(C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“In M. Singh
and B. L. Anderson (2002), the authors proposed a model based on ratios of Michelson contrasts to explain how human observers quantitatively scale the perceived opacity of transparent surfaces. In subsequent work (B. L. Anderson, M. Singh, & J. Meng, 2006), the authors found that this model failed to generalize to other contexts and replaced it with a new, more general model based on ratios of perceived contrasts. M. K. Albert’s (2008) main experiment aimed to test the model the authors have previously rejected. The authors argue that M. K. Albert’s experimental method was flawed and that his experiments did not test either the authors’ original model or the authors’ subsequent model that replaced it. M. K. Albert failed to provide any account of the data that the authors’ model SB431542 manufacturer predicts, and he did not provide any theory
to explain GSK2126458 price his own data. The authors conclude that the discrepancy between M. K. Albert’s results and all models of transparency results from problems in the methods used in his experiments, not from the shortcomings of extant theory.”
“There is an increasing body of evidence to show that viruses are important drivers of microbial evolution and that they can store a great deal of the Earth’s microbial diversity in their genomes. Examination of microbial diversity in polar regions has revealed a higher than expected diversity of viruses, bacteria and eukaryotic microbes. Further, the few available Florfenicol studies in polar regions reveal that viral control of microbial mortality is important in these habitats. In this opinion article, we argue that strong relationships between viruses and their hosts in a range of polar habitats could be key in explaining why polar regions are in fact hot spots of microbial diversity and
evolution. Further, we argue that periodic glaciations, and particularly the Neoproterozoic low-latitude glaciation, known as ‘snowball Earth’, could have been periods of intense diversification in aquatic refuges.”
“Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a polypeptide tropic factor that plays an important role in the survival and differentiation of both neuronal and non-neuronal cells. Numerous studies have demonstrated that IGF-1 promotes neuronal cell survival via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Proline-rich Akt substrate of 40 kDa (PRAS40) is a recently discovered downstream target of Akt. However, the relationship between IGF-1 and PRAS40 is not known. In this study, we characterized the phosphorylation of PRAS40 induced by IGF-1 in PC12 cells and explored the signaling pathway responsible for the effect of IGF-1. IGF-1 induced the phosphorylation of Akt at Thr473 and PRAS40 at Thr246 in PC12 cells.