N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid

N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid or N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is an amino acid derivative that acts as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor mimicking the action of glutamate, the neurotransmitter which normally acts at that receptor. Unlike glutamate, NMDA only binds to and regulates the NMDA receptor and has no effect on other glutamate receptors (such as those for AMPA and kainate). NMDA receptors are particularly important when they become overactive during withdrawal from alcohol as this causes symptoms such as agitation and, sometimes, epileptiform seizures.

Biological function

NMDA is a water-soluble synthetic substance that is not normally found in biological tissue. It was first synthesized in the 1960s. NMDA is an excitotoxin (it kills nerve cells by over-exciting them); this trait has applications in behavioral neuroscience research. The body of work utilizing this technique falls under the term "lesion studies". Researchers apply NMDA to specific regions of an (animal) subject's brain or spinal cord and subsequently test for the behavior of interest, such as operant behavior. If the behavior is compromised, it suggests the destroyed tissue was part of a brain region that made an important contribution to the normal expression of that behavior.

Port of Keelung

The Port of Keelung (Chinese: 基隆港; Hanyu Pinyin: Jīlóng gǎng; Tongyong Pinyin: Jilóng Gǎng; Wade–Giles: Chi-lung-kang; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ke-lâng-káng), also seen as Keelung Harbor, is located in the vicinity of Keelung City, Taiwan. It is operated by Taiwan International Ports Corporation, the Taiwan's only state-owned harbor management company.

History

The 1858 Treaty of Tientsin specified Tamsui as an open port. The Port of Keelung opened few years later in 1886. In the Japanese colonial period, the Governor-General of Taiwan started the development of Keelung Harbor. By the early and middle 20th century, it was the largest port in Taiwan at the time.

Architecture

The harbor forms a narrow waterway with approximately 2,000 meters in length and 400 meters in width that extends from the inner harbor in the southwest to the harbor mouth in the northwest.

Destinations

The harbor serves destinations to Matsu Islands, Xiamen and Okinawa.

Transportation

Port of Keelung is accessible from Keelung Station of the Taiwan Railway Administration.

Neil Denari

Neil Denari (b. Fort Worth, Texas September 3, 1957) is an American architect, professor, and author. Based since 1988 in Los Angeles, Denari emerged in New York during the 1980s with a series of theoretical projects and texts based on the collapse of the machine aesthetic of Modernism. His office, Neil M. Denari Architects (NMDA) is dedicated to exploring the realms of architecture, design, urbanism, and all aspects of contemporary life. As a teacher for more than 20 years, Denari has held visiting professorships at UC Berkeley, Columbia, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas at Arlington. Since 2002, he has taught at UCLA where he is a tenured professor.

Life and career

Denari received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1980 from the University of Houston and in 1982, he earned a Master's degree from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he studied the philosophy of science and also art theory with the expatriate Austrian artist Paul Rotterdam, whom Denari has cited as his most influential teacher.

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States and is the United States' 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the west and north. The state of New York, with an estimated 19.8 million residents in 2015, is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City, the state's most populous city and its economic hub.

With an estimated population of nearly 8.5 million in 2014, New York City is the most populous city in the United States and the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. The New York City Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City is a global city, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term New York minute. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York City is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State. Two-thirds of the state's population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% live on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th century Duke of York, future King James II of England. The next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany.

NMDA receptor

The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA receptor or NMDAR), is a glutamate receptor and ion channel protein found in nerve cells. It is activated when glutamate and glycine (or D-serine) bind to it, and when activated it allows positively charged ions to flow through the cell membrane. The NMDA receptor is very important for controlling synaptic plasticity and memory function.

The NMDAR is a specific type of ionotropic glutamate receptor. The NMDA receptor is named this because the agonist molecule N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) binds selectively to it, and not to other glutamate receptors. Activation of NMDA receptors results in the opening of an ion channel that is nonselective to cations with a reversal potential near 0 mV. A property of the NMDA receptor is its voltage-dependent activation, a result of ion channel block by extracellular Mg²⁺ & Zn²⁺ ions. This allows the flow of Na⁺ and small amounts of Ca²⁺ ions into the cell and K⁺ out of the cell to be voltage-dependent.