Function of the Signal Peptide and N- and C-terminal Propeptides in the Leucine Aminopeptidase from \u3cem\u3eAeromonas proteolytica\u3c/em\u3e

The leucine aminopeptidase from Aeromonas proteolytica (also known as Vibrio proteolyticus) (AAP) is a metalloenzyme with broad substrate specificity. The open reading frame (ORF) for AAP encodes a 54 kDa enzyme, however, the extracellular enzyme has a molecular weight of 43 kDa. This form of AAP is further processed to a mature, thermostable 32 kDa form but the exact nature of this process is unknown. Over-expression of different forms of AAP in Escherichia coli (with AAP\u27s native leader sequence, with and without the N- and/or C-terminal propeptides, and as fusion protein) has allowed a model for the processing of wild-type AAP to be proposed. The role of the A. proteolytica signal peptide in protein secretion as well as comparison to other known signal peptides reveals a close resemblance of the A. proteolytica signal peptide to the outer membrane protein (OmpA) signal peptide. Over-expression of the full 54 kDa AAP enzyme provides an enzyme that is significantly less active, due to a cooperative inhibitory interaction between both propeptides. Over-expression of AAP lacking its C-terminal propeptide provided an enzyme with an identical kcat value to wild-type AAP but exhibited a larger Km value, suggesting competitive inhibition of AAP by the N-terminal propeptide (Ki∼0.13 nM). The recombinant 32 kDa form of AAP was characterized by kinetic and spectroscopic methods and was shown to be identical to mature, wild-type AAP. Therefore, the ease of purification and processing of rAAP along with the fact that large quantities can be obtained now allow new detailed mechanistic studies to be performed on AAP through site-directed mutagenesis

Connections Impact on Student Persistence: Impact Report Spring 2015 to Fall 2018

Connections is Utah State University\u27s (USU) first-year seminary. A primary objective of Connections is student persistence. It is designed to help students become learners. While being a learner is not synonymous with being a college student, it aligns students’ expectations with what is required to succeed in college and at USU. This impact report explores the influence of Connections participation on student persistence to the next term. Participation in Connections is associated with a 1.4% increase in persistence to the next term. The positive impact of Connections is increasing with strategic programmatic changes

Strategies for Study of Neuroprotection from Cold-preconditioning

Neurological injury is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality from general anesthesia and related surgical procedures that could be alleviated by development of effective, easy to administer and safe preconditioning treatments. We seek to define the neural immune signaling responsible for cold-preconditioning as means to identify novel targets for therapeutics development to protect brain before injury onset. Low-level pro-inflammatory mediator signaling changes over time are essential for cold-preconditioning neuroprotection. This signaling is consistent with the basic tenets of physiological conditioning hormesis, which require that irritative stimuli reach a threshold magnitude with sufficient time for adaptation to the stimuli for protection to become evident

Evidence of public engagement with science: visitor learning at a zoo-housed primate research centre

Primate behavioural and cognitive research is increasingly conducted on direct public view in zoo settings. The potential of such facilities for public engagement with science is often heralded, but evidence of tangible, positive effects on public understanding is rare. Here, the effect of a new zoo-based primate research centre on visitor behaviour, learning and attitudes was assessed using a quasi-experimental design. Zoo visitors approached the primate research centre more often when a scientist was present and working with the primates, and reported greater awareness of primates (including conservation) compared to when the scientist was not present. Visitors also reported greater perceived learning when the scientist was present. Installation of information signage had no main effect on visitor attitudes or learning. Visitors who interacted with the signage, however, demonstrated increased knowledge and understanding when asked about the specific information present on the signs (which was related to the ongoing facial expression research at the research centre). The findings show that primate behaviour research centres on public view can have a demonstrable and beneficial effect on public understanding of science

Aggie First Scholars: A Quality Workforce Initiative for Promoting First-Generation Student Success

