A study of National Pan-Hellenic Council members and inclusivity of Greek life of Rowan University

The participants in this study consisted of 31 members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Rowan University in the spring semester of 2018. The purpose of the study was to identify the attitudes and thoughts of current members of NPHC at Rowan University regarding inclusivity of Greek Life. Members of all nine NPHC organizations completed a survey indicating their thoughts on inclusion, leadership skills, and black student empowerment. The information collected from subjects was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings from Kimbrough and Crump\u27s research regarding leadership and leadership opportunities shared similar views on the importance of leadership. Findings from this study showed the need for inclusion and comprehensive education of NPHC organizations, the need for institutional support and equity

The Changing Landscape of Race, Culture, and Family Life: Interracial Couples' Contribution to the Conversation

The published social science research on interracial marriages has burgeoned considerably over the past few decades as experts address not only traditional, but also emerging questions about the quality of life in mixed-race families. The "emic" experience of being in a mixed race family remains, though, a relatively under-explored topic. To help fill the gap, we conducted a nationally distributed, snowball sample, anonymous, online survey of 241 married or cohabiting individuals; 83.6% self-identified as a member of a bi-racial couple. The 131 items surveyed couples' experiences of their partnership, family life, support, and discrimination—both in time and in place. The study presented multiple findings including a persistence of race discrimination in neighborhoods and at work; surprisingly, the couples also reported that their children were allowed to play with the children of White neighbors, regardless of the racial makeup of the family. There was a significant relationship between "importance of falling in love" and the racial makeup of the couple (x2 (15, N=205) =30.42, p=.01); Black/White and Hispanic/White couples choose their partner for love. Moreover, same race couples expressed the most unhappiness and the most regret of all of the couple-groups surveyed. Most concerning, though, was that interracial couples perceive raising multiracial children as more difficult; these results were significant (x2 (30, N=206) =62.68, p=.00) with Black/White couples, at 45.7%. The study presents multiple correlation tables. Additionally, limitations of the study are discussed and suggestions for further studies are presented

Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: implications for monitoring and management of Ciguatera

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Liefer, J. D., Richlen, M. L., Smith, T. B., DeBose, J. L., Xu, Y., Anderson, D. M., & Robertson, A. Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: implications for monitoring and management of Ciguatera. Toxins, 13(6), (2021): 413, https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13060413.Ciguatera poisoning (CP) poses a significant threat to ecosystem services and fishery resources in coastal communities. The CP-causative ciguatoxins (CTXs) are produced by benthic dinoflagellates including Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa spp., and enter reef food webs via grazing on macroalgal substrates. In this study, we report on a 3-year monthly time series in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands where Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and Caribbean-CTX toxicity in benthic samples were compared to key environmental factors, including temperature, salinity, nutrients, benthic cover, and physical data. We found that peak Gambierdiscus abundance occurred in summer while CTX-specific toxicity peaked in cooler months (February–May) when the mean water temperatures were approximately 26–28 °C. These trends were most evident at deeper offshore sites where macroalgal cover was highest year-round. Other environmental parameters were not correlated with the CTX variability observed over time. The asynchrony between Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and toxicity reflects potential differences in toxin cell quotas among Gambierdiscus species with concomitant variability in their abundances throughout the year. These results have significant implications for monitoring and management of benthic harmful algal blooms and highlights potential seasonal and highly-localized pulses in reef toxin loads that may be transferred to higher trophic levels.This work was funded in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms Program (ECOHAB publication number 984) through the CiguaHAB project (NA11NOS4780028), and also contributes to CIGUATOX (NA17NOS4780181) granted to coauthors AR, TBS, DMA, and MLR. Additional support was provided by NSF Partnerships in International Research and Education (1743802), and the Greater Caribbean Center for Ciguatera Research (NIH 1P01ES028949-01 and NSF 1841811). Financial support of YX was from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41976155), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2020GXNSFDA297001)

