an increasingly important threat to the integrity of coastal systems. Urban catchments exhibit altered flow regimes that impact ecosystem processes and coastal foodwebs. In addition, urban stormwater contains complex and unpredictable mixtures of chemicals that result in a multitude of lethal and sublethal impacts on species in coastal systems. Along the western coast of the United States, we estimate that hundreds of billions of kilograms of suspended solids flow off land surfaces and enter the Northern California Current each year. However, 70% of this pollution could be addressed by treating only 1.35% of the land area. Determining how to prioritize treatment of stormwater in this region requires a clear articulation of objectives-spatial distribution of appropriate management actions is dependent on the life histories of species, and management schemes optimized for one species may not achieve desired objectives for other species. In particular, we highlight that the scale of stormwater interventions must match the ecological scale relevant to species targeted by management. In many cases, management and policy will require mechanisms in order to ensure that local actions scale-up to efficiently and effectively achieve management objectives. In the face of rapid urbanization of coastal zones, failure to consider the match of management and ecological scales will result in the continued decline of coastal ecosystems and the species they support. This article is part of the theme issue 'Integrative research perspectives on marine conservation'.
The Hidden Cinema Robertson, Dr James C; Robertson, James
1993, 20050802, 2005
eBook
How does film censorship work in Britain? Jim Robertson's new paperback edition of The Hidden Cinema argues that censorship has had a far greater influence on British film history than is often ...apparent, creating the `hidden cinema' of the title. Robertson charts the role of the British Board of Film Censors, established in 1913, and the histories of a variety of noteworthy films including Battleship Potemkin and No Orchids for Miss Blandish and revealing how censorship continues to exert a marked influence on many important films - like the controversial A Clockwork Orange - some of which have now vanished from British screens altogether. This edition includes a brand new section on Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris , immediately engulfed in censorship wrangles on its release in 1972.
We describe the performance of MELD‐accelerated molecular dynamics (MELDxMD) in determining protein structures in the NMR‐data‐assisted category in CASP13. Seeded from web server predictions, MELDxMD ...was found best in the NMR category, over 17 targets, outperforming the next‐best groups by a factor of ~4 in z‐score. MELDxMD gives ensembles, not single structures; succeeds on a 326‐mer, near the current upper limit for NMR structures; and predicts structures that match experimental residual dipolar couplings even though the only NMR‐derived data used in the simulations was NOE‐based ambiguous atom–atom contacts and backbone dihedrals. MELD can use noisy and ambiguous experimental information to reduce the MD search space. We believe MELDxMD is a promising method for determining protein structures from NMR data.
Affinity ranking of structurally diverse small-molecule ligands is a challenging problem with important applications in structure-based drug discovery. Absolute binding free energy methods can model ...diverse ligands, but the high computational cost of the current methods limits application to data sets with few ligands. We recently developed MELD-Bracket, a Molecular Dynamics method for efficient affinity ranking of ligands JCTC 2022, 18 (1), 374−379 . It utilizes a Bayesian framework to guide sampling to relevant regions of phase space, and it couples this with a bracket-like competition on a pool of ligands. Here we find that 6-competitor MELD-Bracket can rank dozens of diverse ligands that have low structural similarity and different net charges. We benchmark it on four protein systemsPTB1B, Tyk2, BACE, and JAK3having varied modes of interactions. We also validated 8-competitor and 12-competitor protocols. The MELD-Bracket protocols presented here may have the appropriate balance of accuracy and computational efficiency to be suitable for ranking diverse ligands from typical drug discovery campaigns.
Objective
In the current study, we seek to shed new light on the role of religion in American gun culture by considering whether images people hold of God affect the probability of gun ownership and ...the experience of empowerment through guns for religious Americans (i.e., the extent to which owners derive security, identity, and status from their guns).
Methods
We analyze nationally representative data from the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey in the United States. Binary logistic and ordinary least squares regression models were used.
