228 research outputs found

    Impact of High School Preparation on College Oral Communication Apprehension

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    This study examines the impact of high school public speaking skills training and public speaking experiences on college overall communication apprehension (CA) and public speaking context CA. The results show that public speaking skill-training in high school is significantly related to lower CA levels or students upon entering a college-level basic speech course. In addition, students who report more public speaking experiences both in high school setting and outside the high school setting, tend to report lower overall CA and lower CA in the public speaking context

    Assessment of training and technical assistance needs of Colorectal Cancer Control Program Grantees in the U.S.

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    Background Practitioners often require training and technical assistance to build their capacity to select, adapt, and implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs). The CDC Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) aims to promote CRC screening to increase population-level screening. This study identified the training and technical assistance (TA) needs and preferences for training related to the implementation of EBIs among CRCCP grantees. Methods Twenty-nine CRCCP grantees completed an online survey about their screening activities, training and technical assistance in 2012. They rated desire for training on various evidence-based strategies to increase cancer screening, evidence-based competencies, and program management topics. They also reported preferences for training formats and facilitators and barriers to trainings. Results Many CRCCP grantees expressed the need for training with regards to specific EBIs, especially system-level and provider-directed EBIs to promote CRC screening. Grantees rated these EBIs as more difficult to implement than client-oriented EBIs. Grantees also reported a moderate need for training regarding finding EBIs, assessing organizational capacity, implementing selected EBIs, and conducting process and outcome evaluations. Other desired training topics reported with higher frequency were partnership development and data collection/evaluation. Grantees preferred training formats that were interactive such as on-site trainings, webinars or expert consultants. Conclusions Public health organizations need greater supports for adopting evidence-based interventions, working with organizational-level change, partnership development and data management. Future capacity building efforts for the adoption of EBIs should focus on systems or provider level interventions and key processes for health promotion and should be delivered in a variety of ways to assist local organizations in cancer prevention and control

    Identification of Bacillus anthracis specific chromosomal sequences by suppressive subtractive hybridization

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    BACKGROUND: Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus cereus are closely related members of the B. cereus-group of bacilli. Suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) was used to identify specific chromosomal sequences unique to B. anthracis. RESULTS: Two SSH libraries were generated. Genomic DNA from plasmid-cured B. anthracis was used as the tester DNA in both libraries, while genomic DNA from either B. cereus or B. thuringiensis served as the driver DNA. Progressive screening of the libraries by colony filter and Southern blot analyses identified 29 different clones that were specific for the B. anthracis chromosome relative not only to the respective driver DNAs, but also to seven other different strains of B. cereus and B. thuringiensis included in the process. The nucleotide sequences of the clones were compared with those found in genomic databases, revealing that over half of the clones were located into 2 regions on the B. anthracis chromosome. CONCLUSIONS: Genes encoding potential cell wall synthesis proteins dominated one region, while bacteriophage-related sequences dominated the other region. The latter supports the hypothesis that acquisition of these bacteriophage sequences occurred during or after speciation of B. anthracis relative to B. cereus and B. thuringiensis. This study provides insight into the chromosomal differences between B. anthracis and its closest phylogenetic relatives

    The Protective Effects of CD39 Overexpression in Multiple Low-Dose Streptozotocin–Induced Diabetes in Mice

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    Islet allograft survival limits the long-term success of islet transplantation as a potential curative therapy for type 1 diabetes. A number of factors compromise islet survival, including recurrent diabetes. We investigated whether CD39, an ectonucleotidase that promotes the generation of extracellular adenosine, would mitigate diabetes in the T cell–mediated multiple low-dose streptozotocin (MLDS) model. Mice null for CD39 (CD39KO), wild-type mice (WT), and mice overexpressing CD39 (CD39TG) were subjected to MLDS. Adoptive transfer experiments were performed to delineate the efficacy of tissue-restricted overexpression of CD39. The role of adenosine signaling was examined using mutant mice and pharmacological inhibition. The susceptibility to MLDS-induced diabetes was influenced by the level of expression of CD39. CD39KO mice developed diabetes more rapidly and with higher frequency than WT mice. In contrast, CD39TG mice were protected. CD39 overexpression conferred protection through the activation of adenosine 2A receptor and adenosine 2B receptor. Adoptive transfer experiments indicated that tissue-restricted overexpression of CD39 conferred robust protection, suggesting that this may be a useful strategy to protect islet grafts from T cell–mediated injury

