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A method for the separation of the beta-LG variants A, B, and C was developed using free zone capillary electrophoresis. A separation buffer consisting of 50 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethane sulfonic acid (pH 8.0) and polyoxyethylene (20)-sorbitan monolaurate was used for the separation. Milk samples from 424 Jersey cows were phenotyped using this method, and the gene frequencies for beta-LG A, B, and C were .41, .53, and .06, respectively. These frequencies were different from those found in studies of Jersey populations in other countries, where the beta-LG B allele had a significantly higher frequency, and the beta-LG A allele a significantly lower frequency, than those of this present study. The frequency of the beta-LG C allele was intermediate to those of other studies. The concentration of beta-LG in the milk was different among the beta-LG phenotypes and was, from greatest to least: AA, AB, AC, BB, and BC.

Formation of the palate, the organ that separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity, is a developmental process characteristic to embryos of higher vertebrates. Failure in this process results in palatal cleft. During the final steps of palatogenesis, two palatal shelves outgrowing from the sides of the embryonic oronasal cavity elevate above the tongue, meet in the midline, and rapidly fuse together. Over the decades, multiple mechanisms have been proposed to explain how the superficial mucous membranes disappear from the contact line, thus allowing for normal midline mesenchymal confluence. A substantial body of experimental evidence exists for cell death, cell migration, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT), replacement through new tissue intercalation, and other mechanisms. However, the most recent use of gene recombination techniques in cell fate tracking disfavors the EMT concept, and suggests that apoptosis is the major fate of the midline cells during physiological palatal fusion. This article summarizes the benefits and drawbacks of histochemical and molecular tools used to determine the fates of cells within the palatal midline. Mechanisms of normal disintegration of the midline epithelial seam are reviewed together with pathologic processes that prevent this disintegration, thus causing cleft palate.

This article discusses the concept of ethnomathematics from three perspectives: the epistemological, the political, and the educational. We use a theoretical toolkit that borrows the concepts of “discourses” and of “disciplining” from Foucault but also the concepts of “language games” and of “family resemblance” from Wittgenstein in order to analyze the pedagogical program of field education in Brazil. A philosophical analysis enables use to investigate the failure of the government’s educational policy as well as resistance and social movements among “field populations”. Basing ourselves on an anthropological perspective, trying to understand how cognitive acts underlie local activities and how these activities are embedded into a cultural environment, we suggest that this approach might have a positive impact.

Turmeric, obtained from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa, is used in South Asia as a traditional medicine for the treatment of epilepsy. To date, in vivo studies on the anticonvulsant activity of turmeric have focused on its principal curcuminoid, curcumin. However, poor absorption and rapid metabolism have limited the therapeutic application of curcumin in humans. To explore the therapeutic potential of turmeric for epilepsy further, we analyzed its anticonvulsant activity in a larval zebrafish seizure assay. Initial experiments revealed that the anticonvulsant activity of turmeric in zebrafish larvae cannot be explained solely by the effects of curcumin. Zebrafish bioassay-guided fractionation of turmeric identified bisabolene sesquiterpenoids as additional anticonvulsants that inhibit PTZ-induced seizures in both zebrafish and mice. Here, we present the first report of the anticonvulsant properties of bisabolene sesquiterpenoids and provide evidence which warrants further investigat...

The iron transport protein, transferrin, binds two metal ions and, concomitantly, two carboxylate anions. The metal ion indicators, xylenol orange and semi-xylenol orange are carboxylate anions which exhibit a characteristic visible spectrum when attached to a metal. We prepared the ternary complexes VO2+-transferrin-xylenol orange and VO2+-transferrin-semi-xylenol orange. The EPR spectra show that the vanadyl ion is attached to the protein and the visible spectra show that the xylenol orange or semi-xylenol orange is attached to the metal. The implication is that in other metal-transferrin-anion complexes, the anion is directly attached to the metal.