QUALITATIVE INQUIRY INTO FULL-TIME AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

The purpose of this study was to determine how AmeriCorps State and National volunteers in school settings think the experience has influenced them, their goals, and future plans. I used semi structure interviews to investigate this question. Members I interviewed talked about the first-hand teaching experience they receive through volunteering, teamwork, networking within the school system, personal growth, and an increased willingness to serve their communities. The discussion of these elements suggests their importance to volunteers, future employers, university education programs, and service program directors

Neural upscaling from residue-level protein structure networks to atomistic structures

Coarse-graining is a powerful tool for extending the reach of dynamic models of proteins and other biological macromolecules. Topological coarse-graining, in which biomolecules or sets thereof are represented via graph structures, is a particularly useful way of obtaining highly com-pressed representations of molecular structures, and simulations operating via such representations can achieve substantial computational savings. A drawback of coarse-graining, however, is the loss of atomistic detail—an effect that is especially acute for topological representations such as protein structure networks (PSNs). Here, we introduce an approach based on a combination of machine learning and physically-guided refinement for inferring atomic coordinates from PSNs. This “neural upscaling” procedure exploits the constraints implied by PSNs on possible configurations, as well as differences in the likelihood of observing different configurations with the same PSN. Using a 1 µs atomistic molecular dynamics trajectory of Aβ1–40, we show that neural upscaling is able to effectively recapitulate detailed structural information for intrinsically disordered proteins, being particularly successful in recovering features such as transient secondary structure. These results suggest that scalable network-based models for protein structure and dynamics may be used in settings where atomistic detail is desired, with upscaling employed to impute atomic coordinates from PSNs

[Dataset] Comparison of Intermittent Fasting and Voluntary Wheel Running on Physical and Cognitive Abilities in High-Fat Diet-induced Obese Rats

Regular physical activity is a proven routine for weight management in addressing obesity. Another method that has gained attention for its health benefits is intermittent fasting (IF). Physical and cognitive abilities while on these routines are poorly understood in the obese population. Sixty-five male Sprague Dawley rats at 7 weeks of age were subjected to diet-induced obesity by feeding a high-fat diet (HFD) or a standard diet (SD) for 8 weeks, after which behavioral testing was performed to detect any changes in physical and cognitive abilities. Rats from the HFD-fed (now considered obese) and SD-fed groups were then subjected to IF (18-hour fast and 6-hour feeding daily), voluntary wheel running (VWR), or control conditions for 3 weeks before repeating the same behavioral testing protocol. [...

On the Dynamics of the Spontaneous Activity in Neuronal Networks

Most neuronal networks, even in the absence of external stimuli, produce spontaneous bursts of spikes separated by periods of reduced activity. The origin and functional role of these neuronal events are still unclear. The present work shows that the spontaneous activity of two very different networks, intact leech ganglia and dissociated cultures of rat hippocampal neurons, share several features. Indeed, in both networks: i) the inter-spike intervals distribution of the spontaneous firing of single neurons is either regular or periodic or bursting, with the fraction of bursting neurons depending on the network activity; ii) bursts of spontaneous spikes have the same broad distributions of size and duration; iii) the degree of correlated activity increases with the bin width, and the power spectrum of the network firing rate has a 1/f behavior at low frequencies, indicating the existence of long-range temporal correlations; iv) the activity of excitatory synaptic pathways mediated by NMDA receptors is necessary for the onset of the long-range correlations and for the presence of large bursts; v) blockage of inhibitory synaptic pathways mediated by GABA(A) receptors causes instead an increase in the correlation among neurons and leads to a burst distribution composed only of very small and very large bursts. These results suggest that the spontaneous electrical activity in neuronal networks with different architectures and functions can have very similar properties and common dynamics

Network Hamiltonian Models for Unstructured Protein Aggregates, with Application to γD-Crystallin.

