Alcohol increases inattentional blindness when cognitive resources are not consumed by ongoing task demands

Appellate Court No. 930232-CA Argument Priority: 15 BRIEF OF APPELLANT APPEAL FROM SUMMARY JUDGMENT FROM THE FOURTH CIRCUIT COURT OF UTAH COUNTY, PROVO DEPARTMENT, STATE OF UTAH, THE HONORABLE E. PATRICK MCGUIRE CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE

Action research for transformative change

As major policy actors (e.g. governments, global organisations) grapple with 'wicked’ sustainability challenges, the use of demonstration projects or ‘living labs’ has promise in showcasing potential solutions. However, these projects can struggleto realise enduring change, with initial experimental deliverables tending not to be replicated and remaining as once-offs. As well as demonstrating solutions, projects also need to overcome the considerable inertia in the complex systems of organisations and institutions that govern (or indeed generate) sustainability problems. Here we argue that demonstration projects, while initially impactful, could be more likely to realise transformative change if they were designed more thoroughly as action research projects, working with partners to not only deliver and measure demonstrations of solutions, but also demonstrate changes to organisations and institutions to remove barriers and facilitate replication. We note the important role ofboth engaged leadership and explicitly-stated theories of change in maximising the potential of projects designed in this way

The mechanism by which potassium causes neurite retraction in lamprey descending neurons in cell culture

Abstract only availableSevere spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts descending axons from reticulospinal (RS) neurons that project to the spinal cord. In most “higher” vertebrates, including humans, recovery is very minimal due to limited regeneration in the central nervous system, and paralysis is usually permanent below the injury site. In several lower vertebrates, including the lamprey, behavioral recovery is almost complete following SCI due to robust axonal regeneration. To study the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate axonal regeneration, neurons are often isolated in cell culture so that the factors that influence neurite outgrowth can be studied under controlled conditions. In our laboratory, we have developed a cell culture system in which neurite outgrowth of RS neurons can be studied (Hong et al., 2002; Ryan et al., 2004). Application of glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, to the growth cones of RS neurons results in neurite retraction, presumably because of depolarization, calcium influx, and an increase in intracellular calcium. Intracellular calcium is thought to be one of the important regulators of the rate and direction of neurite outgrowth. Calcium influx could result from at least two different channels: chemically-gated channels (e.g. NMDA channels); or voltage-gated calcium channels. The purpose of the present study was to determine if calcium influx via voltage-gated calcium channels is sufficient to elicit neurite retraction. First, focal application of a 31 M potassium to growth cones of DiI-labeled RS neurons in culture to open voltage-gated calcium channels significantly reduced neurite growth rates, including neurite retraction, compared to pre-control periods. Second, 2 of Co++ or 300 M Cd++, which block calcium channels, abolished potassium-induced neurite retraction. In conclusion, the results suggest that calcium influx via voltage-gated calcium channels is sufficient to cause neurite retraction. Other experiments will determine if influx through voltage-gated channels is necessary for glutamate to elicit neurite outgrowth. Determination of the factors that regulate neurite outgrowth may provide information about the mechanism by which RS neurons regenerate their axons following spinal cord injury and restore locomotor function.Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Progra

Evidence that glutamate induced neurite retraction of reticulospinal neurons is dependent on calcium influx

Abstract only availableLocomotor systems of vertebrates consist of a command system in the brain that activates central pattern generators in the spinal cord to initiate locomotor behavior. Reticulospinal (RS) neurons are the output neural elements of the command system. Following spinal cord injury, axons of RS neurons are severed and must regenerate to restore behavioral functions below the lesion. In higher vertebrates, such as birds and mammals, axonal regeneration is very limited, and spinal cord injury usually results in permanent paralysis below the lesion. In contrast, in the lamprey and a few other lower vertebrates, axonal regeneration is robust following spinal cord injury, and this results in virtually complete behavioral recovery. Therefore, identification of the mechanisms for axonal regeneration in lower vertebrates might provide information about the requirements for regenerating neurons in higher vertebrates. Examination of neurite outgrowth in culture is often used to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms for axonal regeneration. In our laboratory, we have shown that application of glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, to growth cones of RS neurons in culture causes neurite retraction, presumably by causing depolarization and calcium influx. Intracellular calcium levels are thought to be one of the important regulatory factors for neurite outgrowth. Glutamate might mediate calcium influx via at least two types of channels: chemically-gated channels (e.g. NMDA channels); or voltage-gated calcium channels. The purpose of the present study was to determine if calcium influx via voltage-gated channels is necessary for neurite retraction. The anatomical tracer DiI was applied to the spinal cord to pre-label RS neurons. Following transport, RS neurons were isolated and placed in cell culture. Glutamate was pressure ejected onto the growth cones of RS neurons in the presence of w-conotoxin MVIIC, which is a specific blocker for N and P voltage-gated calcium channels. Under these conditions, conotoxin reduced but did not block glutamate-induced neurite retraction. In conclusion, glutamate-induced neurite retraction of lamprey RS neurons probably is mediated by calcium influx via both chemically-gated and voltage-gated channels. Determination of the factors that regulate neurite outgrowth in culture may provide insights into the mechanisms for axonal regeneration and behavioral recovery following spinal cord injury in whole animals.Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Progra

