Addressing data integration challenges to link ecological processes across scales

Data integration is a statistical modeling approach that incorporates multiple data sources within a unified analytical framework. Macrosystems ecology – the study of ecological phenomena at broad scales, including interactions across scales – increasingly employs data integration techniques to expand the spatiotemporal scope of research and inferences, increase the precision of parameter estimates, and account for multiple sources of uncertainty in estimates of multiscale processes. We highlight four common analytical challenges to data integration in macrosystems ecology research: data scale mismatches, unbalanced data, sampling biases, and model development and assessment. We explain each problem, discuss current approaches to address the issue, and describe potential areas of research to overcome these hurdles. Use of data integration techniques has increased rapidly in recent years, and given the inferential value of such approaches, we expect continued development and wider application across ecological disciplines, especially in macrosystems ecology

An epigenetic switch controls an alternative NR2F2 isoform that unleashes a metastatic program in melanoma

Altres ajuts: Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) NIH/NCI P30CA016087 (NIH/NCI); National Institute of Health S10 Grants NIH/ORIP S10OD01058 and S10OD018338; NCI/NIH R01CA202027, R01CA274100, P01CA206980, U54CA263001 (NYULH MetNet Center) and NYU Melanoma SPORE P50CA225450 (PI: I.O)Metastatic melanoma develops once transformed melanocytic cells begin to de-differentiate into migratory and invasive melanoma cells with neural crest cell (NCC)-like and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like features. However, it is still unclear how transformed melanocytes assume a metastatic melanoma cell state. Here, we define DNA methylation changes that accompany metastatic progression in melanoma patients and discover Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 2 Group F, Member 2 - isoform 2 (NR2F2-Iso2) as an epigenetically regulated metastasis driver. NR2F2-Iso2 is transcribed from an alternative transcriptional start site (TSS) and it is truncated at the N-terminal end which encodes the NR2F2 DNA-binding domain. We find that NR2F2-Iso2 expression is turned off by DNA methylation when NCCs differentiate into melanocytes. Conversely, this process is reversed during metastatic melanoma progression, when NR2F2-Iso2 becomes increasingly hypomethylated and re-expressed. Our functional and molecular studies suggest that NR2F2-Iso2 drives metastatic melanoma progression by modulating the activity of full-length NR2F2 (Isoform 1) over EMT- and NCC-associated target genes. Our findings indicate that DNA methylation changes play a crucial role during metastatic melanoma progression, and their control of NR2F2 activity allows transformed melanocytes to acquire NCC-like and EMT-like features. This epigenetically regulated transcriptional plasticity facilitates cell state transitions and metastatic spread

An epigenetic switch controls an alternative NR2F2 isoform that unleashes a metastatic program in melanoma

Melanocytes can de-differentiate into neural crest cell (NCC)- like states during metastatic melanoma progression. Here the authors compare DNA methylation profiles of NCCs and melanocytes, as well as primary and metastatic patient tissues and identify that DNA methylation changes of NR2F2 isoform 2 influence cell state transitions and melanoma metastatic spread

Researching the Affective Domain in Mathematics Education

This chapter backgrounds and critically reviews Australasian research in the affective domain in mathematics education from 2016–2019. It first locates the body of research within broader considerations of an affective domain and then explores the individual affective aspects of beliefs, self-efficacy, identity, attitudes, motivation and interest, feelings, anxiety and emotions, and engagement. Consideration is given to the methodologies used in research in the affective domain during this time period