665 research outputs found
The Development of a Backyard Composting Project Through Community Engagement
It can be argued that public forums are a valuable and essential tool for Cooperative Extension professionals. This article narrates the innovative use of the public forum action steps outlined in Kahlâs (2016) âA Convenerâs Guide to Hosting a Public Forumâ. The primary objective was to address illegal dumping and littering concerns with the Extension professional\u27s role to engage the community. The resulting âBackyard Composting Projectâ demonstrated that public forums are valuable in creatively engaging urban audiences. Ultimately the authors illustrate how a community concern can be addressed using innovative programming to reach what Extension considers to be non-traditional urban populations
Student Educational Responsibility: ACase Study of Emotional Response to International Education
This study focuses on student emotional reactions toward new events or stimuli within a learner-centered, international education course. Using the primary tenets of appraisal theory, researchers analyzed novel stimuli, as identified by the students, and studentsâ emotional reactions toward each stimulus. Participants were immersed into two separate Scottish island communities for a 22-day period. The primary course objective included students developing leadership skills associated with community development while working with ruralScottish communities.Results indicated that students experienced a wide range of emotions associated with multiple stimuli. Identified stimuli were dichotomized into two categories, the international immersion process as well as the shift in educational responsibility from instructor to student. Emotional magnitude and coping mechanisms differed from student to student. Post international study reflections indicated that students experienced a deeper learning experience when using a learner-centered approach to international education
α-Elapitoxin-Aa2a, a long-chain snake α-neurotoxin with potent actions on muscle (α1)<inf>2</inf>ÎČγΎ nicotinic receptors, lacks the classical high affinity for neuronal α7 nicotinic receptors
In contrast to all classical long-chain α-neurotoxins possessing the critical fifth disulfide bond, α-elapitoxin-Aa2a (α-EPTX-Aa2a), a novel long-chain α-neurotoxin from the common death adder Acanthophis antarcticus, lacks affinity for neuronal α7-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) α-EPTX-Aa2a (8850 Da; 0.1-1 ÎŒM) caused a concentration-dependent inhibition of indirect twitches, and blocked contractures to cholinergic agonists in the isolated chick biventer cervicis nerve-muscle preparation, consistent with a postsynaptic curaremimetic mode of action. α-EPTX-Aa2a (1-10 nM) produced a potent pseudo-irreversible antagonism of chick muscle nAChRs, with an estimated pA2 value of 8.311 ± 0.031, which was not reversed by monovalent death adder antivenom. This is only 2.5-fold less potent than the prototypical long-chain α-neurotoxin, α-bungarotoxin. In contrast, α-EPTX-Aa2a produced complete, but weak, inhibition of 125I-α-bungarotoxin binding to rat hippocampal α7 nAChRs (pKI = 3.670), despite high sequence homology and similar mass to a wide range of long-chain α-neurotoxins. The mostly likely cause for the loss of α7 binding affinity is a leucine substitution, in loop II of α-EPTX-Aa2a, for the highly conserved Arg33 in long-chain α-neurotoxins. Arg 33 has been shown to be critical for both neuronal and muscle activity. Despite this substitution, α-EPTX-Aa2a retains high affinity for muscle (α1)2ÎČγΎ nAChRs. This is probably as a result of an Arg29 residue, previously shown to be critical for muscle (α1)2ÎČγΎ nAChR affinity, and highly conserved across all short-chain, but not long-chain, α-neurotoxins. α-EPTX-Aa2a therefore represents a novel atypical long-chain α-neurotoxin that includes a fifth disulfide but exhibits differential affinity for nAChR subtypes. Copyright © 2010 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Developing a Research Mentorship Program: The American Society of Pediatric Nephrology's Experience
Background: Most pediatric nephrologists work in academia. Mentor-mentee relationships provide support and guidance for successful research career. Mentorship program implementation is valuable in medical fields for providing research opportunities to young faculty.
Methods: The American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ASPN) established a research mentorship program to (a) assist with matching of appropriate mentor-mentee dyads and (b) establish metrics for desirable mentor-mentee outcomes with two independent components: (1) the grants review workshop, a short-term program providing mentor feedback on grant proposals, and (2) the longitudinal program, establishing long-term mentor-mentee relationships. Regular surveys of both mentors and mentees were reviewed to evaluate and refine the program.
Results: Twelve mentees and 17 mentors participated in the grant review workshop and 19 mentees were matched to mentors in the longitudinal program. A review of NIH RePORTER data indicated that since 2014, 13 NIH grants have been awarded. Mentees in the longitudinal program reported that the program helped most with identifying an outside mentor, improving grant research content, and with general career development. Mentors perceived themselves to be most helpful in assisting with overall career plans. Email communications were preferred over phone or face-to-face communications. Mentees endorsed strong interest in staying in touch with their mentors and 100% of mentors expressed their willingness to serve in the future.
