Child Welfare Partnership for Research and Training: A Title IV-E University/Community Collaborative Research Model

University-community partnerships are increasingly recognized as valuable in educating students for professional practice and bridging the gap between research and practice. This manuscript describes the evolution and design of a university-community partnership between a School of Social Work in one urban university and local child welfare agencies: the Child Welfare Partnership for Research and Training (CW-PART). This local partnership illustrates types of opportunities and outcomes that emerge when state and local entities leverage greater results from federal funding through partnerships with local universities. The manuscript describes 1), the community-engaged framework used to inform the overall approach and partner roles; 2) evolution of the model from early partnered research successes; 3) core elements of the CWPART university-community partnered research model, and 4) preliminary lessons learned from the pilot phase of model

rst Transcriptional Activity Influences kirre mRNA Concentration in the Drosophila Pupal Retina during the Final Steps of Ommatidial Patterning

Background: Drosophila retinal architecture is laid down between 24-48 hours after puparium formation, when some of the still uncommitted interommatidial cells (IOCs) are recruited to become secondary and tertiary pigment cells while the remaining ones undergo apoptosis. This choice between survival and death requires the product of the roughest (rst) gene, an immunoglobulin superfamily transmembrane glycoprotein involved in a wide range of developmental processes. Both temporal misexpression of Rst and truncation of the protein intracytoplasmic domain, lead to severe defects in which IOCs either remain mostly undifferentiated and die late and erratically or, instead, differentiate into extra pigment cells. Intriguingly, mutants not expressing wild type protein often have normal or very mild rough eyes. Methodology/Principal Findings: By using quantitative real time PCR to examine rst transcriptional dynamics in the pupal retina, both in wild type and mutant alleles we showed that tightly regulated temporal changes in rst transcriptional rate underlie its proper function during the final steps of eye patterning. Furthermore we demonstrated that the unexpected wild type eye phenotype of mutants with low or no rst expression correlates with an upregulation in the mRNA levels of the rst paralogue kin-of-irre (kirre), which seems able to substitute for rst function in this process, similarly to their role in myoblast fusion. This compensatory upregulation of kirre mRNA levels could be directly induced in wild type pupa upon RNAi-mediated silencing of rst, indicating that expression of both genes is also coordinately regulated in physiological conditions. Conclusions/Significance: These findings suggest a general mechanism by which rst and kirre expression could be fine tuned to optimize their redundant roles during development and provide a clearer picture of how the specification of survival and apoptotic fates by differential cell adhesion during the final steps of retinal morphogenesis in insects are controlled at the transcriptional level

Renal Thrombotic Microangiopathy in Mice with Combined Deletion of Endocytic Recycling Regulators EHD3 and EHD4

Eps15 Homology Domain-containing 3 (EHD3), a member of the EHD protein family that regulates endocytic recycling, is the first protein reported to be specifically expressed in the glomerular endothelium in the kidney; therefore we generated Ehd3–/– mice and assessed renal development and pathology. Ehd3–/– animals showed no overt defects, and exhibited no proteinuria or glomerular pathology. However, as the expression of EHD4, a related family member, was elevated in the glomerular endothelium of Ehd3–/– mice and suggested functional compensation, we generated and analyzed Ehd3–/–; Ehd4–/– mice. These mice were smaller, possessed smaller and paler kidneys, were proteinuric and died between 3–24 weeks of age. Detailed analyses of Ehd3–/–; Ehd4–/– kidneys demonstrated thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA)-like glomerular lesions including thickening and duplication of glomerular basement membrane, endothelial swelling and loss of fenestrations. Other changes included segmental podocyte foot process effacement, mesangial interposition, and abnormal podocytic and mesangial marker expression. The glomerular lesions observed were strikingly similar to those seen in human pre-eclampsia and mouse models of reduced VEGF expression. As altered glomerular endothelial VEGFR2 expression and localization and increased apoptosis was observed in the absence of EHD3 and EHD4, we propose that EHD-mediated endocytic traffic of key surface receptors such as VEGFR2 is essential for physiological control of glomerular function. Furthermore, Ehd3–/–; Ehd4–/– mice provide a unique model to elucidate mechanisms of glomerular endothelial injury which is observed in a wide variety of human renal and extra-renal diseases

Diabetic Kidney Disease in FVB/NJ Akita Mice: Temporal Pattern of Kidney Injury and Urinary Nephrin Excretion

Akita mice are a genetic model of type 1 diabetes. In the present studies, we investigated the phenotype of Akita mice on the FVB/NJ background and examined urinary nephrin excretion as a marker of kidney injury. Male Akita mice were compared with non-diabetic controls for functional and structural characteristics of renal and cardiac disease. Podocyte number and apoptosis as well as urinary nephrin excretion were determined in both groups. Male FVB/NJ Akita mice developed sustained hyperglycemia and albuminuria by 4 and 8 weeks of age, respectively. These abnormalities were accompanied by a significant increase in systolic blood pressure in 10-week old Akita mice, which was associated with functional, structural and molecular characteristics of cardiac hypertrophy. By 20 weeks of age, Akita mice developed a 10-fold increase in albuminuria, renal and glomerular hypertrophy and a decrease in the number of podocytes. Mild-to-moderate glomerular mesangial expansion was observed in Akita mice at 30 weeks of age. In 4-week old Akita mice, the onset of hyperglycemia was accompanied by increased podocyte apoptosis and enhanced excretion of nephrin in urine before the development of albuminuria. Urinary nephrin excretion was also significantly increased in albuminuric Akita mice at 16 and 20 weeks of age and correlated with the albumin excretion rate. These data suggest that: 1. FVB/NJ Akita mice have phenotypic characteristics that may be useful for studying the mechanisms of kidney and cardiac injury in diabetes, and 2. Enhanced urinary nephrin excretion is associated with kidney injury in FVB/NJ Akita mice and is detectable early in the disease process

