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Home Arts Biography Biography of Arthur Kornberg
Biography of Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg – American biochemist.
Name: Arthur Kornberg
Date of Birth: March 3, 1918
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, United States
Date of Death: October 26, 2007 (aged 89)
Place of Death: Palo Alto, United States
Occupation: Biochemist
Father: Joseph
Mother: Lena (Née Katz) Kornberg
Spouse/Ex: Sylvy Ruth Levy (m. 1943-1986), Charlene Walsh Levering (m. 1988-1995), Carolyn Frey Dixon (m. 1995-2007)
Children: Roger David Kornberg, Thomas B. Kornberg, and Kenneth Andrew Kornberg
An American biochemist and physician who received (with Severo Ochoa) the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the means by which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules are duplicated in the bacterial cell, as well as the means for reconstructing this duplication process in the test tube, Arthur Kornberg was born on March 3, 1918, in New York City, New York, U.S. to the son of Jewish parents Joseph and Lena (née Katz) Kornberg, who emigrated to New York from Austrian Galicia (now part of Poland) in 1900 before they were married. His parents, who came to the USA at the turn of the century from Austrian Galicia, were not-so-well-off traders.
Kornberg began his education at a public school and funded his college education with the help of scholarships. His initial aim was to become a doctor, but while studying for his medical degree, he began to take interest in research and started a survey to see if jaundice was common among medical students. The paper, which was published a year after he earned his MD, caught the attention of the Director of National Institutes of Health. On his invitation, Kornberg joined NIH and served there for eleven years; in-between he took breaks to update his knowledge on enzymes. His primary research interests were in biochemistry, especially enzyme chemistry, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis (DNA replication) and studying the nucleic acids which control heredity in animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses. Later he began his teaching career as a professor at Washington University but continued with his research. Here he was able to isolate DNA polymerizing enzyme, which earned him the Nobel Prize three years later. Later he shifted to the University of Stanford and remained there for the rest of his life. He was also socially very aware and lent his name to relevant movements.
Kornberg has also awarded the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1951, L.H.D. degree from Yeshiva University in 1962, as well as National Medal of Science in 1979.
Childhood, Family and Educational Life
An American biochemist, Arthur Kornberg was born on March 3, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents, Joseph, and Lena (née Katz) Kornberg were Jewish emigrants from Austrian Galicia, now part of Poland. Arthur's father, Joseph Kornberg, did not have any formal education but could speak at least six languages. In New York, he operated a sweet shop, but later as his health failed, he opened a hardware store. When Arthur turned nine, he began to lend a helping hand at the store.
Arthur Kornberg was educated first at Abraham Lincoln High School and then at City College in New York City. He received at B.Sc. in 1937, followed by an M.D. at the University of Rochester in 1941. Kornberg had a mildly elevated level of bilirubin in his blood jaundice due to a hereditary genetic condition known as Gilbert's syndrome and, while at medical school, he took a survey of fellow students to discover how common the condition was. The results were published in Kornberg's first research paper in 1942.
Kornberg suffered from a hereditary genetic condition called Gilbert syndrome and his blood contained a slightly higher level of bilirubin. It made him susceptible to jaundice. While studying at the medical school, he began to take a survey of his fellow students, trying to establish how common the syndrome was.
On November 21, 1943, Kornberg married Sylvy Ruth Levy, also a biochemist of note. She worked closely with Kornberg and contributed significantly to the discovery of DNA polymerase. Arthur and Sylvy Kornberg had three sons: Roger David Kornberg (1947), Thomas B. Kornberg (1948), and Kenneth Andrew Kornberg (1950). Sylvy Kornberg died in 1986.
Two years after the death of his first wife, Kornberg tied the knot for the second time and in 1988, married Charlene Walsh Levering, who also predeceased him in 1995. In December 1998, he married Carolyn Frey Dixon. They remained married till his death in 2007.
Career and Works
Arthur Kornberg's internship was at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, between 1941-1942. After completing his medical training, he joined the armed services as a lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard, serving as a ship's doctor in 1942. Rolla Dyer, the Director of National Institutes of Health, had noticed his paper and invited him to join the research team at the Nutrition Laboratory of the NIH. From 1942 to 1945, Kornberg's work was the feeding of specialized diets to rats to discover new vitamins.
In 1942, Kornberg published the result of his above-mentioned survey. Titled, 'The Occurrence of Jaundice in an Otherwise Normal Medical Student', it caught the attention of Rolla Dyer, the Director of National Institute of Health, who invited him to join his research team at the Nutritional Laboratory. Kornberg took up this opportunity and joined National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Here he was assigned to the Nutrition Section of its Physiology Division. His job was to look for new vitamins by feeding rats with a specialized diet. He did not find that motivating. Instead, he developed an interest in enzymes.
At the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. (1942–53), Kornberg directed research on enzymes and intermediary metabolism. He also helped discover the chemical reactions in the cell that result in the construction of flavine adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPN), coenzymes that are important hydrogen-carrying intermediaries in biological oxidations and reductions.
In 1946, Kornberg got himself transferred to Dr. Severo Ochoa's laboratory at New York University to learn more about enzyme purification techniques. Concurrently, he took summer courses at Columbia University to update his knowledge about organic and physical chemistry. Next, in 1947, Kornberg shifted to Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis. Here he worked for a few months with Carl Ferdinand Cori before returning to NIH at Bethesda. At NIH, he was assigned to organize the Enzymes and Metabolism Section of the Physiology Division, which he did successfully. Subsequently, he became its Medical Director and served in this capacity until 1953.
Appointed professor and director of the microbiology department at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. (1953-59), he continued to study the way in which living organisms manufacture nucleotides, which consist of a nitrogen-containing organic base linked to a five-carbon sugar ring ribose or deoxyribose linked to a phosphate group. Nucleotides are the building blocks for the giant nucleic acids DNA and RNA (ribonucleic acid, which is essential to the construction of cell proteins according to the specifications dictated by the "message" contained in DNA). This research led Kornberg directly to the problem of how nucleotides are strung together (polymerized) to form DNA molecules. Adding nucleotides "labeled" with radioactive isotopes to extracts prepared from cultures of the common intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli, he found (1956) evidence of an enzyme-catalyzed polymerization reaction. He isolated and purified an enzyme (now known as DNA polymerase) that in combination with certain nucleotide building blocks could produce precise replicas of short DNA molecules (known as primers) in a test tube.
In 1960 Kornberg received an LL.D. again from City College, followed by a D.Sc. at the University of Rochester in 1962. He became Professor and Executive Head of the Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, in 1959. In an interview in 1997, Arthur Kornberg (referring to Josh Lederberg) said: "Lederberg really wanted to join my department. I knew him; he's a genius, but he'd be unable to focus and to operate within a small family group like ours, and so, I was instrumental in establishing a department of genetics at Stanford of which he would be chairman." From 1962 to 1970, in the midst of his work on DNA synthesis, Kornberg devoted half his research effort to determine how DNA is stored in the spore, what replication mechanisms are included, and how the spore generates a new cell. This was an unfashionable but complex area of science, and although some progress was made, eventually Kornberg abandoned this research.
At Stanford, Kornberg continued his research on DNA biosynthesis. In this project, he worked in close collaboration with Mehran Goulian. After years of grueling research, they finally announced their success on December 14, 1967. Along with his work on DNA synthesis, Kornberg also tried to find out how spores store DNA and generate new cells. Although he earned limited success, he eventually abandoned this project. Kornberg officially retired from his post in 1988. However, Kornberg had never ceased working and maintained an active research Laboratory at the University of Stanford until his death.
From 1991 onwards, Kornberg began to focus on the metabolism of inorganic polyphosphate, at that time, regarded as 'molecular fossil'. Eventually, he found a variety of significant functions for it. For example, he found that it responds to stresses and stringencies; causes motility and virulence in some of the major pathogens. In addition to his research work, Kornberg pursued teaching career with equal enthusiasm. Many of his students later went on to become internationally famous scientists and earned established awards.
When Kornberg was in his eighties, he continued to conduct research full-time at the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford. Kornberg also published several papers. His books include'Enzymatic Synthesis of DNA (1961); DNA Synthesis, (1974); 'DNA Replication', (1980); 'For the Love of Enzymes: The Odyssey of a Biochemist' (1989); DNA Replication (2nd Edition) with Tania A. Baker (1992) and 'The Golden Helix: Inside Biotech Ventures' (2002).
Awards and Honor
Arthur Kornberg had received Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry from American Chemical Society in 1951.
In 1959, Arthur Kornberg received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his "discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid". He shared the prize with Dr Severo Ochoa, who had been working on the same topic at the New York University College of Medicine.
In 1968, Kornberg received the Scientific Achievement Award of the American Medical Association, the Lucy Wortham James Award of the Society of Medical Oncology and the Borden Award in the Medical Sciences of the Association of American Medical Colleges. In addition, he had received National Medal of Science in 1979, Cosmos Club Award and Gairdner Foundation Award in 1995.
The Arthur Kornberg Medical Research Building at the University of Rochester Medical Center was named in his honor in 1999.
Arthur Kornberg was also elected a Fellow of Royal Society. In addition, he was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Philosophical Society. He received innumerable honorary degrees from many established institutions.
Death and Legacy
Arthur Kornberg, He died on October 26, 2007, at Stanford Hospital from respiratory failure. He was survived by his third wife Carolyn and three sons. Many of his children (his students and postdoctoral fellows) and grandchildren (their students) turned out to be intellectuals. Together, they are referred to as 'The Kornberg's School of Biochemistry'.
Arthur Kornberg is best remembered for his work on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase. In 1956, he identified DNA Polymerase I (or Pol I) in the intestinal bacterium E coli and recognized it as an essential enzyme for replication, repair, and rearrangements of DNA. He also showed how a single strand of DNA formed new strands of nucleotides and proved that DNA had a double helix structure, as theorized by earlier scientists. This discovery helped to start a biotechnology revolution, which had far-reaching consequences. Synthesis of artificial DNA, which was at the same time biologically active, was another of Kornberg's major projects. The work not only helped in future studies of genetics but also helped to provide cures to hereditary diseases and control viral infections.
The "Kornberg school" of biochemistry refers to Arthur Kornberg's many graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, i.e., his intellectual children, and the trainees of his trainees, i.e., his intellectual grandchildren. Kornberg's intellectual children include I. Robert Lehman, Charles C. Richardson, Randy Schekman, William T. Wickner, James Rothman, Arturo Falaschi and Ken-ichi Arai.
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Obama's Hypocrisy on the Motives of Killers
By Charles C. W. Cooke
About Charles C. W. Cooke
Follow Charles C. W. Cooke on Twitter
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
The president in some instances has no trouble divining and denouncing the mindset of terrorists.
'To lose one parent," wrote Oscar Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest, "may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."
And so it is with earnestness itself. To dissemble once may be cast as an unfortunate misadventure; the product, perhaps, of ignorance or of confusion or of unexpected complexity. But to dissemble twice in a row suggests the beginning of an unlovely pattern: of incompetence, of anxiety, or — heaven forfend — of downright mendacity. Twice now, in the space of just one month, the Obama administration has reacted to an egregious act of terrorism by pretending to be innocent of the facts. What, one wonders, are the spectators supposed to conclude?
In June, a man named Omar Mateen killed 49 people in a gay club in Orlando, Fla. Before his spree, Mateen had enjoyed watching ISIS propaganda videos, had promised to ensure that the "filthy" Western world got a "taste" of "the Islamic state vengeance," and had expressed a desire to become a martyr. During his rampage he explicitly pledged allegiance to ISIS, telling a local television station, "I did it for ISIS, I did it for the Islamic State," before delivering a similar message to 911 operators. And, once his work was done, he took to Facebook to declare that "in the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the usa."
And yet, when asked about the cause, President Obama struck a terminally vague pose. His administration, Obama submitted, could not yet determine "the precise motivations of the killer," and would therefore refrain from "definitive judgment."
Well, then.
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A similarly contrived myopia obtained in the aftermath of the recent massacre in Dallas. On Friday morning, that city's chief of police explained that the killer had been "upset about the recent police shootings" and "wanted to kill white people, especially white officers." "The suspect," the chief added, "said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. The suspect said he was upset at white people." Meanwhile, federal agents confirmed that a Facebook page bearing the shooter's name was authentic, as were the photographs in which he can be seen making a "black power" fist.
From Warsaw, however, President Obama was keen to play coy. "I think," Obama said, just a touch too calmly, that "it's very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter. I'll leave that to psychologists and people who study these kinds of incidents."
If the president can speak of Charleston without causing a breach in the peace, why can't he comment honestly elsewhere?
If sedulous detachment were the president's usual mode, one could mount all sorts of defenses in his favor. Perhaps, one might posit, Obama does not think it wise to comment on the intentions of terrorists, lest his bully pulpit act as a recruitment tool? Perhaps, until such time as investigations are complete, he believes that silence is the most appropriate course? Or perhaps he considers that mass-murder is an indication of mental illness, and that the claims killers make about their motivations are always a distraction? But — and this is key — sedulous detachment is not the president's usual mode. On the contrary: When he wants to be, Barack Obama can be as incisive as the best of us. When, in June of last year, a white supremacist killed nine African Americans in a Charleston church, Obama was admirably forthright with his denunciation and his grief. Famously, he sang "Amazing Grace" at the memorial service; pointedly, he took aim at the Confederate battle flag, which still flew a few feet from the South Carolina statehouse; and, in an early public address, he insisted that it was not incumbent upon him "to be constrained about the emotions tragedies like this raise." "The fact that this took place in a black church," Obama proposed, "raises questions about a dark part of our history."
None of these judgments were inappropriate. What happened in Charleston was an abomination of the highest order, and had the nation's first black president felt unable to express his indignation and his sorrow, something would have been awry. But one can simultaneously acknowledge the power of that moment and be forgiven for wondering why Obama is so selective in his willingness to engage with the truth. If one is to be charitable, one must presume that Obama's recent reticence was intended to calm rather than to mislead. And yet to be charitable in divining motive is not to be naïve in predicting outcomes, nor is it to refrain from asking why the rules do not apply equally at all times. If the president can speak of Charleston without causing a breach in the peace, why can't he comment honestly elsewhere?
