Human Embryonic Stem (hES)

Human embryonic stem (hES) cell has a unique ability of differentiating into all cell types, which leads to the development of the whole organism. As the integrity of ES cells is crucial for the developing embryo, these cells have likely evolved a mechanism that will detect and respond to adverse stimuli. Indeed, hES cell has been shown to be highly sensitive to DNA damage, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this rapid death remain unclear. Caspases are critical mediators of apoptosis in the cells of mammals, and is considered a key protein that is responsible for controlling their activation is Bax, a Bcl-2 family proapoptotic member. While the main components of the apoptotic pathway have been known and identified, exactly how this pathway is functioning and regulated in various primary cells is still unclear. The study examined the apoptotic pathway in the hES cells and also reported a unique mechanism of hES cells that can help them to undergo apoptosis in response to the genotoxic damage. To visualize GFP-tagged Bax, the 3-day colonies of hES cells were transfected with 2 mg of hBaxC3-EGFP from Addgene with FuGENE HD transfection reagent from Roche. Transfection is the process of by which nucleic acids is introduce to the eukaryotic cells by methods that are nonviral. With the help of some various methods such as chemical, physical, lipid methods, this technology of gene transfer technology is a very powerful tool to investigate the gene function and the expression of protein of a cell. Assay-based reporter technology, and with the availability of transfection reagents will actually give and provides the foundation necessary to study sequences of mammalian promoter and enhancer, the trans-acting proteins such as transcription factors, processing of mRNA, the interactions of different proteins, recombination, and translation events. In general, transfection is a method or protocol used to neutralize or obviate the issue of introducing the negatively charged molecules such as phosphate backbone of DNA and RNA into the negatively charged membrane of the cells. In addition, chemicals such as calcium phosphate and cationic lipid-based reagents that coat the DNA, neutralize or even creates an overall positive charge to the molecule is also used. This makes it easier for the DNA to transfection reagent complex to cross the said membrane, especially for lipids which has a fusogenic component that further enhances the fusion with the different lipid bilayer. Other methods such as physical methods like microinjection or electroporation have also been used that is simply punch through the membrane and will introduce DNA directly into the cytoplasm. In this study, they describe the striking feature of the healthy undifferentiated hES cells, which maintain Bax in its preactivated state at the Golgi that is in contrast to other cell types. The results also highlight the fact that the apoptotic machinery undergoes a dynamic change even if its an early stages of differentiation.