Novel Indications for Commonly Used Medications as Radiation Protectants in Spaceflight

In the space environment, the traditional radioprotective principles of time, distance, and shielding become difficult to implement. Additionally, the complex radiation environment inherent in space, the chronic exposure timeframe, and the presence of numerous confounding variables complicate the process of creating appropriate risk models for astronaut exposure. Pharmaceutical options hold tremendous promise to attenuate acute and late effects of radiation exposure in the astronaut population. Pharmaceuticals currently approved for other indications may also offer radiation protection, modulation, or mitigation properties along with a well-established safety profile. Currently there are only three agents which have been clinically approved to be employed for radiation exposure, and these only for very narrow indications. This review identifies a number of agents currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which could warrant further investigation for use in astronauts. Specifically, we examine preclinical and clinical evidence for statins, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), metformin, calcium channel blockers, β adrenergic receptor blockers, fingolimod, N-acetylcysteine, and pentoxifylline as potential radiation countermeasures

SpaceCHI 2.0: Advancing Human-Computer Interaction Systems for Space Exploration

We are now entering the new space age! In 2021, for the first time in history that there is civilian crew in space, demonstrating the next frontier of human space exploration that will not be restricted to highly trained astronauts but will be open to a more general public. However, keeping a human healthy, happy and productive in space is one of the most challenging aspects of current space programs [11]. Thus, there is an emerging opportunity for researchers in HCI to design and research new types of interactive systems and computer interfaces that can support humans living and working in space and elsewhere in the solar system. Last year, SpaceCHI workshop (https://spacechi.media.mit.edu/) at CHI 2021 welcomed over 130 participants from 20 countries around the world to present new ideas and discuss future possibilities for human-computer interaction for space exploration. The SpaceCHI 1.0, for the first time, brought together crossdisciplinary researchers from HCI, aerospace engineering, robotics, biological science, design, art, architecture to envision the future of human space exploration leading the workshop participants and organizers to form a new global community focused on HCI research for space applications. With success from the previous SpaceCHI, we are exploring the exciting opportunity for researchers in HCI to contribute to the great endeavor of space exploration by participating in our workshop

SpaceCHI: Designing Human-Computer Interaction Systems for Space Exploration

Space travel and becoming an interplanetary species have always been part of human's greatest imagination. Research in space exploration helps us advance our knowledge in fundamental sciences, and challenges us to design new technology and create new industries for space. However, keeping a human healthy, happy and productive in space is one of the most challenging aspects of current space programs. Our biological body, which evolved in the earth specific environment, can barely survive by itself in space's extreme conditions with high radiation, low gravity, etc. This is similar for the moons and planets in the solar system that humans plan to visit. Therefore, researchers have been developing different types of human-computer interfaces systems that support humans' physical and mental performance in space. With recent advancements in aerospace engineering, and the democratized access to space through aerospace tech startups such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, etc., space research is becoming more plausible and accessible. Thus, there is an exciting opportunity for researchers in HCI to contribute to the great endeavor of space exploration by designing new types of interactive systems and computer interfaces that can support humans living and working in space and elsewhere in the solar system

Internal Jugular Vein Volume During Head-Down Tilt and Carbon Dioxide Exposure in the SPACECOT Study

BACKGROUND: Cerebral hemodynamics and venous outflow from the brain may be altered during exposure to microgravity or head-down tilt (HDT), an analog of microgravity, as well as by increased ambient CO2 exposure as experienced on the International Space Station. METHODS: Six healthy subjects underwent baseline tilt table testing at 0°, 6°, 12°, 18°, 24°, and 30° HDT. The right internal jugular (IJ) vein cross-sectional area (CSA) was measured at four intervals from the submandibular to the clavicular level and IJ volume was calculated. Further measurements of the IJ vein were made after ∼26 h of 12° HDT bed rest with either ambient air or 0.5% CO2 exposure, and plasma and blood volume were assessed after 4 h, 24 h, and 28.5 h HDT. RESULTS: IJ vein CSA and volume increased with progressively steeper HDT angles during baseline tilt table testing, with more prominent filling of the IJ vein at levels closer to the clavicle. Exposure to 26 h of 12° HDT bed rest with or without increased CO2, however, had little additional effect on the IJ vein. Further, bed rest resulted in a decrease in plasma volume and blood volume, although changes did not depend on atmospheric conditioning or correlate directly with changes in IJ vein CSA or volume. DISCUSSION: The hydrostatic effects of HDT can be clearly determined through measurement of the IJ vein CSA and volume; however, IJ vein dimensions may not be a reliable indicator of systemic fluid status during bed rest.Marshall-Goebel K, Stevens B, Rao CV, Suarez JI, Calvillo E, Arbeille P, Sangi-Haghpeykar H, Donoviel DB, Mulder E, Bershad EM, the SPACECOT Investigators Group. Internal jugular vein volume during head-down tilt and carbon dioxide exposure in the SPACECOT Study