Influence of Xpand Nitric Oxide Reactor, L-Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate, and Caffeine Supplementation on Calf Muscle Re-Oxygenation During and after Acute Resistance Exercise

Xpand Nitric Oxide Reactor is a "cocktail" supplement proposed to improve skeletal muscle blood flow via arginine's effect on nitric oxide synthesis and vasodilation. Two other major ingredients, caffeine and creatine, cause vasoconstriction, which could potentially counteract the proposed hemodynamic effects of arginine. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Xpand Nitric Oxide Reactor on muscle re-oxygenation after resistance exercise compared to supplementation with constituent ingredients L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate and caffeine. Nine recreationally active men (21±1y) performed 3 sets of 20 repetitions of seated single-leg calf raise at 60% 1-RM with 3 min rests. The same calf raise exercise was performed following 4 separate supplementation conditions: L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (AAKG), caffeine (CAFF), Xpand Nitric Oxide Reactor (XPAND), and placebo (PLAC). Soleus muscle re-oxygenation time was measured before, during, and immediately after exercise using near infrared spectroscopy. Supplementation with XPAND (0.43±0.03), AAKG (0.34±0.02), and CAFF (0.45±0.05) did not significantly affect muscle re-oxygenation halftime (minutes) compared to placebo (0.35±0.04). An arginine containing "cocktail" supplement did not affect skeletal muscle re-oxygenation after resistance exercise, possibly due to a wash-out effect caused by the multiple ingredients

Energy Cost of Active and Sedentary Music Video Games: Handheld Gaming vs. Walking and Sitting

International Journal of Exercise Science 10(7): 1038-1050, 2017. To compare energy expenditure during and after active and handheld video game drumming compared to walking and sitting. Ten experienced, college-aged men performed four protocols (one per week): no-exercise seated control (CTRL), virtual drumming on a handheld gaming device (HANDHELD), active drumming on drum pads (DRUM), and walking on a treadmill at ~30% of VO2max (WALK). Protocols were performed after an overnight fast, and expired air was collected continuously during (30min) and after (30min) exercise. DRUM and HANDHELD song lists, day of the week, and time of day were identical for each participant. Significant differences (p \u3c 0.05) among the average rates of energy expenditure (kcal.min-1) during activity included WALK \u3e DRUM \u3e HANDHELD. No significant differences in the rates of energy expenditure among groups during recovery were observed. Total energy expenditure was significantly greater (p \u3c 0.05) during WALK (149.5 ± 30.6 kcal) compared to DRUM (118.7 ± 18.8 kcal) and HANDHELD (44.9±11.6 kcal), and greater during DRUM compared to HANDHELD. Total energy expenditure was not significantly different between HANDHELD (44.9 ± 11.6 kcal) and CTRL (38.2 ± 6.0 kcal). Active video game drumming at expert-level significantly increased energy expenditure compared to handheld, but it hardly met moderate-intensity activity standards, and energy expenditure was greatest during walking. Energy expenditure with handheld video game drumming was not different from no-exercise control. Thus, traditional aerobic exercise remains at the forefront for achieving the minimum amount and intensity of physical activity for health, individuals desiring to use video games for achieving weekly physical activity recommendations should choose games that require significant involvement of lower-body musculature, and time spent playing sedentary games should be a limited part of an active lifestyle

