Harnessing the Expended Labor of Active Learning Exercises

Although many faculty and students agree that engagement and learning are enhanced by using practical, hands-on exercises in the classroom, it is rare that consideration is given to the harnessing of labor expended while transacting active learning in the field of computer programming. Professors expend effort creating programming assignments that are aimed at teaching and practicing core programming concepts, and students expend effort satisfying the assignment to earn points towards a grade for the class. We propose that if secondary school teachers and educators offer up suggestions for new software needed in their classroom the resulting information can be used to create programming assignments that will produce programs satisfying the expressed need. It is in this fashion that the fruitless labor of students in programming classes can be re-purposed to create heuristic tools for use in various areas of study

One Health in food safety and security education: Subject matter outline for a curricular framework.

Educating students in the range of subjects encompassing food safety and security as approached from a One Health perspective requires consideration of a variety of different disciplines and the interrelationships among disciplines. The Western Institute for Food Safety and Security developed a subject matter outline to accompany a previously published One Health in food safety and security curricular framework. The subject matter covered in this outline encompasses a variety of topics and disciplines related to food safety and security including effects of food production on the environment. This subject matter outline should help guide curriculum development and education in One Health in food safety and security and provides useful information for educators, researchers, students, and public policy-makers facing the inherent challenges of maintaining and/or developing safe and secure food supplies without destroying Earth's natural resources

A Conditionally Fluorescent Peptide Reporter of Secondary Structure Modulation

Proteins containing intrinsic disorder often form secondary structure upon interaction with a binding partner. Modulating such structures presents an approach for manipulating the resultant functional outcomes. Translational repressor protein 4E‐BP1 is an example of an intrinsically disordered protein that forms an α‐helix upon binding to its protein ligand, eIF4E. Current biophysical methods for analyzing binding‐induced structural changes are low‐throughput, require large amounts of sample, or are extremely sensitive to signal interference by the ligand itself. Herein, we describe the discovery and development of a conditionally fluorescent 4E‐BP1 peptide that reports structural changes of its helix in high‐throughput format. This reporter peptide is based on conditional quenching of fluorescein by thioamides. In this case, fluorescence signal increases as the peptide becomes more ordered. Conversely, destabilization of the α‐helix results in decreased fluorescence signal. The low concentration and low volume of peptide required make this approach amenable for high‐throughput screening to discover ligands that alter peptide secondary structure.PET lights up peptide dynamics: Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) quenching of fluorescence by thioamides presents an elegant method for monitoring changes in macromolecular conformation. Here we apply this approach to monitor peptide dynamics in a 384‐well plate format. Using a fluorescein‐conjugated, 4E‐BP1‐based peptide containing an embedded thioamide, we probe its transition from disorder to a short α‐helix.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146852/1/cbic201800377.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146852/2/cbic201800377-sup-0001-misc_information.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146852/3/cbic201800377_am.pd

Social Media Use and Access to Digital Technology in US Young Adults in 2016.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, 90% of US young adults with Internet access used social media. Digital and social media are highly prevalent modalities through which young adults explore identity formation, and by extension, learn and transmit norms about health and risk behaviors during this developmental life stage. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to provide updated estimates of social media use from 2014 to 2016 and correlates of social media use and access to digital technology in data collected from a national sample of US young adults in 2016. METHODS: Young adult participants aged 18-24 years in Wave 7 (October 2014, N=1259) and Wave 9 (February 2016, N=989) of the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort Study were asked about use frequency for 11 social media sites and access to digital devices, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics. Regular use was defined as using a given social media site at least weekly. Weighted analyses estimated the prevalence of use of each social media site, overlap between regular use of specific sites, and correlates of using a greater number of social media sites regularly. Bivariate analyses identified sociodemographic correlates of access to specific digital devices. RESULTS: In 2014, 89.42% (weighted n, 1126/1298) of young adults reported regular use of at least one social media site. This increased to 97.5% (weighted n, 965/989) of young adults in 2016. Among regular users of social media sites in 2016, the top five sites were Tumblr (85.5%), Vine (84.7%), Snapchat (81.7%), Instagram (80.7%), and LinkedIn (78.9%). Respondents reported regularly using an average of 7.6 social media sites, with 85% using 6 or more sites regularly. Overall, 87% of young adults reported access or use of a smartphone with Internet access, 74% a desktop or laptop computer with Internet access, 41% a tablet with Internet access, 29% a smart TV or video game console with Internet access, 11% a cell phone without Internet access, and 3% none of these. Access to all digital devices with Internet was lower in those reporting a lower subjective financial situation; there were also significant differences in access to specific digital devices with Internet by race, ethnicity, and education. CONCLUSIONS: The high mean number of social media sites used regularly and the substantial overlap in use of multiple social media sites reflect the rapidly changing social media environment. Mobile devices are a primary channel for social media, and our study highlights disparities in access to digital technologies with Internet access among US young adults by race/ethnicity, education, and subjective financial status. Findings from this study may guide the development and implementation of future health interventions for young adults delivered via the Internet or social media sites

Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Northern Brown Bandicoot (<i>Isoodon macrourus</i>)

