A model of mentorship for students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM

Mentorship is critical to student academic success and persistence, especially for students from historically underrepresented (HU) groups. In a program designed to support the academic success of HU undergraduates in STEM who wish to pursue a PhD in those fields, students experience comprehensive support including financial aid, highly-engaged mentoring, dual faculty mentorship, professional development workshops, and summer research experiences. Scholars in this program, the Cal-Bridge program, consistently report that faculty mentorship is the most impactful feature. While mentorship was rated highly, preliminary evaluation indicated an early deficit in a sense of community among scholars. In response, faculty professional development and support for peer networking were implemented to expand and enhance the relationships that support scholar success. Here we present a promising multifaceted model of mentorship that can support the academic success of HU undergraduates.Comment: Submitted to Understanding Interventions. 23 pages. 4 figures. Comments welcome

Expenditure, Coping, and Academic Behaviors Among Food-Insecure College Students at 10 Higher Education Institutes in the Appalachian and Southeastern Regions

Background A number of studies have measured college student food insecurity prevalence higher than the national average; however, no multicampus regional study among students at 4-y institutions has been undertaken in the Appalachian and Southeast regions of the United States. Objectives The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of food insecurity among college students in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, and to determine the association between food-insecurity status and money expenditures, coping strategies, and academic performance among a regional sample of college students. Methods This regional, cross-sectional, online survey study included 13,642 college students at 10 public universities. Food-insecurity status was measured through the use of the USDA Adult Food Security Survey. The outcomes were associations between food insecurity and behaviors determined with the use of the money expenditure scale (MES), the coping strategy scale (CSS), and the academic progress scale (APS). A forward-selection logistic regression model was used with all variables significant from individual Pearson chi-square and Wilcoxon analyses. The significance criterion α for all tests was 0.05. Results The prevalence of food insecurity at the universities ranged from 22.4% to 51.8% with an average prevalence of 30.5% for the full sample. From the forward-selection logistic regression model, MES (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.40, 1.55), CSS (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.21), and APS (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91, 0.99) scores remained significant predictors of food insecurity. Grade point average, academic year, health, race/ethnicity, financial aid, cooking frequency, and health insurance also remained significant predictors of food security status. Conclusions Food insecurity prevalence was higher than the national average. Food-insecure college students were more likely to display high money expenditures and exhibit coping behaviors, and to have poor academic performance

Expenditure, Coping, and Academic Behaviors Among Food-Insecure College Students at 10 Higher Education Institutes in the Appalachian and Southeastern Regions

Background A number of studies have measured college student food insecurity prevalence higher than the national average; however, no multicampus regional study among students at 4-y institutions has been undertaken in the Appalachian and Southeast regions of the United States. Objectives The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of food insecurity among college students in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, and to determine the association between food-insecurity status and money expenditures, coping strategies, and academic performance among a regional sample of college students. Methods This regional, cross-sectional, online survey study included 13,642 college students at 10 public universities. Food-insecurity status was measured through the use of the USDA Adult Food Security Survey. The outcomes were associations between food insecurity and behaviors determined with the use of the money expenditure scale (MES), the coping strategy scale (CSS), and the academic progress scale (APS). A forward-selection logistic regression model was used with all variables significant from individual Pearson chi-square and Wilcoxon analyses. The significance criterion α for all tests was 0.05. Results The prevalence of food insecurity at the universities ranged from 22.4% to 51.8% with an average prevalence of 30.5% for the full sample. From the forward-selection logistic regression model, MES (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.40, 1.55), CSS (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.21), and APS (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91, 0.99) scores remained significant predictors of food insecurity. Grade point average, academic year, health, race/ethnicity, financial aid, cooking frequency, and health insurance also remained significant predictors of food security status. Conclusions Food insecurity prevalence was higher than the national average. Food-insecure college students were more likely to display high money expenditures and exhibit coping behaviors, and to have poor academic performance

The Lick AGN Monitoring Project: Alternate Routes to a Broad-line Region Radius

It is now possible to estimate black hole masses across cosmic time, using broad emission lines in active galaxies. This technique informs our views of how galaxies and their central black holes coevolve. Unfortunately, there are many outstanding uncertainties associated with these "virial" mass estimates. One of these comes from using the accretion luminosity to infer a size for the broad-line region. Incorporating the new sample of low-luminosity active galaxies from our recent monitoring campaign at Lick Observatory, we recalibrate the radius-luminosity relation with tracers of the accretion luminosity other than the optical continuum. We find that the radius of the broad-line region scales as the square root of the X-ray and Hbeta luminosities, in agreement with recent optical studies. On the other hand, the scaling appears to be marginally steeper with narrow-line luminosities. This is consistent with a previously observed decrease in the ratio of narrow-line to X-ray luminosity with increasing total luminosity. The radius of the broad-line region correlates most tightly with Hbeta luminosity, while the X-ray and narrow-line relations both have comparable scatter of a factor of two. These correlations provide useful alternative virial BH masses in objects with no detectable optical/UV continuum emission, such as high-redshift galaxies with broad emission lines, radio-loud objects, or local active galaxies with galaxy-dominated continua.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Ap

Measuring the mass of the central black hole in the bulgeless galaxy ngc 4395 from gas dynamical modeling

