A report on an internship with the Journal of Planning Education and Research

From January through June of 1997, I served an Arts Administration internship as Editorial Assistant with the Journal of Planning Education and Research, currently housed in the College of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans. The Journal is set to enter its 17th year of publication as a highly respected forum for the scholarly discussion of planning education and planning-related research. The current Editors, celebrating a successful first year in that position, presided over an unprecedented increase in manuscript submissions and a sizable expansion in the quarterly publication\u27s image. The current staff complement, however, has experienced considerable difficulty in accommodating the increased activity. Increased funding has been forthcoming from the Journal\u27s governing body, but the coming year will be a crucial test of the current Editors\u27 ability to manage effectively the publication\u27s continued growth. In the following report I give an overview of the Journal\u27s history, an analysis of its management structure, and a summary of its finances. I delineate my responsibilities and the challenges I faced as an intern and close with my rationale for promoting the Journal\u27s publication of a symposium on cultural resource planning

A report on an internship with the Journal of Planning Education and Research

From January through June of 1997, I served an Arts Administration internship as Editorial Assistant with the Journal of Planning Education and Research, currently housed in the College of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans. The Journal is set to enter its 17th year of publication as a highly respected forum for the scholarly discussion of planning education and planning-related research. The current Editors, celebrating a successful first year in that position, presided over an unprecedented increase in manuscript submissions and a sizable expansion in the quarterly publication\u27s image. The current staff complement, however, has experienced considerable difficulty in accommodating the increased activity. Increased funding has been forthcoming from the Journal\u27s governing body, but the coming year will be a crucial test of the current Editors\u27 ability to manage effectively the publication\u27s continued growth. In the following report I give an overview of the Journal\u27s history, an analysis of its management structure, and a summary of its finances. I delineate my responsibilities and the challenges I faced as an intern and close with my rationale for promoting the Journal\u27s publication of a symposium on cultural resource planning

Vps1 in the late endosome-to-vacuole traffic

Vacuolar protein sorting 1 (Vps1), the yeast homolog to human dynamin, is a GTP hydrolyzing protein, which plays an important role in protein sorting and targeting between the Golgi and late endosomal compartments. In this study, we assessed the functional significance of Vps1 in the membrane traffic towards the vacuole. We show here that vps1Δ cells accumulated FM4-64 to a greater extent than wild-type (WT) cells, suggesting slower endocytic degradation traffic toward the vacuole. In addition, we observed that two endosome-to-vacuole traffic markers, DsRed-FYVE and Ste2-GFP, were highly accumulated in Vps1-deficient cells, further supporting Vps1\u27s implication in efficient trafficking of endocytosed materials to the vacuole. Noteworthy, a simultaneous imaging analysis in conjunction with FM4-64 pulse-chase experiment further revealed that Vps1 plays a role in late endosome to the vacuole transport. Consistently, our subcellular localization analysis showed that Vps1 is present at the late endosome. The hyperaccumulation of endosomal intermediates in the vps1 mutant cells appears to be caused by the disruption of integrity of HOPS tethering complexes, manifested by mislocalization of Vps39 to the cytoplasm. Finally, we postulate that Vps1 functions together with the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) complex at the late endosomal compartments, based on the observation that the double mutants, in which VPS1 along with singular ESCRT I, II and III genes have been disrupted, exhibited synthetic lethality. Together, we propose that Vps1 is required for correct and efficient trafficking from the late endosomal compartments to the vacuole

Genital tenofovir concentrations correlate with protection against HIV infection in the CAPRISA 004 trial: importance of adherence for microbicide effectiveness.

