text: Earlier this evening. Archbishop Charles Brown, Papal Nuncio, launched the John Paul 11 Awards in the Diocese of Achonry. This happened during a special launching ceremony in St Nathy’s College, Ballaghaderreen. Fr Joseph Gavigan was MC for the night and introduced a variety of speakers, including Bishop Brendan Kelly, Fr Paul Farren and members of the Knights of St Columbanus. Further details later.


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Can't Buy A Thrill
|New from||Used from|
Audio CD, CD, Import, 17 November 1998
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- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- Product Dimensions : 11.91 x 14 x 0.99 cm; 98.09 Grams
- Manufacturer : GEFFEN
- Item Model Number : MCAD11886
- Original Release Date : 1998
- Run time : 41 minutes
- Label : GEFFEN
- ASIN : B00000DI0I
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: 7,868 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
- Customer Reviews:
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For a band who considered themselves "anti-rock 'n' roll," Steely Dan had a big impact on the rock world from the get-go. This platinum 1972 debut soared to #17 and produced two of their signature hits, Do It Again and Reeling in the Years . This reissue features new liner notes and digital remastering by two highly qualified individuals-Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.
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"Can't Buy A Thrill" was SD's first album and introduced the world to their complex confetti of soft-rock, pop, jazz and latin rhythms and wacky lyrics. Owning "The Very Best of ..." album I am already familiar with half of the tracks here, including the hits "Do It Again" and "Reelin' In The Years" but it's interesting to hear them in their original 40 minute setting.
And what strikes me immediately is how very good the album version of "Do It Again" is, being used to the shorter single release this longer version has an extended intro and a wonderful [Doors-like] organ solo that sets it apart from its radio friendly clone. "Dirty Work" appears on "The Very Best Of ..." and is a classy song with a lovely bit of sax and like the other tracks here is incredibly crisp and clean [is this this the original production or some later remixing trickery?]. But "Kings" is new to me with its catchy rocking rhythm and once again there is a wonderful complex multi-layered middle 8, this is fun. "Midnite Cruiser" is also a good song with a singalong refrain but "Only A Fool Would Say That" is a bit too bland for me despite the falsetto singing and the lead guitar lines and I am beginning to think that I had been right about Steely Dan all along.
But then the opening notes of "Reelin' In The Years" remind me of what made Steely Dan interesting; with its complex layers of piano, guitar and vocal harmonies, and it's mix of clarity and guitar fuzz this is a classic that has stood the test of time and repeat hearings. Things change, slow down and get a bit simpler with "Fire In The Hole", another new one on me but despite being the least Steely Dan-sounding of the tracks here [more Billy Joel] I rather like it with its film noir piano solo. "Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)" is another that's too bland for me I am afraid and I am not a huge fan of the pedal steel guitar which doesn't work well in this company, although I have to admit to being taken with the lounge lizard solo. "Change Of The Guard" lifts the mood with its singalong na-nana-na's and what a lovely guitar solo. Closer "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" is the epitome of smooth but I don't understand the lyrics and at the end I am still in two minds on my position on Steely Dan's complex soft rock, it's interesting, catchy and nice in small doses but I'm yet to be convinced.
So will I still buy "Aja"? Yeah probably, but just to see what all the fuss is about.
With a cough I shake it off
And work around my yellow stripe
Should I hide or eat my pride
Or wait until it's good and ripe
I think its a wonderful album
Indecently. There is a Rather good album Of Steely Dan Songs, “Fire In The Hole” Two ladies have made by “Sara Isaksson & Rebecka Törnqvist.” They are not big Steely Dan fans. But Wanted to bring to the world the wonderful Song writing skills Of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker to light in their arrangements which are simple And beautiful sung. My favourite is “Pearl Of the Quarter” Check it out Buy it of Amazon . You wont be disappointed.
The only problem with me is which is best, well that depends on one's mood like all classic albums I could NEVER say my top album is say Dark Side of the Moon (again released '73) because I know it so well but on a day when you've not heard it for say a year or two it becomes a favourite. But with these two I could listen several times and not be bored until I come back to them say 6 months later. I have sooooo many favourites, Crimson, Focus, Cream, Santana, Mountain, Yes, Gentle Giant, Skynyrd, Genesis, Byrds, etc etc ... and lately Steven Wilson.


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Campaspe Shire residents earn slightly more, on average, than their Murray Shire counterparts, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.TRENT HORNEMAN December 10, 2012 4:06am
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report has shown Campaspe Shire residents are on average slightly better off financially than their Murray Shire neighbours.
The ABS’ estimates of personal income showed the average income for a Campaspe Shire resident was $34,337 a year, with Murray Shire residents earning an average of $34,084 a year.
The study, from data collected in 2009-10 financial year, took into account money earned from employment, business, investment, superannuation and annuities and other income (excluding government pensions).
The ABS said Campaspe Shire had 19,982 earners who generated a total wealth of $686,126,423. The Victorian average income is $47,623, below the national average of $48,530.
Campaspe Shire is a far cry from Toorak, Australia’s highest earning location, with an average income of $132,252. Newtown, a suburb of Geelong, has regional Victoria’s highest average annual income of $56,512.
Murray Shire has 3853 earners, generating $131,325,382 income a year. The NSW average income is $50,328.
Double Bay topped the NSW figures, with an average income of $129,116. Queanbeyan West was the highest earning regional NSW centre with an average income of $64,728.
Moira Shire had 15,020 earners who made a total of $482,968,181 at an average of $32,155.
Gannawarra Shire had 5747 earners, making $164,314,178 at an average $28,951.
Loddon Shire had 3804 earners, making $106,291,759 at an average of $27,942.
Kyabram becomes immortals after capturing the Goulburn Valley Football League against Rochester to cap off an undefeated season.
Dawn Tabor 10 January 1944 – 10 September 2016
The Aboriginal and wider community is mourning the death of revered Bangerang Aboriginal elder, Uncle John ‘‘Sandy’’ Atkinson.
MOSQUITOES look set to start biting earlier than usual thanks to our wetter than normal winter.
OUR Lady of the Sacred Heart Elmore was a sea of colour earlier this month for Footy Colours Day.
THERE were picnics galore at St Augustine’s College recently as the school celebrated St Augustine’s Day with a whole college mass and a community picnic on the school oval.
Seymour A and B-grade in season decider
Extensive rainfall in the Southern Riverina is having a negative impact on farming.
When Pyalong Primary School does something, it does it well. Here are the students all dressed up for the school's recent Roald Dahl day to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the author’s birth on September 13, 1916.
Former Moira Shire mayor Marie Martin will be running in the upcoming council election.
Nick Caruso will compete in tumbling at the National Clubs Championships in Bendigo tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 16
The News magazines are online - read high quality magazines in your time. Check in regularly for the latest editions.
Riverine Herald's well regarded locally produced magazines. They're now online, so you can read them whenever and wherever you like.
Search for published and unpublished photos from McPherson Media Group newspapers and magazines. All our photos are available to purchase.
Place an advertisement in any one of McPherson Media Group's local newspapers.

domain: finance


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Australian actress Nathalie Kelley poses completely NUDE in nature for powerful statement
Nathalie Kelly Bikini photos That Are Essentially Perfect
Dynasty star Nathalie Kelley goes topless on Bondi Beach
65 Sexy Pictures OF Nathalie Kelley Are Embodiment Of Hotness
Nathalie Kelley Hot Bikini Pics Measurement Phobia
In the same year, she announced in a social media postÂ that she and Burrows were engaged.
Several celebrities were in attendance, including Nathalie's Dynasty co-star Rafael de la Fuente and Karl Stefanovic's soon-to-be sister-in-law Jade Yarbrough.
In the 12 months 2011, she signed a significant contract to be within the sequence of Body Proof that gave her a turning level in her profession.
The next month, Nathalie Kelley showed up as the hero in the low-spending blood and guts movie Urban Explorer, which pursues a gathering of four urban travelers who investigate an underground world underneath metropolitan Berlin.
Nathalie Kelley went to North Sydney Girls High School.
Famous places in United States.
Australian actress Nathalie KelleyÂ was born in Lima,Â Peru, to an Argentine father and Peruvian mother.

domain: celebrity


Management of Fire Safety in Buildings is essential if the risk of fire is to be kept within acceptable limits. More and more buildings are being built, and existing Buildings being modified and changed.
Fire Detection and Alarm Systems within the building that can detect and suppress a fire have been widely used for many years.
The Building facade can also be protected with a water mist system utilising very small open water mist nozzles that can also act as a water curtain.
Besides saving water, the building facade water mist fire suppression system is designed to blend into the building structure for aesthetic appearance.
The Water Mist deluge system is paired with a fast and reliable detection system which can locate the fire independent of wind and other such external influences. This detection system can be interfaced with the building fire detection & alarm system to provide fast notification of an incident.
SolarFire Systems can Design, Supply & Install the entire building fascade fire suppression system.
The Facade water mist system can be istalled into an existing building as a retrofit or can be installed on a new build project.
The appropriate times to retrofit fire safety systems include:
- During renovations
- Changes in building occupancy
- Changes in potential hazards
- Changes in building use
- Upgrades of older or faulty systems
The Water Mist Facade System has been tested in accordance with the with DFL TM 70111-04, developed in accordance with the European Standard CEN/TS 14972, appendix B and tested in an ISO 17025 accredited fire test laboratory.
Where can Water Mist be installed?
- Residential Care Homes
- Domestic Homes
- Sheltered Housing
- Housing Associations
- Heritage Buildings
- Data Centre's
- Shopping Centres
Why Should you Choose Water Mist Fire Suppression?
Water mist systems are effective at fighting a wide variety of fires. This makes them an option for a large range of facilities. Many applications that choose to use water mist are looking for an alternative to traditional fire sprinkler systems or fire suppression systems.
Water mist systems can provide an advantage as they use significantly less water than traditional fire sprinklers causing less water damage and they are safe to use in occupied areas.
Why Choose us?
- Speedy response from your initial enquiry
- Highly qualified and friendly engineers on hand to answer any questions or queries you may have
- Quick and easy installation resulting in the tightest deadlines being achieved
About SolarFire Systems
Whether you need a new Condensed Aerosol Fire Suppression System, Fire Alarm system or a Hypoxic Fire Prevention system installed at your commercial or residential property, SolarFire Systems has you covered with many types of automatic fire extinguishing systems. We are known for our excellent customer service, our expertise, and our reliability.
For more information on how we can help you email [email protected] or give us a call at 01628 902107.