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners - DE Oracle

DE Oracle @ UMUC An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty Center for Support of Instruction Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners Edwin Sapp Collegiate Professor School of Undergraduate Studies Published: January-February 2007 Category: » Online-pedagogy » Assessment-feedback-rubrics Adult learners at the University of Maryland University College come in at least four distinct varieties: Those who write well, or even superbly (often occupying positions in the community or workplace that task their writing skills daily) Those who never became proficient in writing Those who have been employed or in social environments for a decade or more where their previous writing skills have dwindled from lack of use Those who have an intense fear of the written word, thus remaining conquered by that fear when faced with any writing task and generating self-fulfilling prophesy with every attempted sentence. To those who would assist the weaker writers in their classes — adults who fall into the latter three categories — I offer two observations and some additional commentary, based on three decades of teaching over 9,000 students with all levels of writing skills (from junior college ENGL 101 folks to Graduate School of Business professionals), plus hundreds in various private sector and Department of Defense positions. The observations are not profound, but they ARE crucial to your success in addressing their "writing wrongs." Adult learners NEVER benefit from a "remedial" approach to learning the ground rules of writing in the English language, and Most adults have far fewer errors to correct than the average teacher perceives. Even though screening places some students who have needs for "remedial" assistance, you are quite likely to have a mixed bag of writing skills in any classroom for no other reason than a student who passed Freshman English a decade or so before might never have used the skills developed from that experience. What I find more disturbing about many writing-challenged students in the 2006 classroom, however, is their inability to analyze and process and take action; not their native writing skills per se. I have read three-page, single paragraph memos from students in their final year at UMUC. These folks have NO understanding of how to order information and present it so others can comprehend it. Invariably, I find that their inability to express themselves effectively with the written word stems from their inability to READ, to THINK (that is process information), and to ANALYZE. These folks are not three bales short of a load mentally — they simply do not understand how to analyze — to reduce macro challenges to individual components, order the components, and contemplate any kind of action as a result; that compounds the problem when you try to help them see mistakes and self-correct. A Remedy Worse than the Disease When I began teaching survival writing skills to folks in the work place, I quickly discovered that a "remedial" approach (going back over diagramming, defining the parts of speech, etc.) does not work Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners - DE Oracle very well because most poor writers didn't understand the first time they were taught and their visceral, emotional reaction to another threatened failure becomes a complete barrier to learning. There is not very much written on the topic, but I have located some experts over the years, and they helped me approach the kind of errors we see at UMUC in an entirely different way. The approach I suggest in this article addresses both the organizational and mechanics problems such students face, while helping them quickly gain the analytic skills required to self-diagnose and correct both types of writing errors. In January, 2001, in a pilot study for the dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland University College, I reviewed the results of a pilot study on 54 graduate students with poor writing skills. Six of the 54 actually performed WORSE in their writing competency after attending a remedial writing seminar; the rest either improved SLIGHTLY or remained at the same level, based on their performance on pre and post-testing. "Remedial" righting of wrongs simply does not work. This Old House I introduce students to the art of writing business reports and correspondence by comparing the process to moving into a new house. Most writing-challenged adults think they have to compose a business letter or report from the beginning to the end, building evidence leading to a climactic "bottom line" on page two or five. Freshman English exposition encourages that approach (thesis statement, topic sentences, five-paragraph structure with introduction and conclusion). Advanced writing texts are no better: most offer polished examples of profound writing, and some half-heartedly show a few "bad" examples — but ALL the examples are complete and read by the student as a done deal. When you move into the new house and the movers and your friends have silently slipped away, you are facing chaos at its most unnerving extreme. Only the truly novice homeowner would begin to clear a path along the route guests would follow, burrowing deeper and deeper until all was shipshape and tidy. That approach will generate ultimate frustration, most often resulting in the "movee" quite literally boxed into a corner, attempting one poorly-thought-out approach after another to get the job done. The seasoned movee clears the kitchen and one bedroom before retiring to a good night's rest on a full stomach, knowing that he or she has a priority action list for getting the rest of the house in order later on. In short, the person who focuses on function rather than form works much more efficiently and with much less stress. In very much the same way as the experienced movee accepts clutter in some holding area as a natural part of bringing order to the house, so the effective writer focuses on the main idea and leaves the other thoughts as clutter until that part of his or her house of words is straightened up and ready for inspection. The writer who plods through from introduction to climactic conclusion invites writer's block at every turn, slows to half-speed by correcting prose that may never see the final copy, and totally misses the key to effective 21st century business writing: understanding that the harried reader wants the "bottom line" FIRST, followed by the rationale — exactly opposite of the concept for an award-winning Freshman theme on legalizing marijuana or saving the goldfish. Consider for a moment, the pictures of a "perfect" living room in any home decorating magazine. The pictures and text provide an invaluable vision of the completed task, but they are of absolutely no use to the neophyte home handyman who wants to makeover the homestead in the magazine's image. For that approach, the eager lord or lady of the manor must turn to some step-by-step guides. And that we have just done by suggesting that business communication is best constructed from the center outward, rather than from beginning to end. But note what has happened here: first there is the example (perfect report sample, perfect living Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners - DE Oracle room); then there is the DESIRE to create something that good (unencumbered by fear of failure). You can help create that desire by restoring hope to a student who has reached the "what's the use stage" and is taking your required advanced writing course in his or her last semester with fear and trembling. Restoring hope is simply a matter of