Iconic buildings in the making of city identity: The role of aspirational identity artefacts.

Iconic buildings are important meaning generators in cities. This study explores the role that iconic buildings have in the discursive construction of city identity in public debate. Through the examination of the Locarno PalaCinema case (Switzerland), our study proposes that iconic buildings - during their planning - can serve as aspirational identity artefacts: objects that are mobilised in discourse to inform productive idealisations of city identity by powerful urban actors.

Regulation of Ribosome Biogenesis and Protein Synthesis Controls Germline Stem Cell Differentiation.

Complex regulatory networks regulate stem cell behavior and contributions to tissue growth, repair, and homeostasis. A full understanding of the networks controlling stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, however, has not yet been realized. To systematically dissect these networks and identify their components, we performed an unbiased, transcriptome-wide in vivo RNAi screen in female Drosophila germline stem cells (GSCs).

Vreteno, a gonad-specific protein, is essential for germline development and primary piRNA biogenesis in Drosophila.

In Drosophila, Piwi proteins associate with Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and protect the germline genome by silencing mobile genetic elements. This defense system acts in germline and gonadal somatic tissue to preserve germline development. Genetic control for these silencing pathways varies greatly between tissues of the gonad.

Hex acts with beta-catenin to regulate anteroposterior patterning via a Groucho-related co-repressor and Nodal.

In Xenopus, the establishment of the anteroposterior axis involves two key signalling pathways, canonical Wnt and Nodal-related TGFbeta. There are also a number of transcription factors that feedback upon these pathways. The homeodomain protein Hex, an early marker of anterior positional information, acts as a transcriptional repressor, suppressing induction and propagation of the Spemman organiser while specifying anterior identity.

Role of allopregnanolone on cerebellar granule cells neurogenesis.

The role of allopregnanolone on immature cerebellar granule cells (CGC) proliferation was studied. Allopregnanolone (0.1-1 microM) increased [(3)H]thymidine incorporation and cell number determined by neuronal counting and by an MTT colorimetric assay.