SnoN signaling in proliferating cells and postmitotic neurons

AbstractThe transcriptional regulator SnoN plays a fundamental role as a modulator of transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)-induced signal transduction and biological responses. In recent years, novel functions of SnoN have been discovered in both TGFβ-dependent and TGFβ-independent settings in proliferating cells and postmitotic neurons. Accumulating evidence suggests that SnoN plays a dual role as a corepressor or coactivator of TGFβ-induced transcription. Accordingly, SnoN exerts oncogenic or tumor-suppressive effects in epithelial tissues. At the cellular level, SnoN antagonizes or mediates the ability of TGFβ to induce cell cycle arrest in a cell-type specific manner. SnoN also exerts key effects on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), with implications in cancer biology. Recent studies have expanded SnoN functions to postmitotic neurons, where SnoN orchestrates key aspects of neuronal development in the mammalian brain, from axon growth and branching to neuronal migration and positioning. In this review, we will highlight our understanding of SnoN biology at the crossroads of cancer biology and neurobiology

A performance analysis of graduate school staff at University of Wisconsin-Stout

Includes bibliographical references

Five Attitudes of Effective Teachers: Implications for Teacher Training

When preservice teachers or teacher candidates are asked, Why do you want to be a teacher?” The response is commonly, I want to be able to make a positive difference in the lives of my students.” Many teacher candidates continue to say they also want to be an effective teacher who will be remembered fondly by their former students. Some want to have a chance to be a better teacher than the teachers they personally experienced. However, many researchers (i.e., Frank, 1990; Fulton, 1989; Goodlad, 1990; Handler, 1993) state the axiom that teachers usually teach in the way they were taught. This compelling statement highlights the importance of reviewing and analyzing students’ prior educational experiences for insight into the effective and ineffective attitudes and actions of teachers. The effective attitudes and actions employed by teachers ultimately can make a positive difference on the lives of their students, and this belief will serve as the central focus of this paper. By examining prior educational experiences, preservice teachers can discuss what they should or should not do with a class of students. The five frequently discussed attitudes and actions include: a genuine caring and kindness of the teacher, a willingness to share the responsibility involved in a classroom, a sincere sensitivity to the students’ diversity, a motivation to provide meaningful learning experiences for all students, and an enthusiasm for stimulating the students’ creativity. The format of this article will address four main sections. The first section will explain the methodology used for the discovery of the five effective teacher attitudes and actions. In sections two and three, the effective and ineffective attitudes and actions will be discussed more specifically by summarizing the preservice teachers’ discussions. A research based discussion of the described effective attitudes and actions will be the focus of the fourth section

Students Perspectives Of Bullying In Schools

Bullying has proven to be a major problem in our society, one that can no longer be ignored. Unfortunately, every day children of various ages leave schools feeling scared, sad, anxious, and embarrassed, which greatly interferes with their ability to learn and to enjoy their childhood. This paper will review literature on bullying as well as the typical characteristics of the bully, the bullied, and the bystander. This paper will also describe a 2011 bullying survey and program that was presented to 500 middle school students by the author. In the Anti-Bullying Presentation, students were given short messages that could easily be remembered in the future when confronted with bullying situations. For example the scars that bullying leaves are like tattoos, everyone comes to school with a bag of chips; some bags are full and some only have crumbs left, everyone can make a decision on what kind of person they want to be in life, or what shirt they want to wear in life, etc. The term pro-respect was also emphasized with the students. If bullying is ever going to be a thing of the past, parents, students, and teachers must collaborate to overcome this epidemic of a lack of empathy for others feelings amongst todays youth

Pivot

I wanted to explore an interpretation of pivot that was both literal, such as turning around while walking, while encompassing the feeling of how the changes (pivots) in our behavior necessary to lessen the impact of COVID-19 can feel claustrophobic, disheartening, and, perhaps, like spinning our wheels when what we desire is the ability to connect with the people we care about in the physically meaningful ways we are used to

Significant factors contributing to the successful inclusion of students with moderate to severe disabilities into general K-2 classrooms

Since 1975 a federal law has made the local school district responsible for the education of ALL children living within its geographical boundaries, This law, originally known as the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142), and now known as IDEA or The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, guarantees that children with disabilities will have a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. This free and appropriate public education would afford children with disabilities the opportunity, to the maximum extent possible, to be educated in their neighborhood school alongside their non-disabled peers. The purpose of this study was to examine the strategies / practices used regularly by successful kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers who have included children with moderate to severe disabilities in their general education classrooms in hopes of determining how to best support teachers providing inclusive placements for primary students. It examined the supports made available to those teachers, and it investigated whether successful teachers were more experienced teachers. Five districts in southern New Jersey, located in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties, were identified as districts who had included children with disabilities in general education classrooms. A district administrator, known to have knowledge of special education placements, was contacted by phone, and asked to recommend two K-2 teachers whom they felt had successfully included a student(s) with moderate to severe disabilities in their regular education class. Taped interviews were conducted using open ended questions, developed by this researcher, and then transcribed for analysis. Data was analyzed using ratio, percentage, and Chi-square distribution. Results indicated that of the fifteen strategies or practices used by the teachers interviewed, cooperative learning, peer buddies, and collaborative / team teaching were statistically significant. The question of experience and its relationship to a successful inclusive program was not clearly defined by the research. Supports described as significant to the successful general educator came from a variety of sources: a mutually respectful relationship with the parent(s) of the included child, which included regular on-going communication between home and school, direct support from the resource center teacher, for at least a portion of the day, to both the student and the classroom program, and a positive encouraging attitude towards inclusion by building principals

Job satisfaction and locus of control in an academic setting

This study explored any relationships that existed between faculty members\u27 locus of control and job satisfaction at a small, private, faith-based university. Two demographic variables were also analyzed in the findings: number of years teaching in higher education and tenure status. The job satisfaction instrument used was the Job in General (JIG) scale (Ironson et al.), which measures global satisfaction. Perceived locus of control was measured by Duttweiler\u27s (1984) Internal Control Index (ICI). A total of 61 faculty members\u27 participated in this survey. Overall, the findings in this study were somewhat consistent with past research, to the extent that this could be assessed given a lack of reliability demonstrated on the ICI. The importance of the work that faculty perform and the sense of purpose and contentment that it provides could be construed as a reason for why praise for the purpose of completing a challenging task was less important in these faculty members\u27 motivational drives. The importance of autonomy in the work of faculty members\u27 satisfaction was clearly connected with the past findings of this vital component of motivation. No relationship between job satisfaction and locus of control was found, since the Internal Control Index instrument that was used in the study did not demonstrate reliability in the statistical analysis. Other important factors that may help leaders in higher education contribute to higher levels of job satisfaction among faculty were analyzed and discussed