Multilevel Modulation of a Sensory Motor Circuit during C. elegans Sleep and Arousal

Sleep is characterized by behavioral quiescence, homeostasis, increased arousal threshold, and rapid reversibility. Understanding how these properties are encoded by a neuronal circuit has been difficult, and no single molecular or neuronal pathway has been shown to be responsible for the regulation of sleep. Taking advantage of the well-mapped neuronal connections of Caenorhabditis elegans and the sleep-like states in this animal, we demonstrate the changed properties of both sensory neurons and downstream interneurons that mediate sleep and arousal. The ASH sensory neuron displays reduced sensitivity to stimuli in the sleep-like state, and the activity of the corresponding interneurons in ASH’s motor circuit becomes asynchronous. Restoration of interneuron synchrony is sufficient for arousal. The multilevel circuit depression revealed provides an elegant strategy to promote a robust decrease in arousal while allowing for rapid reversibility of the sleep state

Les Passerelles vers de nouveaux apprentissages : marcher vers la vision (de nouveau) d’un stage international

We engage in a creative exploration of the ways in which a walk provided us with insights into how we might enhance the curriculum for a teacher education international practicum in Italy. Drawing from a currere framework, we shifted to mindful walking, and we tell our story in three parts that represent the various stages of our mindful engagement: intention; attention; and attitude. Walking in this way provided the impetus for us to re-examine the curriculum of the international practicum. We argue that mindful walking has the potential to increase observation skills and open up ways to develop deeper cultural connections in an international practicum. We consider what those connections could do to enhance the practicum and our teacher candidates’ experience.Nous nous engageons dans une exploration créative de la manière dont une marche nous a permis de mieux comprendre comment nous pourrions améliorer le programme d'un stage international de formation des enseignant(e)s en Italie. En nous inspirant d'un cadre «currere», nous sommes passés à la marche attentive et nous racontons notre histoire en trois parties qui représentent les différentes étapes de notre engagement conscient : l'intention; l’attention; et l'attitude. Marcher de cette façon nous a incité à réexaminer le programme du stage international. Nous soutenons que la marche consciente a le potentiel d'augmenter les compétences d'observation et d'ouvrir des moyens de développer des liens culturels plus profonds dans un stage international. Nous réfléchissons à ce que ces liens pourraient faire pour améliorer le stage et l’expérience de nos candidats enseignants. et l’expérience de nos candidats enseignants

Home Literacy Initiatives of Middle School Families During the 2020 Quarantine Period: Transformation in Education?

The coronavirus pandemic changed everything almost overnight for students and their families. The purpose of this qualitative case study, thus, was to investigate the views of families about the sudden change in education for their middle school children, particularly literacy practices, during the pandemic. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s theoretical framework of cultural capital, coupled with socioeconomic status, funds of knowledge, and crisis management, we conducted interviews with 4 parents. Using the in vivo coding data analysis method, we identified some key preliminary findings: all-day-happy-hour, the strange disconnection between teachers and parents, and soft and hard approaches to school-home literacy. Participants revealed very distinctive dispositions to make this “school-home” education work on their own. These parental dispositions and new meaning-making from their children’s education developed into what we referred to as parentagogy, as they determined for themselves the skills they would need and use to help their children succeed in their new roles as parent and educator. This study confirms the importance of parental value in education

NRG1 functions downstream of EDS1 to regulate TIR-NLR-mediated plant immunity in Nicotiana benthamiana.