Introduction: First-generation students lag behind continuing-generation peers in terms of graduation rates and average time to graduation. This phenomenon has been extensively studied in higher education with the intent of closing the gap seen between generational statuses. Utah State University provides services to support first-generation students. In the 2018/2019 academic year, USU initiative a full-kit initiative to help first-generation student participate in several proven first-year student milestones. This report explores the impact of full-kit use of services and the individual impact of each service on first-generation student persistence. METHODS: Students who self-identified as first-generation on their USU application were invited to participate in the Aggie First Scholars (AFS) program. AFS was developed to support first-generation students during their first academic year through peer mentoring. The program developed a full-kit of services believed to support first-year success. These programs included Complete a FAFSA Meet with an advisor Initiate a degree plan Participate in Connections Complete orientation modules Additionally, students could have one-on-one or group meetings with a mentor. Students level of participation in the various programs was assessed for its impact on student persistence. AFS students were compared to similar students through prediction-based propensity score matching. This technique matched participating students with non-participants based on their persistence prediction and their propensity to participate. The differences between predicted and actual persistence rates were compared using difference-in-difference testing. FINDINGS: Students who participated in at least 4 of the AFS full-kit services were more likely to persist to the next term. Peer mentoring emerged as a significant single milestone for first-generation students

Modeling Neural Immune Signaling of Episodic and Chronic Migraine Using Spreading Depression In Vitro

Migraine and its transformation to chronic migraine are healthcare burdens in need of improved treatment options. We seek to define how neural immune signaling modulates the susceptibility to migraine, modeled in vitro using spreading depression (SD), as a means to develop novel therapeutic targets for episodic and chronic migraine. SD is the likely cause of migraine aura and migraine pain. It is a paroxysmal loss of neuronal function triggered by initially increased neuronal activity, which slowly propagates within susceptible brain regions. Normal brain function is exquisitely sensitive to, and relies on, coincident low-level immune signaling. Thus, neural immune signaling likely affects electrical activity of SD, and therefore migraine. Pain perception studies of SD in whole animals are fraught with difficulties, but whole animals are well suited to examine systems biology aspects of migraine since SD activates trigeminal nociceptive pathways. However, whole animal studies alone cannot be used to decipher the cellular and neural circuit mechanisms of SD. Instead, in vitro preparations where environmental conditions can be controlled are necessary. Here, it is important to recognize limitations of acute slices and distinct advantages of hippocampal slice cultures. Acute brain slices cannot reveal subtle changes in immune signaling since preparing the slices alone triggers: pro-inflammatory changes that last days, epileptiform behavior due to high levels of oxygen tension needed to vitalize the slices, and irreversible cell injury at anoxic slice centers

Satellite detection of dinoflagellate blooms off California by UV reflectance ratios

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Kahru, M., Anderson, C., Barton, A. D., Carter, M. L., Catlett, D., Send, U., Sosik, H. M., Weiss, E. L., & Mitchell, B. G. Satellite detection of dinoflagellate blooms off California by UV reflectance ratios. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9(1), (2021): 00157, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00157.As harmful algae blooms are increasing in frequency and magnitude, one goal of a new generation of higher spectral resolution satellite missions is to improve the potential of satellite optical data to monitor these events. A satellite-based algorithm proposed over two decades ago was used for the first time to monitor the extent and temporal evolution of a massive bloom of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedra off Southern California during April and May 2020. The algorithm uses ultraviolet (UV) data that have only recently become available from the single ocean color sensor on the Japanese GCOM-C satellite. Dinoflagellates contain high concentrations of mycosporine-like amino acids and release colored dissolved organic matter, both of which absorb strongly in the UV part of the spectrum. Ratios 1, consistent with historical observations showing a sharp transition from dinoflagellate- to diatom-dominated waters in these areas. UV bands are thus potentially useful in the remote sensing of phytoplankton blooms but are currently available only from a single ocean color sensor. As several new satellites such as the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and marine Ecosystem mission will include UV bands, new algorithms using these bands are needed to enable better monitoring of blooms, especially potentially harmful algal blooms, across large spatiotemporal scales.Part of this work was funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to the CCE-LTER Program, most recently OCE-1637632. Processing of Second-Generation Global Imager satellite data was funded by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Data shown in Figure 1 were collected by BGM and MK with support from the NASA SIMBIOS project. DC was supported by the NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting Program (Grant NNX14AR62A), the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management Ecosystem Studies Program (BOEM award MC15AC00006), and the NOAA through the Santa Barbara Channel Marine Biodiversity Observation Network. HMS was supported by NSF (Grant OCE-1810927) and the Simons Foundation (Grant 561126). ELW was supported by NSF GRFP (Grant DGE-1650112). Funding for Scripps and Santa Monica Piers sampling was through the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring Program by NOAA NA16NOS0120022