Sex Modulates Lactobacillus johnsonii N6.2 and Phytophenol Effectiveness in Reducing High Fat Diet Induced mTOR Activation in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is the underlying cause of some devastating diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These diseases have been associated with over-activation of the mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. This study utilizes a high fat diet (HFD) to induce MetS and to dissect the effects of a beneficial bacterium, L. johnsonii N6.2, and natural phenolics on mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) expression compared to a reduced energy density diet (REDD). HFD significantly elevated MetS markers in males, as noted through an increase in weight, glucose levels, and triglyceride levels. Treatments were effective in reducing mTORC1-activating phosphorylation of pAKT-T308 and pAKT-S473 (p = 0.0012 and 0.0049, respectively) in HFD-fed females, with the combined treatments of L. johnsonii and phytophenols reducing phosphorylation below REDD-fed control levels, and significantly below HFD-fed control levels. Meanwhile, diet was the significant factor influencing male mTORC1-activating phosphorylation (p < 0.0001), as treatments were only effective in reducing phosphorylation in REDD-fed animals. Downstream analysis of mTORC1 activated genes phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (pgd) and phosphofructose kinase (pfk) followed this similar trend, enforcing the significant effect sex has on a treatments’ ability to modulate diet induced abnormalities. Analyzing mTORC1 stimulators such as insulin, inflammatory cytokines, and tryptophan, revealed no significant differences among groups. These results indicate that the effects observed on mTORC1 are a direct consequence of the treatments, and not exerted indirectly via the modulation of stimuli. This study highlights the potential use of commensal microorganisms and natural compounds in reducing the onset of metabolic diseases through mTORC1

Structural Insights into Triglyceride Storage Mediated by Fat Storage-Inducing Transmembrane (FIT) Protein 2

Fat storage-Inducing Transmembrane proteins 1 & 2 (FIT1/FITM1 and FIT2/FITM2) belong to a unique family of evolutionarily conserved proteins localized to the endoplasmic reticulum that are involved in triglyceride lipid droplet formation. FIT proteins have been shown to mediate the partitioning of cellular triglyceride into lipid droplets, but not triglyceride biosynthesis. FIT proteins do not share primary sequence homology with known proteins and no structural information is available to inform on the mechanism by which FIT proteins function. Here, we present the experimentally-solved topological models for FIT1 and FIT2 using N-glycosylation site mapping and indirect immunofluorescence techniques. These methods indicate that both proteins have six-transmembrane-domains with both N- and C-termini localized to the cytosol. Utilizing this model for structure-function analysis, we identified and characterized a gain-of-function mutant of FIT2 (FLL(157-9)AAA) in transmembrane domain 4 that markedly augmented the total number and mean size of lipid droplets. Using limited-trypsin proteolysis we determined that the FLL(157-9)AAA mutant has enhanced trypsin cleavage at K86 relative to wild-type FIT2, indicating a conformational change. Taken together, these studies indicate that FIT2 is a 6 transmembrane domain-containing protein whose conformation likely regulates its activity in mediating lipid droplet formation

Methanethiol-dependent dimethylsulfide production in soil environments

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is an environmentally important trace gas with roles in sulfur cycling, signalling to higher organisms and in atmospheric chemistry. DMS is believed to be predominantly produced in marine environments via microbial degradation of the osmolyte dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). However, significant amounts of DMS are also generated from terrestrial environments, for example, peat bogs can emit ~6 μmol DMS m−2 per day, likely via the methylation of methanethiol (MeSH). A methyltransferase enzyme termed ‘MddA’, which catalyses the methylation of MeSH, generating DMS, in a wide range of bacteria and some cyanobacteria, may mediate this process, as the mddA gene is abundant in terrestrial metagenomes. This is the first study investigating the functionality of MeSH-dependent DMS production (Mdd) in a wide range of aerobic environments. All soils and marine sediment samples tested produced DMS when incubated with MeSH. Cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent methods were used to assess microbial community changes in response to MeSH addition in a grassland soil where 35.9% of the bacteria were predicted to contain mddA. Bacteria of the genus Methylotenera were enriched in the presence of MeSH. Furthermore, many novel Mdd+ bacterial strains were isolated. Despite the abundance of mddA in the grassland soil, the Mdd pathway may not be a significant source of DMS in this environment as MeSH addition was required to detect DMS at only very low conversion rates

