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Cheyenne kids under 14 are invited to enter a national photo contest. The competition was developed by landscape photographer Franklin B. Way to get kids out into nature and away from the TV this winter. Kids can enter at http://www.2ndNatureJustforKids.com. Call for entries for the 41st Annual Greeley National Art Exhibition is April 30 through May 8, 2004. Art will be juried by slides. All media may enter up to three entries for a non- refundable fee of $30. A cash prize of $1,000 will be awarded for best of show and cash and ribbons given for first, second and third place in various categroies. Slide deadline is Feb. 20, 2004. For a prospectus send an SASE to NGAE, P.O. Box 5332, Greeley, CO, 80634, or call 970-353-1051 or email dragonsc@ezlink.com.

On May 1, a new and romantic way to tour the former Soviet Union and Imperial Russia will be launched by Bolshoi Express (via Cox & Kings, Tel.: 1-800-999-1758). Among the cars on the train are six sleeping carriages, a cocktail car, three restaurant cars. A bathroom serves every two sleeping compartments. The train stops en route for sightseeing and cultural tours. The four different itineraries cost from $5,065 to $5,935 per person, including air fare round-trip from New York, meals, sightseeing and pre-train hotel nights in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Racing car enthusiasts can gear up for the huge, monthlong 500 Festival in Indianapolis in May. Car races (of course), the nation's second-largest parade and all kinds of events accelerate this gala (Tel.: 317-636-4456 or Indiana Tourism, Tel.: 1-800-933-3378). Did you know that the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho, is no small potato, but one of the country's top 25 rodeos? Now you do. And July 13-17, besides first-class rodeo events at the stampede (Tel.: 208-466-8497 or Idaho Tourism, Tel.: 1-800-635-7820), the nightly entertainment will feature Country and Western stars.

About 20% of all massive stars in the Milky Way have unusually high velocities, the origin of which has puzzled astronomers for half a century. We argue that these velocities originate from strong gravitational interactions between single stars and binaries in the centers of star clusters. The ejecting binary forms naturally during the collapse of a young (≤ 1 milion years old) star cluster. This model replicates the key characteristics of OB runaways in our galaxy, and it explains the presence of runaway stars of ≥ 100 solar masses (M ⊚ ) around young star clusters, such as R136 and Westerlund 2. The high proportion and the distributions in mass and velocity of runaways in the Milky Way are reproduced if the majority of massive stars are born in dense and relatively low-mass (5000 to 10,000 M ⊚ ) clusters.

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is an ATP-dependent molecular chaperone which is essential in eukaryotes. It is required for the activation and stabilization of a wide variety of client proteins and many of them are involved in important cellular pathways. Since Hsp90 affects numerous physiological processes such as signal transduction, intracellular transport, and protein degradation, it became an interesting target for cancer therapy. Structurally, Hsp90 is a flexible dimeric protein composed of three different domains which adopt structurally distinct conformations. ATP binding triggers directionality in these conformational changes and leads to a more compact state. To achieve its function, Hsp90 works together with a large group of cofactors, termed co-chaperones. Co-chaperones form defined binary or ternary complexes with Hsp90, which facilitate the maturation of client proteins. In addition, posttranslational modifications of Hsp90, such as phosphorylation and acetylation, provide another level of regulation. They influence the conformational cycle, co-chaperone interaction, and inter-domain communications. In this review, we discuss the recent progress made in understanding the Hsp90 machinery.

Osteoporosis has become a worldwide problem as the population ages. Although many advances have been made in the treatment of osteoporosis in the past few years, the outcome are sometimes disturbing because of the adverse effects of these treatments. Further studies are still needed to identify novel alternate agents to improve the therapeutic effect. Ginkgolide B (GB), a derivative of Ginkgo biloba leaves, has numerous pharmacological effects, including anticancer and anti‐inflammation activities. However, the effect of GB on the regulation of osteoblast activity and bone formation effect has not yet been investigated. In this study, we showed the in vitro and in vivo effects of GB on osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. We found that GB promotes osteoblast differentiation of Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs) and MC3T3‐E1 cells in vitro in a Wnt/β‐catenin‐dependent manner. In an in vivo study, we constructed a cranial defect model in rats and treated with GB. Histomorphometric and histological analyses confirmed that the usage of GB significantly promotes bone formation. Further study on ovariectomy (OVX) rats demonstrated that GB is capable of alleviating ovariectomy‐induced bone loss by enhancing osteoblast activity. Our findings indicate that GB is a potential therapeutic agent of osteoporosis through an anabolic way in bone.