The Genre of Traditional Literature Influences Student Writing

This article describes a research study exploring the question: What influence will reading and discussing traditional literature have upon students\u27 narrative writing? The setting for the study was a fifth grade classroom that was part of a university laboratory school. Students listened to and discussed Native American folktales and then wrote their own, self-created narrative. Results indicated that students blended elements from the folktales with elements from their own cultures

Carrier transfer between confined and localized states in type II InAs/GaAsSb quantum wells

The work has been supported from iCspec project, which received funding from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 636930, and also by the National Science Centre of Poland within Grant No. 2014/15/B/ST7/04663.Temperature-resolved photoluminescence studies were performed on tensely-strained AlSb/InAs/GaAsSb W-shaped type II quantum wells. They revealed two emission bands: one at lower energy of localized origin resulting from carrier trapping states at interfaces and dominates at low-temperature; and one corresponding to the fundamental optical transition in the type II quantum well. With the temperature increase to 170—200 K the low-energy emission is quenched and the high-energy band dominates and its intensity increases, indicating carrier transfer processes between the respective states at elevated temperatures. In addition, the integrated photoluminescence intensity was measured as a function of excitation power. At high excitation regime the emission intensity of the low-energy emission band saturated, indicating low density of states, thus confirming its localized nature. The depth of the localization potential at the InAs/GaAsSb interface was determined to be 13—15 meV.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Arabidopsis Transcription Factor CDF3 Is Involved in Nitrogen Responses and Improves Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Tomato

Nitrate is an essential macronutrient and a signal molecule that regulates the expression of multiple genes involved in plant growth and development. Here, we describe the participation of Arabidopsis DNA binding with one finger (DOF) transcription factor CDF3 in nitrate responses and shows that CDF3 gene is induced under nitrate starvation. Moreover, knockout cdf3 mutant plants exhibit nitrate-dependent lateral and primary root modifications, whereas CDF3 overexpression plants show increased biomass and enhanced root development under both nitrogen poor and rich conditions. Expression analyses of 35S::CDF3 lines reveled that CDF3 regulates the expression of an important set of nitrate responsive genes including, glutamine synthetase-1, glutamate synthase-2, nitrate reductase-1, and nitrate transporters NRT2.1, NRT2.4, and NRT2.5 as well as carbon assimilation genes like PK1 and PEPC1 in response to N availability. Consistently, metabolite profiling disclosed that the total amount of key N metabolites like glutamate, glutamine, and asparagine were higher in CDF3-overexpressing plants, but lower in cdf3-1 in N limiting conditions. Moreover, overexpression of CDF3 in tomato increased N accumulation and yield efficiency under both optimum and limiting N supply. These results highlight CDF3 as an important regulatory factor for the nitrate response, and its potential for improving N use efficiency in crops

RelB-Dependent Stromal Cells Promote T-Cell Leukemogenesis

BACKGROUND: The Rel/NF-kappaB transcription factors are often activated in solid or hematological malignancies. In most cases, NF-kappaB activation is found in malignant cells and results from activation of the canonical NF-kappaB pathway, leading to RelA and/or c-Rel activation. Recently, NF-kappaB activity in inflammatory cells infiltrating solid tumors has been shown to contribute to solid tumor initiation and progression. Noncanonical NF-kappaB activation, which leads to RelB activation, has also been reported in breast carcinoma, prostate cancer, and lymphoid leukemia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report a novel role for RelB in stromal cells that promote T-cell leukemogenesis. RelB deficiency delayed leukemia onset in the TEL-JAK2 transgenic mouse model of human T acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Bone marrow chimeric mouse experiments showed that RelB is not required in the hematopoietic compartment. In contrast, RelB plays a role in radio-resistant stromal cells to accelerate leukemia onset and increase disease severity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present results are the first to uncover a role for RelB in the crosstalk between non-hematopoietic stromal cells and leukemic cells. Thus, besides its previously reported role intrinsic to specific cancer cells, the noncanonical NF-kappaB pathway may also play a pro-oncogenic role in cancer microenvironmental cells

