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OREN CASS WANTS to restore to our morally fractured society and culture a 'moral vision,' one that is 'widely shared.' It's an honorable ambition. But who does he think shares [...]

There are two facts of my life that my grandchildren used to tell their friends with pride. One is that in the year 2000, as part of my application to [...]

God-talk consists of God speaking to humans in revelation, and humans speaking to God in prayer. They are the two forms of the covenantal language spoken between God and humans in general, and specifically between God and the Jewish people. God-talk is an essential component of the languages of all historic cultures. Yet there have been attempts to dismiss God-talk from public discourse, either epistemologically by claiming it is nonsense, or psychologically by claiming it is an invented illusion. Conversely, it is argued here that Jewish God-talk (by no means uniquely) has a logic that regulates how it may and may not be intelligently spoken by its speakers; hence it is not nonsense. And it is argued here that God-talk has always been spoken in human history, that it would be unintelligible in any language whose speakers did not already intend a real referent by the name "God"; hence it is not an invented illusion. This essay is an attempt to retrieve God-talk so that it can be conducted in public discourse, even in secular space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we aimed to establish and characterize a mature cortical spheroid model system for Kleefstra syndrome (KS) using patient-derived iPSC. We identified key differences in the growth behavior of KS spheroids determined by reduced proliferation marked by low Ki67 and high E-cadherin expression. Conversely, in the spheroid-based neurite outgrowth assay KS outperformed the control neurite outgrowth due to higher BDNF expression. KS spheroids were highly enriched in VGLUT1/2-expressing glutamatergic and ChAT-expressing cholinergic neurons, while TH-positive catecholamine neurons were significantly underrepresented. Furthermore, high NMDAR1 expression was also detected in the KS spheroid, similarly to other patients-derived neuronal cultures, denoting high NMDAR1 expression as a general, KS-specific marker. Control and KS neuronal progenitors and neurospheres were exposed to different toxicants (paraquat, rotenone, bardoxolone, and doxorubicin), and dose-response curves were assessed after acute exposure. Differentiation stage and compound-specific differences were detected with KS neurospheres being the most sensitive to paraquat. Altogether this study describes a robust 3D model system expressing the disease-specific markers and recapitulating the characteristic pathophysiological traits. This platform is suitable for testing developing brain-adverse environmental effects interactions, drug development, and screening towards individual therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]