#related#The grand irony, then, is that President Obama had it right in the first instance. After Charleston, his honesty and his sincerity helped to calm things down; after Orlando and Dallas, his obtuseness has served only to put up his critics' backs. Were we living in an information vacuum, the withholding of crucial details could indeed be profitable for the censor. But, in the age of Twitter, it does nothing more than to diminish trust. When CNN shows a police chief explaining what has happened and then cuts to the president downplaying that explanation, the viewer doesn't think "that's complex," he thinks, "Why is the president ill-informed?" — or, worse, "Why is the president lying?" Likewise, when the federal government does whatever it can to pretend that a man who said "I did it for ISIS" did not in fact do it for ISIS, it doesn't diminish the resolve of those who would do us harm so much as it inspires them to make themselves clearer next time. There is a role for the White House to play in encouraging tranquility, and a place for the president among those who are tasked with soothing nerves. But honesty remains the best policy — in this year and the next.
Charles C. W. Cooke is the editor of National Review Online. @charlescwcooke
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Transcriptome Analysis of Poplar during Leaf Spot Infection with Sphaerulina spp.
ABSTRACT: Diseases of poplar caused by the native fungal pathogen Sphaerulina musiva and related species are of growing concern, particularly with the increasing interest in intensive poplar plantations to meet growing energy demands. Sphaerulina musiva is able to cause infection on leaves, resulting in defoliation and canker formation on stems. To gain a greater understanding of the different responses of poplar species to infection caused by the naturally co-evolved Sphaerulina species, RNA-seq was conducted on leaves of Populus deltoides, P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides infected with S. musiva, S. populicola and a new undescribed species, Ston1, respectively. The experiment was designed to contain the pathogen in a laboratory environment, while replicating disease development in commercial plantations. Following inoculation, trees were monitored for disease symptoms, pathogen growth and host responses. Genes involved in phenylpropanoid, terpenoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were generally upregulated in P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides, while cell wall modification appears to play an important role in the defense of P. deltoides. Poplar defensive genes were expressed early in P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides, but their expression was delayed in P. deltoides, which correlated with the rate of disease symptoms development. Also, severe infection in P. balsamifera led to leaf abscission. This data gives an insight into the large differences in timing and expression of genes between poplar species being attacked by their associated Sphaerulina pathogen.
SUBMITTER: Foster AJ
Project description:Diseases of poplar caused by the fungal pathogen Sphaerulina musiva and related species are of growing concern, particular with the increasing interest in intensive popluliculture to meet increasing energy demands. S. musiva is able to cause infection on leaves, resulting in defoliation and canker formation on stems. To gain a greater understanding of the different responses of poplar species to infection with their natural Sphaerulina species, RNA-seq was conducted on leaves of Populus deltoides, P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides infected with S. musiva, S. populicola and a new undescribed species Ston1, respectively. Progression of disease symptoms, pathogen growth and host response were detected. Through the time course of infection, different and species-specific metabolic pathways were activated. In all three species, genes associated with growth and development were down-regulated, while genes involved the phenylpropanoid, terpenoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were up-regulated. Poplar defensive genes were expressed early in P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides, but delayed in P. deltoides, which correlated with the rate of disease symptoms development. This data gives an insight into the large differences in timing and expression of genes between poplar species being attacked with their native associated Sphaerulina pathogen. RNA-seq was conducted on leaves of Populus deltoides, P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides infected with S. musiva, S. populicola and a new undescribed species Ston1, respectively.
Testing the 'hybrid susceptibility' and 'phenological sink' hypotheses using the P. balsamifera - P. deltoides hybrid zone and septoria leaf spot [Septoria musiva].
Project description:Hybrid genotypes that arise between plant species frequently have increased susceptibility to arthropod pests and fungal pathogens. This pattern has been attributed to the breakdown of plant defenses ('Hybrid susceptibility' hypothesis) and (or) to extended periods of susceptibility attributed to plant phenologies in zones of species overlap and (or) hybridization ('phenological sink' hypothesis). We examined these hypotheses by assessing the susceptibility of parental and hybrid Populus host genotypes to a leaf spot disease caused by the fungal pathogen Septoria musiva. For this purpose, 214 genotypes were obtained from morphologically pure zones of P. balsamifera and P. deltoides, and from an intervening zone of overlap and hybridization on the drainage of the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada. Genotypes were identified as P. balsamifera, P. deltoides, or hybrid using a suite of 27 species-specific SNP markers. Initially the genetic structure of the hybrid zone was characterized with 27.7% of trees classified as admixed individuals. To test the hybrid susceptibility hypothesis, a subset of 52 genotypes was inoculated with four isolates of S. musiva. Levels of susceptibility were P. balsamifera > F1 hybrid > P. deltoides. A further 53 genotypes were grown in a common garden to assess the effect of genotype on variation in leaf phenology. Leaf phenology was more variable within the category of hybrid genotypes than within categories of either parental species. Leaf phenology was also more variable for the category of trees originating in the hybrid (P. balsamifera - P. deltoides [hybrid and parental genotypes combined]) zone than in adjacent pure zones of the parental species. The results from the inoculation experiment support the hybrid intermediacy hypothesis. The results from the common garden experiment support the 'phenological sink' hypothesis. These findings have greatly increased our understanding of the epidemiology and ecology of fungal pathogens in plant hybrid zones.
Fitness dynamics within a poplar hybrid zone: II. Impact of exotic sex on native poplars in an urban jungle.
Project description:Trees bearing novel or exotic gene components are poised to contribute to the bioeconomy for a variety of purposes such as bioenergy production, phytoremediation, and carbon sequestration within the forestry sector, but sustainable release of trees with novel traits in large-scale plantations requires the quantification of risks posed to native tree populations. Over the last century, exotic hybrid poplars produced through artificial crosses were planted throughout eastern Canada as ornamentals or windbreaks and these exotics provide a proxy by which to examine the fitness of exotic poplar traits within the natural environment to assess risk of exotic gene escape, establishment, and spread into native gene pools. We assessed postzygotic fitness traits of native and exotic poplars within a naturally regenerated stand in eastern Canada (Quebec City, QC). Pure natives (P. balsamifera and P. deltoides spp. deltoides), native hybrids (P. deltoides × P. balsamifera), and exotic hybrids (trees bearing Populus nigra and P. maximowiczii genetic components) were screened for reproductive biomass, yield, seed germination, and fungal disease susceptibility. Exotic hybrids expressed fitness traits intermediate to pure species and were not significantly different from native hybrids. They formed fully viable seed and backcrossed predominantly with P. balsamifera. These data show that exotic hybrids were not unfit and were capable of establishing and competing within the native stand. Future research will seek to examine the impact of exotic gene regions on associated biotic communities to fully quantify the risk exotic poplars pose to native poplar forests.
Fungal phytopathogens encode functional homologues of plant rapid alkalinization factor (RALF) peptides.
Project description:In this article, we describe the presence of genes encoding close homologues of an endogenous plant peptide, rapid alkalinization factor (RALF), within the genomes of 26 species of phytopathogenic fungi. Members of the RALF family are key growth factors in plants, and the sequence of the RALF active region is well conserved between plant and fungal proteins. RALF1-like sequences were observed in most cases; however, RALF27-like sequences were present in the Sphaerulina musiva and Septoria populicola genomes. These two species are pathogens of poplar and, interestingly, the closest relative to their respective RALF genes is a poplar RALF27-like sequence. RALF peptides control cellular expansion during plant development, but were originally defined on the basis of their ability to induce rapid alkalinization in tobacco cell cultures. To test whether the fungal RALF peptides were biologically active in plants, we synthesized RALF peptides corresponding to those encoded by two sequenced genomes of the tomato pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. One of these peptides inhibited the growth of tomato seedlings and elicited responses in tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana typical of endogenous plant RALF peptides (reactive oxygen species burst, induced alkalinization and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation). Gene expression analysis confirmed that a RALF-encoding gene in F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici was expressed during infection on tomato. However, a subsequent reverse genetics approach revealed that the RALF peptide was not required by F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici for infection on tomato roots. This study has demonstrated the presence of functionally active RALF peptides encoded within phytopathogens that harbour an as yet undetermined role in plant-pathogen interactions.
Fitness dynamics within a poplar hybrid zone: I. Prezygotic and postzygotic barriers impacting a native poplar hybrid stand.
Project description:Hybridization and introgression are pervasive evolutionary phenomena that provide insight into the selective forces that maintain species boundaries, permit gene flow, and control the direction of evolutionary change. Poplar trees (Populus L.) are well known for their ability to form viable hybrids and maintain their distinct species boundaries despite this interspecific gene flow. We sought to quantify the hybridization dynamics and postzygotic fitness within a hybrid stand of balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.), eastern cottonwood (P. deltoides Marsh.), and their natural hybrids to gain insight into the barriers maintaining this stable hybrid zone. We observed asymmetrical hybrid formation with P. deltoides acting as the seed parent, but with subsequent introgression biased toward P. balsamifera. Native hybrids expressed fitness traits intermediate to the parental species and were not universally unfit. That said, native hybrid seedlings were absent from the seedling population, which may indicate additional selective pressures controlling their recruitment. It is imperative that we understand the selective forces maintaining this native hybrid zone in order to quantify the impact of exotic poplar hybrids on this native system.
Horizontal gene transfer and gene dosage drives adaptation to wood colonization in a tree pathogen.
Project description:Some of the most damaging tree pathogens can attack woody stems, causing lesions (cankers) that may be lethal. To identify the genomic determinants of wood colonization leading to canker formation, we sequenced the genomes of the poplar canker pathogen, Mycosphaerella populorum, and the closely related poplar leaf pathogen, M. populicola. A secondary metabolite cluster unique to M. populorum is fully activated following induction by poplar wood and leaves. In addition, genes encoding hemicellulose-degrading enzymes, peptidases, and metabolite transporters were more abundant and were up-regulated in M. populorum growing on poplar wood-chip medium compared with M. populicola. The secondary gene cluster and several of the carbohydrate degradation genes have the signature of horizontal transfer from ascomycete fungi associated with wood decay and from prokaryotes. Acquisition and maintenance of the gene battery necessary for growth in woody tissues and gene dosage resulting in gene expression reconfiguration appear to be responsible for the adaptation of M. populorum to infect, colonize, and cause mortality on poplar woody stems.
Overexpression of poplar wounding-inducible genes in Arabidopsis caused improved resistance against Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) larvae.
Project description:Four highly inducible genes of poplar trees, PtdKTI5, PtdWIN4, PtdPOP3 from hybrid poplar (Populus trichocarpa × P. deltoides) and PtKTI2 from trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) have been individually transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana for overexpression. High transcriptional level of each transgene in transgenic Arabidopsis lines was confirmed by RT-PCR analysis. The development, body weight and survivorship of cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) fed on four types of transgenic Arabidopis plants were evaluated in the laboratory. Our data indicated that these four Populus defense-related genes exhibited various degree of insectital activity on larval and postlarval development of cotton bollworm and may be utilized for herbivore resistance improvement in plant genetic engineering.
Association mapping, transcriptomics, and transient expression identify candidate genes mediating plant-pathogen interactions in a tree.
Project description:Invasive microbes causing diseases such as sudden oak death negatively affect ecosystems and economies around the world. The deployment of resistant genotypes for combating introduced diseases typically relies on breeding programs that can take decades to complete. To demonstrate how this process can be accelerated, we employed a genome-wide association mapping of ca 1,000 resequenced Populus trichocarpa trees individually challenged with Sphaerulina musiva, an invasive fungal pathogen. Among significant associations, three loci associated with resistance were identified and predicted to encode one putative membrane-bound L-type receptor-like kinase and two receptor-like proteins. A susceptibility-associated locus was predicted to encode a putative G-type D-mannose-binding receptor-like kinase. Multiple lines of evidence, including allele analysis, transcriptomics, binding assays, and overexpression, support the hypothesized function of these candidate genes in the P. trichocarpa response to S. musiva.
Resistance to an eriophyid mite in an interspecific hybrid pedigree of Populus.
Project description:Schizoempodium mesophyllincola is an eriophyid mite that feeds in leaves of Populus trichocarpa in the central part of this cottonwood tree's range (i.e., coastal British Columbia, Washington and Oregon) in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of North America, and on some interspecific hybrids planted in short-rotation, intensive forestry in the region. The mite, a leaf vagrant, sucks the contents of spongy mesophyll cells, causing leaf discoloration, or "bronzing." Here, we investigate the inheritance pattern of resistance to leaf bronzing using a three-generation Populus trichocarpa x P. deltoides hybrid pedigree. We found that resistance to the mite is an exaptation in that its source in two related F2 families of the TxD hybrid pedigree was the non-native host, P. deltoides. Two grandparental genotypes of the latter, 'ILL-5' and 'ILL-129', were completely free of the bronzing symptom and that phenotype was inherited in a Mendelian manner in the F1 and F2. Resistance to S. mesophyllincola is similar to resistance to many other regional pathogens of P. trichocarpa (e.g., Melampsora occidentalis, Venturia inopina, Sphaerulina populicola, and Taphrina sp.) in that it is inherited from the non-native grandparent (e.g., P. deltoides, P. nigra, or P. maximowiczii) in three-generation, hybrid pedigrees. In addition to finding evidence for Mendelian inheritance, we found two QTLs with LOD scores 5.03 and 3.12 mapped on linkage groups (LG) III and I, and they explained 6.7 and 4.2% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. The LG I QTL is close to, or synonymous with, one for resistance to sap-feeding arthropods and leaf developmental traits as expressed in a British study utilizing the same pedigree.
Metabolomics reveals the origins of antimicrobial plant resins collected by honey bees.
Project description:The deposition of antimicrobial plant resins in honey bee, Apis mellifera, nests has important physiological benefits. Resin foraging is difficult to approach experimentally because resin composition is highly variable among and between plant families, the environmental and plant-genotypic effects on resins are unknown, and resin foragers are relatively rare and often forage in unobservable tree canopies. Subsequently, little is known about the botanical origins of resins in many regions or the benefits of specific resins to bees. We used metabolomic methods as a type of environmental forensics to track individual resin forager behavior through comparisons of global resin metabolite patterns. The resin from the corbiculae of a single bee was sufficient to identify that resin's botanical source without prior knowledge of resin composition. Bees from our apiary discriminately foraged for resin from eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), and balsam poplar (P. balsamifera) among many available, even closely related, resinous plants. Cottonwood and balsam poplar resin composition did not show significant seasonal or regional changes in composition. Metabolomic analysis of resin from 6 North American Populus spp. and 5 hybrids revealed peaks characteristic to taxonomic nodes within Populus, while antimicrobial analysis revealed that resin from different species varied in inhibition of the bee bacterial pathogen, Paenibacillus larvae. We conclude that honey bees make discrete choices among many resinous plant species, even among closely related species. Bees also maintained fidelity to a single source during a foraging trip. Furthermore, the differential inhibition of P. larvae by Populus spp., thought to be preferential for resin collection in temperate regions, suggests that resins from closely related plant species many have different benefits to bees.


