International Scholarship Graduates Influencing Social and Economic Development at Home: The Role of Alumni Networks in Georgia and Moldova

Many students from low- and middle-income countries seek scholarship support to pursue higher education overseas. Often scholarship programs mandate that recipients "give back" to their home countries following their studies so scholars "apply" their experiences to aid their countries of origin. In this comparative qualitative study, 40 Georgian and Moldovan scholarship alumni who studied in the United States were asked how alumni networks assist their ability to influence social and economic change in their home countries. The comparative findings point to the value of alumni networks in terms of graduates backing each other's activism projects and feeling part of a community of like-minded individuals who seek change. Where these networks were not present, alumni desired a supportive association to assist in their attempts to influence reform. Findings suggest the development of alumni networks facilitate individual scholarship participants' efforts to "give back" to their countries of origin

Sex difference in awareness of threat:A meta-analysis of sex differences in attentional orienting in the dot probe task

It has been argued that females are more important to infant survival than males and that this may lead to their increased fear. One way of increasing female survival chances would be to increase their sensitivity to threat. The dot-probe task has been used to investigate attentional bias. In this meta-analysis we combine the results of dot-probe experiments and explicitly examine sex differences in attentional orienting bias. Overall there is little evidence to support the existence of sex differences and these results are considered in terms of evolutionary impact

The Psychometric Evaluation of Human Life Histories:A Reply to Figueredo, Cabeza de Baca, Black, Garcia, Fernandes, Wolf, and Woodley (2015)

A recent critique of Copping, Campbell, and Muncer raised several issues concerning the validity of psychometric assessment techniques in the study of life history (LH) strategies. In this reply, some of our key concerns about relying on aggregated psy- chometric measures are explained, and we raise questions generally regarding the use of higher order factor structures. Responses to some of the statistical issues raised by Figueredo et al. are also detailed. We stand by our original conclusions and call for more careful consideration of instruments used to evaluate hypotheses derived from LH theory

Community Outreach through Genomics Education Partnership

The J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has recently partnered with undergraduate university faculty to expand the scope of education and outreach program as part of the NIAID’s BRC initiative, by joining forces with faculty members participating in the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP). The goal of the GEP is to provide opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in genomics research and gain hands on experience. Faculty members trained on annotation methodologies and tools during the Prokaryotic Annotation Workshop conducted at JCVI, impart their knowledge in the classroom as part of the semester course. As a pilot project, we are currently collaborating with 3 groups lead by a faculty member, spread across 3 universities in the community curation of bacterial genomes. Each participating undergraduate group collectively annotates a specific bacterial genome that was sequenced at JCVI and run through the automatic annotation pipeline. Remote access to genome sequence data, pre-computed gene predictions, search results, automatic annotation and bioinformatics analysis is provided through our web-based manual annotation tool, MANATEE. The students log into JCVI genome databases with user specific ids and password and learn to annotate single genes, entire metabolic pathways leading to analysis of a question that may be unique to the genome being analyzed. Users of the genome data receive dedicated support and guidance from our in house annotation experts on the usage of JCVI’s tools and annotation methodologies. Through this exercise, the undergraduate students are introduced to concepts of genomics and bioinformatics and gain deeper understanding of the concepts of cellular metabolism and disease pathology, which may lead them to making scientific research their career path. Some groups are focusing on genome specific pathways and plan to conduct wet lab experiments to understand unique genome features. We are highly encouraged that this model of web based, remote access, community annotation has been successful and propose to leverage the community of annotators to update annotations of pathogen genomes in Pathema-BRC

Gunumbah: archaeological and Aboriginal meanings at a Quarry site on Moreton Island, southeast Queensland

Cape Moreton - Gunumbah - on Moreton Island, Queensland. is an area of high cultural value to the Ngugi traditional owners, and has considerable archaeological significance. The extensive area of stone outcrops is the largest raw material source for stone artefact manufacture in Moreton Bay, yet there is no evidence for extraction activities or stone working associated directly with the outcrops. Stone working is only visible at two nearby workshop sites. Furthermore, the area is made up of multiple outcrops of different raw material types. Each quarry is owned by a particular family, and the quarries were a major focus for trade on Moreton Island. Significant places close to the quarries imposed restrictions on access to the stone and obliged visitors to behave in accordance with Ngugi Law. Although several archaeologists have analysed the Cape Moreton stone outcrops, the full meaning of Gunumbah can only be determined by including Aboriginal knowledge of the entire place

Bloom syndrome: research and data priorities for the development of precision medicine as identified by some affected families

Bloom syndrome (BS) is a rare, autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by short stature, a skin rash associated with sun exposure, and an elevated likelihood of developing cancers of essentially all types, beginning at an early age. Cancer is the leading cause of death for persons with BS, and its early onset results in a reported median lifespan of <30 years. With fewer than 300 documented cases since BS was first described in 1954, its rarity has challenged progress in advancing both the care of and the cure for persons with BS. Presently, there are no known clinically actionable targets specific to persons with this cancer predisposition syndrome, despite the fact that standard cancer treatments are often contraindicated or must be substantially modified for persons with BS. Herein, Zachary Rogers recounts his experience as a cancer patient with BS contemplating a substantially customized chemotherapy regimen that highlights the need for development of individualized treatments in the BS community. We also outline a patient-centered research and community action road map with the goal of improving and prolonging the lives of persons with Bloom syndrome, including the facilitation of precision medicine development specific to this condition

Estimating Site Performance (ESP) : can trial managers predict recruitment success at trial sites? An exploratory study

Availability of data and materials All quantitative data generated and analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files] Additional file 3. The dataset of predictions used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The transcript of the group discussion generated and analysed during the current study is not publicly available due it containing information that could compromise research participant consent (it would be a relatively simple matter to identify trials and trial managers) but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Peer reviewedPublisher PD