We Owe it to the Earth: The Importance of Environmentally-Friendly Lifestyle Changes during the Transitional College Years

This paper aims to explain and justify my choice of film as the medium employed to persuade my audience of the need for environmentally-friendly lifestyle changes to be made by individuals. In order to effectively stimulate action by college students, the target audience, film was used to communicate the necessity of developing green habits. During these years students in higher education develop intellectually and mature into adults. It is a prime time to learn simple green lifestyle changes and translate them into their daily behavioral repertoire. To begin my project I researched current information about the state of our environment, how individuals can do their part, and why it is important to reduce your impact on the environment. Then the documentary was produced, the steps of which will be detailed in the paper. In order to validate my use of film, academic databases were searched for applicable articles of the influential powers of television and documentaries specifically. After the documentary was produced it was tested on an ecology class and a control group was utilized. The results showed an increase in desire to perform green habits

Scholarly Writing: Ideas, Examples, and Execution

Most law schools now require upper-level students to write a sophisticated legal research paper on a topic of their choice. Scholarly Writing: Ideas, Examples, and Execution guides students through the process of constructing their legal research papers, from topic selection and thesis development to finishing a publishable product. The book walks students through a five-step process for researching and writing scholarly papers and follows multiple published student papers from idea to final execution as a method of illustrating the principles advocated in the text. The book includes up-to-date information about legal research and organizational tools. It also includes “bright ideas” that supplement the text with ideas and examples for student writers. The text may be used as either a required text for a course in Scholarly Legal Writing or a companion guide for students working on scholarly legal writing projects independently

The Theoretical and Practical Underpinnings of Teaching Scholarly Legal Writing

Scholarly writing has long been a part of the upper-level law school curriculum. Like children thrown into the deep end of the pool to see if they can swim, every year, thousands of upper-level law students are asked to write a scholarly paper to satisfy an upper-level writing requirement on a topic likely of little acquaintance to them. For many of these law students, the scholarly writing process is daunting1 given the unknown subject matter, the lack of structured feedback and guidance, and the inability to become engaged or inspired by the project because of the often-isolating experience of writing a scholarly paper. These students, whether they are writing journal notes, seminar papers, independent writing projects, or LL.M. theses, will have varying levels of success with these projects. Like a swimmer who barely makes it to the other side of the pool, some will sink—submitting a weak paper that meets the minimum requirements. Some will reach the other side of the pool more successfully, but only after struggling through long periods of treading water. These students will submit a final paper, but even the well-written papers will not reflect an enjoyable, engaged experience for students. A handful of students will take on the challenge with strong instruction and guidance from an able coach; this group of students will have a uniquely enjoyable scholarly writing experience producing a strong contribution to student scholarship. Some of these students will even see their work published

Scholarly Writing: Ideas, Examples, and Execution

Most law schools now require upper-level students to write a sophisticated legal research paper on a topic of their choice. Scholarly Writing: Ideas, Examples, and Execution guides students through the process of constructing their legal research papers, from topic selection and thesis development to finishing a publishable product. The book walks students through a five-step process for researching and writing scholarly papers and follows multiple published student papers from idea to final execution as a method of illustrating the principles advocated in the text. The book includes up-to-date information about legal research and organizational tools. It also includes “bright ideas” that supplement the text with ideas and examples for student writers. The text may be used as either a required text for a course in Scholarly Legal Writing or a companion guide for students working on scholarly legal writing projects independently

The Theoretical and Practical Underpinnings of Teaching Scholarly Legal Writing

Scholarly writing has long been a part of the upper-level law school curriculum. Like children thrown into the deep end of the pool to see if they can swim, every year, thousands of upper-level law students are asked to write a scholarly paper to satisfy an upper-level writing requirement on a topic likely of little acquaintance to them. For many of these law students, the scholarly writing process is daunting1 given the unknown subject matter, the lack of structured feedback and guidance, and the inability to become engaged or inspired by the project because of the often-isolating experience of writing a scholarly paper. These students, whether they are writing journal notes, seminar papers, independent writing projects, or LL.M. theses, will have varying levels of success with these projects. Like a swimmer who barely makes it to the other side of the pool, some will sink—submitting a weak paper that meets the minimum requirements. Some will reach the other side of the pool more successfully, but only after struggling through long periods of treading water. These students will submit a final paper, but even the well-written papers will not reflect an enjoyable, engaged experience for students. A handful of students will take on the challenge with strong instruction and guidance from an able coach; this group of students will have a uniquely enjoyable scholarly writing experience producing a strong contribution to student scholarship. Some of these students will even see their work published

Functional Status and Out-of-Hospital Outcomes in Different Types of Vascular Surgery Patients