showing such students that there is a logical, self-administered cure for their problems and that those problems really are NOT as severe as other teachers have indicated. But, I still have to prove that assertion, don't I? As a first step, we must consider the tools and the skill required to use them. What Kind of Tool Am I (Using)? ALL English sentences end in a period and contain one complete thought. Yes, you add a curly symbol over the period for a question and a straight line for an exclamation, but most people only have problems with the contents of a sentence that declares or states something. Student problems with sentence content fall in three categories: incomplete thoughts, too many thoughts, or unbalanced jamming of components into the container. All three reflect a student focused on self-expression with no awareness of the effect his/her attempt is having on a reader. If a student has a habit of producing sentence fragments, for example, all he/she has to do is write a paragraph, then read the last sentence, then the next-to-last sentence, etc and the out-of-context fragment will show up. Eventually, the student will discover the phrasing that causes fragments for that particular student, and thus will be able to catch problems in a front-to-back review. Most remedial grammar texts discuss four or more types of fragments, their generic causes, and how diagramming will identify them. But that approach assumes that the student suspects that there IS a problem, doesn't it? Isn't that a lot like driving a car with a "check engine" light on, then opening the hood to discover that the engine is still there? Any further driving could cause serious damage and any further fragments can blow an effort at communication completely out of the water, with the driver/writer never the wiser for the warning. Of the eight parts of speech, only three cause the most problems. Of the errors in using parts of speech, agreement and verb endings are the most confusing for students, and, of the times these errors cause a problem, USUALLY this occurs with very specific verbs or other words (such as using "their" to modify something singular). Almost always, these are speech issues rather than writing issues. Speaking habits often carry over into our writing. For example, the "polished" writer might call a friend and say "I am looking to buy a car" but NEVER use two verbs (and one of them completely useless, at that) in a report for school or work. The novice, however, doesn't know the difference. In my seventh grade home room we were given ten spelling words each week. On Fridays, the teacher called out the words, we wrote the correct spelling, then used them to write a ten-paragraph essay using each word in context. I missed school the day we learned "through" and guessed "thru" in desperation. I used that word nine times in my essay, losing a whopping 27 points for my effort, and getting a "D-" on the result. I complained, noting that I had only made one error. "No, you made NINE," was the teacher's mechanical reply. To this day, I don't see my error as worthy of a D-, but I started observing how other students were graded. Ones who fouled up the verb "to be" rarely ever had a passing score on anything. Others had a hang up with "the boy picked up their book" (which can be absolutely correct if the tome is subject to community ownership). Many of your students were bruised in this battle and come to you fully convinced that, no matter WHAT they do, they can never "get it right." The only internal punctuation with absolutely deadly ramifications is the abused comma. There ARE errors in using semi-colons and quotation marks, but not as many, and those are much easier to explain in ways that make the problem go away. Remind the guilty that commas setting off incidental information (including the name of a state after the name of a city) come in pairs. Note that ALL items in a series require a comma. (If you review grammar text of two decades ago, you note that dropping Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners - DE Oracle the comma before the ending "or" or "and" was encouraged. All that changed with a Supreme Court case that awarded $25 million to Tom and$25 million to Dick and Harry as a SET — like peanut butter and jelly or peaches and cream — when Dad left his money "to my sons Tom, Dick and Harry." The court ruled that he would have used the comma if they were to share equal thirds). We put periods and commas INSIDE closing quotation marks because Lin-o-type machines broke the lead slugs with those characters in newspaper articles using proportional fonts such as Times New Roman. The double-length quotation mark held up longer. All other punctuation follows more logical rules, but students who know WHY the period and comma get different treatment never make the mistake again. What's a Mother to Do? Next time you examine a senior student's botched sample of written English, look at the errors and try to categorize them. Does the student have a massive comma problem? Address it. Is the problem one of agreement? Under what circumstances? Isolate it. I examined the pre-tests of 250 employees of a regional electric company at the CEO's request. They were pitiful writers and were costing the company thousands of dollars annually because of poor communication skills. The CEO was at his wit's end because the remedial writing teacher he hired first quit in frustration when the employees couldn't learn how to diagram a sentence. I diagnosed their problems, taught them a few rules (some noted in the paragraphs above) in ten hours of concentrated class work. A few months later, the ecstatic CEO told me that ALL the employees had improved so significantly that the company now was saving thousands of dollars. Righting Wrongs So, if you have students writing "wrongs" in your classes, help them identify the category, then attack their individual problems. Teach them that "by the yard, it's hard; by the inch, it's a cinch." As you will soon discover upon close examination, few students have hopeless clusters of severe problems. Most repeatedly make only two or three errors in their writing. The aggregate of repeated single common verb problems in a paper, for example, can be daunting to any student dismally surveying the sea of red marks you contributed to the "broken" offering. In fact, that sight is every bit as overwhelming as the endless piles of boxes in every room of your new home. Contemplate the old adage that one fish gives the hungry person a single meal, while learning to fish feeds the family for a lifetime. When you help the struggling writer really SEE that he or she has only one or two "show-stopper" problems, help that writer learn to recognize their presence, and teach the cure in a functional way, you have just taught another human how to fish — thereby righting their wrongs and giving an appreciative writer wings. Rating: Not yet rated Comments No comments posted. You must be logged in and be a member of the UMUC community in order to comment. If you are a member of the UMUC community and do not have an account, please register for a FREE one. If you have a guest account but are Faculty/Staff of UMUC please send an email to the DE Oracle Site Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners - DE Oracle Contact Site Manager Created and Maintained by the Center for Support of Instruction © University of Maryland University College Powered by ArticleMS from ArticleTrader.com Manager (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Please Update my DE Oracle Guest Account) so that your guest account can be updated. Writing Wrongs: Observations for teachers of Adult Learners - DE Oracl

Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle

DE Oracle @ UMUC An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty Center for Support of Instruction Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies Edwin Sapp Collegiate Professor School of Undergraduate Studies Published: November-December 2008 Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies The salesmen in The Music Man were right: "You gotta know the territory!" Times have changed in the workplace, but unfortunately, the strategies we have advocated to our students seeking employment have not. We need to change our approach so that we can be more effective in teaching our students how to get a job. This article provides a brief overview on the many changes in this "territory" so that instructors who teach job search strategies, including résumé writing, will do so in a way that benefits today's students. New Realities in the Workplace Two major paradigm shifts—the Industrial Revolution and the Information Age—have made substantial changes in the workplace, redefining what a job and career are, and now the housing market, lean manufacturing/six sigma, outsourcing/downsizing, and dual-income families have put the icing on the cake. Businesses have realized for some time that their most expensive overhead is human resources. Companies have gone through a spiral of downsizing, "rightsizing," layoffs, outsourcing, mergers, divestitures, reduction in insurance and retirement benefits, lean manufacturing, six sigma, just-in-time delivery of components, and replacement of middle management with "team leaders" who receive no extra pay for partial management responsibility. Consider the following scenario: Joe began working at the Widgit Corp seven years ago as a frassis assembler. Then Mary and Al quit. Rather than hire new people, the company gave Joe a new computer and all of Mary and Al's work load. Finally, Joe sees that this is not going to get any better and quits so that he can take another job with more pay and less work at another company. Widgit Corp advertises the vacancy with three times the duties (and expertise requirements) at a starting salary far lower than what Joe made when he quit. This scenario is an example of the cycle of employer desperation that has now entered its fourth generation in worker replacement throughout many industries. Nearly all vacancies now require exceptional worker skills to do consolidated and complex jobs correctly—skills not expected of the original hires a decade before—and most of these jobs provide a marginal income for the would-be worker. Many workers today must also manage their own retirement funds, obtain their own health insurance, care for their parents, and be prepared to change jobs on an average of once every three years or less (Kim, Solomon, Schwartz, Kessler, & Rose, 2007). Other data also speak to what it means to be in the workforce now: College diplomas are important as far as earnings go. Kim, Solomon, Schwartz, Kessler, & Rose (2007) point out that today's college graduates earn nearly 20% more than they did 30 years ago—but high Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle school graduates earn 13% less. A longitudinal study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2008a) noted that between the ages of 18 and 42, baby boomers held an average of 10.8 jobs; what might this detail foretell about the next two generations in the workforce, Generations X and Y? Many career centers and employment specialists note that workers today can expect up to seven career changes in a lifetime (see The College of William & Mary Career Center, n.d., as an example). As of October 2008, it took an average of 19.7 weeks to find a new job after losing the old one—an increase of 2.7 percentage points from one year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b). Workers aged 55 and older spend about 22 weeks searching for a new job while their younger counterparts take about 16 weeks (Pope, 2008). The Changing Job Market The job market as a whole has seen significant changes, due in part to fluctuations in the economy. Consider these recent numbers that probably will not see significant change (for the better) in the near future: Employers cut 1,200,000 jobs in the first ten months of 2008 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b). The unemployment rate jumped a full percentage point, to 6.1%, between April and August 2008 (Bernstein & Shierholz, 2008). At the end of October, the rate was 6.5%—a 1.7 percent rise in the past 12 months (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b). "[T]he Labor Department said the number of people applying for unemployment insurance [in June 2008] jumped by 16,000, to 404,000, the highest level since late March" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶9). "There were 8.5 million unemployed people as of June, up from 7 million a year earlier" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶10). This number jumped to 10.1 million in October (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b). In June 2008, "5.4 million Americans—about 3 percent of the labor force—were working part time