Nitrate-Stimulated Release of Naturally Occurring Sedimentary Uranium

Groundwater uranium (U) concentrations have been measured above the U.S. EPA maximum contaminant level (30 μg/L) in many U.S. aquifers, including in areas not associated with anthropogenic contamination by milling or mining. In addition to carbonate, nitrate has been correlated to uranium groundwater concentrations in two major U.S. aquifers. However, to date, direct evidence that nitrate mobilizes naturally occurring U from aquifer sediments has not been presented. Here, we demonstrate that the influx of high-nitrate porewater through High Plains alluvial aquifer silt sediments bearing naturally occurring U(IV) can stimulate a nitrate-reducing microbial community capable of catalyzing the oxidation and mobilization of U into the porewater. Microbial reduction of nitrate yielded nitrite, a reactive intermediate, which was further demonstrated to abiotically mobilize U from the reduced alluvial aquifer sediments. These results indicate that microbial activity, specifically nitrate reduction to nitrite, is one mechanism driving U mobilization from aquife

Adolescents' perceptions of their risk-taking sexual activities in Hong Kong

published_or_final_versionSociologyMasterMaster of Social Science

Helen MalonePre-service Teacher-Implemented Social Stories ™ Intervention for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in General Education Settings

Well, it is hard to believe that I have made it this far. Without a doubt, I could not have been able to do it without the boundless love and support of my wonderful wife, Megan. Had I never met her, I certainly would never have had the courage to pack up my life and move to a new state in order to start graduate school. She has been a constant source of energy and enthusiasm and I hope that she feels that the long hours conducting research, the late nights writing, and the days spent away at conferences have been worth it. I would like to thank my children, James and Lincoln, for giving me a reason to get up every morning (as well as in the middle of the night) and for being the inspiration for me to work more diligently every day. I would also like to thank my mother, for her tireless work dedicated to raising me to be the best person that I can be. None of my academic achievements thus far would have been possible without the guidance and support of my advisor, Mark O’Reilly. I am truly honored to have worked with a man of such distinction and I sincerely thank him for the experiences and opportunities that I have been given because of our association. Everything that I have learned from him in the past five years will be carried with me forever. I would also lik

Mindfulness: an application of positive psychology in intellectual and developmental disabilities

Mindfulness-based interventions teach participants how to go within oneself, engage in inner transformation through mindfulness meditation and other informal mindfulness activities, and learn how to respond to daily life events in a calm, accepting, and nonjudgmental manner. By focusing on what one can do by being present helps the development and strengthening of human social functioning regardless of one’s current personal circumstances, such as disease, disorder, dysfunction, or disabilities. In this sense, mindfulness and positive psychology provide similar pathways for developing human potential. This chapter presents a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, narrative review of the applications of mindfulness-based interventions in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. The chapter covers procedures and practices that have been used to instill mindfulness in children, adolescents, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their support providers, including family members, direct support staff, and teachers. Although most of the mindfulness research in this field is in the early stages, data from several studies indicate that mindfulness-based interventions may have immediate and long-term benefits for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their support providers

A comparison of non-integrating reprogramming methods

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs1,2,3) are useful in disease modeling and drug discovery, and they promise to provide a new generation of cell-based therapeutics. To date there has been no systematic evaluation of the most widely used techniques for generating integration-free hiPSCs. Here we compare Sendai-viral (SeV)4, episomal (Epi)5 and mRNA transfection mRNA6 methods using a number of criteria. All methods generated high-quality hiPSCs, but significant differences existed in aneuploidy rates, reprogramming efficiency, reliability and workload. We discuss the advantages and shortcomings of each approach, and present and review the results of a survey of a large number of human reprogramming laboratories on their independent experiences and preferences. Our analysis provides a valuable resource to inform the use of specific reprogramming methods for different laboratories and different applications, including clinical translation

Review of teacher involvement in the applied intervention research for children with autism spectrum disorders. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Abstract: This review examined the involvement of teachers in the intervention research for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from 1996 through February 2008. Forty-nine studies involving teachers of children with ASD were coded for different types of involvement. Findings are discussed in regards to three issues: (a) the manner in which teachers have been involved in autism research, (b) how teachers were trained to implement research based practices, and (c) teachers' perceptions of interventions (i.e. social validity). Results showed that teachers have been included in a variet

The duality of CXCR3 in glioblastoma: unveiling autocrine and paracrine mechanisms for novel therapeutic approaches

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor associated with limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis. CXCR3, a chemokine receptor, serves dual autocrine-paracrine functions in cancer. Despite gaps in our understanding of the functional role of the CXCR3 receptor in GBM, it has been shown to hold promise as a therapeutic target for the treatment of GBM. Existing clinical therapeutics and vaccines targeting CXCR3 ligand expression associated with the CXCR3 axes have also shown anti-tumorigenic effects in GBM. This review summarizes existing evidence on the oncogenic function of CXCR3 and its ligands CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11, in GBM, and examines the controversies concerning the immunomodulatory functions of the CXCR3 receptor, including immune T cell recruitment, polarization, and positioning. The mechanisms underlying monotherpies and combination therapies targeting the CXCR3 pathways are discussed. A better understanding of the CXCR3 axes may lead to the development of strategies for overcoming the limitations of existing immunotherapies for GBM. </p