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Unknotting the Nucleus:
Regulation and Domain Modularity
of Type II Topoisomerases
Joseph E. Deweese and Salvador Cordova
Routine cellular processes such as transcription, replication, and cell division result in knots, tangles, and torsional stress in DNA. All living organisms produce proteins known as topoisomerases to alleviate these DNA topology challenges, which can lead to cellular dysfunction or death if unresolved. Type II topoisomerases manage DNA topology by generating a transient double-stranded DNA break in one segment of DNA and passing another segment of DNA through the break before resealing the broken DNA. Human type II topoisomerases are well-characterized anticancer drug targets, but there are severe off-target toxicities often associated with some of these drugs. Humans have two versions of topoisomerase II, and it is of clinical interest to selectively target one version of topoisomerase II in humans. Selective targeting requires a thorough understanding of the differences between the two versions, and the evidence presented here explores some of the key pieces of information regarding these differences including genomic, amino acid sequence, modification, and interaction data. We argue that the two versions of topoisomerase II differ in key regions that also are heavily modified via post-translational modifications, which may provide key insights into the regulation and separation of function between the two isoforms. Finally, we suggest that protein domains display modularity that may help us understand the design of these and other proteins by analogy to the idea of a dependency graph.
Deep Time Philosophy
Impacts Radiocarbon Measurements
Vernon R. Cupps and Brian Thomas
The late R.E. Taylor et al. have written technical materials that disparage results showing that C-14 persists in carbonaceous materials dated by secular scientists at millions of years old. Given the relatively short theoretical shelf life of C-14 of no more than 100,000 years, the presence of C-14 in such samples challenges standard age assignments. Taylor attempts to refute these C-14 results by belittling them and claiming that those who present them misunderstand the background requirements of Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) procedures during the initial phases of carbon dating. In response, we first review the required analytical and logical steps used for standard carbon dating. This allows us to pinpoint the elements necessary to determine the presence or absence of radiocarbon in a given sample, for example a Cretaceous fossil. Finally, we critique some of Taylor’s arguments. We find that his attempted refutations fail due to a lack of supporting data, the presence of contrary data, the begging the question epithet, and belittling in place of substance.
The Doctrine of Illumination
and the Interpretation of Scripture:
Considerations for Recent Creationists
Lee Anderson Jr.
Drawing from the author’s personal encounters with misconceptions of the doctrine of illumination among recent creationists, this paper seeks to caution against overextending biblical teaching on the subject. This paper surveys numerous contemporary perspectives on the doctrine, and then discusses exegetical details within relevant biblical texts that impinge on a theological formulation of the doctrine. In going on to offer a synthetic theological view of illumination, this paper concludes that the Holy Spirit’s work of illumination enables the believer to recognize Scripture for what it really is (the word of God), to grasp its principle spiritual teachings, and to appropriate the truth of the text; but that illumination does not ensure the correct interpretation of any scriptural passage apart from careful exegetical work involving the application of consistent hermeneutical principles. The illumination of the Holy Spirit does have a relationship to gaining a proper understanding of spiritual truth (which is contained in Scripture), but that understanding resides much more in the dimension of discernment and application of truth, and decidedly less in the dimension of acquiring a cognitive comprehension of that truth. Finally, the paper offers a number of correctives for recent creationists in the interpretation of Scripture.
Mammoth Trapping in the Yukon:
A review of Northern Tutchone oral history evidence
supporting the survival of Woolly Mammoths
in the Yukon Territory within the past 1,000 years
Martin Johnson
This paper is a multi-disciplinary review of the Northern Tutchone oral history concerning encounters with Woolly Mammoths in their traditions. A comparison is made with similar traditions of other North American indigenous people, and this is reviewed against evidence for the existence and hunting of woolly mammoth in North America. The Ice Age geology and archaeology of the Yukon Territory is considered, coupled with wider oral histories of the other indigenous peoples who use Athapascan languages. This locates the Northern Tutchone in Yukon Territory only within the past 1,000 years. The Northern Tutchone legends are shown to contain credible descriptions of encounters with woolly mammoth, which implies the relatively recent survival of these animals in the Yukon. A discussion of the history of woolly mammoth and other Ice Age fauna in the Yukon concludes with an examination of some major finds of animal remains, and the problems of radiocarbon dating in this context. It is argued that the wide disparity between radiocarbon dating of Ice Age fauna and flora found in the Yukon and the multi-disciplinary evidence supporting the oral history of the Northern Tutchone casts doubt on the reliability of radiocarbon dating in this context. Dates between 600 and 1,000 years ago are proposed for the events behind the Northern Tutchone mammoth legends.
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