#lupus with petals

[petalsthefish]

Hi ily ♥️

[theendofuno]

the jester and his marionette

real infodump hours (tm)

all this text was sent on a few messages so i just did a rough translation on it, it may not be 100% accurate lore-wise bcs of that lol

i like to imagine Lass being Uno's guide on living, on how to "be" human, how to get rid of the strings from the past, he breaks Uno's strings and give him new ones

tho, Lass does not want to control Uno, he wants Uno to control himself, he wants him to create and change his own destiny, he wants Uno to be himself

Lass was a marionette his whole life, so he dedicated himself into helping getting another marionette on finally feeling human, he got rid of his own strings and he will guide Uno into doing the same, even if Uno isn't on a literal, actual circus, he's stuck in a mental circus

(i think you can assume why I choose a jester instead of any circus character for Lass amirite)

now for the clothing choices! for context these were my references: fearless clown & lifelike

Uno

i changed all the roses for forget-me-nots for obvious reasons, and i added eyes that look everywhere on his skirt as a representation to paranoia

i added tears into Uno's sleeves, and if you pay attention they're the most common places to cut yourself while self harming (i'll never be tired of talking about uno self harming but i wont get into details for today SDAUGDSGDS)

i added vines with spikes on a few clothing parts as a representating of being stuck, along with the actual strings

i changed the checker board pattern by asanoha, which is a meaning about growing stronger and without much help, and are commonly seeing in children kimono as a way to hope they grow strong and healthy, i also read it's supposed to protect you from harm and evil spirits :)

i kept all the strings white except for the neck one, who is red, and since his transformation form is all black/white except for the marking on his face and chest, neck is the mid-way between them, and is also the only string who is thigh and suffocating him, while the white ones can be easily taken off

the triangle pattern on Uno's bow is supposed to represent a few flowers petals growing

now for Lass

his clothing has a few Uno "motifs", such as the growing petals and his hat (im absolutely clueless on the actual english translation mb) has X and "loose strings" as a way to represent strings being taken off, being freed

i added his arm tattoo on his hat thingy :D it was originally stars but i thought it would look cute

(artistic fun fact hours: i shaded the blue part with red and the red part with blue)

i thought a lot about doing the clothing only blue or perhaps blue with yellow, but keeping the red seems to make him closer to Lupus, who is an important person on his life and is an important on his growth, and is someone Lass loves (even if he refuses to admit)

+ the lyrics translation (in order)

guess thats all god bless the wilde sibilings (salute emoji)

[victoria8719]

Hi Victoria. Do you know if petals is ok? I saw she deleted her blog

Hi! Yes Petals is ok, she is taking an indefinite break from tumblr and fic writing. Not sure when or if she will be back to tumblr but it will be awhile. She is still getting used to the new treatment for her lupus, which of course causes ups and downs in someone’s normal every day routine. So she is slowly trying to back into her daily routine.

[zenyteehee]

Today, I am…one month sober

Some days I still kinda hate it. I didn’t become so taken with weed for no reason. For a while, it really did help me with mental health stuff (anxiety, nightmares, etc) not particularly well controlled by my actual meds, with actually managing to get some rest and destress while working 60-70 hours a week at a high stress job, and with managing chronic pain and the physical and mental stress of living with a chronic, potentially life threatening illness. It’s just that after a while, I couldn’t sleep without it and my solution to everything was 🍃

Some days though, I really have started to feel like I’m coming back to life. Lupus still gives me mad brain fog sometimes but I don’t always feel like that now. I feel more present. I do hobbies now, even if I still don’t have a ton of time to do them. I’ve been working on myself, going back to yoga and martial arts. It’s still really, really hard because my career will continue to be heavy in hours and heavy in stress for the next 5 years minimum, I still have lupus with some increasingly severe features, and I still have mental health issues, none of the above have great fixes. But I’m going to have those forever and letting a substance control me is no more of an answer than letting anorexia control me was, so at the very least, regardless of the drug test I have to pass (which started all this), I’m sober now until I stop hating it.

Anyway, look at the flower I’ve been drawing a petal for every day I’m sober (plz ignore my early attempts at calligraphy that make it look like I have randomly added a bunch of “s”s 😂):

[asleepyb0i]

Falloutober Day 7- Blossoms

Lupus breathed in the smell of spring. Granted, it was faint, but he could smell the burning flesh and smoked wood from where he stood. He watched the village of Sand Springs burn to the ground as he stood above it all, holding the banner of the bull.

His brother, and his best friend, stood right beside him on that cliff, surrounded by their men that helped scope out the enemy’s territory. It took months to finally get to this point, where the well fortified Sand Springs would be nothing but a heap of charred wood and bones in the wake of the Legion’s fury by morning.

Vulpes watched the carnage with a look of accomplishment. “Are you unsatisfied with Sand Springs’ destruction, brother?” He asked. His voice was laced with worry, worry that the town had not gone up in flames sooner.

Lupus shook his head. “No. Not at all.”

The younger brother smirked. “I know that look. Something is wrong.”

“Hmm?”