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Tag Archive for: bushfire
Tragedy Shows Us Humans Are Compelled to Help: 'A Fire Inside' Book and Doco
"This idea that is built into all of us, into our DNA, is this desire and reflex to help," Ebony Gaylor, sociologist and social futurist.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/aussie-bushfire-jeremy-bezanger-unsplash.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2021-10-26 16:39:302022-08-21 17:06:59Tragedy Shows Us Humans Are Compelled to Help: 'A Fire Inside' Book and Doco
Sheppard Release Single For Bushfire Relief
After seeing the devastation that the Australian bushfires were causing on a national level, Sheppard immediately entered the studio, and began working on the band's first single of the year.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/1200x480-sheppard.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2020-01-31 16:41:112022-08-21 17:07:11Sheppard Release Single For Bushfire Relief
Bush Fire: Road To Recovery
You can drive for hours through fire devastated landscapes in Australia at the moment. It's hard to comprehend the magnitude of what has taken place.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/firefighter-1.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2020-01-29 09:09:042022-08-21 17:07:11Bush Fire: Road To Recovery
Faith Amid the Fires: How Chaplains are Meeting Emotional and Spiritual Needs of Australians
While emergency services respond to Australia's bushfire crisis there's another army quietly assisting people emotionaly and spiritualy: the chaplains.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Disaster-Recovery-Chaplain-1-1-1.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2020-01-15 16:48:552022-08-21 17:07:11Faith Amid the Fires: How Chaplains are Meeting Emotional and Spiritual Needs of Australians
Talking to Children About the Bushfires
The fires have affected so many in this country. How do we help our children to feel reassured when they witness so much that can stoke fear and insecurity?
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cristofer-jeschke-hsu2LeJ5ugE-unsplash-1.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2020-01-14 09:42:472022-08-21 17:07:11Talking to Children About the Bushfires
Bushfire Trauma – 12 Expert Tips for Helping Someone Who's Struggling to Cope
If you're an Aussie, and you haven't been been traumatised yet by the current bushfire season, you probably someone you know has.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Bushfire_victims.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2020-01-08 15:55:432022-08-21 17:07:11Bushfire Trauma – 12 Expert Tips for Helping Someone Who's Struggling to Cope
"It Happened So Fast" – How a Pastor and His Family were Saved in a Firestorm
Dad and father-of-four Andrew Flaxman is blessed to be alive, along with his family – who were all rescued by boat in the middle of a firestorm.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Andrew-Flaxman-Fire.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2020-01-07 15:34:352022-08-21 17:07:11"It Happened So Fast" – How a Pastor and His Family were Saved in a Firestorm
Helping in the Bushfire Crisis: How You Can Assist?
After seeing the bushfire devastation many have suffered, Australians are now asking how they can help in practical and financial ways.
https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Salvos-Emergency-Services-Hub.jpg 628 1200 RLFM https://riverlandlife.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/LifeFM-logo-500x141-1.png RLFM2019-11-29 16:37:392022-08-21 17:07:12Helping in the Bushfire Crisis: How You Can Assist?