Reports of Negative Interactions with Healthcare Providers among Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender-Expansive People assigned Female at Birth in the United States: Results from an Online, Cross-Sectional Survey

Over one million people in the United States are transgender, nonbinary, or gender expansive (TGE). TGE individuals, particularly those who have pursued gender-affirming care, often need to disclose their identities in the process of seeking healthcare. Unfortunately, TGE individuals often report negative experiences with healthcare providers (HCPs). We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of 1684 TGE people assigned female or intersex at birth in the United States to evaluate the quality of their healthcare experiences. Most respondents (70.1%, n = 1180) reported at least one negative interaction with an HCP in the past year, ranging from an unsolicited harmful opinion about gender identity to physical attacks and abuse. In an adjusted logistic regression model, those who had pursued gender-affirming medical care (51.9% of the sample, n = 874) had 8.1 times the odds (95% CI: 4.1-17.1) of reporting any negative interaction with an HCP in the past year, compared to those who had not pursued gender-affirming care, and tended to report a higher number of such negative interactions. These findings suggest that HCPs are failing to create safe, high-quality care interactions for TGE populations. Improving care quality and reducing bias is crucial for improving the health and well-being of TGE people

Decoding information in the human hippocampus: a user's guide

Multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), or 'decoding', of fMRI activity has gained popularity in the neuroimaging community in recent years. MVPA differs from standard fMRI analyses by focusing on whether information relating to specific stimuli is encoded in patterns of activity across multiple voxels. If a stimulus can be predicted, or decoded, solely from the pattern of fMRI activity, it must mean there is information about that stimulus represented in the brain region where the pattern across voxels was identified. This ability to examine the representation of information relating to specific stimuli (e.g., memories) in particular brain areas makes MVPA an especially suitable method for investigating memory representations in brain structures such as the hippocampus. This approach could open up new opportunities to examine hippocampal representations in terms of their content, and how they might change over time, with aging, and pathology. Here we consider published MVPA studies that specifically focused on the hippocampus, and use them to illustrate the kinds of novel questions that can be addressed using MVPA. We then discuss some of the conceptual and methodological challenges that can arise when implementing MVPA in this context. Overall, we hope to highlight the potential utility of MVPA, when appropriately deployed, and provide some initial guidance to those considering MVPA as a means to investigate the hippocampus

Submarine volcanic morphology of the western Galapagos based on EM300 bathymetry and MR1 side-scan sonar

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 8 (2007): Q03010, doi:10.1029/2006GC001464.A compilation of high-resolution EM300 multibeam bathymetric and existing MR1 side-scan sonar data was used to investigate the volcanic morphology of the flanks of the western Galápagos Islands. The data portray an assortment of constructional volcanic features on the shallow to deep submarine flanks of Fernandina, Isabela, and Santiago Islands, including rift zones and groups of cones that are considered to be the primary elements in constructing the archipelagic apron. Ten submarine rift zones were mapped, ranging in length from 5 to 20 km, comparable in length to western Canary Island rift zones but significantly shorter than Hawaiian submarine rift zones. A detailed analysis of the northwestern Fernandina submarine rift, including calculated magnetization from a surface-towed magnetic study, suggests that the most recent volcanism has focused at the shallow end of the rift. Small submarine volcanic cones with various morphologies (e.g., pointed, cratered, and occasionally breached) are common in the submarine western Galápagos both on rift zones and on the island flanks where no rifts are present. At depths greater than ∼3000 m, large lava flow fields in regions of low bathymetric relief have been previously identified as a common seafloor feature in the western Galápagos by Geist et al. (2006); however, their source(s) remained enigmatic. The new EM300 data show that a number of the deep lava flows originate from small cones along the mid-lower portion of the NW submarine rift of Fernandina, suggesting that the deep flows owe their origin, at least in part, to submarine rift zone volcanism.Data collected on TN188 was funded by NSF grant OCE0326148 and NOAA grant NA04OAR460009 to S.M.W. Support for data collected on previous multibeam and MR1 cruises was provided by NSF grants OCE9811504 and OCE0002461 (D.J.F.)