“Your brows sink to your eyes, and you don’t blink. I know you, and every little face you bare to hide your thoughts.”

Lupus shook his head once again. “It just disappoints me, how these profligates continue to fight to the very end. They would have made good soldiers.”

“A shame, truly,” his brother replied. “They refused to bend their knee to the mighty Caesar, however, and have paid dearly for it. It is a necessary sacrifice, though. From now on, all other cities in the east will think twice before turning their backs on the Legion.”

Lupus responded with a small hum.

“Anything else on your mind, brother?”

He was quiet for a moment. The wolf headed legionnaire stared at the crosses placed all across the perimeters of the fort. He opened out his palm to catch one of the many bits of floating ash in the sky. The still hot flake of ash settled peacefully in his blood stained hand. Lupus stared at the ash, before closing his hand around the delicate ember.

“The smell is also disturbing the aroma of spring. I hoped to be able to breathe in the blossoms growing from the trees, but it doesn’t seem that I will be able to do that after all.” He sighed.

A soft snicker left Vulpes’ throat. “That is the stench of victory. It serves as a reminder of who is in charge. Soon enough, when we head west and take over Hoover Dam, the Legion’s power and influence will increase tenfold.” He clapped his hand on his older brother’s shoulder. “We will be leading the charge for the most powerful empire in post apocalyptic America.”

“You mean, I will be leading the charge for the most powerful empire.” Lupus smirked. “I’m the next legate in line to Graham, after all. You will be on the sidelines, sneaking around in bushes and peeping on soldiers in the lake.”

Vulpes playfully pushed Lupus softly. “What kind of degenerate do you take me for?”

Lupus responded with, “The kind who wears a dog head and can’t stand bright light.”

“Look at who is talking.”

The tree blossoms high up in the mountains shed their loose petals on the world below. Those very same petals would decorate the carnage that the Legion would trample in the wake of war.

[genshin-scenarios]

Masterlist: Individual Characters

These are works that only feature one character per post! 

Masterlist for: Mixed Characters here!

VENTI - CARMEN DEI

💚 With a Traveler!Reader 💚 Fashion AU 💚 Hydro Archon AU

💚 When he raises you as his own (adopted!reader, platonic) 💚 With a hermit + time-traveler friend 💚 Crushes 💚 ‘Your Name' (Kimi no Na wa) AU

Morning Comes - you’ve left Mondstadt to continue on your journey, includes references to the first archon quest

Not feeling like his usual self... - comfort for venti on his birthday, after he’s drunk a little too much

With a spirit-turned-human reader - you’ve recently gained a human form, but it seems that blending in will be a little harder than you anticipated... 

Back to Mondstadt - you visit after traveling in Inazuma, it seems that Venti prefers you in a color other than purple

Wind Spirit Friends - if Barbatos trusts you, so can they! 

Just Like a Flower - (collab)  Petals Meet a Flame - (collab part 2)

Just One Picture, Or Two (Modern Band AU) - taking pictures during autumn together

Venti x Adventurer!Reader (feat. wingman Aether) - what are they getting up to in the week leading up to valentines?

Angel AU: XiaoVen x GN!Reader - whereas the three of you are guardian angels!

Steps to fall for you - ongoing series (Xiaoven x reader) - modern au where reader is an idol manager, but xiaoven aren’t idols here, so it’s fine if they get into trial-dating shenanigans, right? 

Corrupted AU - thoughts on a twisted version of Venti

Just a little taste - maid!venti, it’s maid day at the tavern and there’s a bonus pay for employees who dress the part! (Venti is not an employee but he has negotiated a freelance fee with Diluc). 

DILUC - NOCTUA

❤️ Thief x Detective AU ❤️ Soulmate AU (hearing each other’s thoughts in your heads)

The Festive Season - winters with him tend to be warmer than not

Playing With His Hair - he lets you tie it into a braid!

A Season for Flowers - you surprise him with a gift during the windblume festival

To Pierce a Masquerade - part 1 of a manhwa inspired nobility AU, which was supposed to be a series, but um...

Kiss Day - you agreed to take things slow, but was it so bad for you to want a proper kiss from him?

Asexual!Reader - comfort after a rejection from someone else, platonic

To Share a Dance With You - the three times you danced with him! 

Getting home late... - he finds you fast asleep with his coat as a blanket 

Teammates, In Two Senses (college AU) - you and Diluc are online friends that often game together, but one day you find out he goes to the same university as you!

KAEYA - PAVO OCELLUS

💙 When the Reader has two different sides to them... 💙 Him as a Parent... 💙 With a shy and sensitive s/o... 💙 Camping with Kaeya!

