Academic Library Outreach to Minority Students: The Role the Library Plays in Meeting the Needs of Minority Students at Francis Marion University

As college student populations nationwide become more racially and ethnically diverse, it is imperative that academic libraries provide services and resources to meet the changing needs. In a span of nearly 20 years, Francis Marion University’s student population has shifted from 74% white and 24% black to nearly 50% black. Because of this, James A. Rogers Library at FMU is challenged with meeting these changing needs. In efforts to diversify its services, James A. Rogers Library gives biennial surveys to FMU students to assess student needs and perception of the library and in 2010, the library created an African-American collection

Fluorinated alpha-Amino Acid Analogues of L-Methionine and Related Compounds for Use As Potential Enzyme Inhibitors

With the discovery of AIDS (and the HIV virus) in the 1970's it has become increasingly apparent that AIDS and other immuno-compromised patients are particularly vulnerable to viral and fungal infections. If left untreated these infections which may only cause minor discomfort in a healthy individual can ultimately lead to the death of the immuno-compromised patient. The disease trichomoniasis found in humans and caused by the anaerobic flagellate protozoa Trichomonas vaginalis is one such infection. In the past trichomonal infections, including trichomoniasis, have been treated using 5-nitroimidazoles. However these agents can give rise to resistant strains of the parasite and are suspected of having mutagenic effects. The drawbacks of these existing treatments demonstrate the need to identify new pro-drugs of greater specificity towards the disease processes of viral and fungal infections. In the case of the organism Trichomonas vaginalis, we already know that the organism contains the enzyme L-methionine-gamma-lyase and that this enzyme performs a function peculiar to T vaginalis. This peculiarity is a potential source of increased specificity for this organism's particular disease process and as such the enzyme L-methionine-gamma-lyase presents itself as a target for therapeutic attack. If the suggested role of the enzyme is correct, then specific inhibitors of L-methionine-gamma-lyase could significantly reduce or even cure the pathogenicity of T vaginalis. In recent years a large number of compounds have been found to function as enzyme activated suicide substrates, through loss of a halide or other good leaving group. The vigorous development of organofluorine chemistry together with further advances in the understanding of biochemical processes have led to an increased level of interest and research in the area of fluorine containing aminoacids. Many fluorinated amino acids are now proving to be highly selective inhibitors of pyridoxal-5'-phosphate dependent enzymes. Following a rational drug design (RDD) approach, it was our aim to synthesise potential anti-metabolites for the therapeutic treatment of infections arising from anaerobic micro-organisms and helminths, in particular focusing our attention on the treatment of infections arising from the anaerobic flagellate protozoa T. vaginalis. The sulfur containing amino acid L-methionine plays diverse biochemical and physiological roles not only as a constituent of peptides and proteins but also as a precursor in the biosynthesis of the DNA methylating agent 5-adenosylmethionine. In addition to its importance in both biochemical and physiological processes, L-methionine is a natural substrate for L-methionine-gamma-lyase. Our experimental starting point has been to try to exploit this enzyme- substrate binding specificity. To do this we synthesised and biologically tested fluorinated analogues of L-methionine for growth inhibiting properties and or selective toxicity in T. vaginalis, an organism known to contain L-methionine-gamma-lyase. In addition and for comparison with L-trifluoromethionine we undertook to synthesise and biologically test the trifluoromethyl analogues of L-cysteine and D-penicillamine. In an alternative attempt to identify a selectively toxic compound for T. vaginalis we also explored a mechanism based enzyme inactivation approach involving the 2,3-sigmatropic rearrangement of an allyl sulfoxide to an allyl sulfenate ester in the enzyme active site. Via this approach the allyl sulfenate ester situated in the enzyme active site serves to derivatise and deactivate the target enzyme. This approach required the synthesis of 2-amino-4-chloro-5-(p-tolylsulfinyl) pentanoic acid from allylglycine. In an effort to extend our chemical and biological understanding of this alternative approach we also attempted to synthesise analogous chloro, fluoromethyl (sulfinyl) pentanoic acid compounds. It was hoped that these new compounds would create more favourable equilibrium concentrations of the sulfenate ester in the active site and that the presence of fluorine would convey an increased level of toxicity through improved lipophilicity and susceptibility to nucleophilic attack

Aerate stored grain for market edge

Established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Progra

Towards post-managerialism in higher education: The case study of management change at the University of The Witwatersrand 1999-2004

Student Number : 0106532X - PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of HumanitiesManagerialism and collegiality are employed in this thesis as constructs through which to make sense of the changing nature of management in a South African university. The rise and dominance of the managerialism discourse is examined with respect to organisational change and restructuring. As principally a qualitative research project, a single case study of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is investigated using interviews, documentary analysis and focus group discussions as the main sources of data from 2001 to 2004. The study is exploratory and strives to establish how and why management has changed. It does so by investigating the underpinning changes in the organisational regime and the different levels of management; the role of the Senior Executive Team, the changing nature of the deanship and the head of school position as a consequence of the merger of departments and the creation of a school structure. Although management in higher education is recognised as having existed for as long as the establishments themselves, the thesis is concerned with the changes in power and authority of academic leaders, the struggle with their ‘lived’ tension between academic leadership or collegiality and managerialism and the implications of this for academic practice. The thesis illustrates that changes in management at Wits demonstrate efforts towards an era of post-managerialism, in this specific case best described as ‘contrived collegial managerialism’. The concept of ‘contrived collegial managerialism’ refers to how the domination of managerial practices from above has altered collegial relations from below. This has resulted in the weakening of academic leadership with profound implications for academic work and practice. Only through strengthened academic leadership at the different levels of university management and primarily school and disciplinary levels, can the university survive the indignities of the increasing corporatisation of its strategies, processes and management practices which constrain the opportunities for meaningful engagement and development of intellectual projects. It is only at disciplinary level, through strengthening the position of heads of department as academic leaders, that collegial relations can be developed and pressure towards upward accountability structures counteracted. Without this, the university risks being consumed by corporate practices at the expense of its unique quality and contribution to society, academic and intellectual advancement