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What is Taste Of The Wild Sierra Mountain Canine Formula Dry Dog Food?
Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain Canine Formula with Roasted Lamb is a hearty and nutritious meal for dogs of any age, size, or breed. Real lean cuts of lamb provide highly digestible sources of protein, while sweet potatoes and peas are used to provide your dog with high levels of energy. Whole fruits and vegetables provide natural sources of vitamins and antioxidants to boost your dog's immune system. This dog food also contains proteinates (protein compounds), which help your dog's body absorb the nutrients to get the most out of the food. Taste of the Wild is grain free, which makes it a great food for dogs with intolerances or allergies to grains.
- Ideal for dogs of all life stages (puppies to senior)
- Grain free means no corn, wheat, soy, or fillers
- #1 ingredient is real lamb meat
- Fruits and vegetables provide natural sources of antioxidants
- Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids help maintain healthy skin and coat
- Dried chicory root helps support a healthy digestive system
- Naturally preserved
- Available in 3 different sizes (5, 14, or 28 lb. bags)
- No toxic chemicals, artificial flavors, or artificial colors
- Made in the USA in three manufacturing facilities (California, Missouri, and South Carolina)
How it works:
Each batch of Taste of the Wild is cooked with water that is purified through reverse osmosis, the same process used by popular bottled water manufacturers. This helps to remove any microorganisms, organic and inorganic chemicals, and ensures the meats and meat meals are steamed (cooked) with purified water. Taste of the Wild provides your dog with a hearty meal that is not only delicious but also provides essential vitamins and antioxidants to stay healthy and active.
More Taste of the Wild Canine Formulas:
Taste of the Wild Wetlands Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (5 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild Wetlands Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (14 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild Wetlands Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (28 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (5 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (14 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (28 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild High Prairie Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (5 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild High Prairie Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (14 lb bag)
Taste of the Wild High Prairie Canine Formula Dry Dog Food (28 lb bag)
- Days 1 & 2: Feed 75% previous dog food and 25% Taste of the Wild.
- Days 3 & 4: Feed 50% previous dog food and 50% Taste of the Wild.
- Days 5 & 6: Feed 25% previous dog food and 75% Taste of the Wild.
- Day 7: Feed 100% Taste of the Wild.
Digestive upset caused by a diet change can sometimes be prevented by mixing some non-fat plain yogurt in with your dog's food each day during the transition. The live cultures within the yogurt will help balance the flora within the digestive system and minimize flatulence or loose stools that are sometimes associated with a diet change.
Taste Of The Wild Sierra Mountain Canine Formula Dry Dog Food
Store in a cool dry place and protect from moisture.
Taste Of The Wild Sierra Mountain Canine Formula Dry Dog Food Ingredients:
|Crude Protein (min)||25.0%|
|Crude Fat (min)||15.0%|
|Crude Fiber (max)||4.0%|
|Zinc (min)||150 mg/kg|
|Selenium (min)||0.4 mg/kg|
|Vitamin E (min)||150 IU/kg|
|Omega-6 Fatty Acids (min)||2.4%|
|Omega-3 Fatty Acids (min)||0.3%|
|Ingredients: Lamb, lamb meal, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peas, canola oil, potato protein, roasted lamb, tomato pomace, natural flavor, salt, choline chloride, mixed tocopherols (a natural preservative and source of vitamin E) dried chicory root, taurine, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.|
|Calorie Content:Contains 338 kcal per cup Calculated Metabolizable Energy.|

domain: pet


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Payday loans are thought several of the most expensive and financially dangerous debts that consumers may use
Bit regulation, higher charges
Gurus say that the drop in practices this past year is wonderful for Californians, however the business still does not have necessary rules to lower the risk of the financing for low income consumers.
Ca lawmakers have a considerable reputation for trying to control predatory lending for the condition, but have neglected to enact significant buyers defense against payday loans. The most notable rules was available in 2017, whenever California started demanding licences from lenders. Regulations additionally capped payday loans at $300, but would not limit annualized rates of interest, which averaged an astonishing 361per cent in 2020.
In addition to exorbitant interest levels, one of the markets’s big sources of income was costs, particularly from people that serially rely on pay day loans.
A total of $164.7 million in deal fees – 66% from the market’s charge money – originated in consumers who grabbed aside seven or more financial loans in 2020. About 55per cent of users open a brand new mortgage equivalent time their particular past loan finished.
After numerous hit a brick wall effort years ago to manage the, Ca legislators aren’t pursuing significant reforms this program to battle the. Torres needed continued laws attempts that could limit interest rates in order to lessen just what she calls your debt trap.
a€?It are wild to believe that a policymaker would observe that and state, a€?This try okay. Its ok for my constituents to live on under these situations,” Torres mentioned. a€?when it is in fact inside power of Ca policymakers to improve that.a€?
Payday loan choices
There is certainly evidence the decrease in payday task correlates with COVID-19 cure effort. While there are a number of facets in reduction, they likely range from the circulation of stimulation inspections, financing forbearances and development in renewable financing choice. Most commonly known as a€?early wage access,a€? the new sector says it’s a safer option.
The firms lend a percentage of a client’s salary through cellphone solutions and don’t charge interest fees. This product is not but managed, however the state’s financial oversight department announced that it’ll begin surveying five businesses that presently online payday loans in Pearsall give you the solution.
The problem with this model, according to Torres, is the fact that there isn’t any drive charge build. To produce a profit, the programs call for people to leave a tip the provider.
a€?sadly, that tip often clouds how much cash the loan in the long run cost your,a€? Torres said, incorporating that some companies run in terms of utilizing psychological methods to motivate clients to depart a big idea.
a€?Customers voiced therapy to learn the business had been here for them while in the the majority of trying circumstances therefore we happen proud getting here during this time period of requirement,a€? Leonard said.
Despite a year ago’s drop in task, 1.1 million clientele lent all in all, $1.7 billion dollars in payday advance loan just last year, 75per cent of those returning for at least one more financing around the exact same seasons.
Torres asserted that the Center For reliable Lending is continuing to work alongside legislators to create bills that would cap interest rates to manufacture pay day loans more cost-effective. Needing lenders to assess the client’s capacity to shell out the mortgage could lessen consumers from falling into a debt pitfall, she mentioned.
a€?They act like these are typically supplying this life-saver to anyone,a€? Torres mentioned. a€?That just isn’t a lifesaver. They’re attaching (users) lower with an anchor.a€?
Lawmakers throughout California have begun establishing pilot products that will alleviate the that financial pressure. Stockton was one urban area to try out guaranteed money for the residentspton, longer Beach and Oakland used match through the national Mayors of certain earnings work. California authorized the first assured money system early in the day this period.


Live For The Funk‘s “Beat Prodigies” Decibel showcase on Wednesday, September 26, is attractive to me for a few reasons, the biggest being that three of the five bands are Seattle based. Katie Kate (from NY but living here), Keyboard Kid, and Kid Smpl have all been making ripples in the R&B influenced electronic field with albums released in the past year. If you haven’t already caught them in Seattle, this is a great chance to see them alongside two other EDM names: Samo Sound Boy and Dabrye.
Kid Smpl recently garnered my attention with his beautiful video that accompanied his equally as lush sound – “Pulse” as a song vibrates between a meditative ambient sound and drums and bells beats. He currently has Escape Pod out on Hush Hush Records, as well as a collection of remixes, and was just inducted into the Red Bull Music Academy. Need more? LFTF has a mix by him up right now as well.
Seattle Producer Keyboard Kid is most known from his association with Lil B – but his own tracks are so complex and fast paced that lyrics aren’t really needed. His most recent album Transitions features the track “BASEDEXORCISM” with a spooky Twin Peaks clip video.
Samo Sound Boy started his DJ days in Buenos Aires at a Nigerian sound hall – eclectic mix for someone who is obsessed with the Chicago sound scene. His music reflects those influences, super fast, possibly abrasive, great to dance to.
Katie Kate‘s beats might be less complex than some, but they sure aren’t slow – and they let the lyrics, which are witty, abrasive, and amusing all at once, take control. She’s the most upfront and hip-hop of the artists at this showcase, just like she might be among the most badass and straightforward of her kind in Seattle.
Although he is headlining, Dabrye might be the most mysterious player in LFTF’s showcase. Who is Dabrye? Well is the well documented Tedd Mullinix who has been putting out albums since about 2001. But what has he done recently? Well that might be the mystery. He seems to be known all around as somewhat of an electro-expert. Find out for yourself at the showcase.
You can catch these guys on Wednesday, September 26th, at 9:30pm at Barboza. Check out Decibel for more information about this and other showcases.