Late Hours - he’s drinking alone, lamenting over his insecurities in opening up to you (angst)

Glass Feathers - kaeya angst, but receives comfort from the reader! Cinderella themed, in a sense

Devil!Kaeya - you confess your feelings to him and try to run away. it’s a good thing Kaeya is good at roping you back into his arms, though

Kiss Day - playing windtrace together, with Kaeya as the hunter

Casting a Line... - modern AU, where a planned proposal unfortunately led to a misunderstanding, but is salvaged by the end

ALBEDO - PRINCEPS CRETACEUS

🌻 Flower Shop AU (additional headcanons in reblogs) 🌻 Catboy for a Week

An Avoided Accident - you’re thankfully spared from Albedo bringing a landscape painting to life

Soft Massages - he gives you a massage! (SFW)

Butler + 🍰 - a curious novel caught his attention, and he wanted to act out a scene

The Way One Acts - you mentioned you were curious about what he’d be like with a different personality, but probably should’ve thought twice before planting such an idea in his head

JEAN - LEO MINOR

🌼 General Dating Headcanons

RAZOR - LUPUS MINOR

💜 Cafe AU - modern setting, he learns how to make latte art!

BENNETT - ROTA CALAMITAS

🔥 Kiss Day - you give him a kiss on the cheek!

EULA - APHROS DELOS

❄️ Music - dancing together in an abandoned building

TRAVELER - VIATOR/VIATRIX

💫 Aether & Lumine Fashion AU

ZHONGLI - LAPIS DEI

💛 General Relationship Headcanons 💛 Shopping with him (modern AU) 💛 When you're an artist! 💛 More Dating Headcanons!

Demon/Angel AU - demon prince Zhongli!

For Good Luck... - every time you enter a new nation and unlock its first statue of the seven, Zhongli is reminded of who you really are; a traveler from another world, who will leave Teyvat eventually.

CHILDE - MONOCEROS CAELI

🐳 When you & Zhongli keep talking on and on... 🐳 With a guarded reader that won’t open up 🐳 Royalty AU 🐳 As the reader’s brother-figure... (platonic) 🐳 Can he ride a horse..? (unserious)

Lantern Rite - thankfully, he hasn’t forgotten about your plans together

A Gift for Him - you gave him a scarf as a gift, he cherishes it more than you think

Childe x Millelith!reader - you’re understandably exasperated when he shows up at your doorstep

XIAO - ALATUS NEMESEOS

🍃 Soulmate AU 🍃 Relationship Headcanons

Celebratory Hug - he allows you to give him a victory hug

Dancing together - amongst flowers in a field...

Catching butterflies - a cute moment while trying to catch crystalflies

Dang, you buy your snow from carts? - trying shaved ice together

Non Binary!Reader - where your family wasn’t supportive, and Xiao notices something about your mood is off (comfort)

You both work under his former Master... - set in the past when Xiao was still working under his cruel master, way before Zhongli freed him. Reader is a male servant working for the same boss

Angel AU: XiaoVen x GN!Reader - whereas the three of you are guardian angels!

Steps to fall for you - ongoing series (Xiaoven x reader) - modern au where reader is an idol manager, but xiaoven aren’t idols here, so it’s fine if they get into trial-dating shenanigans, right?

A Missing Half - corrupted AU! After you disappeared from Teyvat, he's the only one who senses the loss of you. Some codependant, posessive, ooc themes. ‘Something bad happened and now they aren’t quite themselves anymore.’

Curious Injuries - maid!xiao, who reader gets concerned about when he appears to be hurt

CHONGYUN - NUBIS CAESOR

❄️ Winters with him!

I've got your back - inspired by his birthday voiceline!

XINGQIU - FABULAE TEXTILE

📚 Him and Crushes 📚 As Childhood Friends 📚 (Love) Letter on the Loose 📚 Dating Headcanons

Bookstore AU - modern AU, hiding out in a bookstore that you and your friends part-time at (it helps that Xingqiu’s family owns it, too)

Devil!Xingqiu - he really isn’t good for your heart

Sworn Siblings? - based off his voiceline, you’re more than a little frustrated at the term ‘sibling’

NINGGUANG - OPUS AEQUILIBRIUM 

🌟 Tending to you after you nearly died 

GANYU - SINAE UNICORNIS

🏹 Fluff Headcanons

XINYAN - FILA IGNIUM

🎸 Trying something spicy (feat. the mooncake festival!)

KAZUHA - ACER PALMATUM

🍁 Dancing on autumn leaves - a short and sweet drabble! 🍁 To Doze in Your Arms - napping together with kitsune Kazuha!

🍁 A Story For the Stars - Kazuha finds himself in your world one day, but shortly after meeting you at your highschool, it’s a race against time before the both of you are forced to part ways (slight soulmate AU)

HEIZOU - CERBUS MINOR

🔎 Caught! - you’re a regular citizen (in a vague royalty-historical AU) who’s recently hired a maid! Heizou is charismatic and dependable, but one day you come home, discovering his real motives and occupation.  

EI/BAAL - IMPERATRIX UMBROSA

💜 Waking up from a dream... - bittersweet drabble based on her trailer with her friends

ITTO - TAURUS IRACUNDUS 

🐄 For You (Itto x Male!Reader) - implied backstory/relations with Liyue and the Crux fleet, celebrating your birthday.

THOMA - RUBEUM SCUTUM

🧹 Polaroid Moments - reader is a member of the Kamisato Clan, as well as an artist. They’re visiting the main estate for the summer, where they get to catch up with a good friend!

