Justify Our Love: Information Literacy, Student Learning, and the Role of Assessment in Higher Education

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YearUp – Empowering Urban Talent to Reach Their Potential

YearUp is a national program, that aims to educate and train “disconnected” young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 to enter the workforce with skills in desktop support, helpdesk and other technical areas where the demand for skilled labor is always high

Collagen Based Multicomponent Interpenetrating Networks as Promising Scaffolds for 3D Culture of Human Neural Stem Cells, Human Astrocytes, and Human Microglia

This work describes for the first time the fabrication and characterization of multicomponent interpenetrating networks composed of collagen I, hyaluronic acid, and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate for the 3D culture of human neural stem cells, astrocytes, and microglia. The chemical composition of the scaffolds can be modulated while maintaining values of complex moduli within the range of the mechanical performance of brain tissue (∼6.9 kPa) and having cell viability exceeding 84%. The developed scaffolds are a promising new family of biomaterials that can potentially serve as 3D in vitro models for studying the physiology and physiopathology of the central nervous system

Through a Glass, Darkly:The CIA and Oral History

This article broaches the thorny issue of how we may study the history of the CIA by utilizing oral history interviews. This article argues that while oral history interviews impose particular demands upon the researcher, they are particularly pronounced in relation to studying the history of intelligence services. This article, nevertheless, also argues that while intelligence history and oral history each harbour their own epistemological perils and biases, pitfalls which may in fact be pronounced when they are conjoined, the relationship between them may nevertheless be a productive one. Indeed, each field may enrich the other provided we have thought carefully about the linkages between them: this article's point of departure. The first part of this article outlines some of the problems encountered in studying the CIA by relating them to the author's own work. This involved researching the CIA's role in US foreign policy towards Afghanistan since a landmark year in the history of the late Cold War, 1979 (i.e. the year the Soviet Union invaded that country). The second part of this article then considers some of the issues historians must confront when applying oral history to the study of the CIA. To bring this within the sphere of cognition of the reader the author recounts some of his own experiences interviewing CIA officers in and around Washington DC. The third part then looks at some of the contributions oral history in particular can make towards a better understanding of the history of intelligence services and the CIA

Gastroesophageal reflux GWAS identifies risk loci that also associate with subsequent severe esophageal diseases

Funder: The Swedish Esophageal Cancer Study was funded by grants (R01 CA57947-03) from the National Cancer Institute he California Tobacco Related Research Program (3RT-0122; and; 10RT-0251) Marit Peterson Fund for Melanoma Research. CIDR is supported by contract HHSN268200782096CAbstract: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is caused by gastric acid entering the esophagus. GERD has high prevalence and is the major risk factor for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA). We conduct a large GERD GWAS meta-analysis (80,265 cases, 305,011 controls), identifying 25 independent genome-wide significant loci for GERD. Several of the implicated genes are existing or putative drug targets. Loci discovery is greatest with a broad GERD definition (including cases defined by self-report or medication data). Further, 91% of the GERD risk-increasing alleles also increase BE and/or EA risk, greatly expanding gene discovery for these traits. Our results map genes for GERD and related traits and uncover potential new drug targets for these conditions

Association studies of up to 1.2 million individuals yield new insights into the genetic etiology of tobacco and alcohol use

Tobacco and alcohol use are leading causes of mortality that influence risk for many complex diseases and disorders 1 . They are heritable 2,3 and etiologically related 4,5 behaviors that have been resistant to gene discovery efforts 6–11 . In sample sizes up to 1.2 million individuals, we discovered 566 genetic variants in 406 loci associated with multiple stages of tobacco use (initiation, cessation, and heaviness) as well as alcohol use, with 150 loci evidencing pleiotropic association. Smoking phenotypes were positively genetically correlated with many health conditions, whereas alcohol use was negatively correlated with these conditions, such that increased genetic risk for alcohol use is associated with lower disease risk. We report evidence for the involvement of many systems in tobacco and alcohol use, including genes involved in nicotinic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. The results provide a solid starting point to evaluate the effects of these loci in model organisms and more precise substance use measures

A comprehensive re-assessment of the association between vitamin D and cancer susceptibility using Mendelian randomization

Abstract: Previous Mendelian randomization (MR) studies on 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and cancer have typically adopted a handful of variants and found no relationship between 25(OH)D and cancer; however, issues of horizontal pleiotropy cannot be reliably addressed. Using a larger set of variants associated with 25(OH)D (74 SNPs, up from 6 previously), we perform a unified MR analysis to re-evaluate the relationship between 25(OH)D and ten cancers. Our findings are broadly consistent with previous MR studies indicating no relationship, apart from ovarian cancers (OR 0.89; 95% C.I: 0.82 to 0.96 per 1 SD change in 25(OH)D concentration) and basal cell carcinoma (OR 1.16; 95% C.I.: 1.04 to 1.28). However, after adjustment for pigmentation related variables in a multivariable MR framework, the BCC findings were attenuated. Here we report that lower 25(OH)D is unlikely to be a causal risk factor for most cancers, with our study providing more precise confidence intervals than previously possible

Genomic analysis of male puberty timing highlights shared genetic basis with hair colour and lifespan

Abstract: The timing of puberty is highly variable and is associated with long-term health outcomes. To date, understanding of the genetic control of puberty timing is based largely on studies in women. Here, we report a multi-trait genome-wide association study for male puberty timing with an effective sample size of 205,354 men. We find moderately strong genomic correlation in puberty timing between sexes (rg = 0.68) and identify 76 independent signals for male puberty timing. Implicated mechanisms include an unexpected link between puberty timing and natural hair colour, possibly reflecting common effects of pituitary hormones on puberty and pigmentation. Earlier male puberty timing is genetically correlated with several adverse health outcomes and Mendelian randomization analyses show a genetic association between male puberty timing and shorter lifespan. These findings highlight the relationships between puberty timing and health outcomes, and demonstrate the value of genetic studies of puberty timing in both sexes