Description: This article discusses the characterization of sub-nuclear changes in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos exposed to brief, intermediate and long-term anoxia to analyze anoxia-induced cell cycle arrest. Abstract: Background: The soil nematode C. elegans survives oxygen-deprived conditions (anoxia; <.001 kPa O₂) by entering into a state of suspended animation in which cell cycle progression reversibly arrests. The majority of blastomeres of embryos exposed to anoxia arrest at interphase, prophase and metaphase. The spindle checkpoint proteins SAN-1 and MDF-2 are required for embryos to survive 24 hours of anoxia. To further investigate the mechanism of cell-cycle arrest, the authors examined and compared sub-nuclear changes such as chromatin localization pattern, post-translational modification of histone H3, spindle microtubules, and localization of the spindle checkpoint protein SAN-1 with respect to various anoxia exposure time points. To ensure analysis of embryos exposed to anoxia and not post-anoxic recovery the authors fixed all embryos in an anoxia glove box chamber. Results: Embryos exposed to brief periods to anoxia (30 minutes) contain prophase blastomeres with chromosomes in close proximity to the nuclear membrane, condensation of interphase chromatin and metaphase blastomeres with reduced spindle microtubules density. Embryos exposed to longer periods of anoxia (1-3 days) display several characteristics including interphase ...

Description: This article discusses computational s-block thermochemistry with the correlation consistent composite approach. Abstract: The correlation consistent composite approach (ccCA) is a model chemistry that has been shown to accurately compute gas-phase enthalpies of formation for alkali and alkaline earth metal oxides and hydroxides (Ho, D.S.; DeYonker, N.J.; Wilson, A.K.; Cundari, T.R., J. Phys. Chem. A 2006, 110, 9767). The ccCA results contrast to more widely used model chemistries where calculated enthalpies of formation for such species can be in error by up to 90 kcal molˉ¹. In this study, the authors have applied ccCA to a more general set of 42 s-block molecules and compared the ccCA ∆Hf values to values obtained using the G3 and G3B model chemistries. Included in this training set are water complexes such as Na(H₂O)n⁺ where n = 1 - 4, dimers and trimers of ionic compounds such as (LiCl)₂ and (LiCl)₃, and the largest ccCA computation to date: Be-(acac)₂, BeC₁₀H₁₄O₄. Problems with the G3 model chemistries seem to be isolated to metal-oxygen bonded systems and Be-containing systems, as G3 and G3B still perform quite well with a 2.7 and 2.6 kcal mol⁻¹ mean absolute deviation (MAD), respectively, for gas-phase enthalpies of formation. The MAD ...

Description: This article discusses comparative plant genomics resources at PlantGDB. Abstract: PlantGDB is a database of plant molecular sequences. Expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences are assembled into contigs that represent tentative unique genes. EST contigs are functionally annotated with information derived from known protein sequences that are highly similar to the putative translation products. Tentative Gene Ontology terms are assigned to match those of the similar sequences identified. Genome survey sequences are assembled similarly. The resulting genome survey sequence contigs are matched to ESTs and conserved protein homologs to identify putative full-length open reading frame-containing genes, which are subsequently provisionally classified according to established gene family designations. For Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and rice (Oryza sativa), the exon-intron boundaries for gene structures are annotated by spliced alignment of ESTs and full-length cDNAs to their respective complete genome sequences. Unique genome browsers have been developed to present all available EST and cDNA evidence for current transcript models. In addition, a number of bioinformatic tools have been integrated at PlantGDB that enable researchers to carry out sequence analyses on-site using both their own data and data residing within the database.

Description: This report discusses the Comparative Assessment of Peer Review (CAPR) project outcomes. Public funding agencies are required to demonstrate accountability to their government funders (e.g., Congress) as well as to the public. Some agencies - including the US National Science Foundation (NSF) - have used broader societal impacts criteria as part of the review process of grant proposals in order to connect scientific research to societal needs. But these agencies have often encountered questions from scientists and engineers for how to integrate such demands for broader societal impacts into their research proposals. In an effort to help clarify the idea of broader impacts, in 2010 NSF and Congress proposed a list of national needs that NSF-funded research would be required to meet. But was this the best solution? This report discusses the authors' research.

Description: This book review discusses 'Chemistry of Advanced Materials: An Overview', edited by Leonard V. Interrante from Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, and Mark J. Hampden-Smith from the University of New Mexico.