Recruitment and Retention of Childhood Bereavement Center Facilitators

When I first visited FRIENDS Way (the only childhood bereavement center in Rhode Island) to fulfill a class requirement for Honors 119- Loss in the Lives of Children and Adolescents, I realized that I had come across an incredible group of individuals. The facilitators at the center were volunteers; people who gave their time and talent to help grieving children. Many of the children had lost a parent, sibling or grandparent and I thought about how important and special the work of the facilitators is. A number of questions ran through my mind: what makes people want to do this type of work? What do these volunteers have in common with each other? What rewards do they feel this work gives them? While meeting with Professor Carolyn Hames to discuss an honors project on bereavement, I casually mentioned interviewing facilitators. We discussed this idea and my senior honors project, “Recruitment and Retention of Childhood Bereavement Center Facilitators” was born. I developed a questionnaire with seven questions that asks about the participant’s experience as a facilitator, the rewards their volunteer work provides, the qualities facilitators have in common and how a center can increase recruitment and retention. We have received answered questionnaires from facilitators in Australia, Canada, Washington, Texas, Florida, New York and Rhode Island. I first contacted center coordinators, and then sent questionnaires, a letter and informed consent paperwork to each facilitator. They returned the questionnaires and the signed informed consent in separate envelopes, which were separated for confidentiality purposes. I am analyzing the responses by grouping them and looking for similarities. For example, preliminary data suggests that the highest occurring answers for what qualities they felt they and other volunteer facilitators possess were 1) good listening skills, 2) compassion and 3) empathy. Many, but certainly not all of the volunteer facilitators, have chosen to work with children after they suffered a loss in their own lives. Preliminary data also indicates that the most frequently stated reward received for volunteering as a facilitator has been seeing children and their families enter the program “broken” and “feeling hopeless,” and watching them transition to a point where they feel they can smile and laugh again and move on with their lives. I will be relaying the full results of the study to the participating childhood bereavement centers at the conclusion so that they may increase the recruitment and retention of caring volunteer facilitators. I will also be sharing the results to a national audience as the project has been accepted for presentation at the 11th Annual National Symposium for Children’s Grief Support that will be held this June in Birmingham, Alabama

MicroRNA profiling of monocyte to osteoclast differentiation reveals MRNA targets linked to osteoclastogenesis

OBJECTIVES: To investigate differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and predicted target genes over 12 days of osteoclastogenesis. METHODS: Leukophoresed buffy coats were obtained from healthy human donors (N=4) and CD14+ monocytes isolated. Osteoclastogenesis was induced by culturing cells with sRANKL and M-CSF. Freshly isolated monocytes and monocytes cultured with M-CSF alone were utilized as controls. At 4 time points, RNA was isolated and miRNA levels interrogated using microarrays (N=36.) MiRNA-mRNA target interactions for differentially expressed miRNAs were investigated using publically available algorithms. RESULTS: MiRNA profiling revealed conserved and differentially expressed miRNAs; both novel and previously reported in osteoclastogenesis. Several differentially expressed miRNAs shared predicted mRNA targets and given targets were targeted by multiple miRNAs. CONCLUSIONS: MiRNA profiling osteoclastogenesis identified previously associated miRNAs and novel miRNAs not previously described in osteoclast differentiation. In-silico analysis reveals potential mRNA targets serving as candidates for future investigation, with possible future implications in human diseases.Master of Scienc

MiR-142-3p is a RANKL-dependent inducer of cell death in osteoclasts

MicroRNA are small, non-coding, single-stranded RNAs that are estimated to regulate ~60% of the human genome. MiRNA profiling of monocyte-to-osteoclast differentiation identified miR-142-3p as a miRNA that is significantly, differentially expressed throughout osteoclastogenesis. Enforced expression of miR-142-3p via transient transfection with miR-142-3p mimic inhibited cell-to-cell contact and fusion, decreased protein kinase C alpha expression, and ultimately reduced cell viability. miR-142-3p was also identified as significantly differentially expressed during monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation and overexpression of miR-142-3p prevented their conversion to osteoclasts. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of miR-142-3p on osteoclastogenesis extended to the conversion of a third osteoclast precursor cell type- dendritic cells. These results demonstrate miR-142-3p to be a negative regulator of osteoclastogenesis from the 3 main precursor cell types: monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. Importantly, decreased survival was dependent upon both miR-142-3p expression and RANK-signaling, with no harmful effects detected in the absence of this combination. As such, miR-142-3p represents a novel target for the selective removal of osteoclasts by targeting of osteoclastogenic pathways

A map of transcriptional heterogeneity and regulatory variation in human microglia.

Microglia, the tissue-resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), play critical roles in immune defense, development and homeostasis. However, isolating microglia from humans in large numbers is challenging. Here, we profiled gene expression variation in primary human microglia isolated from 141 patients undergoing neurosurgery. Using single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing, we identify how age, sex and clinical pathology influence microglia gene expression and which genetic variants have microglia-specific functions using expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping. We follow up one of our findings using a human induced pluripotent stem cell-based macrophage model to fine-map a candidate causal variant for Alzheimer's disease at the BIN1 locus. Our study provides a population-scale transcriptional map of a critically important cell for human CNS development and disease

Lane to Ballybree

1 score (8 p.) ; 32 cm

Lane to Ballybree

score (8 p.) 32 cm