Nonsense Research Articles

Sense and Nonsense

Sense and Nonsense

How to gamble: Information and misinformation in books and other media on gambling

Currently a large number of books, videocassettes and computer programs are available to teach people how to gamble. This article is an examination of this wealth of information. The paper begins by describing the number and types of materials on how to gamble available in an online catalogue and in libraries and bookstores (Study One). The paper then turns the discussion to an examination of the accurate and inaccurate information found in a sample of these materials (Study Two). The studies found that the majority of the material available was on skilled games, but a sizeable number of materials on non-skilled games were also found. The quality of these materials ranged from pure nonsense to accurate. The best materials found were in books on gambling in general and in materials on how to play poker. This paper includes a catalogue of the accurate and inaccurate information found in the books as well as a series of reviews on a number of books, Web sites and other gambling-related material.

Musical nonsense

Musical nonsense

RNA events. No end to nonsense.

Two of the hottest topics in eukaryotic gene expression research involve absolute nonsense: nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) and nonsense-associated altered splicing (NAS). “Nonsense” in this case refers to a type of mutation in mRNA transcripts that causes the protein synthesis machinery to terminate prematurely their translation into proteins. Nonsense mutations were originally thought to affect only the length, and therefore the function, of the encoded protein. However, it is now apparent that they can dramatically decrease the half-lives of mutant mRNAs as well as alter the pattern of precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) splicing (see the figure). The molecular basis of the latter phenomenon (NAS) is particularly mysterious, because it is generally accepted that nonsense mutations cannot be recognized as nonsense until after the splicing process is complete. Two papers, one by Mendell et al. on page 419 of this issue (1) and another by Wilkinson and co-workers in a recent issue of Molecular Cell (2), now begin to unravel this mystery by showing that NMD and one type of NAS (reading frame-dependent NAS) are functionally distinct processes that rely on different, but overlapping, sets of proteins.

Pharmacological characterization of β-endorphin- and dynorphin A 1–17-induced feeding using G-protein α-subunit antisense probes in rats

Antisense (AS) oligodeoxynucleotides targeting G-protein α-subunits distinguish feeding responses of morphine and its metabolite, as well as nocturnal and deprivation-induced feeding. The present study examined whether feeding elicited by β-endorphin (βEND) or dynorphin A 1–17 was altered by ventricularly-applied G iα 1, G iα 2, G iα 3, G sα, G oα, G qα or G x/zα AS probes, or a nonsense (NS) control. The βEND-induced feeding was reduced by the G iα 1 and G x/zα AS probes, and increased by G iα 2 or G iα 3 AS treatment. Dynorphin-induced feeding was attenuated by G iα 1 and G oα AS treatment. Yet, G sα or G qα AS and NS treatments failed to alter opioid agonist-induced feeding. These data provide initial characterization of potential effector signaling pathways mediating βEND and dynorphin-induced feeding.

Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 (review)

In 1903, a select group of British architects, artists, and designers convened to discuss the influence of a new stylistic trend on international design. The symposium "L'Art Nouveau: What Is It and What Is Thought of It?" sparked heated debate over what many of the participants regarded as a passing continental vogue, lacking the meaning and the aesthetic significance to become an enduring style in Britain. As a result, the comments of forty prominent artists were published in The Magazine of Art in the following year. Walter Crane feared that the new style lacked national relevance, observing that "[n]o style or form of art is of any use unless the designer or decorator has something of his own to say in it." Others held harsher views. Architect C. F. A. Voysey disdained the characteristics of Art Nouveau as a "debauch of sensuous feeling," stating that it was "not worthy to be called a style," while sculptor Alfred Gilbert dismissed the whole movement as "Absolute nonsense" (The Magazine of Art 2 [1904]: 211-12).

Getting rid of nonsense

Getting rid of nonsense

Nano nonsense and cryonics.

Nano nonsense and cryonics.

A nonsensical quest

A nonsensical quest

The Frequent Somatic Mutations of Von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor Gene(VHL) and the Expression of Multiple Drug Resistence(Mdr) Gene in Human Renal Carcinomas

To study the frequent somatic mutations of von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene(VHL)and the expression of multiple drug resistence(mdr)gene in human renal carcinomas.Methods:40 cases human renal carcinomas were analyzed for VHL gene using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and single strand conformational polymorphism analysis.35 cases renal cell carcinomas were examied the product of mdr gene by immunohistochemical assay.Results Somatic mutations were detected in 63 percent(19/30) glycogen-rich renal carcinomas including 13 deletion,3 insertion,2 missense and 1 nonsense mutation.The degree of mdr gene expression correlated with histopathlogic subtypes of renal carcinomas.Conclusion Glycogen-rich renal carcinomas might be distingushed from other types by molecular genetic techniques.