Intimate Partner Violence and its Escalation Into Femicide. Frailty thy Name Is “Violence Against Women”

Violence against women is a disabler of dignity, liberty, and rights of the person, with murder being its extreme form for silencing the individual. Despite psycho-criminological research providing evidence that violence can happen across cultures, sexes, and societies, other findings show that some forms of violence i.e. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), which involves more frequently women as victims, is not rare in contemporary society. The aim of this study is to analyze the violence against women, and how it escalates up to the point in which it aggravates into femicide. In order to carry out this study, data from both the Turin Archive of the Institute of Legal Medicine (1970–1997), and the Archive of the Central Morgue (1998–2016) were collected. The interest was to focus on those women who were killed in Turin, between 1970 and 2016, by a male with whom they were involved in a more or less intimate relationship (e.g., matrimonial, sexual, friendship, professional, etc.). Collateral information was also gathered from forensic files that reported sufficient details about the criminal events. The sample was composed of 275 women killed by violence in Turin, Italy, by 260 males. This research was based on two questions: Is murder the worst possible scenario of a long-lasting abusive relationship? Are we witnessing a shift in how violence now happens, becoming perhaps less striking than murder, but not less painful from the victim's point of view? These findings show that escalation into femicide featured more likely within an intimate and affective relationship between victim and perpetrator; they also show that when the perpetrator knew the victim, it was more likely that an overkilling took place. When victims sustained multiple injuries that went beyond those necessary to cause their death, one is in front of an overkilling. These results also suggest that motives behind intimate partner femicide could account for a differential degree of violence, so that the longer and closer the relationship was between victim and perpetrator, the higher the risk of IPV escalating into femicide, and of femicide being executed with extreme and severe force

Public Benefits and Community Colleges: Lessons from the Benefits Access for College Completion Evaluation

This Final Evaluation Report provides the lessons learned from the Benefits Access for College Completion demonstration (BACC) demonstration project at five of the seven community colleges over the past three years. From the onset of BACC, the evaluation was focused on documenting and learning how the participating colleges approached this work, and how and why they made adjustments during the demonstration. This evaluation approach was intended to provide useful formative feedback to the colleges during the demonstration, but it also was intended to help answer the overarching evaluation question posed by the funders: What are the most promising models for community colleges to increase benefits access for their students, and how can these models be integrated into community college operations?During the course of our evaluation, we observed three key findings that emerged from the BACC demonstration. Colleges converged on the need for a centralized hub to deliver benefits access services, and also began moving toward an opt-out model of pre-screening and screening for benefits access by connecting this initial step in the application process to existing student support services like financial aid and advising. Cutting across these two findings is the critical importance of leadership and commitment to benefits access – up and down the administrative hierarchy and across departments and divisions, but especially for student services. In the following sections, we first present an overview of the BACC demonstration and the various approaches colleges explored at the onset. In Section 2, we provide a detailed discussion of the three main findings from our evaluation, including how the model for delivering benefits access services changed during the demonstration, highlighting specific examples from the five colleges. In Section 3, we discuss the impact analysis at one college where quantitative student data were matched with state administrative data on the receipt of public benefits. We conclude the report by summarizing our core findings, and pointing to additional research that is needed to better understand how benefits access services can be implemented and sustained on a college campus, and the impact of these benefits on student academic outcomes.

IL-10 permits transient activation of dendritic cells to tolerize T cells and protect from central nervous system autoimmune disease

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key players in the development of immunity. They can direct both the size and the quality of an immune response and thus are attractive tools to mediate immunotherapy. DC function has been thought to reflect the cells' maturation, with immunosuppressive agents such as IL-10 understood to retain DCs in an immature and tolerogenic state. Here we report that DC activated in the presence of IL-10 do show functional and phenotypic maturation. Their activation is transient and occurs earlier and more briefly than in cells matured with LPS alone. Despite initially equivalent up-regulation of surface MHC and co-stimulation, the IL-10-treated DCs expressed little IL-12 and failed to stimulate T cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Interaction with IL-10-treated DCs rendered antigen-specific T cells unresponsive to subsequent challenge and their injection reduced the severity of experimental autoimmune disease. Our data suggest that IL-10 acts not by inhibiting maturation but instead by controlling the kinetics and the quality of DC activation. This alternative pathway of DC differentiation offers significant therapeutic promise