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Orexin Depolarizes Central Amygdala Neurons via Orexin Receptor 1, Phospholipase C and Sodium-Calcium Exchanger and Modulates Conditioned Fear
No full textOrexins (OX), also known as hypocretins, are excitatory neuropeptides with well-described roles in regulation of wakefulness, arousal, energy homeostasis, and anxiety. An additional and recently recognized role of OX is modulation of fear responses. We studied the OX neurons of the perifornical hypothalamus (PeF) which send projections to the amygdala, a region critical in fear learning and fear expression. Within the amygdala, the highest density of OX-positive fibers was detected in the central nucleus (CeA). The specific mechanisms underlying OX neurotransmission within the CeA were explored utilizing rat brain slice electrophysiology, pharmacology, and chemogenetic stimulation. We show that OX induces postsynaptic depolarization of medial CeA neurons that is mediated by OX receptor 1 (OXR1) but not OX receptor 2 (OXR2). We further characterized the mechanism of CeA depolarization by OX as phospholipase C (PLC)- and sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX)- dependent. Selective chemogenetic stimulation of OX PeF fibers recapitulated OXR1 dependent depolarization of CeA neurons. We also observed that OXR1 activity modified presynaptic release of glutamate within the CeA. Finally, either systemic or intra-CeA perfusion of OXR1 antagonist reduced the expression of conditioned fear. Together, these data suggest the PeF-CeA orexinergic pathway can modulate conditioned fear through a signal transduction mechanism involving PLC and NCX activity and that selective OXR1 antagonism may be a putative treatment for fear-related disorders
“Using software to achieve learning outcomes: Results from five experiments”
No full textUsing a Teagle Foundation grant, ACS undertook a hybrid learning project in the summer 2017 and concluded it in January 2018. The presenters reached out to five early-adopting faculty members to participate in the project. The faculty, from five ACS campuses – Centenary, Davidson, Furman, Southwestern, and Spelman – also represented diverse disciplines. The project is now complete, and we are ready to share the process, outcomes, and lessons learned
Students as Partners in Creating an Alternative Approach to Teach Farm Business Management in New Zealand, or: Can Financials be Sexy?
Get PDFUnderstanding Partnership Approaches: The Implications of the New Zealand Defence College (NZDC)
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Articulating identities and analyzing belonging: a multistep intervention that affirms and informs a diversity of students
Get PDFThis article describes a multistep intervention developed for an undergraduate course called ‘Advocating Diversity in Higher Education.’ The goal of the intervention was to affirm diversity and foster a sense of inclusion among students within and beyond the course. We contextualize the intervention in student protests during 2015 and 2016 regarding racial and other forms of discrimination on college and university campuses in the United States, and we describe how it is informed by several theoretical frames and associated practices: intersectionality, belonging, and radical pedagogical partnership. Co-authored by the faculty member who co-designed and co-taught the course, an undergraduate student who co-designed the course, and a recent graduate who co-created the course when she took it, the article embodies the inclusion and radical partnership it analyzes. It is intended to offer individuals working in higher education an intervention that can be adapted across contexts
The L30e ribosomal protein from S. cerevisiae binds to its transcript RNA more strongly than to its primary target helix 58 of ribosomal RNA
No full textIn S. cerevisiae, ribosomal protein L30e, in addition to being an integral part of the ribosome, autoregulates its levels of expression by: 1) binding to its transcript, inhibiting splicing; and 2) to its messenger RNA, inhibiting translation. This work explores ribosomal protein L30e binding to two short RNA fragments that mimic RNA-L30e binding sites. The L30e has a 100-fold higher affinity for its own transcript mRNA than for the helix 58 ribosomal rRNA target. Site-directed mutagenesis studies suggest that L30e maintains the same interaction network in both RNAs. Thermodynamics of L30e binding to RNAs give a direct insight into the energetic and entropic characteristics of complexes in aqueous solution and nicely complement the structural views derived from existing X-ray crystallography and multidimensional NMR studies. Experimental data support the scenario that in yeast L30e binds to an already pre-formed RNA helix 58
The Caliph’s Prey: Hunting in the Visual Cultures of the Umayyad Empire
No full textThis dissertation interprets images of hunting in architectural decoration produced throughout the early Islamic Umayyad caliphate (ca. 661750 CE) as a series of dialogs between the ArabMuslim conquerors and their conquered subjects. Through four case studies I argue that conquered peoples who have been excluded from considerations of Umayyad art and patronage played a variety of roles in shaping visual cultures throughout the empire.
The first case study examines a pavilion known as Azraq alShīshān in the Azraq Oasis (in modernday eastern Jordan), which was decorated with relief carvings that included images of hunting. Situating these images within their architectural and environmental context reveals that the landscape was a potent medium for the projection of imperial power, both in real hunting parties as well as their literary and visual depictions.
The second case study focuses on a bathhouse known as Quṣayr ʿAmra (in modernday Jordan), which was decorated for the Umayyad prince alWalīd ibn Yazīd (r. 743744). I draw attention to a consciousness of conquest and the geographic scope of empire reflected in the images that adorn its walls, and I see this building as articulating a visual muʿārada (competitive comparison) between the centers and provinces of the caliphate.
The third case study analyzes the suburban estate known as Chal Ṭarkhān ʿEshqābād (in northern Iran, south of modernday Tehran). It is decorated with stucco reliefs depicting “postSasanian” hunting scenes that could have been desirable to Muslim and nonMuslim elites, both of whom were in a position to patronize craftsmen in the provinces of the Umayyad caliphate. These reliefs demonstrate how members of each group might have employed preexisting local imagery in an attempt to mediate between the two communities, echoing the broader cultural phenomenon of antiArabexceptionalism known as shuʿūbiyya.
The fourth case study explores the visual dialog that emerged between imperial patrons and their conquered subjects as a consequence of the Umayyad conquests by comparing murals produced on the eastern frontier of the Umayyad Empire in the Sogdian city of Panjikent (in modernday western Tajikistan) and a floor painting from Qaṣr alḤayr alGharbī (in modernday Syria) in the Umayyad heartland.
Considered together, these four case studies of hunting images reflect the processes by which a variety of aristocratic and imperial identities were negotiated and redefined in visual culture within the Umayyad Empire during the ArabMuslim conquests of the late seventh and early eighth centuries