SCARAMOUCHE/WANDERER - PEREGRINUS

💙 General Headcanons (old, during his first event appearance)

💙 Yokai AU - The business of protecting all beings from destructive spirits and humans alike was a niche discipline in itself, but Scaramouche (bakaneko) seems like he’ll be your partner-in-crime for the foreseeable future.

Kiss Day - you kissed him, tried to run, and fail

Under the Rain - luckily, his hat is just wide enough to cover you too!

💙 Adopt a Wanderer: full series - a found-family series with Scaramouche, who you address as Kuni in this AU! By which you’re going about your normal day irl, and a certain character from genshin gets isekaied into your world...

💙 Reunion: full series - a sequel to Adopt a Wanderer, where as the title suggests, you’re reunited with a certain sharp-tongued Wanderer. If you’re interested in more content for this AU, you can check out my fanbook version here!

Wanderer with a flower arranger!reader - he’s a doll maker, though that’s only a civilian cover for Wanderer, who often disappears to complete missions for the Dendro Archon. What he didn't appreciate however is how you're the one that's been occupied as of late - dragged into helping with some Amurta scholars' research project.

💙 A Leyline Incident - a leyline mishap has transported you and Wanderer into his memories – aka back to when he was still Kabukimono. This'll wear off in a few hours, but you don’t know how long you can last when Wanderer’s acting like this.

Flatmates that always bicker - modern AU, but when it comes down to it, you have each other’s backs

A more romantic take - coming soon!

CYNO - LUPUS AUREUS

♠️ A Curious Friend - where you're a Bakeneko from Inazuma that enjoys traveling the world. Sometimes, you end up staying a bit longer in places that catch your interest.

TIGHNARI - VULPES ZERDA

🍀 Getting to know him - relationship headcanons!

NEUVILLETTE - LEVIATHAN JUDICATOR

🦦 Dancing together, soft smiles - soft and romantic, but uh… reader has a mortal lifespan, if you know what I mean.

LYNEY - FELIS FUSCUS

🪄 Meetings, memories, just for you - you’re a Fatui agent who works under Childe, accompanying him on his visit to Fontaine. There you meet Lyney under the guise of your civilian personas...

Bonus thought regarding fic above ^ 

🪄 Do clothes make the person? - Lyney dresses up in a skirt and leotard while practicing for another switch-up trick with Lynette...

🪄 The skip of a heart -  where you're picked as the volunteer of the magic show where things went Completely Wrong in the archon quest. Good ending!

Ways to ensnare a charmer - mostly him being down bad and falling for you. There’s also a dance near the fountain at midnight~

🪄 A flower made of playing cards - a highschool idol AU, where Lyney spends his civilian life starting to pine after you (a classmate) while keeping his idol life as 'Felis' a secret!

At your service - where you’re both on an undercover mission, and Lyney is disguised as your personal maid.

Ignite -  you used to work with the twins until you were betrayed by them, friends to enemies to lovers! ‘my enemy lost their memories and I couldn’t help but lie about our relationship’ trope

FREMINET - AUTOMATON

🐧 Alternate shows of affection - general hcs with a reader who’s also shy/introverted!

[embrassemoi]

SBTMAS readers!!!

help pick what you want Remus' rabbit to be named! Here are a few suggestions I've received from my readers!

Lepus - based after the rabbit constellation. Also because Lepus and Lupin sound similar! It's commonly mistaken with the constellation Lupus too.

Lobelia - based after the flower. While an unusual name (but that makes it fun!), the little petals of the flowers resemble little rabbit / bunny ears!

Ivory - If you imagine the rabbit to be white, this could be a beautiful name!

Flopsy - based after the childerns book! Also, it was mentioned in earlier chapters that James called the reader 'Flops' / 'Flopsy' so it could be a small reference to the MC!

Comment or send an ask of what you think is the best name! The one that gets the most votes will be chosen!

[felonsparty]

Can I possibly get some pronouns and genders for a dream fictive? (Manhunt/MCC don't worry) If it helps with ideas I'm a wolf hybrid and I really like nature!

yeah! im gonna be trying out a new format for these so lmk how you like it/your genders n pronouns!! 

forestgender: a gender where one identifies with nature and forests as their gender

suggested pronouns -

for/est/forests/forestself

leaf//leaf/leafs/leafself

stem/stem/stems/stemself

tree/tree/trees/treeself

🍃/🍃/ 🍃s/🍃self

🌱/🌱/🌱s/🌱self

🌲/🌲/🌲s/🌲self

lupusgender: a gender that feels like a wolf or is related to or influenced by wolves in some way

suggested pronouns -

cani/canis/canis’/canisself

lup/lup/lupus/lupusself

🐺/🐺/🐺s/🐺self

naturecoric: a gender related to the aesthetics of plants, wild animals, rivers, flowers, and bugs

suggested pronouns -

ani/mal/animals/animalself

flower/flower/flowers/flowerself

na/ture/natures/natureself

petal/petal/petals/petalself

plant/plant/plants/plantself

riv/er/rivers/riverself

🌼/🌼/🌼s/🌼self

🌻/🌻/🌻s/🌻self

🌳/🌳/🌳s/🌳self

timbergender: a faunagender and subset of wolfgender, “bonds well with the forest”

suggested pronouns -

timb/timber/timbself

wolfgender: a gender that’s based around/impacted by wolves/being a wolf

suggested pronouns -

claw/claw/claws/clawself

fur/fur/furs/furself

howl/howl/howls/howlself

paw/paw/paws/pawself

snarl/snarl/snarls/snarlself

wolf/wolf/wolfs/wolfself

yelp/yelp/yelps/yelpself

🐾/🐾/🐾s/🐾self

thts all ive found, i hope you enjoy! have a great day anon!