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Q: C# UWP: "cannot convert string to byte[]/System.DateTime/bool" I have created a User registration page on UWP which allows the user to enter their registration details, then click a button to update the database with that information:
int i = await wcf.RegisterUserAsync(UserNameBox.Text,
                                    PasswordBox.Text,
                                    FirstNameBox.Text,
                                    LastNameBox.Text,
                                    DateOfBirthBox.Text,
                                    EULicenseBox.Text,
                                    NonEULicenseBox.Text,
                                    EmailBox.Text,
                                    ContactNumberBox.Text);

I only used textboxes - even for fields that require DateTime, byte[] and bool. The error I am receiving is the following:

"cannot convert string to byte[]/System.DateTime/bool".

I understand that I must convert but I do not know how.

A: Most basic .Net types have a Parse and TryParse method which takes strings that you can use to try to parse the string to the value.
DateTime dateOfBirth;

if (DateTime.TryParse(DateOfBirthBox.Text, out dateOfBirth))
{
   // dateOfBirth was parsed successfully and is valid.
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Athens looks great and for sure you look elegant but still chic!
Absolutely stunning! Love the location!
This outfit fits so well with the scenery! When I've first seen the images I honestly thought that you walked in those heels there! I'm glad you did, it looks so unstable yet breathtaking!
Selamat siang kak, beberapa hari yang lalu aku email ke anaz@brownplatform.com dengan alamat email kezianicoleprank@gmail.com . Boleh minta tolong di respon gak kak? Terima Kasih.
Three years ago I visited Acropolis and it was on under renovation. I don't know whether it haven't finished yet or it was being renovated for the second time. But Acropolis and Athens are a beautiful place. It was lovely and memorable. I wish I can go back there.


A $200 portable synth that doesn't disappoint.
The affordable-synth trend of the past few years has been outstanding for anyone wanting to dip their toe into soundscapes and dance music. IK Multimedia, known mostly for instrument accessories for iOS, seems to have noticed there's money to be made in the expanding market. Two things could have happened: The company could have done a money grab and released a low-cost digital synth that beeps, boops and whirs just enough to appease new musicians. Or it could have built a solid inexpensive analog synthesizer that's not only portable but also powerful. Lucky for us, it did the latter.
A strong first hardware synth from IK Multimedia. Its $200 price tag is a bargain for a monophonic analog synth with two independent oscillators. Controls are easy to figure out and use. I do wish it didn't feel as plasticky as it does and the lack of proper audio out port is disappointing.
How would you rate the UNO Synth?
The $199 monophonic Uno is a strong hardware-synth entry from IK Multimedia. The two oscillators along with the 100 presets produce a wonderful array of sounds that made me wonder how something that looks the way the Uno does is creating audio like that.
A great-sounding analog synth could be good enough, but it also includes an easy-to-use step sequencer and arpeggiator. Getting a sequence into a synth is usually harder than it should be (or remarkably easy, after spending a few minutes with the instruction manual). I was building out strings of notes in about five minutes. Kudos to IK Multimedia for that.
Uno's ease of use has to do with most of the controls sitting directly on the face of the instrument. There's no digging into menus and submenus. Knobs of the most important features (volume, tempo, cutoff, and adjustments of the oscillators and filters) are up top. The two tuning knobs offer an impressive feat of making small adjustments to a sound, then once you hit a semitone, the continued turning of the knob now makes adjustments on an octave level. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but then I wondered how I ever lived without it. It does the work of two knobs.
The sounds coming out of the two independent oscillators of the Uno have a bit of a bite; think more Nine Inch Nails than Depeche Mode. It's not as gruff as the Arturia MicroBrute. It's closer to the ARP Odyssey. It may sound like an angry '90s synth band, but its design is straight out of the '80s.
The retro look is cool, but plastic hardware makes it feel cheaper than its $200 price tag. It actually feels more like a toy than an instrument. I was able to get used to the flat-touch keyboard and even used it to write a few songs. But going forward, if I'm doing any real work I'll hook it up to a MIDI keyboard with actual keys.
I'm also disappointed that the company opted for a mini-jack instead of proper quarter-inch audio out port. I know nearly every device in this segment is moving this way, but to me, it immediately screams, "This is not built for performances! Sit in your room with this!" Which is a bummer, because I think the Uno would be a great addition to a local band's rig.
The flipside to the cheapish case and flat keys is that the Uno is small, light and easy to toss into a bag without a lot of fuss. Because it's an IK Multimedia product it still connects to your computer and iOS device for access to deep functions. I'm not a fan of having to use a computer with an instrument, but here I'm OK with it mostly because the synth's light weight makes it perfect for the musician who travels but still needs to work on fine tuning a track or just putting down some quick ideas. Hooking up the Uno to an iPhone or computer and tapping out a few tunes is easy and doesn't require any more gear than you're already traveling with.
Overall, the IK Multimedia Uno synth is an outstanding value and an impressive first step into the synth-hardware world for the company. It sounds great, has a ton of features and is approachable for new musicians. I do wish it felt more solid in my hands. But it's so lightweight that it almost cancels that issue out. Almost.


Not just another simple wall light, this incredible product comes with a polished stainless steel finish and Class 3 rating. This fixture uses an energy-efficient 2w LED to illuminate your living room or hall floorspace - ideal for lighting those darker areas.
As a distinctly modern wall light for your living area, hallway or kitchen that will stand the test of time, this stunning wall light is a solid choice.


