Northwestern University

About: Northwestern University is a education organization based out in Evanston, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 75430 authors who have published 188857 publications receiving 9463252 citations. The organization is also known as: Northwestern & NU.

The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self

Abstract: Who am I? How do I fit in the world around me? This revealing and innovative book demonstrates that each of us discovers what is true and meaningful, in our lives and in ourselves, through the creation of personal myths. Challenging the traditional view that our personalities are formed by fixed, unchanging characteristics, or by predictable stages through which every individual travels, The Stories We Live By persuasively argues that we are the stories we tell. Informed by extensive scientific research--yet highly readable, engaging, and accessible--the book explores how understanding and revising our personal stories can open up new possibilities for our lives.

One-Pot Colorimetric Differentiation of Polynucleotides with Single Base Imperfections Using Gold Nanoparticle Probes

Abstract: Selective colorimetric polynucleotide detection based on Au nanoparticle probes which align in a “tail-to-tail” fashion onto a target polynucleotide is described. In this new nanoparticle-based detection system, Au particles (∼13 nm diameter), which are capped with 3‘- and 5‘-(alkanethiol)oligonucleotides, are used to complex a 24-base polynucleotide target. Hybridization of the target with the probes results in the formation of an extended polymeric Au nanoparticle/polynucleotide aggregate, which triggers a red to purple color change in solution. The color change is due to a red shift in the surface plasmon resonance of the Au nanoparticles. The aggregates exhibit characteristic, exceptionally sharp “melting transitions” (monitored at 260 or 700 nm), which allows one to distinguish target sequences that contain one base end mismatches, deletions, or an insertion from the fully complementary target. When test solutions are spotted onto a C18 reverse-phase thin-layer chromatography plate, color differentia...

Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Circadian Clock Mutant Mice

Abstract: The CLOCK transcription factor is a key component of the molecular circadian clock within pacemaker neurons of the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus. We found that homozygous Clock mutant mice have a greatly attenuated diurnal feeding rhythm, are hyperphagic and obese, and develop a metabolic syndrome of hyperleptinemia, hyperlipidemia, hepatic steatosis, hyperglycemia, and hypoinsulinemia. Expression of transcripts encoding selected hypothalamic peptides associated with energy balance was attenuated in the Clock mutant mice. These results suggest that the circadian clock gene network plays an important role in mammalian energy balance.