[didanawisgi]

“If you've ever seen a petunia with artfully variegated petals, then you've seen transposons at work. The flower's showy color patterns are due to transposable elements, or DNA sequences that can move locations within a genome. Yet when it comes to transposons' effects on humans, the results might not be as lovely or desirable.

As researchers learn more about these so-called mobile genetic elements, they've found increasing evidence that transposons influence and even promote aging and age-related diseases like cancer as well as neurogenerative and autoimmune disorders, says John Sedivy, a professor of biology and director of the Center on the Biology of Aging at Brown. Sedivy is the corresponding author of a new review article in Nature that discusses the latest thinking and research around transposons.

"Let's put it this way: These things can be pretty dangerous," said Sedivy. "If they are uncontrolled, and there are many examples of that, transposons can have profound consequences on most forms of life that we know of."

Since the dawn of life, the researchers noted, transposons have coevolved with their host genomes, but it's been more of a competitive existence than a peaceful one, earning them the nicknames of "junk DNA" and "molecular parasites." Transposons were first discovered in corn by the Nobel prize-winning geneticist Barbara McClintock in the 1940s, who also found that depending on where they inserted into a chromosome, they could reversibly alter the expression of other genes.

It is now quite apparent that the genomes of virtually all organisms, including humans, contain repetitive sequences generated by the activity of transposons. When these elements move from one chromosome or part of a chromosome to another, they amplify and increase their presence in genomes, sometimes to dramatic levels. According to Sedivy, "about half of the human genome is due to the activity of these molecular parasites." Their unregulated activity can have long-term benefits by increasing genetic diversity in organisms, but in most cases the chaos degrades cell function, such as by disrupting useful genes.

Most of what is known about transposons, said Sedivy, comes from genome sequence data that shows their activity in the germline, or throughout successive generations of an organism. However, recent research, including from Sedivy and other scientists at Brown, has revealed a wealth of information on transposon activity during the lifetime of a single individual, as well.

In an interview, Sedivy discussed the mechanisms driving transposons, how their activity influences and promotes age-related tissue degeneration and disease—and what can be done to fight back.

Q. Transposons are mobile genetic elements. How and why do they move?

There are two main groups: 'DNA transposons' move using a DNA intermediate in a 'cut and paste' mechanism, and retrotransposons move using a 'copy and paste' mechanism that involves an RNA intermediate. Thirty five percent of the human genome is comprised of retrotransposon DNA sequences. The reason they move is to survive; it allows them to relocate to and increase their presence in their hosts. You can think of transposons as viruses —there are some viruses that are, in fact, transposable elements. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a perfect example because it uses the retrotransposition mechanism to insert itself into the genome, and then lets the host cell do the replication for it. This means that unless you kill all the cells that HIV has infected, you can't get rid of it. That's what retrotransposons do, too. They live in the genome, including the germline so that eggs and sperm carry these genetic elements and pass them along to future generations.

Q. Scientists have known about these rogue genetic elements for awhile, but transposons are an increasingly important area of study. You are the principal investigator of a collaborative project funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine retrotransposon activity. In addition, the NIH has recently issued a call for grant applications to further explore how this activity contributes to aging and Alzheimer's. What caused this renewal in interest?

Transposons have been studied quite extensively, one important impact in medicine being their role in propagating antibiotic-resistance genes in bacteria. The level of activity in an individual human body, over a single lifetime, was thought to be quite low and of minimal consequence. It's now become quite obvious that's not the full story.

Q. What role to transposons play in the aging process?

First of all, it's important to realize that aging is not an active process. While it might seem that you're programmed to deteriorate, aging is in fact a successive sequence of failures. Cellular processes and mechanisms become more error-prone over time. Cancer, for example, is a disease of aging because at some point, a fatal error is committed which then propagates and leads to disease. As biologists who study aging, we applied the error and failure theory to retrotransposable elements – and discovered that's exactly what was happening. It's now widely appreciated that over a lifespan, these elements become more active in somatic tissues—there's very good evidence that this is happening. There are multiple surveillance mechanisms that our cells use to keep these elements under control and suppress their activity; several layers of active defense that are necessary to keep the retrotransposons under wraps, so to speak. It appears that aging, or senescent, cells lose some of their ability to control the activity of retrotransposons. The defense mechanisms no longer work as well.