Preliminary Examinations of the Relationships Between the Use Levels of Maine Learning Technology Initiative Devices and School-Level Poverty

As MLTI extends into its second decade of operation, a number of questions have emerged that require increased attention to ensure that the needs of students and teachers are being met. For example: Is there evidence of a second “digital divide”—one of skills and use—across the state of Maine? Does the socioeconomic status of students and schools in Maine influence the level of technology integration? The purpose of the present Brief was to explore these questions. To accomplish this, we examine how students’ use of technology varies by schools’ free and reduced priced lunch (FRPL) by analyzing data from student surveys that documented how devices were used for educational tasks inside and outside of their classrooms

Wellness Champions: A Critical Strategy for Universities to Enhance Population Health and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic

No abstract available

Dietary nitrate increases arginine availability and protects mitochondrial complex I and energetics in the hypoxic rat heart

This is the final version. It was first published by Wiley in The Journal of Physiology at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2014.275263/abstract.Hypoxic exposure is associated with impaired cardiac energetics in humans and altered mitochondrial function, with suppressed complex I-supported respiration, in rat heart. This response might limit reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, but at the cost of impaired electron transport chain (ETC) activity. Dietary nitrate supplementation improves mitochondrial efficiency and can promote tissue oxygenation by enhancing blood flow. We therefore hypothesised that ETC dysfunction, impaired energetics and oxidative damage in the hearts of rats exposed to chronic hypoxia could be alleviated by sustained administration of a moderate dose of dietary nitrate. Male Wistar rats (n=40) were given water supplemented with 0.7 mmol/L NaCl (as control) or 0.7 mmol/L NaNO3, elevating plasma nitrate levels by 80%, and were exposed to 13% O2 (hypoxia) or normoxia (n=10 per group) for 14 days. Respiration rates, ETC protein levels, mitochondrial density, ATP content and protein carbonylation were measured in cardiac muscle. Complex I respiration rates and protein levels were 33% lower in hypoxic/NaCl rats compared with normoxic/NaCl controls. Protein carbonylation was 65% higher in hearts of hypoxic rats compared with controls, indicating increased oxidative stress, whilst ATP levels were 62% lower. Respiration rates, complex I protein and activity, protein carbonylation and ATP levels were all fully protected in the hearts of nitrate-supplemented hypoxic rats. Both in normoxia and hypoxia, dietary nitrate suppressed cardiac arginase expression and activity and markedly elevated cardiac L-arginine concentrations, unmasking a novel mechanism of action by which nitrate enhances tissue NO bioavailability. Dietary nitrate therefore alleviates metabolic abnormalities in the hypoxic heart, improving myocardial energetics

Strengths and opportunities to clinical trial enrollment among BIPOC, rural dwelling patients in the northwest United States: a retrospective study

Introduction: Clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of experimental drugs and devices are the cornerstone of medicinal advancement. Enrolling sufficient participants in these trials is vital to ensure adequate statistical power and generalizability. Clinical trial participation is particularly low among certain populations, including medically underserved communities (i.e., rural areas) and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).Methods: A retrospective study design was used to understand patient outcomes and access/barriers to clinical trial participation in the rural northwest United States. A quantitatively focused retrospective chart review was conducted for adult participants enrolled in at least one clinical trial in a single northwest health system between 1999 and 2022. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed to assess trial outcomes at a significance level 0.05.Results: The retrospective chart review yielded 833 clinical trial records with 753 individual enrolled participants. The all-cause relative frequency of death at last known follow-up amongst clinical trial participants was 8.90% (n = 67). Based on logistic regression, the death was significantly associated with the participants’ age at initial trial screening (β = 0.09, p-value <0.001), those that resided in non-metro areas (β = −0.86, p-value = 0.045), and those that lived in Northeastern Montana (β = 1.27, p-value = 0.025). Additionally, death at last known follow-up was significantly associated with enrollment in 2021–2022 (β = −1.52, p-value <0.001), enrolled in more than one study (β = 0.84, p-value = 0.023), in internationally sponsored trials (β = −2.08, p-value <0.001), in Phase I (β = 5.34, p-value <0.001), in Phase II trials (β = 1.37, p-value = 0.013), diabetes as a primary trial target (β = −2.04, p-value = 0.003).Conclusion: As decentralized trial design and remote or virtual elements of traditional trials become normative, representation of rural and frontier populations is imperative to support the generalizability of trial data encouraged by the FDA