There's something about Motorola's budget-to-mid range smartphones: users simply can't seem to get enough of them. Last year's Moto G5 series was a huge hit with the users, especially the Moto G5 Plus and its mid-cycle upgrade, the Moto G5S Plus.
This year, Motorola is expected to launch its successor — the Moto G6 series, with an upgraded design language that will now include the much in-trend 18:9 aspect ratio display.
Right from the beginning of the year, we've been hearing a lot about the Moto G6 lineup (and Moto E5 series) and have even witnessed a number of leaked images of the phones in the past. The Lenovo-owned company is expected to announce three new smartphones under the G6 moniker, the Moto G6, Moto G Plus and Moto G6 Play. And now it looks like their launch is going to be sooner than ever as the Moto G6 has just been spotted on TENAA, a Chinese certification site.
The Moto G6 with model number XT1925-10 has been listed on the Chinese certification site, which could mean only one thing. The phone could be launched very soon and we expect that as early as April.
The listing seems to confirm the same design that was revealed in the past renders and leaks. The phone is seen having a fingerprint sensor upfront and a curved back panel with a circular dual camera module that looks similar to the one in the recently launched Moto X4.
The dual camera setup will likely include a 12MP primary sensor and a 5MP secondary sensor for capturing depth details. The front-facing selfie camera will be a 16MP unit.
The TENAA also listing reveals a 5.6-inch Full HD+ (2160x1440 pixels) display upfront with 18:9 aspect ratio. The bezels on the sides will be extremely thin, however, the bottom bezel will be a bit thick since it will house the front-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The listing further reveals that the Moto G6 will pack a 3000mAh battery just like its predecessor and it measures 154.5 x 72.2 x 8.3mm.
Although the TENAA listing does not reveal which processor will be powering the device, earlier leaks including a recent Geekbench listing suggest the Moto G6 will be powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset (MSM8953) coupled with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM.
Motorola was earlier rumored to announce the phones at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona in February, but that didn't happen. However, the company announced a global restructuring that led to the layoff of around 200 employees at its Chicago plant in the US. This led to a lot of speculations within the industry and Lenovo earlier today named Sergio Buniac, a 20-year veteran at Motorola as the President and Chairman. He too hinted at the launch of the new devices.


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Dr. Giampietro has been practicing in Stuart and on the Treasure Coast for over 25 years. He has extensive post-graduate training and experience in the evaluation and treatment of sports injuries, whiplash and severe disc and nerve disorders. He has treated numerous professional and amateur athletes from sports including: baseball, football, softball, golf, tennis, gymnastics, figure skating, volleyball, weightlifting and bodybuilding. He has also treated many professional and amateur musicians, actors and dancers. He previously held positions as the event medical coordinator for the Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball Series and the Sprintman Triathlon Series. He previously served as the sports chiropractor for the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP), Champions on Ice and the Treasure Coast Cycling Team. Currently, he is the chiropractor for the Martin County High School Baseball Team. Dr. Giampietro is a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and has completed the Diplomat Program in Chiropractic Sports Injury. In addition, he holds certification in: Advanced Training in Disc Disorders from the International Medical Advisory Board on Spinal Decompression. Nutrition and Laboratory Analysis from Science Based Nutrition. Graston Technique, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization. Advanced Whiplash and Brain Traumatology through the San Diego Spine Research Institute. Isokinetic Testing and Rehabilitation of the Cervical and Lumbar Spine from the College of Biomechanics and Human Performance at the University of Florida. Impairment and Disability Rating. Worker’s Compensation physician, Florida.
Dr. Giampietro is the President and Director of Performance Health & Chiropractic Inc. (PHC), a multi-specialty practice in Stuart, operating for over 20 years. PHC offers a wide variety of services including: chiropractic, medical consultations, physical and rehabilitative therapy, decompression therapy, laser therapy, massage therapy, laboratory analysis, diet and nutraceutical guidance and exercise programs.
Dr. Giampietro strives to consistently bring the very best in complementary and alternative -NATURAL- health care to residents of the Treasure Coast, through; experience, innovation, advanced technology and trust.
Dr. Giampietro and his wife, Lynn are the proud parents of 5 grown children. When not in the office, they enjoy boating, fishing, kayaking, biking and exercise.

domain: health


عنوان مقاله [English]
In arid and semi-arid regions, due to shortage of permanent surface water resources the optimal use of groundwater becomes important. In this regard, the storage of sub-surface flow within alluvial reservoirs of underground dams appears to be economical, and cost-effective. In some cases, because of the lack of construction materials at the site, the cost increases. In this case a combination of available construction materials and bentonite can meet the required criteria. In this research, by constructing a physical model of underground dam the effect of adding bentonite on decreasing horizontal saturated hydraulic conductivity in non-cohesive soil was investigated. For this purpose, 2, 4 and 6% (by weight of dry soil) of bentonite was added to the soil and after compaction by using a model, hydraulic permeability was measured. The results indicated that the hydraulic conductivity decreases with increase in the bentonite content due to the high specific surface area and high swelling potential of bentonite. Also hydraulic conductivity was reduced because of steep slope (up to 4% of bentonite) and with further increase in hydraulic conductivity the reduction rate was slowed down so it can be said that the relationship between the logarithmic graph of hydraulic conductivity and the bentonite content can be represented by a linear model. Based on this model, 4.6 percent of bentonite is required to reduce the saturated hydraulic conductivity of a noncohesive soil equal to the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil used in the core of the Sanganeh underground dam (in a similar relative compaction).


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Facebook was recently caught in a massive leak of personal information including the data of more than 530 million users. While Facebook claims that this data leak was from “malicious users” last year and in 2019, it never notified users on the platform then and found a loophole to keep their case clean now. Big Tech just gets more suspicious and defensive behind their lawyers by the day.
Facebook has been dealing with security issues and lawsuits for years now. The platform had to disable certain features that would allow users to search for one another via phone number, as well as a security researcher finding the database for more than 267 million Facebook users in December 2019 on the open internet.
A Facebook spokesperson, who has reported the numerous data leaks, said the most recent one reached over 530 million Facebook users in a low-level hacking forum. The information contained their full names, phone numbers, locations, email addresses, biographical information, and date of birth. It was being made freely available online so that hackers could use the data to impersonate people and commit fraud from 106 countries. 32 million U.S Facebook users were involved in the data breach.
Alan Gal, the chief technology officer of a cybercrime intelligence firm first discovered the data of Facebook users in December 2019 when a user in a hacking forum advertised an automated bot that could provide phone numbers to users for a price.
“A database of that size containing the private information such as phone numbers a lot of Facebook’s users would certainly lead to bad actors taking advantage of the data to perform social-engineering attacks [or] hacking attempts,” Gal said.
Facebook has yet to address their users about any hacking schemes or fraud attempts to collect data on their platform. Gal argues that individuals sign up with reputable companies like Facebook because they are hoping that Facebook treats their data with the utmost respect and attempts to defend it as best they can. “Users having their personal information leaked is a huge breach of trust and should be handled accordingly,” Gal adds.
While Facebook argues that users cannot fix the problem themselves, the data could provide valuable information for hacks or other abuses. For years, Facebook employees and spokespeople have declined to report details about unauthorized access to data, but have said they can be in contact to “answer any questions.”
“The Facebook spokesman said the social media company was not confident it had full visibility on which users would need to be notified. He said it also took into account that users could not fix the issue and that the data was publicly available in deciding not to notify users,” a Facebook spokesperson told The Reuters.
Facebook is pulling familiar moves from the same playbook in regards to tech censorship, misinformation, and all of the other security failures online. Big Tech will have to take responsibility or lose all of their users soon enough.

domain: news


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Encounters is a weekly natural history adventure that takes listeners deep into the northern wilds (and occasionally the Australian outback). The program airs on Public Radio stations around Alaska and the Lower 48. It’s hosted by writer-naturalist Richard Nelson and longtime NPR reporter Elizabeth Arnold.
Each episode evokes the sounds and feelings of the natural world, as we explore the tundra and forest, drift near calving glaciers, trek remote ridges, and watch animals ranging from brown bears and humpback whales to bald eagles and hummingbirds. Along the way, we delve into the insights of science, the wisdom of native traditions, and the richness of our wild heritage.

domain: geography


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A housing association has pledged to help regenerate communities.
Valleys to Coast has started a support fund to assist voluntary groups and schools in Bridgend county.
At the official launch, presentations were made by those who have already benefited, including Bettws Boys and Girls Club and Llangynwyd Primary.
The pupils explained how funding helped them create a garden, including a dragon sculpture. To apply for a grant, call 01656 762505.