Conclusion: This mentorship program was initiated and supported by a relatively small medical society and has shown early success in cultivating mentoring relationships for a future generation of clinician-scientists
Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on the Incidence and Management of OutâofâHospital Cardiac Arrest in Patients Presenting With Acute Myocardial Infarction in England
Background: Studies have reported significant reduction in acute myocardial infarctionârelated hospitalizations during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVIDâ19) pandemic. However, whether these trends are associated with increased incidence of outâofâhospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in this population is unknown. /
Methods and Results: Acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations with OHCA during the COVIDâ19 period (February 1âMay 14, 2020) from the Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project and British Cardiovascular Intervention Society data sets were analyzed. Temporal trends were assessed using Poisson models with equivalent preâCOVIDâ19 period (February 1âMay 14, 2019) as reference. Acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations during COVIDâ19 period were reduced by >50% (n=20 310 versus n=9325). OHCA was more prevalent during the COVIDâ19 period compared with the preâCOVIDâ19 period (5.6% versus 3.6%), with a 56% increase in the incidence of OHCA (incidence rate ratio, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.39â1.74). Patients experiencing OHCA during COVIDâ19 period were likely to be older, likely to be women, likely to be of Asian ethnicity, and more likely to present with STâsegmentâelevation myocardial infarction. The overall rates of invasive coronary angiography (58.4% versus 71.6%; P<0.001) were significantly lower among the OHCA group during COVIDâ19 period with increased time to reperfusion (mean, 2.1 versus 1.1 hours; P=0.05) in those with STâsegmentâelevation myocardial infarction. The adjusted inâhospital mortality probability increased from 27.7% in February 2020 to 35.8% in May 2020 in the COVIDâ19 group (P<.001). /
Conclusions: In this national cohort of hospitalized patients with acute myocardial infarction, we observed a significant increase in incidence of OHCA during COVIDâ19 period paralleled with reduced access to guidelineârecommended care and increased inâhospital mortality
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) pathway activation by quercetin in human lens epithelial cells
Quercetin is a dietary bioflavonoid which has been shown to inhibit lens opacification in a number of models of cataract. The objectives of this study were to determine gene expression changes in human lens epithelial cells in response to quercetin and to investigate in detail the mechanisms underlying the responses. FHL-124 cells were treated with quercetin (10 ”M) and changes in gene expression were measured by microarray. It was found that 65% of the genes with increased expression were regulated by the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) pathway. Quercetin (10 and 30 ”M) induced a time-dependent increase in HIF-1a protein levels. Quercetin (30 ”M) was also responsible for a rapid and long-lasting translocation of HIF-1a from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Activation of HIF-1 signaling by quercetin was confirmed by qRTâPCR which showed upregulation of the HIF-1 regulated genes EPO, VEGF, PGK1 and BNIP3. Analysis of medium taken from FHL-124 cells showed a sustained dose-dependent increase in VEGF secretion following quercetin treatment. The quercetin-induced increase and nuclear translocation of HIF-1a was reversed by addition of excess iron (100 ”M). These results demonstrate that quercetin activates the HIF-1 signaling pathway in human lens epithelial cells
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Multiple wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser arrays using surface-controlled MOCVD growth rate enhancement and reduction
Multiple-wavelength VCSEL and photodetector arrays are useful for wavelength-multiplexed fiberoptic networks, and for optical crosstalk isolation in parallel, free-space interconnects. Multiple wavelength VCSEL arrays have been obtained by varying the growth rate using thermal gradients caused by a backside-patterned substrate, by growth enhancement on a patterned substrate, and by varying the cavity length through anodic oxidation and selective etching of the wafer. We show here for the first time both the enhancement and the reduction of the growth rate of the entire VCSEL structure on a topographically patterned substrate, and demonstrate the controlled variation of the lasing wavelengths of a VCSEL array over an extended spectral range
Implementation of a Renal Precision Medicine Program: Clinician Attitudes and Acceptance
A precision health initiative was implemented across a multi-hospital health system, wherein a panel of genetic variants was tested and utilized in the clinical care of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Pharmacogenomic predictors of antihypertensive response and genomic predictors of CKD were provided to clinicians caring for nephrology patients. To assess clinician knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to act on genetic testing results, a Likert-scale survey was sent to and self-administered by these nephrology providers (N = 76). Most respondents agreed that utilizing pharmacogenomic-guided antihypertensive prescribing is valuable (4.0 ± 0.7 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 indicates strong agreement). However, the respondents also expressed reluctance to use genetic testing for CKD risk stratification due to a perceived lack of supporting evidence (3.2 ± 0.9). Exploratory sub-group analyses associated this reluctance with negative responses to both knowledge and attitude discipline questions, thus suggesting reduced exposure to and comfort with genetic information. Given the evolving nature of genomic implementation in clinical care, further education is warranted to help overcome these perception barriers
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