Effector-triggered immunity (ETI) in plants involves a large family of nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors, including Toll/IL-1 receptor-NLRs (TNLs) and coiled-coil NLRs (CNLs). Although various NLR immune receptors are known, a mechanistic understanding of NLR function in ETI remains unclear. The TNL Recognition of XopQ 1 (Roq1) recognizes the effectors XopQ and HopQ1 from Xanthomonas and Pseudomonas, respectively, which activates resistance to Xanthomonas euvesicatoria and Xanthomonas gardneri in an Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1 (EDS1)-dependent way in Nicotiana benthamiana In this study, we found that the N. benthamiana N requirement gene 1 (NRG1), a CNL protein required for the tobacco TNL protein N-mediated resistance to tobacco mosaic virus, is also essential for immune signaling [including hypersensitive response (HR)] triggered by the TNLs Roq1 and Recognition of Peronospora parasitica 1 (RPP1), but not by the CNLs Bs2 and Rps2, suggesting that NRG1 may be a conserved key component in TNL signaling pathways. Besides EDS1, Roq1 and NRG1 are necessary for resistance to Xanthomonas and Pseudomonas in N. benthamiana NRG1 functions downstream of Roq1 and EDS1 and physically associates with EDS1 in mediating XopQ-Roq1-triggered immunity. Moreover, RNA sequencing analysis showed that XopQ-triggered gene-expression profile changes in N. benthamiana were almost entirely mediated by Roq1 and EDS1 and were largely regulated by NRG1. Overall, our study demonstrates that NRG1 is a key component that acts downstream of EDS1 to mediate various TNL signaling pathways, including Roq1 and RPP1-mediated HR, resistance to Xanthomonas and Pseudomonas, and XopQ-regulated transcriptional changes in N. benthamiana

Quantum dot-induced cell death involves Fas upregulation and lipid peroxidation in human neuroblastoma cells

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma, a frequently occurring solid tumour in children, remains a therapeutic challenge as existing imaging tools are inadequate for proper and accurate diagnosis, resulting in treatment failures. Nanoparticles have recently been introduced to the field of cancer research and promise remarkable improvements in diagnostics, targeting and drug delivery. Among these nanoparticles, quantum dots (QDs) are highly appealing due to their manipulatable surfaces, yielding multifunctional QDs applicable in different biological models. The biocompatibility of these QDs, however, remains questionable. RESULTS: We show here that QD surface modifications with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) alter QD physical and biological properties. In human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells, NAC modified QDs were internalized to a lesser extent and were less cytotoxic than unmodified QDs. Cytotoxicity was correlated with Fas upregulation on the surface of treated cells. Alongside the increased expression of Fas, QD treated cells had increased membrane lipid peroxidation, as measured by the fluorescent BODIPY-C(11 )dye. Moreover, peroxidized lipids were detected at the mitochondrial level, contributing to the impairment of mitochondrial functions as shown by the MTT reduction assay and imaged with confocal microscopy using the fluorescent JC-1 dye. CONCLUSION: QD core and surface compositions, as well as QD stability, all influence nanoparticle internalization and the consequent cytotoxicity. Cadmium telluride QD-induced toxicity involves the upregulation of the Fas receptor and lipid peroxidation, leading to impaired neuroblastoma cell functions. Further improvements of nanoparticles and our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of QD-toxicity are critical for the development of new nanotherapeutics or diagnostics in nano-oncology

Understanding faculty and student perceptions about reward and advancement : survey of four STEM departments at research intensive universities

This report summarizes the results of a survey exploring four STEM departments that have engaged in meaningful reforms in academic systems of reward and advancement including promotion and tenure (P&T). The survey was administered as part of a study seeking to expose the strengths and challenges of reform efforts by understanding the lived experiences of faculty and graduate trainees. The four departments are relatively large (>40 faculty), and are situated in public, very high research activity (Carnegie R1) institutions located in relatively small, suburban or rurally-situated college towns in the Northwest and Midwest United States. It aims to provide insights into faculty and student perceptions of and experiences with departmental level practices. University leaders and those working on national-scale initiatives to improve reward and advancement in higher education may find these results useful

An Evaluation of Relative Damage to the Powertrain System in Tracked Vehicles

The objective of this study was to improve the reliability of the endurance test for the powertrain system of military tracked vehicles. The measurement system that measures the driving duty applied to the powertrain system caused by mobility on roads consists of eight analog channels and two pulse channels, including the propeller shaft output torques for the left and right sides. The data obtained from this measurement system can be used to introduce a new technology that produces the output torque of a torque converter and that can be applied to analyze the revolution counting for the endurance and road mobility in the front unit and represent the relative fatigue damages analysis technique and its results according to the driven roads through a cumulative fatigue method

