Cloning of a carboxyl-terminal isoform of the prostanoid FP receptor

An FP prostanoid receptor isoform, which appears to arise from alternative mRNA splicing, has been cloned from a mid-cycle ovine large cell corpus luteum library. The isoform, named the FP(B) receptor, is identical to the original isoform, the FP(A), throughout the seven transmembrane domains, but diverges nine amino acids into the carboxyl terminus. In contrast to FP(A), whose carboxyl terminus continues for another 46 amino acids beyond the nine shared residues, the FP(B) terminates after only one amino acid. The FP(A) isoform appears to arise by the failure to utilize a potential splice site, while a 3.2-kilobase pair intron is spliced out from the FP gene to generate the FP(B) isoform mRNA. The two isoforms have indistinguishable radioligand binding properties, but seem to differ in functional coupling to phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis. Thus, in COS-7 cells transiently transfected with either the FP(A) or the FP(B) receptor cDNAs, prostaglandin F(2alpha) stimulates inositol phosphate accumulation to the same absolute maximum, but the basal level of inositol phosphate accumulation is approximately 1.3-fold higher in cells transfected with the FP(B) as compared with cells transfected with the FP(A) isoform. Using the polymerase chain reaction, mRNA encoding the FP(B) isoform was identified in the ovine corpus luteum.     

The Last Philosophical Behaviorist: Content and Consciousness Explained Away.

Rejoinders to Robert Bishop, John Smythies, and Edmond Wright concerning my paper Phenomenology in Absentia: Dennett's Philosophy of Mind. The untoward social and moral consequences of Daniel Dennett's heterophenomenology (programmatic phenomenology denial) are documented. Rhetorical methodology, fallacious reasoning, and lack of empirical support for a philosophical abolition of consciousness and phenomenology are exposed. Consciousness denial by Dennett is shown to proceed by the same fallacious method involved in his phenomenological nihilism. Additional arguments are adduced against the presumed nonexistence of veridical and non-veridical percepts, as interpreted by elementary science of perception, and as this implicates a more general critique of naive realism and its applications to such hypothetical scenarios as our actual existence within cranial vats and the so-called inverted spectrum argument devolved from Locke. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On closure properties of bounded two-sided error complexity classes

We show that if a complexity classC is closed downward under polynomial-time majority truth-table reductions ( _mtt ^p ), then practically every other polynomial closure property it enjoys is inherited by the corresponding bounded two-sided error class BP[C]. For instance, the Arthur-Merlin game class AM [B1] enjoys practically every closure property of NP. Our main lemma shows that, for any relativizable classD which meets two fairly transparent technical conditions, we haveC ^BP[C] BP[D ^C]. Among our applications, we simplify the proof by Toda [Tol], [To2] that the polynomial hierarchy PH is contained in BP[P]. We also show that relative to a random oracleR, PH ^R is properly contained in P ^R .The first author was supported in part by NSF Grant CCR-9011248 and the second author was supported in part by NSF Grant CCR-89011154.     

Students' opinion of tobacco control policies recommended for US colleges: a national survey

Objective: Comprehensive tobacco control policies for US colleges and universities have been proposed by several groups in order to counter the rising use of tobacco by students enrolled in these institutions. Student opinion of these policies is not known, and concern about student opposition is one barrier that deters administrators from adopting the policies. This study measured student support for recommended college tobacco control policies.

Design: Mailed survey of US college students (2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study).

Setting: 119 nationally representative, four-year colleges and universities in the USA.

Participants: 10 904 randomly selected undergraduate students enrolled at participating schools.

Main outcome measures: Students' opinion of 7 proposed tobacco control policies.

Results: A majority of students supported each policy. Over three quarters of students favoured smoke-free policies for all college buildings, residences, and dining areas, while 71% supported prohibiting tobacco advertising and sponsorship of campus social events, 59% favoured prohibiting tobacco sales on campus, and 51% supported smoke-free campus bars. All policies had more support among non-smokers than smokers (p < 0.001). Among smokers, support for policies was inversely related to intention to quit and intensity of tobacco consumption. Because college students' tobacco consumption is low, a majority of smokers favoured banning smoking in college buildings and dining areas and prohibiting tobacco marketing on campus.

Conclusions: Student support for proposed campus tobacco control policies is strong, even among smokers, and broadly based across demographic subgroups. These findings should provide reassurance to college administrators who are considering adopting these policies.

     

Electricity production from cellulose in a microbial fuel cell using a defined binary culture

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) convert biodegradable materials into electricity, potentially contributing to an array of renewable energy production strategies tailored for specific applications. Since there are no known microorganisms that can both metabolize cellulose and transfer electrons to solid extracellular substrates, the conversion of cellulosic biomass to electricity requires a syntrophic microbial community that uses an insoluble electron donor (cellulose) and electron acceptor (anode). Electricity was generated from cellulose in an MFC using a defined coculture of the cellulolytic fermenter Clostridium cellulolyticum and the electrochemically active Geobacter sulfurreducens. In fed-batch tests using two-chamber MFCs with ferricyanide as the catholyte, the coculture achieved maximum power densities of 143 mW/ m2 (anode area) and 59.2 mW/m2 from 1 g/L carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and MN301 cellulose, respectively. Neither pure culture alone produced electricity from these substrates. The coculture increased CMC degradation from 42% to 64% compared to a pure C. cellulolyticum culture. COD removal using CMC and MN301 was 38 and 27%, respectively, with corresponding Coulombic efficiencies of 47 and 39%. Hydrogen, acetate, and ethanol were the main residual metabolites of the binary culture. Cellulose conversion to electricity was also demonstrated using an uncharacterized mixed culture from activated sludge with an aerobic aqueous cathode.