either because their hours had been cut or because they could not find full-time employment, a figure unchanged from May but up 1.1 million from a year earlier" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶12). All of these sobering facts and changes—in the workforce and in the job market itself—have forced significant alterations in the rules of engagement that impact what instructors of job search strategies need to present to their students. Job Search Changes More than 10 years ago, economists Steven Bortnick and Michelle Ports (1992) reported that "unemployed jobseekers most often contacted prospective employers directly. However, the most successful method was registering with a private employment agency" (p. 29). Compare that to the more current Bureau of Labor Statistics's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, which identifies personal contacts as the first job strategy and follows that approach with 11 others, recommending that the job seeker try multiple avenues to increase his/her likelihood of success. In other words, if you are still teaching students how to respond to classified ads or Internet postings, only a small percentage will be successful in their job searches. The ratio of success in each of four categories of job searching has changed dramatically in the last decade. Provident Living (2008a) provides the following graph that shows where jobs are found today versus which source job seekers tend to use: Source Where People Look Where Jobs Are Found Ads/Internet 65% 14% Agencies/Recruiters 27% 13% Approach Companies 3% 30% Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle Networking 5% 36% It is important that we educate our students on these changes in job searching so that they can focus their efforts on the sources that tend to yield the best results. Strategies for Building Effective Résumés Today Not only has the "where to look" aspect of the job search changed considerably, but the content and focus of the résumé has followed suit. Consider the following elements for developing resumes for the 2008 job market: The resume is about what the applicant can do for the company, not about the applicant's list of past duties or responsibilities. Use fact-, quantity-, and impact-based "power statements" (Provident Living, 2008b) to list accomplishments. Note that naming a responsibility does not state that you have ever done it, how often, or how well. Applicants obtaining a degree would do better using a Functional-Chronological format. The Chronological format can actually lessen an applicant's chance for an interview. The company isn't interested in who you are until your resume "sells" you. So keep the contact information section to three lines at the most. Objective statements are obsolete and do not work well in the current job market because the potential employer, already reluctant to hire, is not interested in what the applicant wants from his/her new job. Instead, prepare a power statement that serves as a Qualification Summary placed at the beginning of the resume. Explain your experience with software and hardware rather than just listing it (i.e., don't just list Dreamweaver, Flash, Word 2007, etc.). Cold-call sales training studies have proven for years that personal contact (i.e., Tupperware, Amway) beats cold-call marketing ("in your neighborhood; want new siding?"). There is a significant ratio of one sale in 1,000 contacts for cold calls versus one in three for personal contact. Students should consider developing customized resumes with relevant information that provides examples of what they can do for the employer for whom they want to work. Include a quote from a prior employer (relevant to the job description) immediately below the contact information. Special skills, licenses, clearances, or abilities should go on the line below the quote. A chronological list of employers should follow the functional list of experience. Under the education section, aggregate work training in an entry such as "100 hours of management training by XYZ Corporation's Education Department." There is no need to state the obvious "References Available Upon Request." Do not list hobbies or interests unless relevant to the job, as they can be a two-edged sword. (Scout leader? Won't work late on Fridays and may get a lot of personal phone calls.) A Note about "Power Statements" Power statements are mentioned several times in this article. Power statements help job seekers stand out and make an impact by highlighting important, relevant information about themselves. Here is an example: As an experienced instructor, headhunter, staff trainer, and employment specialist at a center supporting job search coaching in six states and the District of Columbia, I have advised over 6,000 job seekers how to revise their résumés and use effective search and interview skills, resulting in a 90% placement rate at an average 20% higher salary and applicants who are better equipped to adjust to a rapidly changing job market. Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle These simple steps outline the basics for constructing an effective power statement: Identify a value, skill, strength, or accomplishment you want to highlight that relates to your objective. Give a specific example. Show the result (if possible, use percentages, dollar amounts, or numbers to reinforce your claim). Make sure your statement matches the needs or goals of the organization. (Provident Living, 2008b, ¶2) The job seeker must show how he/she will bring value to the business by saving time/money or making a profit. If the applicant has been recognized for cost-saving achievements, make that clear in a power statement. Power statements that are informative but not overconfident will help create a favorable and memorable impression and can help bring the employer to the very desirable action of hiring the applicant; they should be used in the resume, in cover letters, and during interviews. Summary: Knowing the Territory With many workers changing jobs every three years and changing careers multiple times, and with nearly as many remaining unemployed for up to six months, the strategies that got jobs a decade ago simply no longer work. Our students need a better plan than even a five-year-old concept in a costly textbook. Keeping abreast of the changes in the territory and changing what we teach students about preparing for and finding a job in today's economy is in everyone's best interests. References Bernstein, J., & Shierholz, H. (2008). Jobs picture: September 5, 2008. Washington, DC: The Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/content.cfm /webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_20080905 Bortnick, S.M., & Ports, M.H. (1992, December). Job search methods and results: Tracking the unemployed, 1991. Monthly Labor Review, 115(12), 29-35. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov /opub/mlr/1992/12/art3full.pdf Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2007). Occupational outlook handbook, 2008-09 edition. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20042.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008a, June 28). Number of jobs held, labor market activity, and earnings growth among the youngest baby boomers: Results from a longitudinal survey. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008b, November 7). The employment situation: October 2008. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf The College of William & Mary Career Center. (n.d.). Career transitions. Retrieved from http://web.wm.edu/career/Alumni/AlumniTransitions.cfm Fletcher, M.A. (2008, July 4). U.S. workforce shrinks for 6th straight month: Worries about the economy deepen. The Washington Post, p. D1. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com /wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/03/ST2008070302028.html Kim, A., Solomon, A., Schwartz, B.L., Kessler, J., & Rose, S. (2007). The new rules economy: A policy framework for the 21st century. Washington, DC: Third Way. Retrieved from http://www.thirdway.org /products/71 Pope, E. (2008, March). 'They won't let me retire'—Hot jobs in a slow market. AARP Bulletin Today. Retrieved from http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/work/articles/labor_shortage_forces.html (URL Defunct) Article can be found at: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/work/articles /labor_shortage_forces.html Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle Contact Site Manager Created and Maintained by the Center for Support of Instruction © University of Maryland University College Powered by ArticleMS from ArticleTrader.com Provident Living. (2008a). Networking. Retrieved from http://providentliving.org/content/display /0,11666,5945-1-3038-1,00.html Provident Living. (2008b). Power statements. Retrieved from http://providentliving.org/content/display /0,11666,5947-1-3040-1,00.html About the Author(s) Ed Sapp is a Stanley Drazek Excellence in Teaching Award winner (2002), recipient of a Teaching Recognition Award (2006), and the Prince George's College Faculty Recognition Award for Outstanding Teaching (1998). He has contributed over a dozen articles on education over the last decade to UMUC publications. A collegiate professor who currently is the Chair for Writing for Managers at UMUC, he holds bachelor and master degrees in English as well as two equivalent master degrees in management from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Air War College, in addition to a Juris Doctorate. He served as a senior policy advisor for Homeland Defense for over two decades at the National Security Agency and also with the United States Air Force. He currently guides the job search efforts of dozens of clients in six states and the District of Columbia. Rating: Not yet rated Comments No comments posted. You must be logged in and be a member of the UMUC community in order to comment. If you are a member of the UMUC community and do not have an account, please register for a FREE one. If you have a guest account but are Faculty/Staff of UMUC please send an email to the DE Oracle Site Manager (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Please Update my DE Oracle Guest Account) so that your guest account can be updated. Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracl

THE EMISSIVITY OF TUNGSTEN IN THE NEAR INFRARED.

Abstract not availabl

Candida albicans-derived mannoproteins activate NF-κB in reporter cells expressing TLR4, MD2 and CD14.

The ability of soluble C. albicans 20A (serotype A) mannoprotein (CMP) to serve as a ligand for toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its co-receptors was examined using commercially available and stably-transfected HEK293 cells that express human TLR4, MD2 and CD14, but not MR. These TLR4 reporter cells also express an NF-κB-dependent, secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) reporter gene. TLR4-reporter cells exhibited a dose-dependent SEAP response to both LPS and CMP, wherein peak activation was achieved after stimulation with 40-50 μg/mL of CMP. Incubation on polymyxin B resin had no effect on CMP's ligand activity, but neutralized LPS-spiked controls. HEK293 Null cells lacking TLR4 and possessing the same SEAP reporter failed to respond to LPS or CMP, but produced SEAP when activated with TNFα. Reporter cell NF-κB responses were accompanied by transcription of IL-8, TNFα, and COX-2 genes. Celecoxib inhibited LPS-, CMP-, and TNFα-dependent NF-κB responses; whereas, indomethacin had limited effect on LPS and CMP responses. SEAP production in response to C. albicans A9 mnn4Δ mutant CMP, lacking phosphomannosylations on N-linked glycans, was significantly greater (p ≤ 0.005) than SEAP responses to CMP derived from parental A9 (both serotype B). These data confirm that engineered human cells expressing TLR4, MD2 and CD14 can respond to CMP with NF-κB activation and the response can be influenced by variations in CMP-mannosylation. Future characterizations of CMPs from other sources and their application in this model may provide further insight into variations observed with TLR4 dependent innate immune responses targeting different C. albicans strains

Celecoxib inhibits CMP activation of TLR4 in a dose-dependent manner.

<p>HEK-TLR4 cells were pre-treated with with 0 μM (filled circles), 10 μM (open triangles), 30 μM (open diamonds), or 100 μM (open circles) celecoxib for one hour prior to treatment with increasing concentrations of CMP as indicated. SEAP activity was measured the next day to evaluate cellular activation. CMP-induced SEAP activity was significantly reduced by celecoxib treatment (open symbols). Significance between the collective regressions is represented by the asterisks p ≤ 0.005.</p

LPS- and CMP-mediated activation of TLR4 signaling induces <i>COX-2</i> expression.

<p>(A) HEK-TLR4 reporter cells (filled squares) and HEK-Null reporter cells (gray squares) were stimulated with 12.5 ng/mL LPS over 4 hours. Additionally, HEK-TLR4 cells were stimulated with 1 mg/mL CMP for 4 hours (B). Total RNA was isolated and subjected to quantitative PCR analysis. <i>COX-2</i> expression in individual samples was normalized to expression of <i>β-actin</i> and overall expression is relative to cells treated with media alone. Significance is represented by the asterisk, p ≤ 0.05.</p

CMPs derived from <i>C</i>. <i>albicans</i> A9 and A9 <i>mnn</i>4<i>Δ</i> mutant strains both stimulate HEK-TLR4 cells.

<p>The A9 <i>mnn</i>4 <i>Δ</i> mutant CMP lacks phosphodiester-linked extensions on the <i>N</i>-linked glycans and was found to be superior to CMP from the A9 parent strain as a TLR4 agonist. In this experiment SEAP conversion was stopped at 45 min. Peak LPS stimulation corresponded to mean absorbance of 0.11 +/- 0.004 absorbance units (positive control). The negative control wells received only additional media. All data were converted to percentage of LPS control by dividing the mean net absorbance of CMP treated cells by the mean net absorbance of LPS treated cells. SEM was converted to % SEM in the same manner. Significance that is represented by the asterisks was p ≤ 0.005.</p