Results
We failed to observe any associations between God images and gun ownership. However, among gun owners (n = 430), belief in an engaged God was associated with lower levels of gun empowerment, while belief in a judgmental God was associated with higher levels.
Conclusion
God images may contribute to the experience of empowerment through guns by representing spiritual connection and intimacy or divine anger and retribution. We suggest that future research delve deeper into the intersection of God images and gun‐related beliefs and behaviors.
A large‐scale phylogenetic study is presented for Cucujoidea (Coleoptera), a diverse superfamily of beetles that historically has been taxonomically difficult. This study is the most comprehensive ...analysis of cucujoid taxa to date, with DNA sequence data sampled from eight genes (four nuclear, four mitochondrial) for 384 coleopteran taxa, including exemplars of 35 (of 37) families and 289 genera of Cucujoidea. Maximum‐likelihood analyses of these data present many significant relationships, some proposed previously and some novel. Tenebrionoidea and Lymexyloidea are recovered together and Cleroidea forms the sister group to this clade. Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea are recovered as sister taxa and this clade (Phytophaga) forms the sister group to the core Cucujoidea (Cucujoidea s.n.). The nitidulid series is recovered as the earliest‐diverging core cucujoid lineage, although the earliest divergences among core Cucujoidea are only weakly supported. The cerylonid series (CS) is recovered as monophyletic and is supported as a major Cucujiform clade, sister group to the remaining superfamilies of Cucujiformia. Currently recognized taxa that were not recovered as monophyletic include Cucujoidea, Endomychidae, Cerylonidae and Bothrideridae. Biphyllidae and Byturidae were recovered in Cleroidea. The remaining Cucujoidea were recovered in two disparate major clades: one comprising the nitidulid series + erotylid series + Boganiidae and Hobartiidae + cucujid series, and the other comprising the cerylonid series. Propalticidae are recovered within Laemophloeidae. The cerylonid series includes two major clades, the bothriderid group and the coccinellid group. Akalyptoischiidae are recovered as a separate clade from Latridiidae. Eupsilobiinae are recovered as the sister taxon to Coccinellidae. In light of these findings, many formal changes to cucujiform beetle classification are proposed. Biphyllidae and Byturidae are transferred to Cleroidea. The cerylonid series is formally recognized as a new superfamily, Coccinelloidea stat.n. Current subfamilies elevated (or re‐elevated) to family status include: Murmidiidae stat.n., Teredidae stat.n., Euxestidae stat.n., Anamorphidae stat.rev., Eupsilobiidae stat.n., and Mycetaeidae stat.n. The following taxa are redefined and characterized: Cleroidea s.n., Cucujoidea s.n., Cerylonidae s.n., Bothrideridae s.n., Endomychidae s.n. A new subfamily, Cyclotominae stat.n., is described. Stenotarsinae syn.n. is formally subsumed within a new concept of Endomychinae s.n.
Abstract The expression of consciousness and the site of memory storage within the brain are unknown despite over a century of intense empirical scrutiny. Recent anatomical studies show that human ...protoplasmic astrocytes form innumerable uniform polyhedral tessellating domains that are arranged three-dimensionally. This complex geometric structure provides a matrix for seamless and three-dimensional expression of consciousness and explicit memories. These studies, in conjunction with physiological data, demonstrate how this may be achieved: 1. Individual protoplasmic astrocytes occupy separate three-dimensional non overlapping (i.e., tessellating) territories known as domains. Thus, billions of contiguous and continuous domains tile mammalian cortical gray matter. 2. Each domain subtends approximately 90,000 rodent and 2,000,000 human tripartite synapses that signal to perisynaptic astrocyte processes which encode and integrate synaptic information. Neuron to astrocyte signalling is as rapid as neuron to neuron signaling. 3. Astrocytes are exquisitely sensitive to neural activity and distinguish synapse from numerous afferent pathways with different neurotransmitters or neuromodulators. Therefore, synaptic information is dynamically integrated within a global matrix of tessellating astrocyte domains. 4. Astrocytes of the sensory cortex respond to peripheral stimulation in vivo, and some have the ability to distinguish sensory input in more refined detail than surrounding neurons (e.g., visual cortex). Additionally, astrocytes of the cortex and cerebellum react in concert with activity of awake and behaving animals. 5. Domains are extensively interconnected by gap junctions that transmit molecules, many important for information processing and transcription, through complex syncytial networks. This adds an additional level of complexity to interactions between astrocyte domains that may extend over large areas including the entire neocortex. Hypothesis : Consciousness is seamlessly expressed in a three-dimensional matrix consisting of billions of tessellating cortical astrocyte domains that bind attended sensory information. The temporal sequence (stream of consciousness) depends on the global distribution of sequential neural activity. The matrix may also be utilized to encode and store explicit memories.