Napoleon and Snowball Essay

Napoleon and Snowball are characters who represent Stalin and Trotsky. Explore the conflict between these two characters presented by Orwell in Animal Farm ‘Animal Farm’ is an allegory which presents George Orwell’s views on communism in the form of an anthropomorphic fable. The main characters are Snowball and Napoleon, who represent Trotsky and Stalin, are two opposing characters whose conflict is presented in a number of linguistic and structural ways. An example of this are the different ideas of ‘Animalism’ which Snowball and Napoleon have. Snowball strives for equality whilst Napoleon becomes a power-driven dictator. One of the first differences that emerge between Snowball and Napoleon are their physical differences described at the start of Chapter 2 Napoleon is described as a ‘large, rather fierce-looking’ pig which foreshadows his future violent ways of dictatorship , as well as showing that Napoleon takes more than his fair sha re. On the other hand, Snowball seems to be a more suitable leader as he is ‘quicker in speech’ and ‘more inventive’. However, it appears as if Orwell is foreshadowing Snowball’s eventual inferiority by mentioning that he was not ‘considered to have the same depth of character’. In my opinion, throughout Chapter 2, Orwell is making the reader feel more inclines towards Snowball by presenting him as someone who strives for equality and seems to be on the animals’ side. The main source of conflict between Snowball ad Napoleon, especially during the first half of the novel, was due to the fact that ‘these two were never in agreement’ and this is shown through the way they utilise (or manipulate, in Napoleon’s case) their power over the other animals’. Snowball is full of plans and ideas, such as education and generating electricity which help optimise the animals’ lives. We know that Snowball is driven to spread the word of ‘Animalism’ by creating simplified maxims such as ‘four legs good, two legs bad’. However, Orwell portrays the idea that a lot of these plans are idealistic as many of these fail and this becomes apparent when Orwell lists them but abruptly ends the list with the sentence ‘on the whole these projects were a failure’, creating bathos and a satirical tone. On the other hand, Napoleon becomes a dictator whose only goals are to gain power for himself and the reader is aware of this when ‘the milk has disappeared’ at the end of Chapter 2- we later learn that this is mixed in  with the pig’s food. Napoleon ‘took no interest in Snowballs’ committees’ and instead uses fear and his propaganda agent Squealer to gain dominance over the animals, showing that his idea of dictatorship is based more on fascism that the utopian vision of ‘Animalism’. Squealer plants the idea in the animals’ heads that if they do not follow Napoleon ‘Jones will come back’. He also uses the dogs, which he took f rom their mothers when they were puppies and trained them to be guard dogs, as a fear element. The pigs are the most educated animals on the farm (probably due to Napoleon focusing on indoctrinating only the pigs) and use their higher skill level to position themselves above the other animals. Orwell portrays this by reminding the reader numerous times throughout the novel that the pigs were ‘the cleverest of the animals’. Napoleon abuses this which is noticeable in Squealer’s speeches when he says that apples are ‘absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig’ and using complicated languages to obfuscate the pigs. Eventually, Napoleon usurps dominance over the farm bad the animals start looking up to him, creating dangerous maxims such as ‘Napoleon is always right’ and the sheeps’ bleating of ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ used to drown out anyone who disagrees with Napoleon. ‘Animal Farm’ mirrors the events of the Russian revolution and Orwell’s purpose is to show the reader that, althoug h it seems ideal in theory, communism is flawed. The reader can sense that this is satire because Orwell ridicules his targets by reducing political figures to the level of unflattering farm animals, especially pigs who are renowned for their greed and gluttony. Snowball represents Trotsky who was a brilliant leader. However, Napoleon attempts to expel Snowball form the farm, just like Stalin expels Trotsky. Napoleon then tries to eradicate Snowball’s name from victorious memories such as his triumph in the Battle of the Cowshed and make him into a traitor. He blames Snowball for the destruction of the windmill as well as spreading rumours that he is ‘secretly frequenting the farm by night’ and causing mischief. In my opinion, it is worrying how easily the animals’ convinced, which shows just how powerful Napoleon is. Structure plays an important role in building tension and introducing conflict. Things seem to get worse with each chapter and the farm seems to rapidly descend into a fascist dystopia soon after Snowball is chased off the farm. There also seems to a few instances of irony created by Orwell’s juxtaposition-  for example, he tells the reader that the animals suffer ‘hardships’ but that they also have a ‘greater dignity’. This portrays the ignorance of the animals, as well as conveying Orwell’s mocking tone. This mocking tone is found in various pleas throughout the novel to emphasise how oblivious the animals are to the despotic nature of Napoleon. For example, Squealer is found obviously changing the commandments but ‘none of the animals could form any idea as to what this meant’ which not only shows oblivion but due to the fact the blindly accept everything Napoleon says, they cannot think for themselves.

Case study stage q Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stage q - Case Study Example In addition, the essay also relays policies aimed at to bringing the centre into a 21st century complex hence have a high competitive advantage in the market. Porter’s Five Forces Model Buyer’s Power This is the customer’s ability to purchase the UR UMUC Healthy fitness center’s products at reasonable prices compared to other corporations (Baltzan, 2013). In UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center, increase of the buyer’s power will significantly boost business’s performance. Therefore, the business will yield to the setting reasonable prices intended to attract large client pool. Supplier power This is the power by suppliers to supply the centre with required quality equipment at a much higher price (Baltzan, 2013). The supplier power brings a neutral impact to the business. The above force is also not vital and ought not to appear among the institution’s strategies. Threat of substitute products or services This brings out how the customers c an switch to the competitors’ services and products at the expense of UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center merchandise (Baltzan, 2013). This force negatively affects the fitness centre because it reflects to high loss rate in the centre. It is also fundamental to include strategies and policies that attract competitors’ customers to opt for our products and services. ... Yes, it is vital to consider the factor while devising strategies of avoiding competition against UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center as well as come up with ways of competing with new entrants. Rivalry among existing competitors The intensity of rivalry between competitors is a major determinant of the UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center’s success (Baltzan, 2013). This factor neutrally affects the centre as UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center can be the most preferred destination by numerous customers. The force ought to be included in the strategy making process to ensure the centre does not incur major losses due to competition. If the company’s competitors provide quality services and attractive products, the centre is most likely to have higher losses. Porter’s three Generic Strategies are vital in a business to ensure they have attained high competitive advantage (Baltzan, 2013). In order for UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center to improve and achieve a 21st century standard, I opt to employ the differentiation Strategy. This entails the business should strive to become unique in the market than its competitors (Baltzan, 2013). The strategy also encompasses emphasis on branding, advertising, design, service, quality, and new product development (Baltzan, 2013). For instance, UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center can be exceptional in providing the best customer service in the industry via studying its client’s behavior. In addition, we can be unique by providing Wi-Fi services in the centre to achieve technological advancement level, hence ensuring the clients feeling the institution not only avails the required necessities, but aids them to be in touch with whom they love or need. The most important business area which UR UMUC Healthy Fitness Center ought to improve is the