NGC 4395 is a bulgeless spiral galaxy, harboring one of the nearest known type 1 Seyfert nuclei. Although there is no consensus on the mass of its central engine, several estimates suggest it is one of the lightest massive black holes (MBHs) known. We present the first direct dynamical measurement of the mass of this MBH from a combination of two-dimensional gas kinematic data, obtained with the adaptive optics assisted near-infrared integral field spectrograph Gemini/NIFS and high-resolution multiband photometric data from Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3. We use the photometric data to model the shape and stellar mass-to-light ratio of the nuclear star cluster (NSC). From the Gemini/NIFS observations, we derive the kinematics of warm molecular hydrogen gas as traced by emission through the H2 1–0 S(1) transition. These kinematics show a clear rotational signal, with a position angle orthogonal to NGC 4395's radio jet. Our best-fitting tilted ring models of the kinematics of the molecular hydrogen gas contain a black hole with mass M={4}-3+8× {10}5 M⊙ (3σ uncertainties) embedded in an NSC of mass M=2× {10}6 M⊙. Our black hole mass measurement is in excellent agreement with the reverberation mapping mass estimate of Peterson et al. but shows some tension with other mass measurement methods based on accretion signals

4th Biennial Employment Law Institute

Materials from the 4th Biennial Employment Law Institute held by UK/CLE in June 1994

What Does the Geometry of the HβBLR Depend On?

We combine our dynamical modeling black-hole mass measurements from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 sample with measured cross-correlation time lags and line widths to recover individual scale factors, f, used in traditional reverberation-mapping analyses. We extend our sample by including prior results from Code for AGN Reverberation and Modeling of Emission Lines (CARAMEL) studies that have utilized our methods. Aiming to improve the precision of black-hole mass estimates, as well as uncover any regularities in the behavior of the broad-line region (BLR), we search for correlations between f and other AGN/BLR parameters. We find (i) evidence for a correlation between the virial coefficient log10(fmean,σ) and black-hole mass, (ii) marginal evidence for a similar correlation between log10( frms,σ) and black-hole mass, (iii) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of BLR disk thickness with log10( fmean,FWHM) and log10( frms,FWHM), and (iv) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of inclination angle with log10( fmean,FWHM), log10( frms,σ), and log10( fmean,σ). Last, we find marginal evidence for a correlation between line-profile shape, when using the root-mean-square spectrum, log10(FWHM/σ)rms, and the virial coefficient, log10( frms,σ), and investigate how BLR properties might be related to line-profile shape using CARAMEL models

Stillbirth With Group B Streptococcus Disease Worldwide: Systematic Review and Meta-analyses.

Background: There are an estimated 2.6 million stillbirths each year, many of which are due to infections, especially in low- and middle-income contexts. This paper, the eighth in a series on the burden of group B streptococcal (GBS) disease, aims to estimate the percentage of stillbirths associated with GBS disease. Methods: We conducted systematic literature reviews (PubMed/Medline, Embase, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde, World Health Organization Library Information System, and Scopus) and sought unpublished data from investigator groups. Studies were included if they reported original data on stillbirths (predominantly ≥28 weeks' gestation or ≥1000 g, with GBS isolated from a sterile site) as a percentage of total stillbirths. We did meta-analyses to derive pooled estimates of the percentage of GBS-associated stillbirths, regionally and worldwide for recent datasets. Results: We included 14 studies from any period, 5 with recent data (after 2000). There were no data from Asia. We estimated that 1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0-2%) of all stillbirths in developed countries and 4% (95% CI, 2%-6%) in Africa were associated with GBS. Conclusions: GBS is likely an important cause of stillbirth, especially in Africa. However, data are limited in terms of geographic spread, with no data from Asia, and cases worldwide are probably underestimated due to incomplete case ascertainment. More data, using standardized, systematic methods, are critical, particularly from low- and middle-income contexts where the highest burden of stillbirths occurs. These data are essential to inform interventions, such as maternal GBS vaccination

CD155/PVR plays a key role in cell motility during tumor cell invasion and migration

BACKGROUND: Invasion is an important early step of cancer metastasis that is not well understood. Developing therapeutics to limit metastasis requires the identification and validation of candidate proteins necessary for invasion and migration. METHODS: We developed a functional proteomic screen to identify mediators of tumor cell invasion. This screen couples Fluorophore Assisted Light Inactivation (FALI) to a scFv antibody library to systematically inactivate surface proteins expressed by human fibrosarcoma cells followed by a high-throughput assessment of transwell invasion. RESULTS: Using this screen, we have identified CD155 (the poliovirus receptor) as a mediator of tumor cell invasion through its role in migration. Knockdown of CD155 by FALI or by RNAi resulted in a significant decrease in transwell migration of HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells towards a serum chemoattractant. CD155 was found to be highly expressed in multiple cancer cell lines and primary tumors including glioblastoma (GBM). Knockdown of CD155 also decreased migration of U87MG GBM cells. CD155 is recruited to the leading edge of migrating cells where it colocalizes with actin and αv-integrin, known mediators of motility and adhesion. Knockdown of CD155 also altered cellular morphology, resulting in cells that were larger and more elongated than controls when plated on a Matrigel substrate. CONCLUSION: These results implicate a role for CD155 in mediating tumor cell invasion and migration and suggest that CD155 may contribute to tumorigenesis