Network Hamiltonian models (NHMs) are a framework for topological coarse-graining of protein-protein interactions, in which each node corresponds to a protein, and edges are drawn between nodes representing proteins that are noncovalently bound. Here, this framework is applied to aggregates of γD-crystallin, a structural protein of the eye lens implicated in cataract disease. The NHMs in this study are generated from atomistic simulations of equilibrium distributions of wild-type and the cataract-causing variant W42R in solution, performed by Wong, E. K.; Prytkova, V.; Freites, J. A.; Butts, C. T.; Tobias, D. J. Molecular Mechanism of Aggregation of the Cataract-Related γD-Crystallin W42R Variant from Multiscale Atomistic Simulations. Biochemistry2019, 58 (35), 3691-3699. Network models are shown to successfully reproduce the aggregate size and structure observed in the atomistic simulation, and provide information about the transient protein-protein interactions therein. The system size is scaled from the original 375 monomers to a system of 10000 monomers, revealing a lowering of the upper tail of the aggregate size distribution of the W42R variant. Extrapolation to higher and lower concentrations is also performed. These results provide an example of the utility of NHMs for coarse-grained simulation of protein systems, as well as their ability to scale to large system sizes and high concentrations, reducing computational costs while retaining topological information about the system

A Pragmatic Approach to the Application of the Code of Ethics in Nursing Education

The code of ethics for nurses was written for nurses in all settings. However, the language focuses primarily on the nurse in context of the patient relationship, which may make it difficult for nurse educators to internalize the code to inform practice. The purpose of this article is to explore the code of ethics, establish that it can be used to guide nurse educators\u27 practice, and provide a pragmatic approach to application of the provisions

Inclusion In Higher Education: A Case Study

A recent racial incident at a prominent private university located in the western portion of the United States, caused outrage and protest by students and faculty alike. This outrage prompted administration to seek consultation services to: 1) determine what caused the incident, 2) understand what faculty, staff, and students are thinking, feeling, and observing about diversity and inclusion, and 3) generate recommendations to improve the climate for faculty, staff, and students. In this chapter, we will present the information in the form of a case study, based on the Diversity and Inclusion journey of this university. We will discuss the event leading up to the intervention, the intervention (survey findings of the university\u27s faculty, staff, and students on their perceptions and behaviors of diversity and inclusion as well as areas of strength and areas for improvement), and recommendations. This chapter will also explore the outcomes of the focus groups conducted, interactions with administration, and the connection between exclusion, toxic environment, and communication. The chapter will conclude with suggestions for other organizations

Inclusion In Higher Education: A Case Study

A recent racial incident at a prominent private university located in the western portion of the United States, caused outrage and protest by students and faculty alike. This outrage prompted administration to seek consultation services to: 1) determine what caused the incident, 2) understand what faculty, staff, and students are thinking, feeling, and observing about diversity and inclusion, and 3) generate recommendations to improve the climate for faculty, staff, and students. In this chapter, we will present the information in the form of a case study, based on the Diversity and Inclusion journey of this university. We will discuss the event leading up to the intervention, the intervention (survey findings of the university\u27s faculty, staff, and students on their perceptions and behaviors of diversity and inclusion as well as areas of strength and areas for improvement), and recommendations. This chapter will also explore the outcomes of the focus groups conducted, interactions with administration, and the connection between exclusion, toxic environment, and communication. The chapter will conclude with suggestions for other organizations

Comparative Modeling and Analysis of Extremophilic D-Ala-D-Ala Carboxypeptidases

Understanding the molecular adaptations of organisms to extreme environments requires a comparative analysis of protein structure, function, and dynamics across species found in different environmental conditions. Computational studies can be particularly useful in this pursuit, allowing exploratory studies of large numbers of proteins under different thermal and chemical conditions that would be infeasible to carry out experimentally. Here, we perform such a study of the MEROPS family S11, S12, and S13 proteases from psychophilic, mesophilic, and thermophilic bacteria. Using a combination of protein structure prediction, atomistic molecular dynamics, and trajectory analysis, we examine both conserved features and trends across thermal groups. Our findings suggest a number of hypotheses for experimental investigation