Are the German Banks Riskier than the European Competitors Essay

Are the German Banks Riskier than the European Competitors - Essay Example As the essay highlights there are a number of reasons why the German banks should be so eager to implement risk anti-risk policies. After the unification of East and West Germany, the banks in the united nation needed to win the trust and the faith in the minds of the people, so that they had to undertake some relevant and careful anti-risk policy measures. The policy measures have continued ever since; even a few days back, the Chairman of Deutsche Bank, Joseph Ackerman, had reportedly said that there would be a worldwide availability of German bank shares in order to minimize the risk elements present in the business. According to the report findings since the mean or the average values are irrelevant to the study and rather the standard deviations are the ones that are needed for the same, so further description of the ratios have been omitted. The objective is to find out the relative risk quotient of the variables corresponding to the German and other European banks. The one that is found to display a higher standard deviation of returns is considered to be the riskier one. In order to ensure that the study involves the banks which operate in the market at present, only the active banks or the ones which have been merged with other banks have been taken into account. In order to carry on with the above specified empirical analysis, data has been collected on all banks located within the Euro region. In addition, data for the German banks have been categorized separately, so as to carry on the comparison with that of their European counterparts.

The Demand for Dark Tourism in Prague (Reasons) Essay

The Demand for Dark Tourism in Prague (Reasons) - Essay Example t few research papers on the topic of dark tourism and so this research study is a contribution towards the goal of developing this potential to its fullest. Like the previous trend of eco-tourism, dark tourism is one way to develop tourism especially if a town or city has just very few exciting natural sceneries to offer domestic and foreign tourists but instead has lot of old sites, castles, former prison or concentration camps, execution squares, and dungeons as alternatives sites worthy to visit and spend their tourism dollars. Academic literature is also very few on this niche of the tourism industry and new research on this niche can be very helpful indeed. The forecast demand and growth potential of dark tourism is very optimistic with people always attracted by a morbid curiosity to see and perhaps re-experience the tragedy and death of the deceased people associated with dark sites; people want to re-create the grief of

MARKETING CASE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MARKETING CASE - Essay Example Further, the CRM deployment team did not try and have different software for different countries or product lines. Essentially, the CRM team ensured that the sales force wherever they are use the same system because they believe that the customer experience is â€Å"universal†. This motto of standardization of point of contact experience and integration with the larger business drivers and objectives meant that the CRM system has been developed to address tomorrow’s problems as well and as the team puts it, they are in the business of offering â€Å"solutions†. What could have been done differently is that the software could have been customized for certain product lines which have different customer experiences. Though the case explicitly mentions why this was not done, I do believe that top tier integration can go hand in hand with bottom tier customization which is essential in a globalized world economy where the ability to think global and act local is often the differentiating factor between global