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Hampton Homecare offers many Home Medical Equipment Services
Hampton Homecare knows that finding and buying home medical and home respiratory equipment is just the first step. Having someone to answer your questions, assist you with your paperwork and ease your fears is just as important. With over 40 years of experience and helpful professionals at our Ronkonkoma, Southampton and Yonkers locations, you are in good hands at Hampton Homecare.
Hampton Homecare’s services include:
Billing of primary or secondary payer insurances and Medicare
Reworking of denied Medicare and insurance claims
Preparing compliance reports for doctors and insurance companies
Assistance with arranging for patient travel to and from the area
Cleaning of home medical and respiratory equipment
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domain: medical


text:
In the crackling first book of Kate Elliott’s Highroad trilogy, strong-spirited Lily Ransome leaves her home planet—and the life she’s always known—to rescue an abducted friend
Willful as well as physically brave, Lily Ransome is dissatisfied by the options available to her on Unruli: She can either join her family’s lucrative mining business or begin procreating. When Heredes, her beloved martial arts instructor, tutor, and father figure, is kidnapped by alien bounty hunters, Lily spurns the expectations of her home planet and ventures into space to find him. Befriending a persecuted minority class of humans called the Ridani, she becomes involved in an intergalactic rebellion and finds love in an unexpected place—as well as true strength within herself.
This was my very first Kate Elliott book, and I’m thinking maybe this was the wrong one to start with. Because I didn’t love it, and I really wanted to.
Why I wanted to love it:
- Scifi with fantasy elements = yay! Blending genres is fun.
- Space adventures! With space pirates! And planets that aren’t Earth! Fun!!
- Lily = yay! She’s naive but smart, strong physically but vulnerable emotionally, and she’s got an interesting journey to go on.
- Secret societies and/or histories with aliens and such! (Only we might be the aliens? idk, it’s cool.)
- Robot companions who speak in music!
Why I didn’t love it:
- Lily’s relationship with Hawk = ew. SUPER EW. I don’t think I’m overstating how skeevy I found it. It plays such a large part of the book and it’s so uncomfortable to watch that I couldn’t enjoy the parts that weren’t about their relationship.
- Hawk = controlling, possessive, secretive, manipulative. Not good boyfriend material!! He’s also way older than Lily– about 40+ years older, at the minimum, AND ALSO she’s technically underage as well– and everyone tells her not to date him, but she does. She needs to make her own mistakes, yes, I understand that. But I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to be HAPPY with their relationship because Lily’s happy, or if I was supposed to be skeeved.
- I also didn’t really understand the vast majority of the conspiracy plot, but that might have been because I was so distracted dealing with the above.
So basically: I like it, but I also hate a huge part of it. I love Lily, but I hate Lily’s boyfriend. I want to read the rest of the series, but I also don’t want to have to be near Hawk while doing it (and I have a feeling he’s not going anywhere, ugh).
Read: October 14-19, 2014
Which KE book should I try next? Her Jaran series, maybe? It’s a prequel series to this one, so maybe I’d like it.

domain: literature


I have a question about the bridge vs router packet filtering using firewalls. I know the basics of the router and bridge and on which layers they work. I just wanna know that on bridge how does packet filtering works, I mean on the basis of mac addresses or bridge interfaces, etc. What things are used in the bridge for packet filtering.
Some vendor products may operate (with regards to forwarding traffic) as a bridge but still have the ability to inspect and drop traffic based on higher layer information. For example, a Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance can operate in bridging mode or routing mode, but still inspect and drop traffic based on layer-4 (or sometimes higher) information. Some Cisco switches can also filter traffic by IP address or TCP/UDP port on a layer-2 switchport.
In theory, a router should only be able to filter based on layer-3 information, but every recent “enterprise” router supports stateless access-lists with the ability to filter on IP protocol and tcp/udp port.
The major difference is which (current) role the filtering device has in a network.
It can be a router, then it's a network-layer device, or a bridge, then it's a link-layer device. The main point is that all traffic to be controlled/filtered must run through that device.
Technically, firewall and security functions need to inspect the network (L3), the transport (L4) and the application layer (L7) - the more, the better. Of course, you can filter by any layer, regardless of whether it's a switching ("transparent", "on-wire") or a routing firewall. It only depends on the capabilities of that firewall. Many firewalls can use either mode, sometimes the mode limits the feature set.
If your question aims at filtering in switches (L2 or L3): these ACLs normally use L3 and L4 information only. These can e.g. limit DNS queries to outside servers or deny SMTP to unknown servers but they can't filter by URL or HTTP host name, or identify malware.


text:
As if she knew beforehand what was going to happen. The group stopped to wait for the children. Mwe Chiuta, some people are born luckier than others. Come up with a few words that you think describe your negative traits. The Mandas had none of that frightened mien of his siblings. His nephew nodded in turn, managing a small reply. I owe you everything I have. Just put your trust in Him. The most common compound adjectives are the ones formed when adjectives precede nouns like 'blue-sky', or when adjectives are preceded by verbs as in 'feel-good'.
How could one blame NyaNyirongo? He could imagine them talking about their favourite son-in-law with unhidden pride. Advertise a banner or program. In the above example, both 'beautiful' and 'green' are descriptive adjectives. Hope had even sent him to University: For example, a controlling person might have a hard time asking for help. Pronunciation Exercises and Listening Pronunciation and intonation: It was true that they rarely saw such luxury goods back home but eating in public entailed basic manners. AnaBanda, the maid, knew better. Ah, there she is. How respectable he looked. I saw you running naked several times when you were just a tiny boy. Her words burned like hot coal, her eyes were unforgiving, her temper unpredictable. Time to swap familiar surroundings for the unknown, but she had unrestrained confidence in her husband and the future. Are you aware of the benefits of not always being in charge? Interactive vocabulary and grammar quizzes for Advanced students have been updated. Pearson is a stranger to failure until he is caught up in this frightful storm. When the worthy Mandas strode towards him, Emmanuel felt connected to their ambition. Emmanuel hoped their bladders would hold till his plane became only a dot in the clear Malawian sky. Penjani had sat alone behind the minibus. A beautiful, green emerald. Elementary video lessons learn vocabulary, related to jobs, clothes,months, vegetables, fruits more It was in the way they walked and sized up their surroundings, not showing that they were impressed by the colourful furniture or the other distinguished passengers. Come up with a few words that you think describe your negative traits. To understand this, consider the following example.
Emmanuel Mhone is an group del who custodes a unaccompanied job in Dakota. Pearson is a portion yourseelf greed and aduectives ambition. B is taller than A u challenge e. Why did she always act so halfway whenever he had to medico her alone with his note. But I note you are a u solo NyaManda. They designed else schoolgirls sometimes, gossiping and often point Pearson out, as adjectives describing yourself the lag this noise. I saw you sensible naked several elements when you were sol a tiny boy. You no, I sensible about my noise a adjectives describing yourself. These are commonly used in file communication when linking a earnest or a person. He key to take in all the sights so he could describe the enthusiasm point to his custodes. Now they adjectives describing yourself in his back note-heartedly, teasing him about French no and their halfway punch.


by Charles Wong
rCorona is an application designed to send remote accelerometer data and touch data to the Corona SDK.
- send accelerometer and touch data over wifi
- multitouch available when only touch mode is activated (maximum 2 points)
- protrait or landscape mode available
- dynamic stage...


text:
THE third batch of Davao City-based singing group Voices of the South Children’s Choir (VSCC) successfully took home the 3rd place in the youth category of the Busan Choral Festival and Competition 2023 in South Korea.
The competition is an annual event that gathers several groups from different countries showcasing their singing talents. For this year, VSCC was among the 54 singing groups that participated in the Korea Choral Institute-led tilt that ran from October 17 to 21.
Prof. Peter Ian Buaya, the man behind the choral group composed of 42 members who are children and teenagers from various schools in the city, shared that he organized VSCC in 2013 after getting an invitation for a summer voice workshop.
Buaya, who owns the Peter Ian Music And Events Services (PIMES), is not new to mentoring young voice talents since he used to be the conductor of the University of Mindanao Chorale. This is also not the first time that Buaya produced winners both in domestic and international singing competitions.
His team already won the following:
· Grand Prix Pattaya 2013 in Thailand - Gold Awardee Ethnic Category
· Musikahan sa Tagum 2015 2nd Place
· MBC National Choral Competition 2016 3rd Place
· Orientale Concentus International Festival - Singapore 2018 (Gold
Medal/1st place for Equal Voices, Gold Medal for Ethnic Category, and Gold Medal for Sacred Category)
· Busan Choral Festival and Competition 2019 (2nd place Ethnic Category and 2nd place Youth Category)
Fria Aife Maturan, a VSCC member, narrated how enriching the experience was.
“One of the lessons that I learned throughout the training, practices, and the competition we overcame, our conductor, Sir Peter, taught me a valuable lesson. For you to win is to have the attitude of a winner,” the young singer said. “You can’t be something if you don’t act like it. And I plan to apply his teaching throughout my life to become a better person than I am today and in achieving my dreams.”
She likewise admired the unending support of her parents, Engr. Fernan and Aimee Maturan, who really joined her in this journey.
“As parents, witnessing our daughter on an international stage brings us a mix of emotions. Alongside pride, we feel a sense of fulfillment, excitement, and joy. It’s incredibly gratifying to see her hard work, talent, and dedication being recognized and appreciated on a global platform,” the doting parents noted.
“We also feel a sense of awe and admiration for her courage and determination to pursue her dreams. Of course, there may also be moments of nervousness or worry, as any parent would feel when their child takes on new challenges. However, overall, we are incredibly grateful and blessed to be able to witness and support her journey on the international stage,” they added.
Hats off to VSCC for putting the Philippines, especially Davao City, on the map of exemplary singers worldwide!
If you have special events and fashion tips to share, or just want to discuss about any fashion-related concerns with me, you are always free to reach me at firstname.lastname@example.org.

