Defining College Experiences and Changing Drinking Trends Over the Course of One Freshman Semester

The first semester of college is a formative stage in the lives of young adults. It is a period of transformation and adaptation, and certain experiences may set the tone for the rest of the student's college career. It has long been apparent that a number of problems at the level of secondary education can be traced to the use and, particularly, the abuse of alcohol. Problems with alcohol consumption as one of the contributing factors range from poor grades, emergency room visits, to events such as unwanted sexual advances and in extreme cases, even assaults. In this study, I attempt to find a connection between salient good and bad memories and changes in drinking behavior between the beginning and end of the semester. I asked participants to describe their three best and three worst experiences of the semester, then indicate whether alcohol was involved in each memory. Participants then described the amount and frequency with which they drank at the beginning of the semester and towards the end of the semester. Participants also filled out a short questionnaire and attempted to assess their change over the semester. Comparisons between the proportion of good memories involving alcohol and the proportion of bad memories involving alcohol yielded statistically significant results, suggesting that experiences with alcohol, especially with frequent drinkers, are not unidirectional. Proportion of good memories involving alcohol differed significantly between genders, with men having more good memories while drunk compared to women. Negative experiences did not differ significantly between genders. Men tended to drink more frequently than women, but their drinking trend was actually downward, contrary to what was expected. Unfortunately, the relationship between memories and drinking trend was nearly zero. What this might suggest is that other factors affect drinking trend, or the bi-directionality of experiences for drinkers tend to balance each other out. The significant difference in drinking at the beginning of the semester might actually explain the downward trend for men if we take into account increased academic load, which would cause men to have to reduce their drinking more significantly than women would

Aberrant ATRX protein expression is associated with poor overall survival in NF1-MPNST

Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors (MPNSTs) are aggressive soft tissue sarcomas that can occur sporadically or in the setting of the Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) cancer predisposition syndrome. These tumors carry a dismal overall survival. Previous work in our lab had identified ATRX chromatin remodeler

SERPINB3 (SCCA1) inhibits cathepsin L and lysoptosis, protecting cervical cancer cells from chemoradiation

The endogenous lysosomal cysteine protease inhibitor SERPINB3 (squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1, SCCA1) is elevated in patients with cervical cancer and other malignancies. High serum SERPINB3 is prognostic for recurrence and death following chemoradiation therapy. Cervical cancer cells genetically lacking SERPINB3 are more sensitive to ionizing radiation (IR), suggesting this protease inhibitor plays a role in therapeutic response. Here we demonstrate that SERPINB3-deficient cells have enhanced sensitivity to IR-induced cell death. Knock out of SERPINB3 sensitizes cells to a greater extent than cisplatin, the current standard of care. IR in SERPINB3 deficient cervical carcinoma cells induces predominantly necrotic cell death, with biochemical and cellular features of lysoptosis. Rescue with wild-type SERPINB3 or a reactive site loop mutant indicates that protease inhibitory activity is required to protect cervical tumor cells from radiation-induced death. Transcriptomics analysis of primary cervix tumor samples and genetic knock out demonstrates a role for the lysosomal protease cathepsin L in radiation-induced cell death in SERPINB3 knock-out cells. These data support targeting of SERPINB3 and lysoptosis to treat radioresistant cervical cancers

A High Through-Put Reverse Genetic Screen Identifies Two Genes Involved in Remote Memory in Mice

Previous studies have revealed that the initial stages of memory formation require several genes involved in synaptic, transcriptional and translational mechanisms. In contrast, very little is known about the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying later stages of memory, including remote memory (i.e. 7-day memory). To identify genes required for remote memory, we screened randomly selected mouse strains harboring known mutations. In our primary reverse genetic screen, we identified 4 putative remote memory mutant strains out of a total of 54 lines analyzed. Additionally, we found 11 other mutant strains with other abnormal profiles. Secondary screens confirmed that mutations of integrin β2 (Itgβ2) and steryl-O-acyl transferase 1 (Soat1) specifically disrupted remote memory. This study identifies some of the first genes required for remote memory, and suggests that screens of targeted mutants may be an efficient strategy to identify molecular requirements for this process