Circadian rhythm gene regulation in the housefly Musca domestica.

The circadian mechanism appears remarkably conserved between Drosophila and mammals, with basic underlying negative and positive feedback loops, cycling gene products, and temporally regulated nuclear transport involving a few key proteins. One of these negative regulators is PERIOD, which in Drosophila shows very similar temporal and spatial regulation to TIMELESS. Surprisingly, we observe that in the housefly, Musca domestica, PER does not cycle in Western blots of head extracts, in contrast to the TIM protein.

Bariatric surgery in patients older than 65 years is safe and effective.

Background: To review the short-term safety and efficacy of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) and laparoscopic gastric bypass (GBP) in patients older than 65 years.

Methods: A single-institution review of all bariatric procedures was performed.

Results: Twenty-seven patients were identified.

A constitutively active cryptochrome in Drosophila melanogaster.

Light-activated cryptochrome (CRY) regulates circadian photoresponses in Drosophila melanogaster. Removing the carboxy (C) terminus to create CRYDelta produces, in yeast, a light-independent, constitutively active form. Here we show that flies overexpressing CRYDelta have a longer free-running period of locomotor activity, as well as altered cycling kinetics of the clock proteins timeless (TIM) and period (PER).

Vocational rehabilitation: what works and in what circumstances.

This paper examines a variety of forms of evidence used to find the effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation interventions. We begin by looking at general unemployment literature and then study the detailed findings of a research project that examined the employment experiences of disabled people, carried out by one of the authors. We then report on a recent evaluation of an innovative vocational rehabilitation scheme.

16PF in screening for appropriateness of mentors.

The utility of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, Fifth Edition (16PF) as an indicator of mentor effectiveness was examined. A random sample of the 16PF scores of 74 mentors was drawn from a population of 837 mentors from Big Brothers Big Sisters. Caseworkers rated mentor's effectiveness using a rubric developed for this purpose.