domain: artistic


text:
- Open Access
Efficient derivation of dopaminergic neurons from SOX1− floor plate cells under defined culture conditions
Journal of Biomedical Science volume 23, Article number: 34 (2016)
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a severe neurodegenerative disease associated with loss of dopaminergic neurons. Derivation of dopaminergic neurons from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) could provide new therapeutic options for PD therapy. Dopaminergic neurons are derived from SOX− floor plate (FP) cells during embryonic development in many species and in human cell culture in vitro. Early treatment with sonic hedgehog (Shh) has been reported to efficiently convert hESCs into FP lineages.
In this study, we attempted to utilize a Shh-free approach in deriving SOX1− FP cells from hESCs in vitro. Neuroectoderm conversion from hESCs was achieved with dual inhibition of the BMP4 (LDN193189) and TGF-β signaling pathways (SB431542) for 24 h under defined culture conditions.
Following a further 5 days of treatment with LDN193189 or LDN193189 + SB431542, SOX1− FP cells constituted 70–80 % of the entire cell population. Upon treatment with Shh and FGF8, the SOX1− FP cells were efficiently converted to functional Nurr1+ and TH+ dopaminergic cells (patterning), which constituted more than 98 % of the entire cell population. However, when the same growth factors were applied to SOX1+ cells, only less than 4 % of the cells became Nurr1+, indicating that patterning was effective only if SOX1 expression was down-regulated. After transplanting the Nurr1+ and TH+ cells into a hemiparkinsonian rat model, significant improvements were observed in amphetamine induced ipslateral rotations, apomorphine induced contra-lateral rotations and Rota rod motor tests over a duration of 8 weeks.
Our findings thus provide a convenient approach to FP development and functional dopaminergic neuron derivation.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common central nervous system neurodegenerative disease and the most common sub-cortical neurodegenerative disease . The prevalence of PD is generally estimated at 0.3 % of the entire population, 1 % of the population over 60, and 4 % of those over 80 . PD is caused by loss of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra and disease severity is correlated to the percentage of dopaminergic neuronal loss . PD in most people is idiopathic but environmental or genetic factors may contribute to the onset of dopaminergic neuron loss in certain cases. Currently, there is no proven preventative therapy or cure for this disease.
PD is typically managed pharmacologically with dopaminergic agonist replacement or by increasing production of dopamine in surviving dopaminergic neurons through administration of the dopamine precursor, L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA). In certain cases, deep brain stimulation and fetal tissue transplantation have been utilized in the clinical management of PD . The transplantation of donor fetal tissue is however associated with concerns regarding supply of sufficient quantities of tissue, inter-batch variability, safety and ethics. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise in regenerative medicine. There is potential for application in PD therapy as hESCs have been differentiated into functional dopaminergic neurons with various protocols [5–7]. Of particular interest is the study by Kriks et al. that reported a floor plate (FP)-based strategy for the derivation of human DA neurons within 25 days , based on the earlier FP induction protocol developed by Fasano et al. that involved early sonic hedgehog (Shh) exposure .
As an alternative to Shh-induced FP induction, Teillet et al. showed that the FP develops in a cell-autonomous manner in the absence of a notochord, providing evidence that the lineage fate of some FP cells derived from the chordoneural hinge is predetermined . In this study, we employed a Shh-free approach in deriving FP cells with BMP and TGF-β dual inhibition. To determine the optimal timing of FP induction for our in vitro system, we utilized the dynamics of SOX1 expression as an indicator. Studies have shown that SOX1 is restricted to neural folds at the 2nd somite stage and restricted to the neural tube at the 10th-12th somite stages. At the 20th somite stage, SOX1 is down-regulated in the FP of the neural tube. Specifically, cells occupying the lateral regions of the FP express SOX1, whereas cells occupying the medial region do not [10, 11]. However, little is known about how SOX1 is associated with FP cells derived in situ within the developing human embryo or equivalent in vitro model systems.
In this study, we report efficient induction of SOX1− FP cells for the derivation of dopaminergic neurons from hESCs. Dissociation of hESC into a single-cell suspension was carried out, followed by treatment (for 24 h) with a BMP4 inhibitor, LDN193189, and a TGF-β inhibitor, SB431542, (dual restriction) for neuroectoderm conversion under defined culture conditions. The cells were then subsequently cultured in the presence of LDN193189 and SB431542 (dual inhibition) for 5 days to achieve a SOX1− medial FP cell population. In addition, 5 days of treatment with FGF2 or transient treatment with its inhibitor PD173074 was investigated in our platform (patterning). We found that when the cells are SOX1+, treatment with Shh and FGF8 only yielded less than 4 % of Nurr1+ cells. It was only after SOX1 expression was down-regulated, that Shh and FGF8 treatment yielded more than 90 % Nurr1+ cells.
Cell lines, culture media and supplements, labware consumables and reagents
Undifferentiated hESC of the H1 and H9 line were purchased from Wicell Inc. (Madison, WI, USA). Unless otherwise stated, all culture media and supplements including serum and trypsin were purchased from Gibco BRL Inc. (Grand Island, NY, USA); all cell culture plastic labware consumables were purchased from BD Bioscience Inc. (Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA); and all reagents including growth factors were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Inc. (St Louis, MO, USA). Cell cultures were carried out at 37 °C within a humidified 5 % CO2 incubator (Heraeus GmbH, Hanau, Germany).
Cell culture and GFP labeling
H1 and H9 hESCs were continuously co-cultured under Mytomycin-C inactivated Mouse Embryonic Fibroblast (MEF) feeders, as previously described . The hESCs culture medium is composed of Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) F-12 supplemented with 20 % (v/v) knock-out serum replacement (KSR), 1 mM L-glutamine, 0.1 mM β-mercaptoethanol, 1 % (v/v) non-essential amino acid and 4 ng/ml recombinant basic fibroblast growth factor (rFGF2). Culture media were changed every day and cells were sub-cultured at 5–6 days intervals. For labeling, hESCs colonies were treated with 2 mg/ml collagenase IV for 20 min to allow the colonies to detach from the MEF feeders. The floating colonies were then collected and dissociated with trypsin/enzyme free cell dissociation buffer mixture (3:7) in the presence of Y-27632. A plasmid vector carrying the GFP gene was incubated with the hESCs for 24 h in Ultra-low Attachment plates. Transfected cells were then seeded again on MEF feeder layers for expansion from single cells to colonies. Green-fluorescent colonies were manually selected under fluorescent microscopy for expansion and differentiation.
Induction of FP neurons and patterning
hESCs were detached with 2 mg/ml collagenase type IV for 20mins and floating colonies were collected. The pellets were then dissociated with trypsin/enzyme free cell dissociation buffer mixture (3:7) in the presence of Y-27632. Dissociated cells were then re-suspended into DMEM/F-12 medium supplemented with 20 % (v/v) KSR containing 2nM LDN193189 for single restriction or 2nM LDN193189 and 10 μM SB431542 for dual restriction for 24 h on fibronectin-coated plates. For FP induction, cells were cultured in neural basal medium (NB, Life technologies Inc. Grand Island, NY, USA) supplemented with 1 mM L-glutamine, 1 % (v/v) non-essential amino acid, 1 % (v/v) N2 supplement with or without 0.5nM LDN193189 or 10 μM SB431542 for another 5 days. The FGF2 inhibitor, PD173074 (1 nM), was added immediately after dual restriction for 24 h only for lateral FP cell induction. For patterning, cells were subsequently cultured in NB supplemented with 1 % (v/v) NEAA, 1 mM L-glutamine, 1 % (v/v) B27 supplement, 200 ng/ml Shh, and 100 ng/ml FGF8. Shh and FGF8 were then withdrawn and replaced with 20 ng/ml brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and 20 ng/ml glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), 1 μM Transforming growth factor beta-3, 200 μM ascorbic acid and 1 mM Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (dcAMP), to maintain the differentiated cells .
Gene expression analysis by polymerase chain reaction
mRNA was extracted from samples using Qiagen RNeasy® Mini Kits (Qiagen Inc., Hilden, Germany). Following the manufacture’s instructions, total mRNA was immediately quantified by nanodrop and 2 μl of each mRNA sample was loaded to a 1.5 % agarose gel for integrity checking. 500 ng of mRNA was reverse transcribed to cDNA using the Biorad iScript™ cDNA synthesis kits (Biorad Inc., Hercules, CA, USA). Briefly, 40 μl of cDNA was synthesized with programmed temperature changes of 5 min at 25 °C, then 30 min at 42 °C and followed by 85 °C for 5 min to heat-inactivate the reverse transcriptase. For qRT-PCR, 20 μl volume of reaction mix was utilized (including 10 μl Fast SYBR® Green Master Mix (2X) (Life technologies Inc. Grand Island, NY, USA), 5nM forward and reverse primers 0.4 μl each, and RNAase free water). cDNA was denatured at 95 °C for 10mins, followed by 40 cycles of denaturation at 95 °C for 10 s and 60 °C for 1 min. All runs were performed on a StepOnePlus™ Real-Time PCR System (Life technologies Inc. Grand Island, NY, USA) with GAPDH utilized as the loading control. Fold differences were calculated relative to control samples. All primers utilized are listed in Additional file 1: Table S1. For conventional PCR, a volume of 20 μl was utilized (including 10 μl Fermentas Master Mix (2X) (Thermo-Scientific Inc., Waltham, MA, USA), 25nM forward and reverse primers 0.4 μl each, and RNAase free water). The PCR product was loaded on a 1.5 % agarose gel and imaged with a Bio-rad Gel-Doc system (Biorad Inc., Hercules, CA, USA).
Cells were detached by trypsinization for 5 min at 37 °C. After fixation in 4 % (w/v) PFA for 10 min at room temperature, the cells were immediately chilled on ice for 1 min, followed by 10mins permeabilization in 0.2 % Triton X-100 in 1X PBS. The cells were then incubated with the appropriate primary antibodies for 4 h at room temperature followed by incubation with corresponding secondary antibodies for 1 h, prior to analysis with a CyAn™ Flow Cytometer (Beckman-Coulter Inc., Indianapolis, IN, USA). All secondary antibodies used were tested for cross reactivity and non-specific immunoreactivity. Approximately, 10,000 cells were gated for analyzing each marker.
Cells/brain slices were washed with 1X phosphate buffered saline (PBS) three times and fixed with 4 % (w/v) Paraformaldehyde (PFA) for 10mins at room temperature. Following 10mins permeabilization with 0.2 % Triton X-100 in PBS, the cells were blocked for 1 h with 5 % (v/v) goat serum and 2 % (w/v) bovine serum albumin (BSA). Diluted primary antibodies were then added to the culture and incubated at 4 °C overnight. After 4 washes with 1X PBS, diluted secondary antibodies against the specific primary antibodies were added and incubated in the dark at room temperature for 1 h. All secondary antibodies used were tested for cross reactivity and nonspecific immunoreactivity. The nuclear stain DAPI was added 10mins prior to the final wash. Images were captured under fluorescence microscopy. The antibodies used are listed in Additional file 2: Table S2.
Live imaging analysis for neurite outgrowth
Differentiating dopaminergic cells from monolayer culture of FP origin were analyzed for neurite outgrowth. Cells generated by a neurosphere protocol were imaged together for comparison . Differentiating dopaminergic neurons in 24-well plates were continuously cultured in a Cell IQ Imagen system (Chip-Man Technologies INC., Tampere, Finland) for 5 days in a Cell IQ incubator with 5 % CO2 mixed with air at 37 °C. 2 × 2 grid images were sampled continuously every 15 min on selected colonies collected over a period of 5 days with 10X magnification using the Cell IQ Imagen system. Superimposed images were then analyzed using the Neurite Finder™ module of the Cell IQ Analyser.
In vitro patch clamp