Aside from a handful of notable exceptions, neoplasia is not reported as a major cause of mortality in wild animal populations and often goes undetected. For northern brown bandicoots specifically, there are few reported tumors in the literature and on file in the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health. This report describes a case of squamous cell carcinoma in a northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus), with metastases to the draining lymph nodes and lung. This neoplasm consisted predominantly of well-differentiated squamous cells and multifocal keratin pearls, with areas possibly consistent with epithelial to mesenchymal transition, as identified by positive immunohistochemical staining by both pancytokeratin (AE1/AE3) and vimentin. Additional investigations were negative for bandicoot papillomatosis carcinomatosis viruses

Menthol tobacco use is correlated with mental health symptoms in a national sample of young adults: implications for future health risks and policy recommendations

Introduction Depression and anxiety are correlated with greater nicotine dependence, smoking persistence, and relapse back to smoking after a quit attempt. Menthol cigarette smoking, which is prevalent in young adults, is associated with nicotine dependence, progression to regular smoking, and worse cessation outcomes than non-menthol smoking. Few have established a link between menthol tobacco use, beyond just smoking, with mental health in this high-risk age group. This study examined the association of menthol tobacco use to anxiety and depression in a national sample of young adults. Material and Methods Data were from Waves 1 through 7 (n = 9720, weighted) of the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort, a national sample of men and women aged 18 to 34 assessed every 6-months. Demographics, past 30-day use of non-menthol and menthol tobacco products, and current alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use were assessed among those with depression and anxiety. Results Thirty nine percent of current tobacco users used menthol as their preferred brand. Using a cross-sectional analysis (collapsed across waves), past 30-day menthol tobacco was uniquely associated with greater odds of both depression and anxiety, beyond the effects of demographic and substance correlates and non-menthol tobacco product use. Conclusions Menthol is disproportionately used among young adults tobacco users with mental health problems, above and beyond the impact of a variety of other mental health and tobacco use risk factors. Findings suggest a strong link between menthol tobacco use and poor health outcomes. Policies should be developed to deter menthol tobacco use in vulnerable groups

Differences in APOBEC3G Expression in CD4+ T Helper Lymphocyte Subtypes Modulate HIV-1 Infectivity

The cytidine deaminases APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F exert anti–HIV-1 activity that is countered by the HIV-1 vif protein. Based on potential transcription factor binding sites in their putative promoters, we hypothesized that expression of APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F would vary with T helper lymphocyte differentiation. Naive CD4+ T lymphocytes were differentiated to T helper type 1 (Th1) and 2 (Th2) effector cells by expression of transcription factors Tbet and GATA3, respectively, as well as by cytokine polarization. APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F RNA levels, and APOBEC3G protein levels, were higher in Th1 than in Th2 cells. T cell receptor stimulation further increased APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F expression in Tbet- and control-transduced, but not in GATA3-transduced, cells. Neutralizing anti–interferon-γ antibodies reduced both basal and T cell receptor-stimulated APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F expression in Tbet- and control-transduced cells. HIV-1 produced from Th1 cells had more virion APOBEC3G, and decreased infectivity, compared to virions produced from Th2 cells. These differences between Th1- and Th2-produced virions were greater for viruses lacking functional vif, but also seen with vif-positive viruses. Over-expression of APOBEC3G in Th2 cells decreased the infectivity of virions produced from Th2 cells, and reduction of APOBEC3G in Th1 cells increased infectivity of virions produced from Th1 cells, consistent with a causal role for APOBEC3G in the infectivity difference. These results indicate that APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F levels vary physiologically during CD4+ T lymphocyte differentiation, that interferon-γ contributes to this modulation, and that this physiological regulation can cause changes in infectivity of progeny virions, even in the presence of HIV-1 vif

Cellular diversity through space and time: adding new dimensions to GBM therapeutic development

The current median survival for glioblastoma (GBM) patients is only about 16 months, with many patients succumbing to the disease in just a matter of months, making it the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer in adults. This poor outcome is, in part, due to the lack of new treatment options with only one FDA-approved treatment in the last decade. Advances in sequencing techniques and transcriptomic analyses have revealed a vast degree of heterogeneity in GBM, from inter-patient diversity to intra-tumoral cellular variability. These cutting-edge approaches are providing new molecular insights highlighting a critical role for the tumor microenvironment (TME) as a driver of cellular plasticity and phenotypic heterogeneity. With this expanded molecular toolbox, the influence of TME factors, including endogenous (e.g., oxygen and nutrient availability and interactions with non-malignant cells) and iatrogenically induced (e.g., post-therapeutic intervention) stimuli, on tumor cell states can be explored to a greater depth. There exists a critical need for interrogating the temporal and spatial aspects of patient tumors at a high, cell-level resolution to identify therapeutically targetable states, interactions and mechanisms. In this review, we discuss advancements in our understanding of spatiotemporal diversity in GBM with an emphasis on the influence of hypoxia and immune cell interactions on tumor cell heterogeneity. Additionally, we describe specific high-resolution spatially resolved methodologies and their potential to expand the impact of pre-clinical GBM studies. Finally, we highlight clinical attempts at targeting hypoxia- and immune-related mechanisms of malignancy and the potential therapeutic opportunities afforded by single-cell and spatial exploration of GBM patient specimens