The Brighton Collaboration Viral Vector Vaccines Safety Working Group (V3SWG) was formed to evaluate the safety and characteristics of live, recombinant viral vector vaccines. The Modified Vaccinia ...Ankara (MVA) vector system is being explored as a platform for development of multiple vaccines. This paper reviews the molecular and biological features specifically of the MVA-BN vector system, followed by a template with details on the safety and characteristics of an MVA-BN based vaccine against Zaire ebolavirus and other filovirus strains. The MVA-BN-Filo vaccine is based on a live, highly attenuated poxviral vector incapable of replicating in human cells and encodes glycoproteins of Ebola virus Zaire, Sudan virus and Marburg virus and the nucleoprotein of the Thai Forest virus. This vaccine has been approved in the European Union in July 2020 as part of a heterologous Ebola vaccination regimen. The MVA-BN vector is attenuated following over 500 serial passages in eggs, showing restricted host tropism and incompetence to replicate in human cells. MVA has six major deletions and other mutations of genes outside these deletions, which all contribute to the replication deficiency in human and other mammalian cells. Attenuation of MVA-BN was demonstrated by safe administration in immunocompromised mice and non-human primates. In multiple clinical trials with the MVA-BN backbone, more than 7800 participants have been vaccinated, demonstrating a safety profile consistent with other licensed, modern vaccines. MVA-BN has been approved as smallpox vaccine in Europe and Canada in 2013, and as smallpox and monkeypox vaccine in the US in 2019. No signal for inflammatory cardiac disorders was identified throughout the MVA-BN development program. This is in sharp contrast to the older, replicating vaccinia smallpox vaccines, which have a known risk for myocarditis and/or pericarditis in up to 1 in 200 vaccinees. MVA-BN-Filo as part of a heterologous Ebola vaccination regimen (Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN-Filo) has undergone clinical testing including Phase III in West Africa and is currently in use in large scale vaccination studies in Central African countries. This paper provides a comprehensive picture of the MVA-BN vector, which has reached regulatory approvals, both as MVA-BN backbone for smallpox/monkeypox, as well as for the MVA-BN-Filo construct as part of an Ebola vaccination regimen, and therefore aims to provide solutions to prevent disease from high-consequence human pathogens.
Optimizing the shape of a nanovector influences its interaction with a cell and determines the internalization kinetics. Block copolymer amphiphiles self-assemble into monodisperse structures in ...aqueous solutions and have been explored extensively as drug delivery vectors. However, the structure of self-assembled block copolymers has mainly been limited to spherical vesicles or spherical and worm-like micelles. Here we show the controlled formation and purification of tubular polymersomes, long cylindrical vesicles. Tubular polymersomes are purified from other structures, and their formation is manipulated by incorporating the biocompatible membrane components cholesterol and phospholipids. Finally we show that these tubular polymersomes have different cellular internalization kinetics compared with spherical polymersomes and can successfully encapsulate and deliver fluorescent bovine serum albumin protein intracellularly.
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