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ANG LEE'S FILM THE WEDDING BANQUET could be classic introductory material for tongzhi studies and, particularly, for research on cooperative marriage. (1) In the film, Wai-Tung, a Taiwanese landlord who [...]

Objective To test the hypothesis that economic recessions lead to reduced global development assistance for health (DAH). Methods Data obtained from the Creditor Reporting System of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 15 OECD countries were used to model the percentage change (relative difference) in commitments and disbursements for DAH as a function of three measures of economic recession: recessionary year (as a dummy variable with 0 for no recession and 1 for recession), percentage change in per capita gross domestic product and percentage point change in unemployment rate for recessionary cycles from 1975 through 2007. We looked for an association both during the concurrent recessionary year and one and two years later. Findings No statistically significant association was found in the short or long run between measures of economic recession and the amount of official DAH committed or disbursed. Conclusion Any important decrease in overall DAH following the current economic recession would have little historical precedent and claims of inevitability would be unjustifiable. Objectif Tester l'hypothese selon laquelle les recessions economiques entrainent une diminution de l'assistance au developpement sanitaire (ADS) mondiale. Methodes Les donnees provenant du systeme de notification des pays creanciers (SNPC) de I'Organisation de cooperation et de developpement economiques (OCDE) de 15 pays de I'OCDE ont ete utilisees pour modeliser la variation en pourcentage (difference relative) dans les engagements et les deboursements en matiere d'ADS en tant que fonction des trois mesures de la recession economique: I'annee de la recession (en tant que variable indicatrice avec O pour une absence de recession et 1 pour une recession), la variation en pourcentage dans le PIB par habitant et la variation en points de pourcentage dans le taux de chomage pour les cycles de recession de 1975 a 2007. Nous avons recherche une association lors de l'annee de la recession simultanee plus une, et deux annees plus tard. Resultats Aucune association statistiquement significative n'a ete constatee sur le court ou le long terme entre les mesures de la recession economique et le montant de I'ADS officiel engage ou debourse. Conclusion Toute baisse importante dans l'ADS globale suivant la recession economique actuelle n'aurait que peu d'antecedent historique et toute demande d'inevitabilite ne pourrait etre justifiee. Objetivo Comprobar la hipotesis de que las recesiones economicas conllevan una disminucion de la ayuda mundial para el desarrollo destinada a la salud (ADS). Metodos Se emplearon los datos obtenidos a traves del Sistema de Informacion Creditor de la Organizacion de Cooperacion y Desarrollo Economicos (OCDE), procedentes de 15 paises miembros de la OCDE, para determinar la variacion porcentual (diferencia relativa) de los compromisos y desembolsos'para la ADS, como una funcion de las tres medidas de la recesion economica: el ano de la recesion (como una variable simulada en la que el O corresponde a la ausencia de recesion y el 1 a la recesion), la variacion porcentual del producto interior bruto per capita y la variacion en puntos porcentuales de la tasa de desempleo en los ciclos de recesion entre 1975 y 2007, Hemos buscado una asociacion durante el ano de recesion concurrente y durante uno y dos aros despues. Resultados No se observo ninguna asociacion estadisticamente significativa a corto o largo plazo entre las medidas de la recesion economica y el volumen de ADS oficial comprometida o desembolsada. Conclusion Cualquier descenso considerable en la ADS mundial tras la actual recesion economica tendria escasos precedentes historicos, por lo que resultaria injustificable afirmar su inevitabilidad., Introduction There is fear that the ongoing global economic recession will lead high-income countries to reduce commitments or disbursements for development assistance for health (DAH). The World Bank's chief economist [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2009.03.025 Byline: Thomas R. Palfrey, Stephanie W. Wang Keywords: Scoring rules; Experiment; Game theory; Forecasting; Beliefs Abstract: Several recent studies in experimental economics have tried to measure beliefs of subjects engaged in strategic games with other subjects. Using data from one such study we conduct an experiment where our experienced subjects observe early rounds of strategy choices from that study and are given monetary incentives to report forecasts of choices in later rounds. We elicit beliefs using three different scoring rules: linear, logarithmic, and quadratic. We compare forecasts across the scoring rules and compare the forecasts of our trained observers to forecasts of the actual players in the original experiment. We find significant differences across scoring rules. The improper linear scoring rule produces forecasts closer to 0 and 1 than the proper rules, and these forecasts are poorly calibrated. The two proper scoring rules induce significantly different distributions of forecasts. We find that forecasts by observers under both proper scoring rules are significantly different from the forecasts of the actual players, in terms of accuracy, calibration, and the distribution of forecasts. We also find evidence for belief convergence among the observers. Author Affiliation: Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States Article History: Received 12 January 2008; Revised 23 March 2009; Accepted 25 March 2009

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of [approximately equal to] 22-nt noncoding RNAs that can posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression. Several miRNAs are specifically expressed in hematopoietic cells. Here we show that one such miRNA, miR-150, is mainly expressed in the lymph nodes and spleen and is highly up-regulated during the development of mature T and B cells; expression of miR-150 is sharply up-regulated at the immature B cell stage. Overexpression of miR-150 in hematopoietic stem cells, followed by bone marrow transplantation, had little effect on the formation of either mature CD8- and CD4-positive T cells or granulocytes or macrophages, but the formation of mature B cells was greatly impaired. Furthermore, premature expression of miR-150 blocked the transition from the pro-B to the pre-B stage. Our results indicate that miR-150 most likely down-regulates mRNAs that are important for pre- and pro-B cell formation or function, and its ectopic expression in these cells blocks further development of B cells. bone marrow transplantation | hematopoiesis | hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell | lymphopoiesis