    Observation of a potential future sensitivity limitation from ground motion at LIGO Hanford

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    A first detection of terrestrial gravity noise in gravitational-wave detectors is a formidable challenge.With the help of environmental sensors, it can in principle be achieved before the noise becomes dominantby estimating correlations between environmental sensors and the detector. The main complication is todisentangle different coupling mechanisms between the environment and the detector. In this paper, weanalyze the relations between physical couplings and correlations that involve ground motion and LIGOstrain data h(t) recorded during its second science run in 2016 and 2017. We find that all noise correlatedwith ground motion was more than an order of magnitude lower than dominant low-frequency instrumentnoise, and the dominant coupling over part of the spectrum between ground and h(t) was residual couplingthrough the seismic-isolation system. We also present the most accurate gravitational coupling model so farbased on a detailed analysis of data from a seismic array. Despite our best efforts, we were not able tounambiguously identify gravitational coupling in the data, but our improved models confirm previouspredictions that gravitational coupling might already dominate linear ground-to-h(t) coupling over parts ofthe low-frequency, gravitational-wave observation band.M. P. R. and K. V. were supported by funding from the NSF under Grants No. PHY-1607385, No. PHY1607391, No. PHY-1912380, and No. PHY1912514. M. W. C., J. D., and S. E. D. are members of the LIGO Laboratory, supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation. LIGO was constructed by the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from the National Science Foundation and operates under cooperative agreement PHY0757058. M. W. C. was supported by NSF Grant No. PHY-1505373 and by the David and Ellen Lee Postdoctoral Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. B. J. J. S. was supported by the ARC Future Fellowship FT130100329. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council under the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Grant No. CE170100004 and Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grant No. LE13010003

    Students' trust judgements in online health information seeking

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    As one of the most active groups of Internet users, students and other young people are active users of digital health information. Yet, research into young people’s evaluation of health information is limited, and no previous studies have focused on trust formation. In addition, prior studies on adults’ use of digital information do not reach a consensus regarding the key factors in trust formation. This study seeks to address this gap. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from undergraduate students studying a variety of disciplines in one UK university. The Trust in Online Health Information Scale is proposed, and it includes the following dimensions: authority, style, content, usefulness, brand, ease of use, recommendation, credibility, and verification. In addition, inspection of responses to specific items/questions provides further insights into aspects of the information that were of specific importance in influencing trust judgements

    Nuclear pore protein NUP210 depletion suppresses metastasis through heterochromatin-mediated disruption of tumor cell mechanical response.

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    Mechanical signals from the extracellular microenvironment have been implicated in tumor and metastatic progression. Here, we identify nucleoporin NUP210 as a metastasis susceptibility gene for human estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer and a cellular mechanosensor. Nup210 depletion suppresses lung metastasis in mouse models of breast cancer. Mechanistically, NUP210 interacts with LINC complex protein SUN2 which connects the nucleus to the cytoskeleton. In addition, the NUP210/SUN2 complex interacts with chromatin via the short isoform of BRD4 and histone H3.1/H3.2 at the nuclear periphery. In Nup210 knockout cells, mechanosensitive genes accumulate H3K27me3 heterochromatin modification, mediated by the polycomb repressive complex 2 and differentially reposition within the nucleus. Transcriptional repression in Nup210 knockout cells results in defective mechanotransduction and focal adhesion necessary for their metastatic capacity. Our study provides an important role of nuclear pore protein in cellular mechanosensation and metastasis
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