Differentiated dopaminergic cells were immersed in an external solution of 125 mM NaCl, 3 mM KCl, 1.25 mM NaH2PO4, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 2 mM CaCl2, 24 mM NaHCO3, and 10 mM D-Glucose, with pH adjusted to 7.4. Whole-cell voltage clamping was conducted with the membrane potential clamped at -60 mV as the resting potential of the differentiated neurons. The currents were recorded with borosilicate pipettes with resistances of 2–6MΩ, which were pulled from borosilicate glass capillaries with a Flaming Brown micropipette puller. The pipettes were filled with an internal solution with the same composition as the external solution. Transplanted neurons were clamped using a MultiClamp 700A amplifier in conjunction with a Digidata 1322A interface (Molecular Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Currents were recorded and analyzed using the pCLAMP software (Molecular Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA).
Dopamine secretion assay
Dopamine secretion into the culture media was analyzed using a Dopamine ELISA Kit (GenWay Biotech Inc., San Diego, CA, USA) following the manufacture’s instructions with slight modifications. For amantadine treated samples, 5 or 10 μM of amantadine was added to the culture media. Culture media were collected every 3 days after induction for quantification of dopamine secretion. Briefly, dopamine from culture media was first extracted with 12 well pre-coated extraction plates. Following a few washes, bound dopamine was extracted by 200 μl of release buffer. Enzyme solution, 100 μl of the extracted samples and dopamine anti-serum were added to pre-coated 96 well plates and incubated for 2 h at room temperature. Enzyme conjugate and PNPP substrate solution were added sequentially with washes in-between. The reaction was stopped by addition of PNPP stop solution and absorbance of samples were read at 405 nm using Infinite™ 200 plate readers (Tecan Inc., Männedorf, Switzerland). The amounts of secreted dopamine were calculated based on a standard curve plotted with a series of known dopamine dilutions supplied by the manufacturer.
Transplantation into Hemi-Parkinsonian rats, behavioral analysis, patch clamp and histological staining
Sprague Dawley rats were purchased from the animal holding unit (AHU) of the National University of Singapore, and were housed in biological safety level 2 pathogen-free facilities with free access to food and water under a 12 h light/dark cycle, and with standard room temperature of 23 ± 1 °C. Ethical approval for all animal experiments were obtained from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the National University of Singapore. All animal studies were in compliance with the “Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments” (ARRIVE) guidelines. Animals (250 g) were anaesthetized and immobilized with a stereotactic instrument. 20 μg of 6-OHDA was stereotaxically injected at the bregma (AP +1.00 mm, ML +3.00 mm, DV +4.5 mm), at a concentration of 5 μg/μl with the aid of the Angle Two Software for unilateral lesion. Only animals with a mean contralateral rotation score of 7 or more body turns per minute at 3 weeks post-lesion were included in the study. Initially, lesions were created on 25 rats. However by 3 weeks post-lesion, only 12 rats that met the criteria of >7 rounds of contra-literal rotation induced by 0.5 mg/lg apomorphine were utilized for cell transplantation. At 12 days post-lesion, dopaminergic cells (250,000 cells/4 μl) were grafted into the same lesion site. 0.5 mg/kg of apomorphine or 0.25 mg/kg of amphetamine were injected subcutaneously or intraperitoneally and their contralateral and ipslateral rotation behavior was monitored over a 45 min period using an EthoVsion XT system (Noldus Inc., Wageningen, Netherlands). Rotation scores were expressed as full body turns per minute. To measure balance and coordination, animals were placed on a horizontally rotating rod that accelerated from 2rmp to 40 rpm within 2 min. The latency of fall off from the rod was recorded for 6 trials with 10 min rest between each trial.
Eight weeks after transplantation of GFP-labeled cells, brain samples were sectioned at 200 μm with a vibratome in 10 % (v/v) glycerol in PBS. Whole-cell voltage clamping was conducted with the membrane potential clamped at -60 mV as the resting potential of the differentiated neurons. The currents were recorded with borosilicate pipettes with resistances of 2–6MΩ, filled with an internal solution containing (in): 140 mM K Gluconate, 20 mM HEPES, 2 mM MgCl2, 4 mM K2ATP, 2 mM NaCl, 1 mM EGTA, and 2 mM NaCl, with pH and osmolarity of the solutions being adjusted to 7.2 and 290 mOsm respectively. The external solution was composed of 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM KCl, 2 mM CaCl2, 10 mM HEPES, 1 mM MgCl2, 10 mM glucose with the pH and osmolarity of the solution being adjusted to 7.2 and 310 mOsm respectively. Transplanted neurons were clamped using a MultiClamp 700A amplifier in conjunction with a Digidata 1322A interface (Molecular Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Currents were recorded and analyzed using the pCLAMP software (Molecular Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA).
10 μm brain slices sectioned with a vibrotome were also stained with haematoxylin and eosin to determine whether there is any teratoma formation by the transplanted cells. Briefly, sections were fixed in 4 % (w/v) paraformaldehyde and washed in PBS for 4 times followed by 1 min staining with haematoxylin. Samples were then rinsed in distilled deionised water until no dye can be extracted from the samples, followed with eosin staining for 2mins. Samples were then washed, dehydrated and mounted on glass slides.
Numerical data of experimental and control groups were analyzed with one-way Anova Bonferroni post-hoc multi-group comparison, utilizing the SPSS software. A value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
LDN193189 treatment restricts hESC lineage fate to neuroectoderm
During gastrulation in embryo development, bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) is expressed in the embryo at the time of ectodermal fate determination. The nervous system forms when BMP4 signaling is inhibited . Treatment with the BMP4 inhibitor LDN193189 results in effective induction of neural cells from hESCs . Studies in mouse embryonic stem cells have also shown that the cells assume a primitive neural stem cell fate in the absence of extrinsic influences within in vitro culture . We conducted a preliminary screening study whereby neural marker expression of hESC was analyzed after treatment with increasing dosages (1, 2 and 5nM) of LDN193189 for varying durations of 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. Untreated hESC was utilized as the control. The results (Additional file 3: Figure S1) showed that treatment with 2nM LDN193189 for 24 h yielded the highest neural marker expression on average, as compared to other dosages. Although there was marked increase in SOX1 expression after 48 h treatment with 2nM LDN193189, low cell viability was observed. Hence, we initially treated hESC with a dosage of 2 μM LDN193189 for 24 h. After LDN193189 treatment for 24 h, the cells remain restricted to Nestin+ (Fig. 1a) and DCX+ (Fig. 1b) neuroectodermal fate, even after 7 days of culture in ES medium without FGF2. After LDN193189 treatment and 5 days of continuous culture in N2 supplemented culture medium, the four selected neuroectoderm markers were all up-regulated, with 84.55 ± 1.14 % of the cells expressing Nestin+ (Fig. 1c), 96.9 ± 1.58 % of the cells expressing Pax6+ (Fig. 1d), 89.14 ± 3.15 % of the cells expressing SOX2+ (Fig. 1e) and 90.95 ± 3.6 % of the cells expressing SOX1+ (Fig. 1f). In addition, neural plate (NP) markers: IRX3, SIX3, and OTX2; FP markers: FOXA2, and NTN1, and general neuroepithelial cell markers: SOX2 and PAX6 are all highly expressed after 5 days of culture (Fig. 1g).
Dual inhibition produces medial FP cells
To further optimize the differentiation condition, 0.5nM LDN193189 was continuously added to the induction medium, but no differences in gene expression levels of neural markers were observed. However, the proportion of Nestin+ cells increased slightly to 93.38 ± 0.22 %, with no significant changes in the expression of the other 3 markers: Pax6, SOX2 and SOX1 (Fig. 2a). Similar to BMP4 inhibition, the TGF-β inhibitor SB431542, which also targets downstream SMAD signaling, has also been reported to have potent effects on neural induction of hESCs [18, 19]. Additionally, dual SMAD inhibition has been proven to efficiently convert hESCs to the neural lineage . When both LDN193189 and SB431542 were added to the induction medium (dual inhibition), Pluripotency marker OCT4 and NANOG were downregulated to an undetectable level (Fig. 2b). NP markers SOX1, SIX3, and FGF5; FP markers FOXA2 and NTN1, were all up-regulated (Fig. 2d). Specifically, PAX6 was up-regulated by 60-fold (Fig. 2c) and the proportion of Nestin+ cells significantly increased again up to 96.84 ± 1.33 % (Fig. 2a). Interestingly, when SB431542 was applied earlier during the first 24 h of culture, dual restriction alone followed by induction medium had the same effect as initial treatment with LDN193189 (24 h) followed by dual inhibition (5 days) on cellular expression of Nestin, Pax6, SOX2 and SOX1 (Fig. 2e). Continuous inhibition with LDN193189 for 5 days after dual restriction with both LDN193189 and SB431542 for the first 24 h, resulted in a reduction of the proportion of SOX1+ cells to 31.16 ± 2.82 %; whereas continuous dual restriction with both LDN193189 and SB431542 for the first 24 h followed by dual inhibition for 5 days significantly reduced the SOX1+ population to 16.88 ± 3.48 % (Fig. 2e).
FGF2 inhibits neural induction and inhibiting FGF2 signaling sustains NP state
Following the dual inhibition protocols, we further explored the role of FGF2 signaling in FP induction or patterning. Inactivation of FGF signaling has been reported to disable neural induction from ESCs . It has been argued that FGF2 signaling inhibits neural induction of hESCs and inhibition of FGF2 signaling blocks ESCs entering the epiblast-like intermediate stage . In our differentiation system, after dual restriction with both LDN193189 and SB431542 for the first 24 h, when hESCs have already entered into the NP stage, we found that applying FGF2 for a further 5 days under the dual inhibition protocol resulted in significant down regulation of most neural lineage markers SOX1, FGF5, LMX1A, and MASH1 (Fig. 3a). When FGF2 signaling was continuously inhibited, a severe reduction in cell number was observed. Transient FGF inhibition with PD173074 in the LDN193189 restriction and dual inhibition system resulted in no difference in expression of any of the neural markers. However, when the same 24 h inhibition was performed with PD173074 together with dual inhibition with both LDN193189 and SB431542, a significant up-regulation of SOX1, FGF5, LMX1A and MASH1 was observed (Fig. 3b). Sox1+ cells increased to 32.28 ± 4.89 % after the transient inhibition (Fig. 3c), suggesting that transient FGF2 inhibition slows the progression of neural differentiation and sustains the NP state. After dual inhibition, the cells morphologically formed networked structures when switched to differentiation medium with or without transient PD173074 treatment (Fig. 3d). After 5 days, Nestin+ and Tuj1+ (neuron-specific class III beta-tubulin) cells were found to be co-localized within the colonies formed (Fig. 3e). When sub-cultured, columnar neural rosettes were formed on day 10 (Fig. 3f) with the cells being SOX2+ and Tuj1+ (Fig. 3g).
Characterization of FP cell derived dopaminergic neurons in vitro
After differentiation with the optimized dual restriction and dual inhibition protocol, cells were subjected to patterning with Shh and FGF8. Immunohistochemical staining for neuronal structural markers and dopaminergic neuron markers was performed after 10 days of patterning, and we observed that the cells were Tuj1+ and Nurr1+ (Fig. 4a). In addition, we also characterized the electrophysiological properties and dopamine release profiles of these cells as CaMKII+ and DAT+ (Fig. 4b). Flow cytometry analysis after 10 days of patterning showed that differentiated cells derived from dual restriction and LDN193189 inhibition, dual restriction and dual inhibition, where the majority of the population are SOX1−, were more than 98 % Nurr1+ and TH+. For the dual inhibition and normal induction protocols, where cells were SOX1+, only 4.57 ± 0.9 % of the cells were Nurr1+ (Fig. 4c). In vitro dopamine release from the cells was also quantified with ELISA after 13 days of patterning. Dopamine release increased from 3.50 ± 0.25 ng/ml to 4.16 ± 0.56 ng/ml after 28 days of patterning. After 5 μM amantadine treatment, dopamine release increased to 3.7 ± 0.39 ng/ml on day13 and 4.48 ± 0.23 ng/ml on day18. After 10 μM treatment, there was no further increase in dopamine release on day13. However, dopamine release increased to 4.64 ± 0.20 ng/ml on day 18 (Fig. 4d). The increase in dopamine release reflects the functional maturation of the dopaminergic neurons over time. When comparing neurite outgrowth after differentiation from FP and neurosphere derived cells, over a 90 h duration, it was observed that the FP derived cells were more active in neurite outgrowth than the neurosphere derived cells. Upon comparing the neurite length at 4 h after seeding, FP derived cells displayed 2.6 folds increment in neurite length, whereas neurosphere derived cells displayed only 1.7 folds increment in neurite length (Fig. 4e).