Q. What is the connection between retrotransposons and Alzheimer's?

The aging brain of a person with Alzheimer's already shows a significant amount of damage. There's also reasonably good evidence that the brain, for some reason, is a particularly permissive site for retrotransposon activity, so the retrotransposons can basically have a field day in that tissue because there's very little that can stop them. So they promote further damage. This is a major topic in our recent review article in Nature. The question becomes: What can be done to limit the activity of these elements?

Q. What has your research shown about pharmaceutical interventions for retrotransposon activity in the brain?

The first class of HIV/AIDS drugs, called reverse transcriptase inhibitors, are effective against retrotransposons in humans. As I mentioned earlier, HIV is actually a retrotransposon. The key enzyme that HIV uses to replicate, its reverse transcriptase, is the same enzyme that all other retrotransposons use—it's an integral part of their life cycle. Now, even though these enzymes are evolutionarily related, that doesn't necessarily mean that a drug against one will work against the other. But we discovered that a small subset of HIV/AIDS reverse transcriptase inhibitors are actually quite effective against an important class of retrotransposons called LINE-1. In a paper published in 2019 in Nature, we found that the generic HIV drug lamivudine significantly reduced age-related inflammation and other signs of aging in mice. The next step would be to look at the effects in humans.

Q. Can you talk about the Alzheimer's clinical trial you are working on with Dr. Stephen Salloway, associate director for the Brown Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research?

I work on the basic science side, looking at the cellular and molecular processes, and Stephen Salloway is working on the clinical side, testing interventions with patients. We are currently involved in a randomized, double-blind clinical trial to test the effects of a daily oral dose of an HIV retroviral drug on participants with mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. The drug, emtricitabine, is also a reverse transcriptase inhibitor—it's a newer generation of the same class of drugs as lamivudine, and shows better tolerability and fewer side effects in humans. Because this is a repurposing trial—using a drug for a purpose other than what it's been prescribed for—the first thing that needs to be addressed is safety. This drug is approved and is currently being used to treat HIV/AIDS in millions of people, but safety and tolerability need to be tested in a geriatric population with mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. That's the primary objective of this trial, which we'll be starting at Butler Hospital very soon.

Q. In which other diseases or conditions can retrotransposons be implicated?

The body's immune system recognizes retrotransposons as viruses and mounts an immune response. This immune response is inappropriate, given that retrotransposons are part of our genomes, and there is good evidence that retrotransposons are linked to autoimmune diseases. A pro-inflammatory role of retrotransposons has been noted in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren's syndrome.

Q. Where is the research headed?

As we noted in the review article, much work remains to be done on the basic biology side to understand the mechanisms and consequences of retrotransposon activation in people. We also made the point that there is also a need for a more holistic view of how aging mechanisms contribute to disease—and vice versa. We know a fair amount about retrotransposon activation in senescent cells, but much less about the extent and mechanism of activation in most of the mature cells in our bodies, such as neurons or myocytes. As for potential therapy, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors have shown early promise, and there is hope that these can be repurposed for Alzheimer's and dementia as well as other conditions. It's an exciting time to be working in this field.

More information: Vera Gorbunova et al, The role of retrotransposable elements in ageing and age-associated diseases,Nature (2021).  DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03542-y Journal information: Nature

[neoteroi-suggestions]

Latin vocabulary: earth and nature

Vocābulārium Latīnum: terra nātūraque

[imāgō: photographēma silvæ]

[image: photo of a forest]

Landscape

Collis (III.M) - hill; mound; high ground

Mōns (III.M) - mountain

Silva (I.F) - forest, wood

Campus (II.M) - plain, field; flatlands

Pāscuum (II.N) - pasture, grazing field

Prātum (II.N) - meadow

Prātāria (I.F) - prairie or a similar ecosystem of vast dry grasslands (steppe, savanna, pampas)

Tesqua (II.N.PL) - desert, wasteland

Mare (III.N) - sea

Lītus (III.N) - (sea) shore, coast; river bank; beach

Harēna (I.F) - sand; sandy land/desert; sandy shore

Flūmen (III.N) - river; stream, current

Plants

Arbor (III.F) - tree

Flōs (III.M) - flower

Folium (II.N) - leaf; petal; best part or state of something (figuratively)

Caulis (III.M) - stalk, stem

Līlium (II.N) - lily

Rosa (I.F) - rose (also a term of endearment)

Wildlife

Bēstia (I.F) - wild animal, beast; creature

Bēlua (I.F) - beast, monster

Ferus (ADJ.I-II) - wild, savage; untamed; (Fera (I.F) = Bēstia)

Animal (III.N) - animal, living being

Aper (II.C) - wild boar

Lupus (II.M) - wolf

Ursus (II.M) - bear

Apis (III.F) - bee

Vespa (I.F) - wasp

Piscis (III.M) - fish

Weather

Tempestās (III.F) - storm; weather; season

Nimbus (II.M) - rain storm; rain cloud

Imber (III.M) - rain

Nīx (III.F; NB gen. irr. ninguis) - snow

Gelū (IV.N) - cold, frost (always singular)