Is Justice Scalia Wise Enough in His Supreme Court Rulings Research Paper

Is Justice Scalia Wise Enough in His Supreme Court Rulings - Research Paper Example The jurist is a fervent champion of the authority of the executive arm of government; he believes that the original ideology of the authors of the American constitution was to establish and protect a powerful presidency to ensure stability of the nation. In his rulings the judge rejects double standards in the application of the law such as policies aimed to empower minority groups. Talbot (43) avers that Scalia often files separate minority verdicts in which he criticizes the majority decision. This paper explores the philosophies of Justice Scalia as evident in some of the Supreme Court rulings he has made on discrimination and criminal procedure. Justice Scalia is widely described as a conservative figure on the bench, implying that he offers the Constitutional interpretation in letter and spirit of its key architects of the eighteenth century (Bramwell 370-375). In his rulings, the justice captures the philosophies that inspired the Amendment to the Constitution. Scalia believes various constitutional changes to the US laws should be interpreted with respect to their essence at the period of amendment. Nevertheless, the justice is at pains to explain his judicial approach relative to the verdict of Brown v. Board of Education of 1954, which declared segregated learning facilities illegal. The ruling also cited the Fourteenth Amendment, which the justice interprets otherwise, as a deciding factor in the case. The enactment of the Amendment contradicts Scalia’s observations as it allowed corporations some rights under the constitution (Niose 16-21). It is arguable that the architects of the Fourteenth Amendment wanted to enhance school segregation. Scalia however, says he would have rejected school segregation in America, an opinion which is driven by the need for a real united America. According to Scalia and Ring, the justice enthusiastically rejects the notion of an evolving society guided by an â€Å"adjusting† set of laws (9-11). Scaliaâ₠¬â„¢s ideology implies that it is beyond the mandate of the court to adapt the constitutional interpretation. The justice sounds an alarm that if Americans accepted the fact that constitutionalism should be modified to suit an evolving society, the dangers of evaluating changing standards may be tantamount to believing that the evolution has boiled down into one's personal opinion. Nevertheless, by comparing the Constitution with original statutes, which should be bequeathed future generations in its letter and spirit, the philosophies advanced by the justice may fail to enable the modern American society to manage new cultural trends, some of which may be good and promote peace and stability in the world (Lakin 47). Additionally, due to the fact that laws are crafted to serve justice, the evolution of the values of the American society may turn the people into â€Å"slaves† of their forefathers’ ideologies if Scalia’s philosophies are anything to go by. Plainti ff has an upper hand Scalia’s philosophy on criminal procedures is largely in favor of the plaintiff. For instance, he rejected the Court's landmark ruling in Miranda v. Arizona, which offered guidelines on the treatment of criminal suspects. The ruling held that a testimony by a suspect in police custody who is ignorant of his rights was unconstitutional. Scalia’s verdict to judicially review Miranda in the Dickerson v. United States case of 2000 hit a snag, when he found himself in the minority,

Ethical issues in regards to social work Case Study

Ethical issues in regards to social work - Case Study Example In his personal point of view he has to inform the lady about the matter as he knows the lady and moreover it is a case against human values and morality. However, as per the professional ethics, the practitioner is not supposed to confide the things the client says to him and besides he has to do as much favour to the client. But it is said that if a problem becomes a great threat to the society the social worker has to maintain the social aspects of it and should work for it without discriminating the client. Therefore, it is imperative that the clinician has not only the â€Å"ethical responsibility to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of clients† but also â€Å"to practice within the confines of the law and in an ethical manner† (Corbin 2007). As evident, the social worker is here taken up by two ethical problems- personal and professional. The personal ethics tend him to speak this to the lady at once but the professional ethics pushes him into a dilemma and so he becomes reluctant to speak to the lady. If he speaks to the lady he violates the rule of confidentiality with the client. The code of ethics for National Association of Social Workers state that â€Å"social workers should protect the confidentiality of all information obtained in the course of professional service, except for compelling professional reasons†; however, it is not applicable â€Å"when disclosure is necessary to prevent serious, foreseeable, and imminent harm to a client or other identifiable person.† (School Shootings: Ethical & Confidentiality Boundary Issues). Therefore, in the given case, the clinician can disclose the information to prevent the imminent harm that will be done to the girl. However, as the professionalism stresse s confidentiality, the social worker here can also work hard to make the client realise the problems involved in his marriage. By marrying the lady he, not

In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio - Essay Example The play is celebrated as a romantic comedy inspired by 'Feydeau, Goldoni and Sophia Loren,' and "it bears the mark of all three, with a dash of trademark Galluccio smut thrown in just to remind us that it's a modern-day spoof of the past." (Donnelly) Therefore, the play In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio attracts large number of audience, including me, and the play deviates from the ordinary plays within the world of theatre through the presentation of the days passed by with a satirical note. One of the most cheery and thoroughly entertaining comedies of love, lust and misunderstandings, In Piazza San Domenico was set in a burning hot August in Naples in 1952 and the main plot of the play centers on a series of misunderstandings which lead young Carmelina Benevento to believe that her fianc Guido is cheating on her with the town tramp Mafalda. When Carmelina unexpectedly faints upon hearing some bad news about Guido, there is a series of striking findings between people which provoke gossip and the series of misunderstandings run through the plot of the play.