Best Selling Books by Stephanie D

Saadri Buard is the "love child" of Damas Buard and Ellen Weston. She is the second of three daughters born to a rakish Creole college boy. Saadri is raised in a low-oncome, single parent household in New York City and is on the cusp of adulthood. Transition isn''t always easy. How does one continue to believe in God when one loses everything? Saadri takes a journey she''s unsure she''ll survive. Najid Raenier always believed he was smart enough to use the system and thus far it has worked. He''s watched Saadri Buard for a long time, unsure of whether to approach. When she finally becomes his, he has to recalculate his plans. Yet, he doesn''t find it easy to extricate from the system he''s exploited. He may end up losing everything - if he''s not smart enough to figure out how to keep it.

Sexual minority women have disproportionately higher rates of social anxiety and alcohol use problems compared with heterosexual women, with further evidence that this disparity is greater among bisexual women relative to lesbian women. The predominant theory for explaining these health disparities is Minority Stress theory (Meyer, 2003), although research to understand bisexual health relative to lesbian health is scarce. The current study focused on anticipated stigma as a primary explanatory mechanism in a sample of 230 lesbian and bisexual women. After completing a baseline questionnaire, participants next filled out daily text message surveys for 14 days to assess social anxiety and alcohol use. Results showed that anticipated stigma fully mediated the relationship between sexual orientation and social anxiety, but anticipated stigma did not predict alcohol use. An unexpected finding was that lesbian women were consuming more alcohol than bisexual women, inconsistent with past literature. Lastly, through utilizing multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM), higher social anxiety predicted more alcohol consumption on a day (within-person) level, but did not significantly predict alcohol consumption on an aggregate (between-person) level. A second model revealed that anticipated stigma was a better mediator between sexual orientation and social anxiety than enacted stigma and outness when all three minority stressors were entered into the same model. Overall, these findings help us further understand the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use among lesbian and bisexual women.

Ruby, the smallest of five duckling siblings, always lags behind until they get lost in a storm and Ruby uses her powers of observation to try to save them.

The Hymns Family Devotional Volume 1 is a collection of 40 devotions written by 12 skillful authors. The devotions combine Scripture references with personal reflections, songs, and prayers relating to fear, forgiveness, grief, joy, love, peace, purpose, and trust. This devotional collection encourages readers to apply Biblical truths to their daily journey as well as help readers connect more deeply with the Word of God in any season of life.

Unlocking the potential of gene therapy is a process that involves exploring the therapeutic possibilities of introducing genetic material into cells to treat, prevent, or cure disease. This type of therapy can be used to treat a range of diseases from cancer to genetic disorders. It can also be used to reverse aging or improve physical characteristics. Gene therapy works by targeting a defective gene and replacing it with a healthy, functioning gene. The healthy gene can then be used to produce a specific protein or enzyme that can counteract the defective gene''s effects. The process of unlocking the potential of gene therapy requires a deep understanding of the genetic processes that cause disease, and an exploration of how gene therapy can be used to provide a therapeutic solution. Researchers must consider the risks and benefits of the proposed therapy and develop a plan to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the treatment. The potential of gene therapy is being unlocked through a combination of research, clinical trials, and growing public interest and acceptance. Go now and click the button to get get this epic book!!!

"The existing literature has established that both feeling grateful and expressing gratitude are associated with increases in well-being and relationship quality. Yet, many people indicate that they feel gratitude more frequently than they express it. The purpose of this research is to better understand why people are sometimes unwilling to express gratitude to others. More specifically, I anticipated that self-control would be associated with greater willingness to express gratitude and maladaptive forms of self-consciousness would be associated with less willingness to express gratitude. Study 1 examined whether self-control and self-consciousness were associated with willingness to express gratitude to a romantic partner. Study 2 examined whether self-control and self-consciousness influenced daily fluctuations in gratitude expression to close others. Study 3 sought to establish causality by examining the effect of self-regulatory depletion on behavioral gratitude expression in a laboratory setting. The current work reveals that having high self-control is associated with more gratitude expression and that having high social anxiety, a form of self-consciousness, is associated with less gratitude expression. However, contrary to predictions, self-control may not help people overcome individual differences that are associated with feeling and expressing low amount of gratitude. Instead, this work suggests that self-control promotes gratitude expression among individuals who are low in maladaptive self-consciousness and are already more inclined to express gratitude in the first place. One reason for this may be that individuals who are predisposed to feel and express less gratitude may not be motivated to utilize self-control to overcome their tendencies."--Page iv.