Calidus (ADJ.I-II) - warm, hot

Frīgidus (ADJ.I-II) - cold, cool, chilly

Hiems (III.F) - winter

Æstās (III.F) - summer

Vēr (III.N) - spring

Autumnus (II.M) - autumn

Āēr (III.C) - air; lower atmosphere; weather

Sources:

Whitaker's Words

Wiktionary

[petalsthefish]

Happy lupus awareness month from your favorite Lupus Girlie 💜🦄☯️

[stxrmapper]

Lupus seems to be enjoying a softer time, working on painting one of his masks- in the shape of a cat, it seemed. His brush strokes were careful, as he worked on lining cherry blossoms and petals alongside the right side of the mask. He sets the brush back into the watercup to wash the color off, before looking at Scout. "You should let me paint something on you." He says, leaning back towards the other.

Watching every little brushstroke, Scout wondered how Lupus had the patience to do this. Even just watching, the Exo had moved around countless times, restless and unable to sit still, but eventually he'd calmed a little when he'd wrapped his arms around Lupus in a way that would avoid disturbing him.

"Feel free to. Gotta watch all the pointy edges though, might end up snipping a few ends off your paintbrushes if I move the wrong way and trap them between my plates. At least it's not fingers, so it's not that bad." Scout had had too many bloody encounters with people poking around too much and forgetting that he did still have literal rough edges.

He trusted Lupus to paint something nice on him, especially going by all the masks and the nice details he painted on those. "Oh! You also just reminded me: I'll never forgive you for the first time we met. Or rather, when you just dropped a mask off at my ship with no warning of who you were or why you were there."

The statement was punctuated by a little kiss to Lupus' cheek, showing he really didn't care, but he'd continue to act annoyed by it. "At least Cain had the decency to like, be there in real life and look hot when we met. You on the other hand decided to save me the treat of seeing you for the first time for later."

[lostinthewind22-blog]

The best thing about a camera to me is ANY AND EVERYTHING can become a amazing pictures... These flowers for example... Their small but with a “snap” of the wrist you make it look completely different and pop those colors ☺️💜 P.S My favorite color ♓️🍇☂️🌂🕺🏾🦹🏾‍♂️📷 #flowers #sony #camera #sunny #a65 #goodweather #mothernature #violet #petals #purple #lupus https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv1opD7lTz5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=hg48i1zlirsk

[mercuriallycooperative]

the past rises up like sparks, or flower petals (link to ao3)

They're not witches, they're healers.

(But their ancestors were witches. And it's in a witch's nature to reach for the sky.)

---

Dedicated to the wonderful Nicole Tompkins, the English voice actor for Caroline, and, unrelatedly, Resident Evil 8's Daniela Dimitrescu and Elena Lupu. This is my contribution to the chaotic, excellent community you've fostered through your work.

(Also lowkey dedicated to the awesome Andi Norris (RE8's Donna Beneviento, and Tundra, and at least one lycan) and the folks of her lovely Discord, which totally didn't have a reign of chaos about Caroline earlier tonight. Really.)

[cryysiswritesthings]

The Multi-verse Theory || Plant a Seed, Grow a... Wolf?

Series: Inuyasha Rating: PG Warnings: N/A Status: On-going Pairing: KogKag Summary:

Lupus minima forma flore... wolf flower huh? Tilting her head to the side, Kagome studied the package. Back home, she and her mother had enjoyed spending time together in the garden. She missed her family, and there was barely any room in her apartment for her, let alone a decent sized house plant. But the instructions said it wouldn't get much bigger than six inches or so, which made it the perfect size for a small pot.

Find it On: AO3

Tumblr Tags: #kogkag #inuyasha #multiverse #gardening #thumbalina

Lupus minima forma flore... wolf flower huh? Tilting her head to the side, Kagome studied the package. Back home, she and her mother had enjoyed spending time together in the garden. She missed her family, and there was barely any room in her apartment for her, let alone a decent-sized house plant. But the instructions said it wouldn't get much bigger than six inches or so, which made it the perfect size for a small pot.

Biting her lip, she glanced around the aisle she was in. This seemed to be the last package in the store, and the seeds were relatively cheap. Maybe she would take it home and give it a try.

Feeling a little lighter, she added the seeds to her basket and made sure to pick up the few things she'd need for it before finishing her grocery shopping. She couldn't wait to get home and plant them!

Staring nervously between the flower growing her pot and the image currently up on her phone, Kagome tried not to be worried. She'd never had any issues growing things before. What had she done wrong? Had the package been mislabeled?

The image on her phone was of a tall plant with white and purple blooms. Called the 'lupine' flower, they were apparently poisonous and could affect anyone with a peanut allergy.

The flower in front of her was... not that. It had only grown about seven inches and had never needed repotting. But instead of purple and white petals, these colors more resembled the deep browns of the bat orchid or the black pansy. But neither of those resembled the foliage of the plant in front of her.

So what the hell was she growing?

Several hours later, after she had gone to bed, the pale rays of a full moon shone through her window, catching on the flower’s dark petals. Slowly, it began to unfurl into a large bloom, easily twice the size of a normal palm. And at its center...