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Q: How to create a book oriented script? We were supposed to create an object oriented script that contains a book and page class as our homework. Now I've been trying it all week and got nowhere. (I'm new to php this was my second lesson in the class)
I created the mentioned classes, then made an array of page numbers to echo them out between 1-10.
class Bookpages
{
    public function pages()
    {
        $pages = array [
            '1,',
            '2'
            '3'
            '4'
            '5'
            '6'
            '7'
            '8'
            '9'
            '10'

            ,
        ];
        foreach ($pages as $page)
            echo $page;
    }

It wasn't going anywhere and I had no idea what to do next, any pointers would be appreciated, really want to learn from this.

A: Well, right now your code example does not contain any "Page" Class nor a "Book" class.
In general, a class is defined with the keyword class, so you need something like
class Book {
    // ...
}

Your representation of pages is not object-oriented, but just an Array.
Take a look into PHP Object-oriented programming first to understand the basics here.

A: Firstly, you are missing comma after each array value. Secondly, return the array and print it in the view page (where you want to display the count). Something like this:
class Page {
    public function pages() {
        return $pages = [
            '1',
            '2',
            '3',
            '4',
            '5',
            '6',
            '7',
            '8',
            '9',
            '10'
        ];
    }
}

and then on pages (view) page, use foreach loop to print array values, like this
require 'Page.php';

$pageClass = new Page();
$pages = $pageClass->pages();

foreach($pages as $page) {
    echo $page . '<br>';
}


A curated public database designed to represent, store, and analyze the divergent forms of data underlying HIV drug resistance.
HBVseq accepts user-submitted HBV RT sequences, determines their genotypes, and compares them to a genotype consensus reference sequence. The differences between the submitted sequence and the consensus reference sequence are used as query parameters for interrogating a local HBV drug resistance database (HBVrt DB) to retrieve the prevalence of each mutation according to genotype and treatment. HBVrt DB was constructed by annotating the body of publicly available HBV RT sequences.
A detailed description of HBVseq as well as all other pages and resources on the HBV site including HBVrt DB can be found in the Release Notes.
To begin, click on "ANALYSIS: Mutation List" button on the right and enter a list of RT mutations or click on "ANALYSIS: Sequences" button and enter nucleotide RT sequences.


University of Maine Portland may be the current favorite, but the school will seek input from alumni and will need approval by trustees and the Legislature for any change.
Since it was founded as the Gorham Normal School in 1878, the University of Southern Maine has undergone several name changes. Now, its current president is proposing that its name be changed again, possibly to one more in line with the school's connection to the city of Portland.
Students change classes in 2016 near Luther Bonney Hall on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine. USM could soon have a new name.
USM President Glenn Cummings sent letters to the entire USM community recently suggesting that it might be time to explore a name change.
He stopped short of suggesting a new name, but officials interviewed Wednesday said the University of Maine Portland seems the most popular candidate.
The name change would require approval by trustees and the Maine Legislature, and would apply to the Portland, Gorham and Lewiston campuses.
Faculty and staff were made aware of Cummings' proposal in late July, but on Wednesday thousands of USM graduates received an email informing them that a name change was being considered.
Surveys soliciting input are expected to be mailed in mid-September to the university community.
Cummings said the first step was to hire a market research/branding partner to determine perceptions of USM among likely college-bound graduates, guidance counselors and parents and to gauge whether a name change would enhance people's interest in attending USM or recommending it to friends and family.
Robert Stein, USM's executive director of public affairs, has worked closely with Cummings on the proposal.
Stein said the university solicited market research bids in June. About two weeks ago, the university awarded the contract to Broadreach Public Relations and Market Decisions Research. The Portland firms will survey the university community. Stein said the project will cost about $60,000.
Stein said a name change could enhance the university's reputation and appeal. Out-of-state high school graduates looking at colleges and universities could be confused by the University of Southern Maine name.
Stein said the University of Maine Portland has been getting the most favorable reaction.
Stein said the proposal is coming at an exciting time. Enrollment is growing and USM this month received a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor to design a new Center for the Arts on its Portland campus.
The $50 million project will feature a 1,000 seat concert hall as well as a recital hall and art gallery.
Corey Hascall graduated from USM in 1999 and is now vice president of alumni engagement at the University of Southern Maine Foundation.
"I'm excited because I think USM is in a great transformational time, and changing our name is a way to reflect that," Hascall said.
Hascall likes the University of Maine Portland suggestion because it puts the university on a map that is recognizable to most people.
"I think that is the strongest contender … it just makes the most sense," Hascall said.
Hascall was referring to the six other campuses in the UMaine System including the University of Maine in Orono, the University of Maine at Augusta and the University of Maine at Farmington.
In 1978, the university changed its name to the University of Southern Maine. Before that, it had been called the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham and was referred to by locals as PoGo.


Sports Shoes, kids shoes, children shoes, shoes for child, Sports shoes discount sale, branded shoes for sale, Branded footwear for Boys, Branded sports shoes At Discounted Rate, Branded Boys sports shoes In Wholesale Rate online. Buy Boys sports shoes for running, playing football, cricket etc. at the best price from tarakOnline stores in India. Find sports shoes for Boys for best performance while running & playing.


text:
Assessment Results
Coaches/Managers
Our Featured Sponsor - KalTire
KalTire
Hello Calgary West SC Players, Families and Members
Making a difference in the communities served by Kal Tire is just part of the way they do business. Kal Tire is pleased to be sponsoring the Calgary West Soccer Club, a community based soccer club that provides all players an opportunity to enjoy the game of soccer and develop into lifelong soccer players.
Kal Tire's culture is steeped in values. Seven key aims guide team members every day as they work and make decisions. One of these aims highlights the company's ongoing commitment to corporate social responsibility, focusing on continually improving and recognizing a responsibility to customers, each other, communities and the environment. Over the years, Kal Tire's commitment to safety, recycling and supporting communities has remained strong and continues to grow.
Kal Tire is Canada's largest independent tire dealer and one of North America's largest commercial tire dealers. Kal Tire's Mining Tire Group is a global leader in mining tire service and supply, servicing more than 150 mine sites across five continents. The company has warehouse facilities across Canada servicing over 250 Kal Tire retail and commercial stores. As the largest truck tire retreader in Canada, Kal Tire owns and operates 10 truck tire retread facilities plus an additional five earthmover retreading facilities located in Canada, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Ghana, West Africa. The company employs more than 5,600 team members.
Expect to see the Kal Tire name brand on our new uniforms and exclusively selected banners on our fields, events and facilities.
On behalf of all CWSC members we want to say Thank you! to Kal Tire for the sponsorship and we welcome the long-term partnership between Kal Tire and the Calgary West Soccer Club.
kaltire.com
About Calgary West Soccer Club
The Calgary West Soccer Club is athlete centred. It believes that all players, regardless of level of play, deserve the opportunity to enjoy the game of soccer and develop to his or her potential. The underlying purpose of CWSC is to provide a fun development-focused environment that keeps players playing.
Our Featured Sponsor
Kal Tire is pleased to be sponsoring the Calgary West Soccer Club, a community based soccer club that provides all players an opportunity to enjoy the game of soccer and develop into lifelong soccer players.
Copyright © 2017 Calgary West Soccer | All Rights Reserved
Website Designed & Developed By WebBridge Services


text:
Score up to $150 off on these three bestselling Xbox One console bundles
Moriba Cummings
Gaming has proven to be a certified sport for years now, and the market for video game consoles and accessories is at an all-time high. In addition to consumer favorites like the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4, Microsoft's Xbox One stands as one of the most popular consoles available at the moment.
Most shoppers tend to hold off until Cyber Monday and Black Friday to score the best deals on these pricey gaming systems. However, the sales have come early. Amazon is currently slashing the prices of a few of its Xbox One consoles, and their sales prices almost match those of the peak shopping season.
The quiet sale currently shows bundles priced at below $350 for the X model and below $225 for the S model. These both retail for $500 and $300, respectively, with the Xbox One X bundle priced at just $0.99 more than it was during Black Friday.
Take a look at what each bundle includes below:
Shop: Xbox One X 1TB Console - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Bundle, $349.99 (Orig. $499.99)
Xbox One X ITB Console - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Bundle
The Xbox One X 1TB Console with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Bundle includes one X console, one Xbox wireless controller, a full-game download of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Deluxe Edition, a one-month game pass trial of Xbox Live Gold, a one-month trial of Xbox game pass for console and one month of EA access.
Shop: Xbox One S 1TB Two Controller Bundle, $238.00 (Orig. $349.99)
Xbox One S 1TB Two Controller Bundle
The Xbox One S Two Controller Bundle comes equipped with one S console, two wireless controllers, a one-month game pass trial and a 14-day Xbox Live Gold trial.
Shop: Xbox One S 1TB Console - NBA 2K20 Bundle, $220.00 (Orig. $299.99)
Xbox One S ITB Console - NBA 2K20 Bundle
The Xbox One S 1TB Console with NBA 2K20 Bundle includes one S console, one Xbox wireless controller, a full-game download of NBA 2K20, a one-month Xbox Live Gold subscription and a one-month Xbox Game Pass trial.
Keep in mind that these discounted bundles are available in limited quantities, so get them while stocks last.


Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5215.
Background Vitamin D and Vitamin D receptor (VDR) play important roles in the development of colon cancer. Tight junction structures are essential in intestinal barrier integrity, inflammation, and cancer. The disruption of tight junctions is a common manifestation of various diseases including cancers. Claudin-5 is a tight junction protein that is expressed in epithelia and endothelia and form paracellular barriers and pores that determine permeability. It is downregulated in colon cancer. Although VDR and Claudin-5 are all involved in colon cancer, it remains unclear whether they are closely related or function independently.
Methods In the current study, we investigate the novel role of VDR in regulating Claudin-5, using whole body VDR knockout mice (VDR-/-) and intestinal epithelial VDR knockout mice (VDRΔIEC). In vitro, VDR-/- embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) cells, cultured human intestinal epithelial cells, organoids, and human colon cancer samples were used to determine the molecular mechanism.
Results In intestinal samples of colon cancer patients, VDR expression is low, whereas the expression of Claudin-5 is also decreased. In the colon of VDR-/- mice and VDRΔIEC mice, deletion of VDR led to lower claudin-5 at the protein and mRNA levels. This observation was also confirmed by immunostaining of Claudin-5. In VDR-/- MEF cells, both Western blot and real time PCR revealed that VDR deletion led to lower protein and mRNA levels of claudin-5 in cells without any treatment. Vitamin D3 is known to increase VDR expression and activate VDR signaling. Protein and mRNA levels of Claudin-5 were significantly elevated in mice, mouse organoids, and human intestinal epithelial SKCO15 cells treated with 1, 25 vitamin D3. In contrast, knockdown of Claudin-5 using siRNA did not change the expression level of VDR protein in human colonic epithelial cells. Our data suggest that the Claudin-5 gene is a downstream target of the VDR signaling pathway.
Conclusion Taken together, we show that VDR is important for the maintenance of physiological level of Claudin-5. This study also reveals a complex role for vitamin D/VDR regulation of intestinal barrier functions in colon cancer.


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LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY vs. WILLIAM F. WESTERLIND.
January 5, 1978 - March 2, 1978
Present: HENNESSEY, C.J., QUIRICO, BRAUCHER, KAPLAN, & ABRAMS, JJ.
Where an employee injured in the course of his employment received workmen's compensation benefits from his employer, a third-party tortfeasor had no right of contribution against the employer. [526]
In an action in tort by an employer's insurer under G.L. c. 152, Section 15, against a third-party tortfeasor, the third party was not entitled to recover indemnification from the employer absent an express or implied contractual obligation. [526-532]
CIVIL ACTION commenced in the Superior Court on April 14, 1976.
A motion to implead a third-party defendant was heard by Lynch, J., and was reported by him to the Appeals Court. The Supreme Judicial Court, on its own initiative, ordered direct review.
Edward P. Healy (Joseph F. Sawyer, Jr., with him) for the defendant.
Robert G. Larkin, Jr., for the plaintiff.
ABRAMS, J. The defendant William F. Westerlind (Westerlind) challenges the denial of his motion to implead Brisk Waterproofing Co. Inc. (Brisk) as a third-party defendant.
A Superior Court judge ruled that Westerlind could not press his claim for either contribution or indemnification if the proposed third-party defendant is an employer who has paid workmen's compensation benefits to an employee. The
judge filed a comprehensive memorandum of decision detailing the reasons for his ruling and reserved and reported the question of the correctness of his decision. Mass. R. Civ. P. 64, 365 Mass. 831 (1974). G. L. c. 231, Section 111. We allowed direct appellate review sua sponte. We affirm the judge's ruling.
Samuel DeFinnis (DeFinnis), an employee of Brisk, was working in the course of his employment on a scaffold at the State Mutual Life Assurance Company building in Worcester. As Westerlind drove his car out of the building's garage, the car hooked onto a rope dangling from the scaffolding and DeFinnis fell to the ground. Westerlind alleges that Brisk failed to require DeFinnis to wear a safety belt, did not properly hook the scaffolding to the wall of the building, and failed to follow certain other safety requirements.
DeFinnis was paid workmen's compensation benefits by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (Liberty) on behalf of Brisk. Pursuant to G. L. c. 152, Section 15, Liberty commenced this action against Westerlind [Note 1] alleging that Westerlind's negligence caused the death and conscious suffering of DeFinnis. Alleging that Brisk's negligence caused the accident, Westerlind filed a motion to implead Brisk, the employer of DeFinnis, as a third-party defendant.
Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 14 (a), 365 Mass. 760 (1974), provides in part: "At any time after commencement of the action a defending party, as a third-party plaintiff, may cause a summons and complaint to be served upon a person who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the plaintiff's claim against him." The correctness of the judge's denial of Westerlind's motion to implead Brisk thus turns on whether Brisk is or may be liable to Westerlind for all or part of Liberty's claim against Westerlind. In the context of this case, Brisk might be liable to Westerlind if Westerlind might have a right of contribution or indemnification against Brisk.
1. Contribution. The issue of whether a third-party tortfeasor has a right to receive contribution from an insured or self-insured employer whose negligence contributed to the employee's injury has not previously been decided by this court. A majority of the courts which have considered this issue have held that the employer is not liable for contribution. See 2A A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Section 76.21 (1976). We consider this issue in light of Massachusetts law.
General Laws c. 231B, Section 1 (a), inserted by St. 1962, c. 730, Section 1, provides in pertinent part: "[W]here two or more persons become jointly liable in tort for the same injury to person or property, there shall be right of contribution among them." The language of this statute requires that the potential contributor be directly liable to the plaintiff. O'Mara v. H. P. Hood & Sons, 359 Mass. 235 , 237-238 (1971). For Westerlind to have a claim for contribution against Brisk, Brisk would have to be directly liable to DeFinnis. [Note 2] However, since DeFinnis was injured in the course of his employment and was eligible for and did receive workmen's compensation benefits, Brisk is released from all tort claims which DeFinnis might have as a result of this accident. G. L. c. 152, Section 23. Since Brisk could not be directly liable to DeFinnis, Westerlind has no right of contribution against Brisk.
2. Indemnity. The majority position is that a third-party tortfeasor may recover indemnity from an employer only if the employer had expressly or impliedly contracted to indemnify the third party or if the employer and the third party stand in a relationship that carries with it the obligation to indemnify the third party. 2A A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Sections 76.00, 76.40-76.43 (1976). Assuming that in Massachusetts a third party may recover indemnification from an insured employer if the employer expressly or impliedly
contracted to hold the third party harmless, see H.P. Hood & Sons v. Ford Motor Co., 370 Mass. 69 , 77 (1976); Stewart v. Roy Bros., 358 Mass. 446 , 458 (1970), there was no indication in the complaint or elsewhere that Brisk was under an express or implied contractual obligation to indemnify Westerlind. Assuming that a relationship giving rise to an obligation to indemnify would state a cause of action by a third party against an employer in Massachusetts, cf. Ford v. Flaherty, 364 Mass. 382 , 385-386 (1973); Stewart v. Roy Bros., supra at 459, nothing in the record would support the existence of such a relationship between Brisk and Westerlind. In fact, it appears that Westerlind was a complete stranger to Brisk. Thus Westerlind has no right to indemnification from Brisk.
Our decision denying Westerlind a right of contribution or indemnity is based on the present statutory schemes governing workmen's compensation and contribution. We are aware of the strong criticism of the rules that a third party may not recover contribution from an insured employer and that only in limited circumstances may a third party recover indemnification from an insured employer. See 2A A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Section 76.52 (1976); Locke, Workmen's Compensation Law 1971 Ann. Survey Mass. Law 50, 52-57. We also note that strong policy arguments exist on both sides of the issue whether a third party should have a right of recovery on the basis of contribution or indemnification. See 2A A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Section 76.51 (1976). Such conflicting policy considerations are best resolved in the Legislature where the resolution can be based on full consideration of the competing interests and the ramifications involved with any change of the legislative scheme of G. L. c. 152. See 2A A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Section 76.53 (1976).
The denial of the motion to implead Brisk was correct. The case is remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings.
[Note 1] Another defendant was also named in Liberty's complaint. That defendant, State Mutual Life Assurance Company of America, is not involved in the present proceeding.
[Note 2] The plaintiff in this action is Liberty, the insurance carrier, not DeFinnis, the employee. However, for the purposes of recovery from those other than the employer, the insurance carrier appears to stand in the shoes of the employee. See G. L. c. 152, Section 15; Mass. R. Civ. P. 17 (a), 365 Mass. 763 (1974).


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Slant by Editorial BoardPosted on 01/02/2020
• We reached out to Eugene Wake Up for the story we ran in the Dec. 26 issue about the BBs fired at homeless people camping outside Eugene Weekly. Stephen Sheehan of Elk Horn Brewery and Facebook personality and former journalist Rick Dancer head up the group. Sheehan, whose restaurant was vandalized by an unhoused woman, responded, "I think the true homeless and the business owners are getting overwhelmed by the lawlessness that's happening in our community. We need to band together to stop this." While we believe that it's crucial for business, elected officials and nonprofits to work together to solve the crisis of homelessness, it's dangerous to say a few "true" homeless should be helped, and the rest should be punished. That's the kind of rhetoric that can lead to attacks against the homeless by vigilantes.
• Warning: Drive, walk and bike carefully through the intersection of Franklin Boulevard and Walnut Street near the University of Oregon campus. That's where two young pedestrians were recently hit and seriously injured by a pickup truck. Police say they were crossing against the light. Students and others who live on the north side of Franklin can be too casual about crossing the busy street, and drivers don't deal well with the mess. Traffic engineers, where are you?
• The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, one of our favorite organizations, writes in its 2019 legislative report that the last session in Salem "was an incredibly successful year for immigrants' rights, criminal justice reform, voting rights and more." ACLU Oregon testified at 99 hearings, reviewed all 2,768 bills introduced and advocated for 47 bills that successfully passed. Let's keep that momentum in 2020.
• What we're reading: Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America by Christopher Wylie. Known as the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Wylie told what was happening inside the British consulting firm and Facebook. This is the story about the effect that the firm's data-mining operation had on both the 2016 U.S. election and the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom. It's a terrifying story, one every American should know, and it leaves us wondering what technology will bring about in November 2020.


