Best Selling Books by Stephanie D

Lonely Planet's Western USA is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Cruise down coastal highways, soak up Seattle's culture, or be awestruck by the Grand Canyon; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Western USA and begin your journey now!

An eclectic collection of poetry, prose, photography and art, lovingly compiled and offered to the world.

The first in-depth study of Man Ray's groundbreaking rayographs of the 1920s and their interconnections with his Dada and Surrealist works Man Ray (1890-1976) worked in a range of media, but central to his practice was the rayograph, a type of photogram (or camera-less photograph) that he revolutionized and introduced into the Dada and Surrealist milieu of 1920s Paris. Oscillating between representation and abstraction, painting and photography, the rayograph was ambiguous in its making and subject matter, epitomizing avant-garde concerns of the day. This richly illustrated book is the first to look at Man Ray's work through the lens of his eponymous process, tracing a through line from the rayographs to his paintings, photographs, drawings, objects, and films, and highlighting the interconnections and shared motifs among them. Stephanie D'Alessandro and Stephen C. Pinson analyze Man Ray's innovative methods while also exploring key themes across his art production, such as chance, indeterminacy, transformation, and the dualities of solid and transparent, shadow and light, form and space, and object and body. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (September 14, 2025-February 1, 2026)

This brief examines kindergarten readiness and attendance in kindergarten for children enrolled in publicly provided early education programs as well as similar children who entered kindergarten without enrolling in these programs. Key findings detail the effects for children if they were enrolled for at least 90 calendar days as a three- or four-year old in an early education program.

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.

"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.

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!!!

"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.

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.