Determinants of postnatal spleen tissue regeneration and organogenesis

Abstract The spleen is an organ that filters the blood and is responsible for generating blood-borne immune responses. It is also an organ with a remarkable capacity to regenerate. Techniques for splenic auto-transplantation have emerged to take advantage of this characteristic and rebuild spleen tissue in individuals undergoing splenectomy. While this procedure has been performed for decades, the underlying mechanisms controlling spleen regeneration have remained elusive. Insights into secondary lymphoid organogenesis and the roles of stromal organiser cells and lymphotoxin signalling in lymph node development have helped reveal similar requirements for spleen regeneration. These factors are now considered in the regulation of embryonic and postnatal spleen formation, and in the establishment of mature white pulp and marginal zone compartments which are essential for spleen-mediated immunity. A greater understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms which control spleen development will assist in the design of more precise and efficient tissue grafting methods for spleen regeneration on demand. Regeneration of organs which harbour functional white pulp tissue will also offer novel opportunities for effective immunotherapy against cancer as well as infectious diseases

Univalence criteria for linear fractional differential operators associated with a generalized Bessel function

In this paper our aim is to establish some generalizations upon the sufficient conditions for linear fractional differential operators involving the normalized forms of the generalized Bessel functions of the first kind to be univalent in the open unit disk as investigated recently by [{sc E. Deniz, H. Orhan, H.M. Srivastava}, {it Some sufficient conditions for univalence of certain families of integral operators involving generalized Bessel functions}, Taiwanese J. Math. {bf 15} (2011), No. 2, 883-917] and [{sc \u27A. Baricz, B. Frasin}, {it Univalence of integral operators involving Bessel functions}, Appl. Math. Letters {bf 23} (2010), No. 4, 371--376]. Our method uses certain Luke\u27s bounding inequalities for hypergeometric functions ${}_{p+1}F_p$ and ${}_pF_p$

Francisella tularensis Elicits IL-10 via a PGE2-Inducible Factor, to Drive Macrophage MARCH1 Expression and Class II Down-Regulation

Francisella tularensis is a bacterial pathogen that uses host-derived PGE2 to subvert the host's adaptive immune responses in multiple ways. Francisella-induced PGE2 acts directly on CD4 T cells to blunt production of IFN-γ. Francisella-induced PGE2 can also elicit production of a >10 kDa soluble host factor termed FTMØSN (F. tularensis macrophage supernatant), which acts on IFN-γ pre-activated MØ to down-regulate MHC class II expression via a ubiquitin-dependent mechanism, blocking antigen presentation to CD4 T cells. Here, we report that FTMØSN-induced down-regulation of MØ class II is the result of the induction of MARCH1, and that MØ expressing MARCH1 “resistant” class II molecules are resistant to FTMØSN-induced class II down-regulation. Since PGE2 can induce IL-10 production and IL-10 is the only reported cytokine able to induce MARCH1 expression in monocytes and dendritic cells, these findings suggested that IL-10 is the active factor in FTMØSN. However, use of IL-10 knockout MØ established that IL-10 is not the active factor in FTMØSN, but rather that Francisella-elicited PGE2 drives production of a >10 kDa host factor distinct from IL-10. This factor then drives MØ IL-10 production to induce MARCH1 expression and the resultant class II down-regulation. Since many human pathogens such as Salmonella typhi, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Legionella pneumophila also induce production of host PGE2, these results suggest that a yet-to-be-identified PGE2-inducible host factor capable of inducing IL-10 is central to the immune evasion mechanisms of multiple important human pathogens

Meeting the support and information needs of women with advanced breast cancer: a randomised controlled trial

Addressing psychosocial and quality of life needs is central to provision of excellent care for people with advanced cancer. This study tested a brief nurse-delivered intervention to address the needs of urban women with advanced breast cancer. This study was conducted at four large urban hospitals in Australia. One hundred and five women with advanced breast cancer were recruited and randomised to receive the intervention or usual care, then asked to complete the European Organisation of Research and Treatment of Quality of life Q-C30 version (2.0) (EORTC Q-C30) (version 2) and Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) at 1 month and 3 months postrecruitment. No significant differences were detected between intervention and usual care groups in the SCNS or the EORTC Q-C30 subscale scores. However, when the groups were divided into high needs (score of above 50) and low baseline needs (score of 50 or below) for each SCNS subscale, a significant difference between intervention and usual care groups was found in the psychological/emotional subscale among women with high baseline needs. In conclusions, this study demonstrated that a face-to-face session and follow-up phone call with a breast care nurse significantly reduced the psychological and emotional needs of those with high initial needs. There was no evidence of the intervention influencing the quality of life; or perceived needs of women with low initial psychological/emotional needs or perceived needs in other domains. Possibly, the intervention was not sufficiently intense to achieve an effect