CAPRISA, 2015.Abstract available in pdf

Augmentation of Reverse Transcription by Integrase through an Interaction with Host Factor, SIP1/Gemin2 Is Critical for HIV-1 Infection

There has been accumulating evidence for the involvement of retroviral integrase (IN) in the reverse transcription of viral RNA. We previously identified a host factor, survival motor neuron-interacting protein 1 (SIP1/Gemin2) that binds to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) IN and supports HIV-1 infection apparently at reverse transcription step. Here, we demonstrated that HIV-1 IN together with SIP1 augments reverse transcriptase (RT) activity by enhancing the assembly of RT on viral RNA in vitro. Synthetic peptides corresponding to the binding motifs within IN that inhibited the IN-SIP1 interaction abrogated reverse transcription in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, knockdown of SIP1 reduced intracellular stability and multimer formation of IN through proteasome-mediated degradation machinery. Taken together, SIP1 appears to stabilize functional multimer forms of IN, thereby promoting the assembly of IN and RT on viral RNA to allow efficient reverse transcription, which is a prerequisite for efficient HIV-1 infection

Sensitive tenofovir resistance screening of HIV-1 from the genital and blood compartments of women with breakthrough infections in the CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial.

CAPRISA, 2014.The Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa 004 (CAPRISA 004) study demonstrated that vaginally applied tenofovir gel is a promising intervention for protecting women from sexually acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, the potential for emergence of tenofovir resistance remains a concern in women who seroconvert while using the gel despite the lack of plasma virus resistance as assessed by population sequencing during the trial. We applied highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction-based assays to screen for tenofovir resistance in plasma and vaginal swab specimens. The absence of mutation detection suggested little immediate risk of tenofovir-resistant HIV-1 emergence and forward transmission in settings in which gel users are closely monitored for HIV seroconversion

Measuring the efficacy of a Ninth Grade Academy on students with disabilities

This quantitative approach utilizing an ex post facto design evaluated the impact of a school reform model, namely a Ninth Grade Academy, on the achievement, attendance, and discipline for ninth-grade students with disabilities. The study examined archival data on End of Course Test scores for ninth-grade literature and biology, unexcused absences, and out-of-school suspensions. The data reflected the 2004–05 school year before the implementation of the Ninth Grade Academy and the second year of implementation of the Ninth Grade Academy in 2006–07. The results from the study indicated significant differences in achievement for students with disabilities in regards to participation in the Ninth Grade Academy. This study provides information that educational leaders may utilize in creating and developing reforms and strategies to increase academic success for students with disabilities

Requirement for Integrase during Reverse Transcription of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 and the Effect of Cysteine Mutations of Integrase on Its Interactions with Reverse Transcriptase

Retroviral integrase catalyzes the essential step of integrating a double-stranded DNA copy of the viral genome into a host cell chromosome. Mutational studies have revealed that integrase is involved in additional steps of viral replication, but the mechanism for the pleiotropic effect is not well characterized. Since Cys residues generally play crucial roles in protein structure and function, we introduced Cys-to-Ser substitutions at positions 56, 65, and 130 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase to determine their effects on integration activity and viral replication. None of the substitutions significantly affected the enzymatic activities in vitro. When introduced into the NL4-3 molecular clone of HIV-1, mutant viruses encoding Cys mutations at positions 56 and 65 of integrase replicated similarly to the wild-type virus in CD4(+)-T-cell lines, whereas the C130S-containing virus was noninfectious. The entry and postintegration steps of the viral life cycle for all mutant viruses were normal, and all had particle-associated reverse transcriptase (RT) activity. However, early reverse-transcribed DNA products were absent in the lysate of cells infected with the C130S mutant virus, indicating that the mutation abolished the ability of the virus to initiate endogenous reverse transcription. Coimmunoprecipitation using purified integrase and RT showed that the C-terminal domain of wild-type HIV-1 integrase interacted with RT. The interaction between integrase and RT was not affected in the presence of a reducing or alkylating agent, suggesting that the interaction did not involve a disulfide linkage. The C130S substitution within the core region may disrupt the protein recognition interface of the C-terminal domain and abolish its ability to interact with RT. Our results indicate that integrase plays an important role during the reverse-transcription step of the viral life cycle, possibly through physical interactions with RT