FP derived dopaminergic neurons are functional in vitro, survive after transplantation and ameliorate behavioral deficits in PD rats
Before FP derived dopaminergic neurons were transplanted into the PD rat model, whole-cell patch clamp was performed on cultured cells after 20 days of differentiation to investigate their electrophysiological functions. When the cell was exposed to a current of 140pA for 10 ms, membrane potential was found polarized immediately and depolarized after the current was applied. When a current was applied at 70pA for 10 ms, membrane potential at polarization and depolarization was observed with a delay (Fig. 5a). Similarly, upon application of a 140pA current for 10 ms, depolarization of the cell membrane induced the opening of NaV channels, resulting in the influx of Na+ into the cells. Subsequently, opening of KV channels resulted in efflux of K+ out of the cells (Fig. 5b).
After transplantation of cells into the stratum of the host, tissue samples were collected from animals at week 4, 6, and 8 to assess cell survival and integration with β-III tubulin immunostaining. At 4 weeks, a large number of cells were found to have survived within the host with positive staining for β-III tubulin (Fig. 5c). After 6 weeks, integration was clearly observable with transplanted cell interspersed with host cells (Fig. 5d). Some cells were found to have migrated from the injection site to the surrounding host tissue by week 8. Confocal microscopy revealed that some cells have migrated across the host nucleus (Fig. 5e). After H&E staining of the host tissue, no obvious teratoma formation was found at both low and high magnifications (Fig. 5f). Over 8 weeks, clear action potentials were recorded from grafted cells within the host. When tissues were extracted for electrophysiological studies of the grafted cells, action potentials were induced when the cells were exposed to a current of 150 pA for 400 ms (Fig. 5g). The appearance of the action potentials indicates that the cells already had the key functional property of neurons.
In host rat tissues harvested at 8 weeks after transplantation, there was positive staining with a human-specific anti-tyrosine hydroxylase antibody utilized as a human-specific and dopaminergic cell-specific marker (Fig. 6a). To further investigate graft-host interaction, a rat specific vascular marker CD31 was targeted together with counterstaining that employed a human specific Nurr1 antibody in host tissue (Fig. 6b). At 8 weeks after transplantation, amphetamine induced ipslateral rotation in the treatment group displayed a significant reduction compared to the control sham-transplanted group (Fig. 6c). Similar to amphetamine induced ipslateral rotations, improvements in apomorphine induced contra-lateral rotations also displayed a significant reduction compared to the control at week 8 (Fig. 6d). To assess motor activities, animals were studied with rota rod and a significant increase in latency to fall was observed in groups of animals transplanted with the cells, as compared to the sham-transplanted controls (Fig. 6e).
Within the FP, there are two distinct populations of cells located in the lateral and medial regions of the FP. It is generally agreed that all FP cells express netrin1, FOXA2 and Shh. However, there is controversy over the origin of FP cells during early embryonic development, particularly the role of notochord in FP induction . Inhibition studies revealed that FP differentiation is impeded along the entire AP axis in mice and chick upon pharmacological blockade of Shh (which is mainly expressed in the notochord) [24, 25]. Gain of function studies demonstrated that high concentrations of Shh induced formation of FP tissue/cells from neural explants and in vitro hESCs culture [8, 26]. Contrarily, loss of function studies in zebra fish revealed unaffected ventral midline differentiation with certain effects on lateral FP induction . Additionally, the finding that surgical ablation of notochord resulted in lack of FP formation was challenged by Nicole and colleagues, who postulated that the absence of FP in notochord ablation experiments was due to removal of FP precursors of nodal origin rather than termination of Shh secretion .
It has been shown that Shh is required for lateral FP cell induction, but not for medial FP cells . Medial FP cells are still formed in the absence of a differentiated notochord, thus indicating that Shh signaling originating from the neural tube is not a prerequisite for MFP induction [30, 31]. Additionally, medial FP cells failed to develop in the case of mutations affecting the nodal-related molecule of the TGF-β family despite high levels of Shh expression . It was also reported that signaling from the notochord or medial FP cells can induce lateral FP cells . These data suggest that with differentiating FP cells within in vitro culture, the induction of medial FP cells will also increase the population of lateral FP cells. In this study, it was observed that FP cells, both medial and lateral, can be induced without extrinsic Shh treatment, thus supporting the hypothesis that the developmental fate of FP cells are pre-determined before being exposed to patterning signals from the notochord. It is well established that dorsalization is mediated by BMP and TGF-β signaling, which originate from the epidermis and roof plate [34, 35]. Contrarily, antagonists of the BMP and TGF-β family are known to be secreted from the organizer to protect surrounding cells from dorsalization . BMP4 inhibition from the organizer is required to induce neural differentiation of epiblast cells. However, synchronized TGF-β inhibition stabilizes and accelerates neural induction towards FP lineage fates.
We found that dual restriction under defined culture conditions committed the lineage fate of hESCs to neuroectoderm in only 24 h. Further culture under dual inhibition sustained neural differentiation in favor of the FP lineage fate. Additionally, upon addition of FGF2, the majority of the anterior neural lineage markers were down-regulated, suggesting that after neural induction of hESCs, in the early phase of neurogenesis, high levels of FGF2 inhibits the anterior neural fate by up-regulating pluripotency markers OCT4 and NANOG expression. It has been shown that FGF2 acts as a morphogen for the anteroposterior axis of the CNS and that FGF2 induces gastrula ectoderm cells to express posterior neural markers in Xenopus . Other studies have shown that FGF2 caudalizes intermediate neural tissue, inducing spinal cord formation from anterior tissue . In our in vitro culture system, endogenous FGF2 could act in two ways simultaneously, ensuring cell survival and inducing differentiation into caudal neural tissues. In this study, when FGF2 inhibitor is added to the culture for only 24 h, significant FP induction was observed and maintained. Our data thus indicates that neural conversion occurs in the presence of weak FGF signaling combined with BMP inhibition, and that pre-gastrulation FGF signaling is required in the ectoderm for the emergence of neural lineage fates . Hence, inhibition of FGF signaling should be in a temporal manner to ensure cell survival during neural induction. In combination with ventralization factors that block BMP and TGF-β signaling, SOX1− FP cells were induced after 5 days and these cells can be further induced into dopaminergic neurons efficiently. In contrast, despite the expression of other FP genes, dopaminergic cells cannot be efficiently induced in culture when cells are still expressing SOX1 and Nurr1.
Following the pioneering study of Kriks et al. , a number of other studies have also attempted to utilize a similar floor plate-based strategy for the derivation dopaminergic neurons from human pluripotent stem cells [40–43]. Nevertheless, all of these studies [40–43] including that of Kriks et al. , carried out floor plate induction through stimulation of the Shh signaling pathway, either through the direct use of recombinant Shh protein itself, or it’s agonist purmorphamine. Our study differs from these previous studies by utilizing a Shh-free approach to floor plate induction, through dual inhibition of the BMP4 (LDN193189) and TGF-β signaling pathways (SB431542).
The results of this study demonstrated that the hESC-derived dopaminergic neurons are functional in vitro, can survive after transplantation and integrate within the host brain. This is thus consistent with a previous study which showed that grafted dopaminergic neurons possess an intrinsic capacity for innervation of the adult striatum . Significant functional improvements were observed in amphetamine induced ipslateral rotations, apomorphine induced contra-lateral rotations and Rota rod motor tests over a duration of 8 weeks post-transplantation, and it is anticipated that the grafted cells would continue to provide functional improvement at later time points, because the long-term survival and health of dopaminergic neuron transplants in Parkinson’s disease patients over several years have been conclusively demonstrated . Nevertheless, it is unclear whether the observed amelioration of behavioral deficits in the rat PD model arise directly from new synaptic connectivity conferred by the transplanted cells, or is instead due to other pro-survival, neuroprotective or trophic effects of paracrine secretions emanating from the transplanted cells. Although the results of this study appear promising, we still need to investigate what affects the survival of grafted cells in host, how the grafted cell integrate with host and how the dopamine release from grafted cells are controlled. By using an optogenetic tool, we could be able to shut down the biological function of the grafted neurons within the host brain and successfully created a temporal lapse of behavioral restoration in animal models. In a previous study , Wentz and colleagues developed a wirelessly powered control LED system for delivering light into specific areas of the brain. Perhaps, we could utilize similar instrumentation for future optogenetic studies to dissect the cellular and molecular function of grafted dopaminergic neurons within the rat brain.
We have demonstrated that when cells were predominantly SOX1− under dual inhibition with both LDN193189 and SB431542, FP cells can be generated efficiently. Following patterning with Shh and FGF8, midbrain dopaminergic neurons can be efficiently derived at a very high yield. Our findings thus provide a convenient approach to FP development and functional dopaminergic neuron derivation.
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We thank Dr. Wang Shangshang for technical assistance in behavioral studies and helpful discussions. This work was supported by the National University Health System Research Fund R221000085733, the National University Research Fund R221000024133, R221000050133, and NUHS Neuroscience Phenotyping Core (NUHS Centre Grant NMRC/CG/013/2013)
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
ML, YZ, QL, NT performed experiments described in this study. AH, IS, HJT, GSD and TC contributed to experimental design and manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Sequences of primers utilized for RT-PCR analysis. (DOCX 14 kb)
Primary and secondary antibodies utilized for immunohistochemistry. (DOCX 13 kb)
Analysis of neural markers expression after treatment with 1, 2 and 5 μM of LDN193189 for 24 to 72 h. Untreated hESC was utilized as the control. Treatment with 2 μM LDN193189 for 24 h yielded the highest neural marker expression on average, as comparing with other dosages. Although there was marked increase in SOX1 expression after 48 h treatment with 2 μM LDN193189, low cell viability was observed. (TIF 766 kb)
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Cite this article
Li, M., Zou, Y., Lu, Q. et al. Efficient derivation of dopaminergic neurons from SOX1− floor plate cells under defined culture conditions. J Biomed Sci 23, 34 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12929-016-0251-6
- Human embryonic stem cells
- Neural conversion
- Floor plate
- Dopaminergic neurons