Microsoft Office 365 has become a favorite office suite option for small to midsize businesses (SMBs). It provides companies with web-based access to Microsoft apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access and Publisher. Microsoft made the service available via several levels of subscription and, based on the level, users may be allowed to access the apps from just about anywhere.
Of course, for many SMBs, the budget prohibits having a sizable IT staff, which likely means they don't have much of a training department. For those small businesses that still need to train new workers on Microsoft Office 365, Custom Guide has created a reference chart with basic instructions and more. Available for free in our IT Downloads area, the Microsoft Office 365 Cheat Sheet can guide new users through signing on and usage.
In the About section, users are given an explanation about how Office 365 works, what they can do with it and what it offers. Under Basics, they learn how to access their account from a PC or mobile device. It also includes instructions on how to set up a mobile device to access Office 365 files.
The Outlook Web App section includes a screenshot of the interface, labeled with arrows and explanations of each area of use. At-a-glance, users can find out where to click to access Calendar, Inbox or OneDrive.
The following section shows a screenshot of OneDrive, which acts as a sort of online storage site for saving, editing, accessing and sharing files. From here, users are shown where to click to create a new document or to upload a current file. It also points out where to find documents or libraries from which they can access other files.
Other sections spell out how to create and edit new and shared documents and take users step-by-step through uploading documents into OneDrive. Useful terms are highlighted within the text to help users remember where to look on the actual screen.
With this handy document, just about anyone with Office 365 experience can easily explain the functions of the suite and train others to begin use. By printing out copies of the reference guide, users will also have an easy-to-read cheat sheet to guide them through any steps they may forget. It's truly a handy document for first-time and repeat users alike.


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Q: Does WPF resent cat images? or: Why can I reference one, but not the other image from the very same folder? I am developing a WPF application and at some point, I am loading an image. That image is a .png file, residing in a folder within my Visual Studio project. The build action of that file is set to Resource. This particular image is not alone in that; there are several other PNGs in that very same folder, with the very same build action. On the XAML side, the ImageSource-Property of the ImageBrush-Element is bound to a Uri-Property of the viewmodel.
And now for the weird part; this is the line of code that sets the Uri-Property of my viewmodel:
ViewModel.Image = new Uri(@"/Images/RandomIcon.png", UriKind.Relative);

But if I change the Uri to point to the carefully googled cat image I chose for testing purposes, I get an exception stack in the debug console, telling me the image could not be found:
ViewModel.Image = new Uri(@"/Images/testcat.png", UriKind.Relative);

Again, the images reside in the same folder and their build action property is Resource. The only notable difference I can think of is that the other images are icons, so significantly smaller than my testcat (2.5KB vs 140KB).
The exception as shown on the debug console:
System.Windows.Data Error: 6 : 'TargetDefaultValueConverter' converter failed to convert value '/Images/testcat.png' (type 'Uri'); fallback value will be used, if available. BindingExpression:Path=Image; DataItem='ViewModel' (HashCode=55110660); target element is 'ImageBrush' (HashCode=51947944); target property is 'ImageSource' (type 'ImageSource') IOException:'System.IO.IOException: The Resource "images/testcat.png" cannot be found.
   at MS.Internal.AppModel.ResourcePart.GetStreamCore(FileMode mode, FileAccess access)
   at System.IO.Packaging.PackagePart.GetStream(FileMode mode, FileAccess access)
   at System.IO.Packaging.PackWebResponse.CachedResponse.GetResponseStream()
   at System.IO.Packaging.PackWebResponse.GetResponseStream()
   at System.IO.Packaging.PackWebResponse.get_ContentType()
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.SetupDecoderFromUriOrStream(Uri uri, Stream stream, BitmapCacheOption cacheOption, Guid& clsId, Boolean& isOriginalWritable, Stream& uriStream, UnmanagedMemoryStream& unmanagedMemoryStream, SafeFileHandle& safeFilehandle)
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.CreateFromUriOrStream(Uri baseUri, Uri uri, Stream stream, BitmapCreateOptions createOptions, BitmapCacheOption cacheOption, RequestCachePolicy uriCachePolicy, Boolean insertInDecoderCache)
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapFrame.CreateFromUriOrStream(Uri baseUri, Uri uri, Stream stream, BitmapCreateOptions createOptions, BitmapCacheOption cacheOption, RequestCachePolicy uriCachePolicy)
   at System.Windows.Media.ImageSourceConverter.ConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, CultureInfo culture, Object value)
   at MS.Internal.Data.DefaultValueConverter.ConvertHelper(Object o, Type destinationType, DependencyObject targetElement, CultureInfo culture, Boolean isForward)
   at MS.Internal.Data.TargetDefaultValueConverter.Convert(Object o, Type type, Object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
   at System.Windows.Data.BindingExpression.ConvertHelper(IValueConverter converter, Object value, Type targetType, Object parameter, CultureInfo culture)'

Which inspires my question: Does WPF resent cat images? or: Why can I reference one, but not the other image?
EDIT:
After having tried with a dog image, I can safely say that WPF does not discriminate against cats. On a more serious note, I was able to resolve my issues with help of the accepted answer, but I still don't know why it wouldn't work before.

A: It's difficult to determine exactly what you have done wrong from the tiny bits of information that you have provided here. However, that shouldn't matter so much because displaying Images in WPF is simple. My first tip would be to not use the Uri class at all and simply use string representations of the file paths instead.
I would also recommend that you get used to the Pack URIs in WPF used to reference files... take this example:
<Image Source="{Binding DisplayedImagePath}" />

...
public string DisplayedImagePath
{
    get { return @"C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Sample Pictures\Chrysanthemum.jpg"; }
}

Although (as you appear to have done) you really should add your images to a folder named Images in the root of your project and set their Build Action to Resource in the Properties Window in Visual Studio... you could then access them using this format:
public string DisplayedImagePath
{
    get { return "/AssemblyName;component/Images/ImageName.png"; }
}

In .NET 4, the above Image.Source values would work. However, Microsoft made some horrible changes in .NET 4.5 that broke many different things and so in .NET 4.5, you'd need to use the full pack path like this:
<Image Source="pack://application:,,,/AssemblyName;component/Images/ImageName.png">


text:
My Education Rant
Free at 50
Punk Politics
Obama's Blind Spot
What January 6th really represents.
What to Our Black Children is the Fourth of July?
Don't Let Schools Lie to our Children.
Joe Manchin: The New Dixiecrat
Let the Public Vote on Police Contracts
Does anyone care about Black Children?
The GOP, the new White Citizens Council
Tim Scott, the Ghost of Plantations Past
Miss Me with That
Let the Trial Begin
Verbal Punches but no Contact
By NSnewstv Staff
POSTED: October 16, 2008, 12:00 pm
In the third and final debate of the presidential campaign it was quickly evident that Republican candidate Senator John McCain was prepared to pull out all stops to try to stop the surge of his rival, Democratic Senator Barack Obama. The Arizona Republican set a feisty tone as he aggressively sought to dominate the debate, often making very animated gestures and even sighing heavily when Senator Obama was making a point or responding to a question. Through it all, Obama reacted as he has throughout the three debates; calm, cool and reserved in his reaction to his opponent's attacks.
With the Dow Industrial's dramatic dive the story of the day, the debate took place as the economy dominated all other news. It was a tailor made situation for Senator Obama as recent polls have indicated that he has picked up considerable support from segments of the electorate concerned about the nation's economic outlook. Those same polls indicated that the electorate has been turned off by the negative tone of the McCain campaign; a point even some Republicans have been stressing over the last several days.
For Senator McCain the night consisted of repeated attempts to paint Senator Obama as a tax and spend liberal, and someone the American public should have little confidence in his ability to lead. McCain clearly tried to paint himself as the more accomplished of the two while still claiming to be a Capitol Hill reformer. He also tried desperately to connect to white, working class voters, referring to "Joe Plumber" as a metaphor for the American worker when speaking about an Ohio voter Senator Obama had met on the campaign trail. McCain went so far as to invoke the term "class warfare" when referring to Senator Obama's tax cut plan.
For his part, Senator Obama patiently responded to moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News when asked a question and was measured in the way in which he responded directly to points raised by his rival. The Illinois Democrat could be seen smiling when listening to points raised by McCain on which they obviously disagreed. Unlike previous debates the two men were seated next to each other on stage, making it virtually impossible to avoid looking directly at each other.
One of the sharpest exchanges came when Schieffer brought up negative advertising and the tone of the election in general. Over the last two days both camps indicated it was prepared to brawl over the question of negative campaigning. Senator Obama had suggested that McCain had yet to "say it to my face" when making accusations about the Democrat's supposed relationship with 1960's radical, and current college professor William Ayers. McCain had indicated he would confront Obama about the relationship and the day leading up to the debate indicated he would aggressively take on his rival on that issue.
Senator Obama, clearly exasperated by the issue, made clear the details of his acquaintance with Mr. Ayers. "Forty years ago, when I was 8 years old, he engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts. Ten years ago he served and I served on a school reform board that was funded by one of Ronald Reagan's former ambassadors and close friends, Mr. Annenberg. Other members on that board were the presidents of the University of Illinois, the president of Northwestern University, who happens to be a Republican, the president of The Chicago Tribune, a Republican- leaning newspaper."
Senator Obama continued, "Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House. So that's Mr. Ayers."
In responding to Schieffer's question about the tone of the campaign, McCain feigned hurt feelings when referring to a recent statement by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) comparing McCain's tactics to that of segregationist Governor George Wallace. In talking about specific incidents McCain said, "One of them happened just the other day, when a man I admire and respect -- I've written about him -- Congressman John Lewis, an American hero, made allegations that Sarah Palin and I were somehow associated with the worst chapter in American history, segregation, deaths of children in church bombings, George Wallace. That, to me, was so hurtful." The Republican attempted to bait Obama into repudiating the Georgia congressman and civil rights advocate, but Obama quickly deflected the accusation.
Instead Obama put Lewis' comments into context by raising the issue of remarks supporters of McCain have been heard making at his rallies in recent days. The Democrat countered, "I mean, look, if we want to talk about Congressman Lewis, who is an American hero, he, unprompted by my campaign, without my campaign's awareness, made a statement that he was troubled with what he was hearing at some of the rallies that your running mate was holding, in which all the Republican reports indicated were shouting, when my name came up, things like 'terrorist' and 'kill him,' and that your running mate didn't mention, didn't stop, didn't say 'Hold on a second, that's kind of out of line'."
What was remarkable about the exchange was that Schieffer did not see fit to question McCain about the violent rhetoric that has been coming out of his campaign rallies. The moderator, in fact, had an opening to do so when McCain, in reference to the crowds at his rallies, said, "I'm not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they're great citizens." It was an absolute defense of some of the most vile rhetoric to come out of a presidential campaign in recent memory and the debate moderator failed to hold Senator McCain accountable.
Likewise, McCain attempted to tie Senator Obama to the grassroots community organizing group ACORN that has recently come under questioning over alleged fraudulent voter registration efforts. McCain argued, "We need to know the full extent of Sen. Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy. The same front outfit organization that your campaign gave $832,000 for 'lighting and site selection.' So all of these things need to be examined, of course."
Senator Obama flatly rejected McCain's claim, responding, "Now, with respect to ACORN, ACORN is a community organization. Apparently what they've done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names. It had nothing to do with us. We were not involved."
While the two men differed sharply on taxes, health care, energy policy and education, it was their exchange on the matter of accusations raised by the McCain camp that put the campaign into context. The power of video to capture a moment and tell a story was evident in last night's debate. Throughout the evening Senator Obama appeared the elder statesmen, taking great pains to parse his words and calmly making his points in a very methodical fashion. The Democratic nominee skillfully returned to his central theme – the need for change – without falling prey to the natural inclination to come back at Senator McCain in the manner in which he was attacked. For McCain, as post-debate public reaction proved, the debate further drove unfavorable opinion of him up that much more. While his hard core base may have relished his feistiness, the larger public took it as further proof that he is out of touch on a day when most Americans were reeling from the latest economic setback.
CBC Sponsors National Town Hall Meeting
Black Democrats Set to Meet on Hill
A NorthStar Network news report on the 2003 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference


Looking to rehome this is a beautiful, like new, Kanile'a K-3 Tenor with premium curly Koa and ebony nut/bridge. It has that full rich tone that is expected from a Kanile'a and it was originally purchase from HMS so the playability is great! It's currently strung with living water high G strings and has snakewood strap buttons on the heel/tail block.
I'm selling this because I'm finding that I don't really like the tenor scale all that much and would like to fund another concert uke instead.
Includes the tweed Oahu hard case (pictured) and Oasis humidifier.
Asking price is $1450, includes shipping. Paypal & CONUS only please.
Please reply or PM with any questions.
Truly a beautiful execution of the Kanile'a K-3 model tenor. Some really nice premium koa in it. I believe the Kanile'a logo on the headstock is also sand.
I noticed that a comparable K-3 premium is selling for $1967 on theukulelesite and I don't think the wood is as attractive as this.
Alas, my buying is in a "temporary" stasis.
Yes, the fretmarkers and logo are of Kailua sand. Looks very classy.
Price drop to $1525. Let me know if you're interested.
Bump. I've found what I wanted so this uke needs to move. Price down to $1450.


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Toyota creates one-brand GR Cup racing series for the GR86 sports car
Toyota and its performance sub-brand Gazoo Racing (GR) will launch a single-brand racing series for its MX-5 Miata fighter, the GR86. This new US-only series is called the GR Cup, and since Toyota hasn't released any details on the race cars themselves, we returned to the 2016 SEMA Show, where they showed the GR's predecessor GT 86 built as a single-seater. make a stock race car for overseas, for hints at what the 2023 Toyota GR86 racer might look like.
The GR Cup
See all 32 pictures
Single-brand racing isn't a new concept, even here in the States and that's why we brought up the MX-5 Miata earlier. Nationally and regionally, Spec Miata and the MX-5 Cup is the emblem of single-brand racing it's easier on the wallet. Well, easier is a relative term here, as MX-5 Global cars start at around $60,000 and can reach just over $80,000 when fully optioned. Yes, even OEM race cars have options and before we talk about the cheapness of your NA Spec Miata, we are talking about the "Global" car that races in the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup, not your local SCCA or Spec Series NASA's Miata. What we're basically saying is don't be surprised if the GR Cup GR86 comes in around the same price range.
The good news is that since the transmission, engine and weight of these cars are generally regulated at such parity that it really is a race of pilots. The cars will be homologated by Toyota and built to precise specifications. Options usually boil down to spares and other trackside necessities, maybe a driver cooling system, but nothing like adding a turbo, better tires or parts light bodywork that others could not immediately afford.
Why do a One Make series?
While Toyota claims in its press release that these races will apply "learnings from the track to make vehicles that are ever better for the road", the reality is that this is a promotional series. It's a giant advertisement for the GR86 as a race car built from a street sports car. Same idea for the MX-5 Cup. Also, trust us, we're not saying that's a bad thing. If you're using motorsport to advertise your sports cars, there's nothing wrong with that and we approve.
We don't totally rule out that there won't be things learned from racing the GR86 in a one-make series. You put the same car in the wringer with lots of different drivers who have varying driving styles and tastes. These Toyota and Gazoo engineers are going to learn something, even if it's a trivial thing.
The GR Cup car
Again, the details Toyota leaked on the GR Cup GR86 were non-existent. Luckily, this isn't the first time someone has thought of creating a one-make series using the ZN chassis. In 2016, Toyota Motorsport GmbH, which would become Gazoo Racing, imported a CS Cup car to the United States for that year's SEMA Show. Compared to other modified GT86s that were at the show, this one was tame by SEMA standards. It would have been better suited to the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indy than the outrageous, over-the-top show in Las Vegas.
The aerodynamics weren't top notch but were just tweaked slightly from the original GT86 shape. Even the rear diffuser was essentially the same except for a vent in the middle for added cooling and redesigned for the new exhaust it used. It featured a wing, but being functional it couldn't be classed as part of the show like the wilder ZNs in the show.
The standard wheels were replaced with a set of 17×8 OZ Racing wheels fitted with a set of 9.6-inch-wide Pirelli racing tires. The stock front brakes were replaced with a set of two-piece Alcon rotors with an Alcon four-piston caliper. The rears, however, remained the stock single-piston calipers with a one-piece rotor. The suspension was tightened with Bilstein motorsport shocks and Eibach springs. Eibach also handled the anti-roll bars while a Theibaut Racing adjustable strut tower bar kept the front end square under load.
Inside, it was all business with its multi-point FIA roll cage, racing seat and Takata harness. While the dash and gauges were OEM, a racing display replaced the factory radio. Interestingly, the HVAC controls remained, but the air conditioning system could have been removed entirely.
Under the hood, there was no fire-breathing, turbocharged unobtainium engine. However, to say it was the same 2.0-litre engine that powered the GT86 back then would be an overstatement. The biggest change was the airbox and intake tube routing. Instead of curving to the left side of the car and drawing its air from the fender area, it was a forehand from the front nose. The airbox was located just behind the front radiator support and drew air from the opening in the bumper. Even with its motorsport ECU, it produced about 212 hp and 162 lb-ft of torque, 7 hp and 11 lb-ft better than stock. The ECU has been programmed for flat shifting and rev matching, thanks to the retention of the stock electronic throttle body. Luckily, those 212 hp only had to carry about 2,100 pounds plus driver weight. Expect similar mods for the new GR86's larger and more powerful 2.4-liter flat-four.
Will it be the same specifications for the GR Cup Car?
Just to reiterate, we don't know and are only speculating based on what Toyota has shown us before. While every part probably won't match what the 2016 CS Cup car used, we wouldn't be surprised if the GR Cup car didn't come very close. One thing the teaser image showed was the GR86 GR Cup car wearing Continental tires around a different set of wheels rather than a set of Pirelli tires and OZ Racing wheels from the CS Cup spec car. The car's cost, official specs and race schedule will likely be released closer to 2023. We're really looking forward to seeing that and hopefully we'll see more manufacturers step up their own branding. series with their own sports or sports cars in the near future.


This version is for Slate Digital Trigger!
The CLA Expansion Pack is a collection of amazing drums samples, recorded by Chris Lord Alge, specifically for Steven Slate Drums!
In the Spring of 2012, Chris Lord Alge revisited his recording engineer roots and recorded multiple world class drumkits at OCEAN studios in Burbank. He then mixed all the drums in his classic style in his LA mixroom using the same processing chains that you've heard on all of his records. He even printed a sample layer of his famous SONY reverb unit on the kicks and snares. The result is some of the fattest, punchiest, most mix ready virtual drums in the industry! And now you can use these classic Chris Lord Alge drums in Steven Slate Drums 4 Virtual Drum instrument and Steven Slate TRIGGER Drum Replacer/Enchancer.