A small nose twitched in the air, bright blue eyes looking around the strange place it had found itself in. Sharp, fluffy ears heard the rustling of sheets, and a long brown tail swayed happily at hearing it.

The small form struggled to stand on its two legs, arms swinging out to help it find its balance. With a careful leap, it jumped down from the flower and onto the counter. Crawling down to the floor took a little longer, but it managed it. When it safely landed, the small form ran towards the source of the sound and crawled up the sheets with its claws.

The human was a girl! And pretty too. Pleased, the small humanoid maneuvered his way onto her pillow and settled in next to her. He'd say hello tomorrow when she woke up.

He couldn't wait to meet her!

[rwbyvein]

Firen Lhain: Chapter 001: About the Faunus

Salem looked out over the world, and wept. Humanity was gone. Her love was gone. Her soul was gone. All that was left was this weary flesh... flesh she had tried to shed... but the gods' curse proved true: nothing she did... could end her life... and she had certainly tried... oh... had she tried... She wandered Remnant, cold and alone... finding nothing but animals and Grimm.

But animals were alive. They were creatures. They ate... and loved... and bred... and...

There had been some things unlike the others. Some things obviously left by the gods. She did not understand them, but... she could feel the godly energies within them. She traveled all across Remnant. She did not need food, as she could not die of hunger... if she could... she would have long ago... she could not die from thrist. She could not be killed by animals, though they never tried. She could not be killed by Grimm... as they seemed to defer to her. She had all the time in the world. Enough time to venture to and from the furthest parts of Remnant, and she found all four.

It took her a great deal of time to figure out how to use them... but she did... She did, after all, have all the time in the world.

She brought various animals. It took several tries, but after each try they seemed more and more like Humans. But, it doesn't matter how Human-like they became... they always had some aspect of the animals they came from. They weren't - perfect. While they could use some fragment of the wild magick all Humans had been blessed with... only in relation to their lives as animals. At best, they looked like Humans, and sometimes acted like Humans, but... they were certainly not Humans, at least the Humans she remembered... though her memories were getting foggy...

* * *

Jaune Arc

Species: Hart (Rangifer tarandus)

Visible Attribute: Antlers The antlers are present year-round. If they get damaged they will molt and regrow. He gets a lot more sheepish without his antlers. More embarased than anything else.

Less Visible Attributes: Eyeshine, agility, ability to move through woodland brush without any difficulty.

Semblance: Aura Amp (unknown at the start of the story)

Pyrrha Nikos

Species: Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)

Visible Attribute: Elongated Limbs, flaming colouration.

Less Visible Attributes: Agility, wind barrier that makes her extremely aerodynamic.

Semblance: Polarity

Nora Valkyrie

Species: Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Visible Attribute: Wings. Not large enough to fly, nor really soar on her own, but has wind magics that allow her to properly glide. Magnhild can provide her with height.

Less Visible Attributes: Ultravision (sight into the Ultraviolet, dramatically improving sight during the daytime). Agility

Semblance: High Voltage

Lie Ren

Species: Pit Viper (Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster)

Visible Attribute: Infrared (Heat)-sensing pits (loreal pits)

Less Visible Attributes: Impossible limberness, allowing him to strike even when a regular Human would be restrained, or strike at what would be impossible distances.

Semblance: Tranquility

Ruby Rose

Species: Grey Wolf (Canis lupus)

Visible Attribute: Wolf tail, (which she is known to chase)

Less Visible Attributes: Eyeshine. Feral cunning, allowing her to predict where creatures will move on an instictive level. She can also use this to affect the movement of creatures with subtle actions to trigger their instictive responses. Four-limb gait when needed.

Semblance: Petal Burst

Special: Silver Eyes

Weiss Schnee

Species: Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)

Visible Attribute: Downy feathers. When calm, it is white and invisible against the naturally pale skin of Schnees. When passionate, they turn blue. Light blue for positive emotions, dark blue for negative emotions. Since her father is so deeply racist against Faunus, he has STRONGLY encouraged her to suppress her emotions.

Less Visible Attributes: Aquatic affinity, which she can combine with Glyphs for jet propulsion. Ability to control her attitude and direction while airborne. This is not enough to fly, but enough to keep control while airborne, and move just enough to strike an opponent just out of range. When combined with Runes, this allows her to hve great agility while airborn, but not fly as would be understand with birds.

Semblance: Glyphs

Blake Belladonna

(unchanged)

Visible Attribute: Cat ears, which have both Human and cat hearing ranges.

Invisible Attributes: Eyeshine. Agility. Appreciation for fish dishes.

Semblance: Shadow

Yang Xiao Long

Species: Lava Lizard (Microlophus indefatigabilis)

Visible Attribute: Protective scales. Naturally light brown, but flush orange and red with her emotional intensity, (orange for positive, social, caring ones, red for anger and violent ones).

Invisible Attributes: Regeration. Heat / fire affnity; she cannot create fire, but she can enhance it.

Semblance: Burn

(updated every Wednesday... probably...)