Microfluidic platform to study pressure-induced changes in neurons

Purpose : Explore a model for glaucoma by developing methods to image Caenorhabditis elegans neuronal function in response to controlled pressure modulation. Methods : Microfluidic devices have been developed for imaging behavior and cellular processes in C. elegans. These devices are fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an inert polymer. External pressure is adjusted to immobilize the animal as well as to control flow of solutions in the devices (Figure 1a). Here we developed and tested modified versions of microfluidic devices (Hulme et al 2007, Cho et al 2014, Figure 1). These devices use pressure to hold the animals and allow for fluorescent imaging (Figure 2). The chips were designed in AutoCAD (Autodesk). Previously published protocols were used to make the PDMS replicas. Devices were controlled using an external valve system to regulate pressure in these channels. External components were built according to published protocols to automate the valve system (Rafael Gomez-Sjoberg, Microfluidics Lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). Animals were imaged on a Zeiss 710 or Zeiss Axioscope inverted microscope. GCamP3 signals was used to confirm the function of the sensory neurons and prab-3 driven mcherry was used to visualize vesicles in axons. Results : Animals were successfully immobilized and intermittently imaged up to 6 hours in tapered microfluidic devices (n=15). All animal survived and there was no significant change in the function of the sensory neurons following immobilization at 5 psi in the tapered channels. Pressures of 20psi were tested in these devices without malfunction of the devices. Vesicular markers were visualized these devices, which is promising for the further characterization of dynamics of axonal transport in the model. Conclusions : Glaucoma is associated with high intraocular pressures and characterized by accelerated loss of retinal ganglion cells and their axons. Impaired axonal transport has been implicated as a pathogenic mechanism in glaucoma and impaired axonal transport along retinal ganglion cells has been demonstrated in animal and human glaucoma studies (Knox et. Al 2007). Here we show that external pressure can be modulated in these devices while allowing for simultaneous neuronal imaging. Caenorhabditis elegans provides a tractable nervous system with accessible genetic tools that can be used to study real-time neuronal and axonal response to direct pressure modulation

Triple Intersections and Geometric Transitions

The local neighborhood of a triple intersection of fivebranes in type IIA string theory is shown to be equivalent to type IIB string theory on a noncompact Calabi-Yau fourfold. The phases and the effective theory of the intersection are analyzed in detail.Comment: earlier reference adde

Microfluidic platform to study pressure-induced changes in neurons

Purpose : Explore a model for glaucoma by developing methods to image Caenorhabditis elegans neuronal function in response to controlled pressure modulation. Methods : Microfluidic devices have been developed for imaging behavior and cellular processes in C. elegans. These devices are fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an inert polymer. External pressure is adjusted to immobilize the animal as well as to control flow of solutions in the devices (Figure 1a). Here we developed and tested modified versions of microfluidic devices (Hulme et al 2007, Cho et al 2014, Figure 1). These devices use pressure to hold the animals and allow for fluorescent imaging (Figure 2). The chips were designed in AutoCAD (Autodesk). Previously published protocols were used to make the PDMS replicas. Devices were controlled using an external valve system to regulate pressure in these channels. External components were built according to published protocols to automate the valve system (Rafael Gomez-Sjoberg, Microfluidics Lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). Animals were imaged on a Zeiss 710 or Zeiss Axioscope inverted microscope. GCamP3 signals was used to confirm the function of the sensory neurons and prab-3 driven mcherry was used to visualize vesicles in axons. Results : Animals were successfully immobilized and intermittently imaged up to 6 hours in tapered microfluidic devices (n=15). All animal survived and there was no significant change in the function of the sensory neurons following immobilization at 5 psi in the tapered channels. Pressures of 20psi were tested in these devices without malfunction of the devices. Vesicular markers were visualized these devices, which is promising for the further characterization of dynamics of axonal transport in the model. Conclusions : Glaucoma is associated with high intraocular pressures and characterized by accelerated loss of retinal ganglion cells and their axons. Impaired axonal transport has been implicated as a pathogenic mechanism in glaucoma and impaired axonal transport along retinal ganglion cells has been demonstrated in animal and human glaucoma studies (Knox et. Al 2007). Here we show that external pressure can be modulated in these devices while allowing for simultaneous neuronal imaging. Caenorhabditis elegans provides a tractable nervous system with accessible genetic tools that can be used to study real-time neuronal and axonal response to direct pressure modulation