Falcipain-2 (FP2), the major cysteine protease of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, is a hemoglobinase and promising drug target. Here we report the crystal structure of FP2 in complex with a protease inhibitor, cystatin. The FP2 structure reveals two previously undescribed cysteine protease structural motifs, designated FP[2.sub.nose] and FP[2.sub.arm], in addition to details of the active site that will help focus inhibitor design. Unlike most cysteine proteases, FP2 does not require a prodomain but only the short FP[2.sub.nose] motif to correctly fold and gain catalytic activity. Our structure and mutagenesis data suggest a molecular basis for this unique mechanism by highlighting the functional role of two Tyr within FP[2.sub.nose] and a conserved Glu outside this motif. The FP[2.sub.arm] motif is required for hemoglobinase activity. The structure reveals topographic features and a negative charge cluster surrounding FP[2.sub.arm] that suggest it may serve as an exo-site for hemoglobin binding. Motifs similar to FP[2.sub.nose] and FP[2.sub.arm] are found only in related plasmodial proteases, suggesting that they confer malaria-specific functions. cysteine protease | falcipain 2 | inhibitor | malaria | x-ray structure

Falcipain-2 (FP2) is a papain family cysteine protease and important hemoglobinase of erythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Inhibitors of FP2 block hemoglobin hydrolysis and parasite development, suggesting that this enzyme is a promising target for antimalarial chemotherapy. FP2 and related plasmodial cysteine proteases have an unusual 14-aa motif near the C terminus of the catalytic domain. Recent solution of the structure of FP2 showed this motif to form a [beta]-hairpin that is distant from the enzyme active site and protrudes out from the protein. To evaluate the function of this motif, we compared the activity of the wild-type enzyme with that of a mutant lacking 10 aa of the motif ([sup.[DELTA]10]FP2). [sup.[DELTA]10]FP2 had nearly identical activity to that of the wild-type enzyme against peptide substrates and the protein substrates casein and gelatin. However, [sup.[DELTA]10]FP2 demonstrated negligible activity against hemoglobin or globin. FP2 that was inhibited with trans-epoxysuccinylL-leucylamido-(4-guanidino) butane (FP[2.sup.E-64]) formed a complex with hemoglobin, but [sup.[DELTA]10]FP[2.sup.E-64] did not, indicating that the motif mediates binding to hemoglobin independent of the active site. A peptide encoding the motif blocked hemoglobin hydrolysis, but not the hydrolysis of casein. Kinetics for the inhibition of [sup.[DELTA]10]FP2 were very similar to those for FP2 with peptidyl and protein inhibitors, but [sup.[DELTA]10]FP2 was poorly inhibited by the inhibitory prodomain of FP2. Our results indicate that FP2 utilizes an unusual motif for two specific functions, interaction with hemoglobin, its natural substrate, and interaction with the prodomain, its natural inhibitor. macromolecular interaction | malaria | drug discovery | antimalarial chemotherapy

Filamentous soil bacteria of the genus Streptomyces carry out complex developmental cycles that result in sporulation and production of numerous secondary metabolites with pharmaceutically important activities. To further characterize the molecular basis of these developmental events, we screened for mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor that exhibit aberrant morphological differentiation and/or secondary metabolite production. On the basis of this screening analysis and the subsequent complementation analysis of the mutants obtained we assigned developmental roles to a gene involved in methionine biosynthesis (metH) and two previously uncharacterized genes (SC06938 and SC02525) and we reidentified two previously described developmental genes (bldA and bldM). In contrast to most previously studied genes involved in development, the genes newly identified in the present study all appear to encode biosynthetic enzymes instead of regulatory proteins. The MetH methionine synthase appears to be required for conversion of aerial hyphae into chains of spores, SCO6938 is a probable acyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase that contributes to the proper timing of aerial mycelium formation and antibiotic production, and SCO2525 is a putative methyltransferase that influences various aspects of colony growth and development.

In visual search tasks, if a set of items is presented for 1 s before another set of new items (containing the target) is added, search can be restricted to the new set. The process that eliminates old items from search is visual marking. This study investigates the kind of memory that distinguishes the old items from the new items during search. Using an accuracy paradigm in which perfect marking results in 100% accuracy and lack of marking results in near chance performance, the authors show that search can be restricted to new items not by visual short-term memory (VSTM) of old locations but by a limited capacity and slow-decaying VSTM of new locations and a high capacity and fast-decaying memory for asynchrony.

Research has been conducted on the ecotin M84R and thrombin. The structure of the ecotin M84R-thrombin complex has been determined in the effort to investigate how thrombin and ecotin form a complex.

Abstract: Popular stereotypes of Gypsies as sultry dancers, inscrutable fortune-tellers, and carefree wanderers have surrounded the Gypsies with a romantic mystique. In reality, Eastern European Gypsies, or Roma, have had [...]

Structural data on the Gla doman of blood coagulation factor Xa reveal an intermediate folding state of the domain suggesting that this may be the route for its eventual membrane bound state of the domain. Data indicate that Tyr 99 of factor Xa undergoes conformational change upon ligand binding resulting in S2 and S4 pocket size change.