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Synopsis on the geographical features of the Kodiak island is presented.

The Last Frontier Theater Conference, which takes in place in Valdez, Alaska, every June, is profiled ahead of the Conference's 11th anniversary. Steve Hunt, a playwright for South Carolina, argues that the Valdez conference is unlike any other because it is pretty much devoted to the art of playwriting and offers playwrights the most feedback.

A guide to visiting the Stresse Highway region around Fairbanks and Nenana, Alaska, and its many tourist gold mining camps, is provided.

A woman who lives on the northwestern side of Kodiak Island, AK, describes how she lives her life on it. She has a vegetable garden, raises chickens, and fishes for salmon and hunts deer to make venison. She also gets some supplies from a food co-op.

Delores Sloan, of Alaska, is know for the intricate work in her works of art. She uses designs from her Native American Athabascan heritage for her works, but her style is unique. She has several pieces on exhibit in museums.

Rose Fisheries is a two-woman company that fishes and sells king salmon from Alaskan waters. The women freeze their catch immediately, and sell them to restaurants and fish markets, and their product is highly praised.

Pictures of wildflowers native to Alaska are presented. The pictures are from various parts of the state, in an effort to showcase the beauty of the state.

A review of the work of the artist David Rosenthal is presented. Rosenthal specializes in Arctic and Antarctic landscapes and expeditions into the wild from his home in Cordova, Alaska, give him inspiration for his larger works.

The centennial celebration of the founding of Fort Egbert in 1899, in eastern Alaska, is described, with focus on the way of life of the soldiers and their families who were posted there.

A description of the traditional way of life in the northwest Alaskan town of Shishmaref is presented. The reliance of the Inupiat people on wild meat and their methods of preparing and storing it, is discussed.

Gardener Marie Konberg has been creating a garden on Spruce Island, Kodiak Archipelago for 20 years. She grows around 350 primroses in her garden. She is known as an expert on the flowers and is writing a book for the American Primrose Society.

A description is presented of the natural beauty to be found in the forests of Mount Alyeska, AK. This area of temperate rain forest has been designated as a protected area and hiking paths are maintained in it.

A rare wildflower called the Portage poppy is grown in a garden in the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. Portage blooms vary in color from white to pink to pale apricot. There are over 30 known locations where the wildflower grows but the flower is largely grown in Kamchatka and southcentral Alaska.

Award-winning mystery writers Dana Stabenow, John Straley and Sue Henry depict the essence of living in Alaska in their works. Their life experiences in the northern US state have enhanced their writing style with reality.

Alaskan gardeners make the most of their short summers by using baskets and tubs for their flower gardens. They use an overwintering technique so that the blossoms are available early. They store the containers in commercial greenhouses until winter passes.

Wainwright, AK, has had more than its fair share of dangerous snowdrifts. The snow can blow across the land and cover it in the same way that sand can change a desert. Some of that danger has been relieved by the construction of a 15-foot-high, mile-long snow fence.

Gardeners can face a variety of unexpected challenges. One summer a Bureau of Land Management plane dumped 4,000 gallons of fire retardant on a fruit orchard near Fairbanks. Another problem can come from volcanic ash which will destroy a garden in one year and act as a fertilizer a year later.

A personal account of a bird-watching holiday in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Bird watchers in the United States spent US$32 billion nationwide in 2001 on items such as travel, equipment and food, while the estimated 157,290 bird-watchers who visit Alaska every year contribution US$76,757,520 to the state's economy.

The sculptural works of Jacques and Mary Regat reflect the couple's connection to Alaskan people, history, legends and wilderness. Most of their works are inspired by wildlife creatures that sometimes graze close to their yards.

The World Explorer Cruises cruise line provides visitors with opportunities to educate themselves about Alaska's natural history. Use of smaller ships enables passengers to travel through inlets and bays larger ships cannot. Other services provided on the ship are described.

A review of the municipal gardens of Anchorage, Alaska, is presented. Because of the long winter the municipality tries to generate 'instant' colour for the summer plants and flowers.

The cookbook 'First Catch Your Moose' gives a history of Fairbanks in addition to turn-of-the-century recipes. The reprinted 1909 cookbook was compiled by the Ladies of the Presbyterian Church in Fairbanks. Recipes include Oyster Loaf, Collups, Roast Wild Duck, and Burnt Leather Cake.

Award-winning recipes from cookbook author Adela Batin's collection from top fishing lodges are featured.

Tourists make up most of the 500,000 passengers carried by the Alaska Railroad across the state annually. The railroad's usual offering of train tours during summer have now been complemented with train excursions that connect with buses and boats.

Several potato recipes derived from the collection of Alaska residents, Kenneth and Bonny Eby are presented. These include instructions on how to prepare potato candy, Argentinian stew in a pumpkin shell, German chocolate potato cake and potato bread.

Down syndrome (DS) is the most frequent cause of human congenital mental retardation. Cognitive deficits in DS result from perturbations of normal cellular processes both during development and in adult tissues, but the mechanisms underlying DS etiology remain poorly understood. To assess the ability of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to model DS phenotypes, as a prototypical complex human disease, we generated bona fideDS and wild‐type (WT) nonviral iPSCs by episomal reprogramming. DS iPSCs selectively overexpressed chromosome 21 genes, consistent with gene dosage, which was associated with deregulation of thousands of genes throughout the genome. DS and WT iPSCs were neurally converted at >95% efficiency and had remarkably similar lineage potency, differentiation kinetics, proliferation, and axon extension at early time points. However, at later time points DS cultures showed a twofold bias toward glial lineages. Moreover, DS neural cultures were up to two times more sensitive to oxidative stress‐induced apoptosis, and this could be prevented by the antioxidant N‐acetylcysteine. Our results reveal a striking complexity in the genetic alterations caused by trisomy 21 that are likely to underlie DS developmental phenotypes, and indicate a central role for defective early glial development in establishing developmental defects in DS brains. Furthermore, oxidative stress sensitivity is likely to contribute to the accelerated neurodegeneration seen in DS, and we provide proof of concept for screening corrective therapeutics using DS iPSCs and their derivatives. Nonviral DS iPSCs can therefore model features of complex human disease in vitroand provide a renewable and ethically unencumbered discovery platform. STEMCELLS2013;31:467–478

Patkotak worked for the North Slope Borough and Indian Health Service in Barrow Alaska. She remembers Mary Tyler Moore sending useless urban furs and Pres Reagan sending too much cheese to her services.

Describes the natural beauty of Kodiak Island, one of the top fishing ports situated in the western Gulf of Alaska. Cultural landmarks; Tourist trade; Source of the residents' livelihood.

Leaky has been making violins, mandolins, and guitars for less than five years, but he already is known as a fine craftsman. He uses native woods, air-dried Sitka spruce, for example, in his work. Prices for his instruments begin at $750.

Features Pat McGuire's art of printing fish in Alaska. Origin of gyotaku, the art of printing fish, in Japan; Background of McGuire in fish printing; Use of block-print ink on Japanese paper.