"It has been widely published and accepted that activated Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 (TGF), a ubiquitous cytokine, can induce the transcription and production of extracellular matrix proteins such as Fibronectin EIIIA (EIIIA) while also increasing the levels of protease inhibitors. It has also been demonstrated (both in vivo and in vitro) that an increase in glucose corresponds with an increase in the level of active TGF, leading to fibrotic disease. It has recently been demonstrated in biochemical studies that TGF can be activated by Thrombospondin-180 (TSP), a glycoprotein found in a variety of tissues. Further studies showed that cultured cells supplemented with TSP produced elevated levels of EIIIa mRNA, which was abolished with a TGF neutralizing antibody. It is known that glucose can affect TGF and the sclerotic pathway, however whether amino acids also have this ability is not known. Our hypothesis is that high glucose or high amino acids can induce the elevated levels of TGF and it''s activator, TSP-1 in cultured rat mesangial cells. This induction and activation then leads to an increase in Fibronectin EIIIa mRNA. Mesangial cells were grown out from isolated glomeruli and used between passages 3 and 7 for experiments. Experimental groups included controls, and treatment with high glucose (HG), high amino acids (HA) or high glucose + high amino acids (HG/A). RNA was extracted and analyzed by Northern blotting. Blots were hybridized with 32P labeled GAPDH, TGF, TSP and Fibronectin EIIIA specific DNA probes, then quantified using the Cyclone Analyzer. Results show that both high glucose and high amino acids induce TSP, TGF and EIIIa mRNA. Treatment ofthese cells with anti-TSP blocking antibody reduced the treatment elevated levels of these mRNAs"--Document.

To define chromosomal segregation mutants, we have screened mutagenized C. elegans populations for the loss of a green fluorescent protein (GFP) marked transgene. A novel mutation, qa5300 was isolated and characterized. Through a series of prototypes aimed at phenotypically characterizing qa5300, it was shown that the mutation was not the result of a mutated transgene or additive mutations that had accumulated in the genome during the chemical mutagenesis. Rather the mosaic phenotype was caused by a recessive mutation at a single locus.

This document provides an assessment of historic spills on tundra and assimilates the results to produce guidance for future spill response. The report includes information on characteristics of spilled substances including crude oil, refined petroleum products, drilling muds, saline waters, and synthetic fluids (methanol, glycols, and Therminol). The database represents reported spills that occurred on or moved onto tundra at volumes greater than fifty gallons.

Paleopathology -- paleoepidemiology -- spina bifida -- Cuba -- single nucleotide polymorphisms -- folate.

The TGF-[beta] Superfamily is composed of secreted cell-regulatory proteins which have biologically diverse roles in embryonic development, body patterning, tissue differentiation and proliferation, maintenance of pluripotency, and influence of cell fate in embryonic and other stem cell systems. There are nearly forty TGF-[beta] Superfamily ligands in the mammalian genome, however only about a dozen have been successfully refolded into their dimeric active conformations after expression in E. coli. The goal of this study was to add to the body of currently refoldable functional ligands. This report presents a novel screening approach to identify optimal conditions for the refolding of several TGF-[beta] family members, since correct three-dimensional structure is critical to protein folding and function. We also incorporated the previously successful "1B" strategy to modify and improve dimer yield of five ligands. Initial small scale screening of ligand-condition combinations was used to identify a condition that allowed most efficient refolding for each ligand. For the best ligand-condition combinations, the refolding volume was increased for purification studies and to test ligand activity in cell based assays. Various refolding conditions proved to be highly effective in increasing recovery of properly folded and functional protein. By developing conditions that optimize refolding of TGF-[beta] family ligands we produced never-before properly refolded and active TGF-[beta] ligands. This screening methodology can be applied to other TGF-[beta] Superfamily homodimers and heterodimers in future studies.