Background: We aimed to determine the correlation between the functional status at discharge in non-cardiac vascular surgery patients and the out-of-hospital mortality. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study including adult non-cardiac vascular surgery patients (open, endovascular and venous procedures) surviving hospitalization in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The exposure of interest was functional status determined by a licensed physical therapist at hospital discharge and rated based on qualitative categories adapted from the Functional Independence Measure. The primary outcome was all cause 90 day mortality after hospital discharge. The secondary outcome was readmission within 30days. Adjusted odds ratios were estimated by multivariable logistic regression models. Results: This cohort included 2318 patients (male 51%; mean age 61 +/- 17.7). After evaluation by a physiotherapist, 425 patients scored the lowest functional status, 631 scored moderately low, 681 moderately high and 581 scored the highest functional status. The lowest functional status was associated with a 3.41-fold increased adjusted odds for 90-day mortality (95%CI, 1.70- 6.84) compared to patients with the highest functional status. When excluding venous intervention patients, the adjusted odds ratio was 6.76 (95%CI, 2.53-18.12) for the 90-day mortality post discharge. The adjusted odds for readmission within 30-days was 1.5-fold increase in patients with the lowest functional status (95%CI, 1.04-2.20). Conclusions: In vascular surgery patients surviving hospitalization, functional status is strongly associated with out-of-hospital mortality and readmission rate. Future trials could provide evidence if improvement of functional status could prevent adverse outcomes in the postoperative setting

Sexual network characteristics, condomless anal intercourse, and the HIV care cascade among MSM living with controlled versus uncontrolled HIV infection in Lima, Peru: a population-based cross-sectional analysis

Background: Despite high rates of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Lima, Peru, limited data exist on the sexual network characteristics or risk factors for secondary HIV transmission among MSM with uncontrolled HIV infection. We report the frequency of serodiscordant, condomless anal intercourse (CAI) and associated sexual network characteristics among MSM in Lima with detectable HIV viremia and compare to those with undetectable viremia. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis includes MSM who tested positive for HIV-1 during screening for a trial of partner management and STI control (June 2022–January 2023). Participants were tested for HIV, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, and syphilis, and completed questionnaires on their demographic characteristics, sexual identity and behaviour, sexual network structures and engagement in HIV care. Findings: Of 665 MSM, 153 (23%) had detectable (>200 copies/mL) viremia. 75% (499/662) of men living with HIV were previously diagnosed, with 94% (n = 469/499) reporting that they were on ART, and 93% (n = 436/469) virally suppressed. 96% (n = 147/153) of men with detectable viremia reported serodiscordant CAI with at least one of their last three sexual partners, and 74% (n = 106/144) reported the same with all three of their recent partners. In contrast, 62% (n = 302/489) of men with undetectable viral load reported serodiscordant CAI with all of their last three partners (p < 0.01). Interpretation: 23% of men living with HIV in Peru had detectable viremia, of whom almost all (96%) reported recent serodiscordant CAI. The primary gap in the HIV care cascade lies in awareness of HIV serostatus, suggesting that improved access to HIV testing could be a key prevention strategy in Peru. Funding: Funding for this study was provided by NIH/ NIMH grants R01 MH118973 (PI: Clark) and R25 MH087222 (PI: Clark).National Institutes of HealthRevisión por pare

Pgc-1α Overexpression Downregulates Pitx3 and Increases Susceptibility to MPTP Toxicity Associated with Decreased Bdnf

Multiple mechanisms likely contribute to neuronal death in Parkinson’s disease (PD), including mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator-1 alpha (PGC-1α) positively regulates the expression of genes required for mitochondrial biogenesis and the cell’s antioxidant responses. Also, expression of PGC-1α-regulated genes is low in substantia nigra (SN) neurons in early PD. Thus upregulation of PGC-1α is a candidate neuroprotective strategy in PD. Here, an adeno-associated virus (AAV) was used to induce unilateral overexpression of Pgc-1α, or a control gene, in the SN of wild-type C57BL/6CR mice. Three weeks after AAV administration, mice were treated with saline or MPTP. Overexpression of Pgc-1α in the SN induced expression of target genes, but unexpectedly it also greatly reduced the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (Th) and other markers of the dopaminergic phenotype with resultant severe loss of striatal dopamine. Reduced Th expression was associated with loss of Pitx3, a transcription factor that is critical for the development and maintenance of dopaminergic cells. Expression of the neurotrophic factor Bdnf, which also is regulated by Pitx3, similarly was reduced. Overexpression of Pgc-1α also led to increased sensitivity to MPTP-induced death of Th+ neurons. Pgc-1α overexpression alone, in the absence of MPTP treatment, did not lead to cell loss in the SN or to loss of dopaminergic terminals. These data demonstrate that overexpression of Pgc-1α results in dopamine depletion associated with lower levels of Pitx3 and enhances susceptibility to MPTP. These data may have ramifications for neuroprotective strategies targeting overexpression of PGC-1α in PD

Visualization of O-GlcNAc Glycosylation Stoichiometry and Dynamics Using Resolvable Poly(ethylene glycol) Mass Tags

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) glycosylation is a dynamic protein posttranslational modification with roles in processes such as transcription, cell cycle regulation, and metabolism. Detailed mechanistic studies of O-GlcNAc have been hindered by a lack of methods for measuring O-GlcNAc stoichiometries and the interplay of glycosylation with other posttranslational modifications. We recently developed a method for labeling O-GlcNAc-modified proteins with resolvable poly(ethylene glycol) mass tags. This mass-tagging approach enables the direct measurement of glycosylation stoichiometries and the visualization of distinct O-GlcNAc-modified subpopulations. Here, we describe procedures for labeling O-GlcNAc glycoproteins in cell lysates with mass tags