Spatial Distribution of the Pathways of Cholesterol Homeostasis in Human Retina

The retina is a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye and one of the few human organs whose cholesterol maintenance is still poorly understood. Challenges in studies of the retina include its complex multicellular and multilayered structure; unique cell types and functions; and specific physico-chemical environment.We isolated specimens of the neural retina (NR) and underlying retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)/choroid from six deceased human donors and evaluated them for expression of genes and proteins representing the major pathways of cholesterol input, output and regulation. Eighty-four genes were studied by PCR array, 16 genes were assessed by quantitative real time PCR, and 13 proteins were characterized by immunohistochemistry. Cholesterol distribution among different retinal layers was analyzed as well by histochemical staining with filipin. Our major findings pertain to two adjacent retinal layers: the photoreceptor outer segments of NR and the RPE. We demonstrate that in the photoreceptor outer segments, cholesterol biosynthesis, catabolism and regulation via LXR and SREBP are weak or absent and cholesterol content is the lowest of all retinal layers. Cholesterol maintenance in the RPE is different, yet the gene expression also does not appear to be regulated by the SREBPs and varies significantly among different individuals.This comprehensive investigation provides important insights into the relationship and spatial distribution of different pathways of cholesterol input, output and regulation in the NR-RPE region. The data obtained are important for deciphering the putative link between cholesterol and age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of irreversible vision loss in the elderly

Insulin-Regulated Srebp-1c and Pck1 mRNA Expression in Primary Hepatocytes from Zucker Fatty but Not Lean Rats Is Affected by Feeding Conditions

Insulin regulates the transcription of genes for hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. We hypothesized that this action may be impaired in hepatocytes from insulin resistant animals. Primary hepatocytes from insulin sensitive Zucker lean (ZL) and insulin resistant Zucker fatty (ZF) rats in ad libitum or after an overnight fasting were isolated, cultured and treated with insulin and other compounds for analysis of gene expression using real-time PCR. The mRNA levels of one insulin-induced (Srebp-1c) and one insulin-suppressed (Pck1) genes in response to insulin, glucagon, and compactin treatments in hepatocytes from ad libitum ZL and ZF rats were analyzed. Additionally, the effects of insulin and T1317 on their levels in hepatocytes from ad libitum or fasted ZL or ZF rats were compared. The mRNA levels of Srebp-1c, Fas, and Scd1, but not that of Insr, Gck and Pck1, were higher in freshly isolated hepatocytes from ad libitum ZF than that from ZL rats. These patterns of Srebp-1c and Pck1 mRNA levels remained in primary hepatocyte cultured in vitro. Insulin's ability to regulate Srebp-1c and Pck1 expression was diminished in hepatocytes from ad libitum ZF, but not ZL rats. Glucagon or compactin suppressed Srebp-1c mRNA expression in lean, but not fatty hepatocytes. However, glucagon induced Pck1 mRNA expression similarly in hepatocytes from ad libitum ZL and ZF rats. Insulin caused the same dose-dependent increase of Akt phosphorylation in hepatocytes from ad libitum ZL and ZF rats. It synergized with T1317 to induce Srebp-1c, and suppressed Pck1 mRNA levels in hepatocytes from fasted, but not that from ad libitum ZF rats. We demonstrated that insulin was unable to regulate its downstream genes' mRNA expression in hepatocytes from ad libitum ZF rats. This impairment can be partially restored in hepatocytes from ZF rats after an overnight fasting, a phenomenon that deserves further investigation

REV-ERBα Participates in Circadian SREBP Signaling and Bile Acid Homeostasis

The nuclear receptor REV-ERBα shapes the daily activity profile of Sterol Response Element Binding Protein (SREBP) and thereby participates in the circadian control of cholesterol and bile acid synthesis in the liver