Abstract: Responses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster and more accurate when the stimulus and response spatially correspond compared to when they do not, even though stimulus position is irrelevant (Simon effect). It has been demonstrated that practicing with an incompatible spatial mapping before performing a Simon task can eliminate this effect. In the present study we assessed whether a learned spatially incompatible stimulus-response mapping can be transferred to a non-spatial task. To this aim, we ran two experiments in which groups of participants performed a spatial compatibility task with either a compatible or an incompatible mapping and then transferred, after a 5 minutes delay, to a Stroop task. In Experiment 1 responses were executed by pressing one of two keys on the keyboard in both practice and transfer tasks. In Experiment 2, responses were manual in the practice task and vocal in the transfer task. The spatially incompatible practice eliminated the Stroop effect only when responses were manual in both tasks. These results suggest that transfer effects can occur even when the practice and transfer tasks do not share the same spatial nature, as long as both task require a bimanual response.

Abstract: A hormonal etiology of epithelial ovarian cancer has long been suspected seeing its incidence menopausal age, and now the role of FSHR has also been demonstrated. Many ovarian cancer cell line express FSHR in them. In studies of the anticancer potential of plants used in folk medicine of Bengal, extracts of plants such as Oroxylum indicum, Moringa oleifera lam, Aegles marmelos could be considered as potential sources of anticancer compounds. Amongst them only Moringa oleifera lam has unique anticancer as well as hormonal property, which may or may not be attributable to isothiocyanate or glucosinolate that it contains. An animal experiment was planned to see effect of Moringa root extract in female reproductive system of mice. Methods: 5 adult female mice of swiss strain of 30 gm each 2-control, 3-treated kept on stock diet, pellet, having nutritional value of 7 daysAn aqueous extract of the root was prepared according to a traditional method. In brief, 500 g of the root were placed in a container with 750 ml of water and boiled for 30 min. The preparation was left standing to cool and was then filtered. The filtrate, containing 66.7 mg root in 1 mL, was placed in small vials and kept in 4 degree C refrigerator until use. 1 ml of extract was used orally daily for 45 days. Results: Attenuation of ovary and uterus was seen while mice tolerated the herb extrct well. There was reversal to pre estrus phase of adult mice as was revealed by PAP smear from vagina. In histology there was absence of follicles in comparison to control ovary. There was lesser amount of fibrosis in treated ovary. Conclusion: Isothiocyanate of Moringa may inhibit proliferation of ovarian granulosa and other cells as it induces apoptosis via caspase-9 and -3 pathways, a family of calcium-dependent cysteine proteases. It may also act by inhibiting ERK1/2 and Akt survival signaling while simultaneously activating pro-apoptotic p38 and JNK1/2. There are reports to show that Moringa induced decrease in cerebral dopamine and norepinephrine which may influence and lower NGF and FSHR through central mechanisms. There is strong possibilty of using this agent in epithelial ovarian cancer and, as such, a cell line experiment is urgently necessary.

Abstract: During the last decades, a large amount of information in cultural heritage institutions have been digitised, creating the basis for many different usage scenarios. We have been working in this area for the last 15 years, through projects such as the Museum Project in Norway (Holmen et al., 2004). We have developed routines, standardised methods and software for digitisation, collection management, research and education. In this paper, we will discuss long term sustainability of digital cultural heritage information. We will discuss the creation of sustainable digital collections, as well as some problems we have experienced in this process. We have divided the description of sustainability in three parts. First we will describe briefl y the technical part of sustainability work (section 2). After all, this is a well known research area on its own, and solutions to many of the problems at hand are known, although they may be hard to implement. We will then use the main part of the paper to discuss what we call organisational sustainability (section 3), which may be even more important than the technical part in the future ? in our opinion, it may also be more diffi cult to solve. Finally, we briefl y address the scholarly part of sustainability (section 4).

Abstract: CFTR biogenesis starts with the co-translational folding and insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, followed by core-glycosylation and exit to the Golgi. CFTR glycan moieties are then processed along the Golgi, generating the mature membrane-resident form. This process is known as processing or maturation and a simple Western blot (WB) analysis distinguishes the core-glycosylated immature ER-specific form of CFTR (band B) from its fully-glycosylated mature post-ER form (band C). This biochemical assay is thus used to monitor CFTR exit from the ER. Moreover, as it provides quantitative information on steady-state levels, it can be used to assess the impact on CFTR of chemicals or molecules (over or underexpression of a given gene). Our goal was to optimize WB to establish a robust, simple and sensitive method to analyse CFTR expressed in cell lines (epithelial and non-epithelial) grown on 96-well plates which can be used as a secondary test after high-content siRNA screen for proteins involved in CFTR trafficking. Different cell lines were tested here: Calu-3, CFBE and BHK stably expressing either wt- or F508del-CFTR. WB was performed as previously but using benzonase to shear DNA. In each lane of a 7% (w/v) SDS-PAGE gel, contents of 1 to 6 wells from a 96-well plate were applied (about 7.5 mg to 45 mg protein). After electrophoresis and electroblotting, the membrane was blocked and incubated with the 596 anti-CFTR antibody (CFF) at 1:1000, followed by incubation with secondary antibody. Detection was done using West Pico System (Pierce). First, we determined the minimal amount of cells needed to detect CFTR by WB and we found that ~4 x 104 cells (number present in one well) is enough to detect both bands B and C of CFTR in the above cells lines. We then determined the sensitivity of this assay to effects caused by siRNA transfection by using as control siRNAs against CFTR (Silencer Select, Ambion, ref. s2945, s2947). We found a significant decrease (~65 and ~85% respectively) in the amounts of band B and C for wt-CFTR, after 48h of transfection with 1.2 pmol of siRNA. We conclude that this large-scale WB assay is robust to test the effect of different siRNAs against genes possibly affecting the trafficking of wt- and F508del-CFTR.

Abstract: A plan for prevention of new introductions of aquatic invasive species to Lake Superior is under development using the Lake Superior Lakewide Management Plan structure. The plan is using a vector/pathway approach to prevention and is binational in approach. The presentation describes the opportunities and challenges that exist for prevention of new invasives to Lake Superior and the value of using the binational Lakewide Management Plan mechanism for development of the plan.