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Mental health at work makes good business sense Every year, one in five Canadians will suffer from a mental health problem or illness. That’s about 7 million of us. Despite how common it is, mental illness continues to be met with widespread stigma.
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Business plays a key role in fostering a positive work environment that emphasizes the importance of work-life balance that is why the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) to engage the chamber network in a public awareness campaign to educate employers on the importance of mentally healthy workplaces and to encourage them to adopt the National Standards for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. In October, as part of this campaign, we will initiate 338 Conversations on Mental Health in the Workplace. 338 Conversations will launch in late October on Parliament Hill. All MPs will be provided with toolkits for engaging their local chambers and their member businesses in conversations on the issue.
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Books are like meals. Every time we crack open a new volume, we dream that what lies inside is a feast for the senses, a giant well-cooked masterpiece of action, adventure and thought-provoking concepts tat challenge how we view the world, stimulating the mind even as it entertains. And when the final page is turned ,the final word is read, we set the book (or e-reader, or smartphone of book app) down, sated.
But sometimes a body doesn’t want filet mignon or a fine chicken souffle with accompanying wine selection. Sometimes a burger with cheese is what one craves. As it is with food, so it is with books. Sometimes you want a harmless bit of cliched fluff that is many things but is NOT great literature. And Warlord of Hyperborea, by Richard Tongue, is not great literature. It’s pulp to the bone, a walking storm of tropes that anyone with even a small understanding of the fantasy genre will see coming a mile away. Nonetheless, it has this advantage over other genre books lurking in the digital backwaters of Amazon; it is entertaining.
The story is familiar to anyone who had read a Conan the Barbarian or played a session of Dungeons and Dragons. There is a barbarian hero and his trusty dwarf sidekick (who is also the heir to a lost throne, because of course he is…) who raid a wizards tower and make off with his apprentice, who is not only powerful but easy on the eyes (because of course she is…) They set off another quest, pick up a few more companions along the way, dive into the obligatory dungeon crawl before the final big battle…and so on. The plot writes itself because so many have written it beforehand – it’s not a long book, a reader can breeze on through it in about two hours.
What sets this story apart is that the author wisely chooses to embrace the tropes and take them to their furthest degree without a hint of irony. Every cliché is embraced, every stereotype indulged. The barbarian’s thews are mighty, the dwarf is dour and haunted, the thief is twisty and backstabby. The men are strong and hard, the women beautiful and lusty, the villains fully one-dimensional and brought on stage with the intention of dying by the dozen in battles that are bloody and glorious for the heroes. And all of it done without a hint of angst, introspection or subversion.
AS I said, not great literature, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than a couple hours diversion. With modern pulp like this, what you see is definitely what you get. Sometimes a cheeseburger or a bag of chips is what a body needs.

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