Antisense to Both 11β-Hsd1 and 2 Increase Glucocorticoid (GC) Activity in Vascular Tissue

P69 GC’s amplify the pressor effects of catecholamines and Ang II in VSM. Thus, the level of vasoconstriction in vascular tissue can be influenced by local GC concentrations. GC’s are metabolized to their inactive 11-dehydro derivatives by the enzyme 11β-HSD which exists in at least two isoforms, 11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2. 11β-HSD2 is unidirectional, with only dehydrogenase activity (inactivating GC’s) while 11β-HSD1 is bi-directional, also possessing reductase activity and thus the ability to reactivate 11-dehydroGC’s back to the active parent steroid. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of each isoform in the regulation of GC metabolism in vascular tissue. Aortic rings (2-3mm), from male SD rats, were incubated for 24 hrs in DMEM media with either corticosterone (B) or 11-dehydrocorticosterone (11-dehydroB)(10 -8 -10 -7 M) ± specific Antisense oligos (20 μg/ring) targeted against rat 11β-HSD1 or 11β-HSD2. The contractile responses to graded doses of phenylephrine (PE; 10 -9 - 10 -6 M)in individual rings were then measured. In aortic rings co-incubated with B and 11β-HSD2 Antisense, the contractile responses to PE were amplified 30-50% versus rings incubated with B + nonsense oligonicleotide (n = 21, p

Gene expression. The nonsense police.

Gene expression. The nonsense police.

Langston Hughes and the “Nonsense” of Bebop

Langston Hughes and the “Nonsense” of Bebop

Antisense-mediated inhibition of the bcl-2 gene induces apoptosis in human malignant glioma

BACKGROUND The bcl-2 protooncogene represses a number of cellular apoptotic pathways and is known to be expressed in increasing amounts in glial tumors of higher malignancy. We tested whether antisense oligonucleotides to the bcl-2 gene would affect glioma cell viability. METHODS Antisense oligonucleotides directed to the first six codons of the human bcl-2 gene, and nonsense oligonucleotides as a control, were transfected into malignant glioma cells. Two human Bcl-2 positive glioblastoma cell lines from our tumor bank (Jon52 and Roc) were both transfected in vitro with bcl-2 antisense (AS) and nonsense (NS) oligonucleotides at 1 μm and 5 μm concentrations for 5 and 24 hr. Cell viability was assessed at 2, 4, 5, and 7 days by using an MTT mitogenic assay and by cell counting via direct visualization using a hemocytometer. RESULTS There was up to a log-fold decrease in cell growth of the bcl-2 AS treated cells compared to the NS transfected cells for both Roc ( p = 0.007 and p = 0.004) and Jon52 ( p = 0.02 and p = 0.004) at 5 and 24 hr of transfection. There was as much as 50% cytotoxicity in both glioblastoma cell lines at 1 μm and 5 μm concentrations after 24 hr transfection with AS bcl-2 oligonucleotides (all p < 0.01). Western blot analysis demonstrated a decrease in the expression of the Bcl-2 protein in one cell line, whereas there was a statistically significant increase in the apoptotic index of both cell lines ( p < 0.05 by chi square analysis). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that transfection of human glioma cells with antisense bcl-2 results in an increase in apoptotic death. This provides evidence that Bcl-2 plays a role in tumor progression of glioma by acting as an oncogene, and suggests that inhibition of the bcl-2 gene could have a therapeutic effect.

Interfering nonsense

Interfering nonsense

Introduction: Literary Nonsense

Introduction: Literary Nonsense

Don't Cut the Pi Yet!

Fashionable Nonsense: Science. Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont. New York: Picador USA, 1998.317 pp.

What the tent maker's son taught me

In my search for a code by which to live, 1 turned my back on philosophers, and looked to the poets. At last I found what I had been looking for. One of my first favourites was Quinitus Horatius Flaccus, and I remember my old Latin teacher claiming that no-one could consider himself cultured unless he was familiar with Horace's ode on the fountain at Bandusia. Absolute nonsense, of course, Russian would have been far more useful at that time or Japanese today. However, we still had to learn it, and I can remember chunks to this day, together with the first lines of one of his greatest hits “Integer vitae”, which offers the advice that the upright man has no need of artifice, Moorish javelins &c. I actually enjoyed the meter and very condensed style of Horace, and my enjoyment increased even more when years later I learned that he had been a bit of a lad. At school, we had access only to the expurgated version of his work. However, I had still not found what I needed and decided to look elsewhere, turning my eyes to the East.

Attacking Arrant Nonsense Forthrightly

Attacking Arrant Nonsense Forthrightly

Sense and Non‐Sense about Race

Sense and Non‐Sense about Race