The Prestige and Effectiveness of the Public Welfare Worker

An empirically-based study was conducted to determine how BSW and MSW social work students differentially assess the relative prestige and effectiveness of public welfare work in relation to the fifteen other social work methods and to ascertain what methods they would ideally like to enter upon graduation from their programs. The study findings point dramatically to a wide discrepancy between the BSW and MSW student\u27s view of the public welfare worker. Not only was the average prestige and effectiveness of welfare work rated significantly higher by the BSW students, but more than five times as many BSW as MSW students indicated a desire to enter welfare work. The implications of these findings are discussed, with particular reference to social work education

The Educational Needs of Social Work Faculty in Medical Schools

Despite a long-standing association and promise for a closer alliance in the future, considerable ambiguity surrounds the current participation of social workers in medical education. A nationwide study was conducted to obtain a comprehensive, up-todate profile of social work faculty employed by medical schools-- their total number, demographic characteristics, department affiliations, primary specialties, methods and content areas of academic instruction, etc. An accompanying study focused on the opinions of medical school Deans concerning the present and future status of social work faculty in medical education. Attention has been given to social work education in relation to health care practice. Another study focused on the role of social work faculty in medical schools. The above studies strongly suggest an increase of recognition and acceptance of the value of social work involvement in medical education. And, if social workers are to practice effectively and efficiently in medical social work settings, we as social work educators and practitioners must know what appropriate knowledge and/or skill areas we should be teaching graduate social work students who desire to become medical social work faculty. We must also know how continuing education programs in graduate schools of social work could help medical social work faculty once employed by medical schools. However, no empirical studies have focused on these two issues. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present the results of an empirically based research project that will shed new data on these issues

Medical Social Work Faculty: Clinicians or Educators?

Within the health care field, medical social work has expanded rapidly over the past few years. In the United States, medical social workers comprise approximately 1.5 percent of the total medical schools\u27 faculty. And, there is empirical evidence that medical social work faculty will increase substantially over the years to come. However, we as social work educators know very little about medical social work facultys\u27 opinions on how they perceive their overall function within medical schools. More specifically, if medical social work faculty are to function effectively in medical settings, we as a profession must know: if they perceive themselves as clinicians or educators; what their involvement is in curriculum development; if they perceive themselves as specialists or generalists; what their professional contacts are outside their departments; and, how they perceive their present respect and credibility within their medical settings. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present the results of an empirically based research project that will shed new data on the above concerns

The Research Component of Doctoral Programs in Social Work: A Survey

The doctoral program in social work has traditionally been viewed as encompassing a predominantly research-oriented, knowledge-building emphasis. It is acknowledged that if social workers are to be prepared to competently understand, utilize, participate in, and produce practice-relevant empirical studies, research must constitute an integral component of the educational process at the doctoral level. The rapid increase in doctoral programs, heightened confusion over the function of the Ph.D. and DSW, current trends to reconceptualize the structure of social work education, and the obvious consequences posed by the progressive erosion of master\u27s-level research curricula, this is an area strongly in need of immediate attention. Few attempts have been made to systematically analyze the development and experiences of social work doctoral training and few (if any) studies have been published that focus on the research component of doctoral programs in social work.1 Thus, the purpose of this article is to present the results of an empirically-based research study that investigates the research objectives, research content, and educational objectives of doctoral programs in social work

The Perceived Effectiveness of Medical Social Work Faculty

Within the health care field, medical social work has expanded rapidly over the past few years (Bracht, 1974). Medical social workers comprise approximately 1.5 percent of the total medical schools\u27 faculty in the United States (Grinnell, Kyte & Hunter, 1976). There is additional evidence that medical social work faculty will increase over the years to come (Grinnell, Kyte, Hunter & Larson, 1976; Crinnell, Kyte & Hunter, 1976; Grinnell & Kyte, 1978b; & Grinnell & Kyte, 1979). Additionally, empirical studies have been conducted that analyzed the functions of social work faculty in medical schools (Grinnell & Kyte, 1978c; Grinnell & Kyte, 1980). However, the above literature has left two important questions unanswered. First, how do social work faculty in medical settings perceive their effectiveness, and second, what educational factors are associated with their perceived effectiveness? Thus, the purpose of this article is to present the results of an empirically based research project that examines these two areas. This information will serve as a valuable bench mark in contributing to the data we now have on the general effectiveness of social workers

Inferring stabilizing mutations from protein phylogenies : application to influenza hemagglutinin

One selection pressure shaping sequence evolution is the requirement that a protein fold with sufficient stability to perform its biological functions. We present a conceptual framework that explains how this requirement causes the probability that a particular amino acid mutation is fixed during evolution to depend on its effect on protein stability. We mathematically formalize this framework to develop a Bayesian approach for inferring the stability effects of individual mutations from homologous protein sequences of known phylogeny. This approach is able to predict published experimentally measured mutational stability effects (ΔΔG values) with an accuracy that exceeds both a state-of-the-art physicochemical modeling program and the sequence-based consensus approach. As a further test, we use our phylogenetic inference approach to predict stabilizing mutations to influenza hemagglutinin. We introduce these mutations into a temperature-sensitive influenza virus with a defect in its hemagglutinin gene and experimentally demonstrate that some of the mutations allow the virus to grow at higher temperatures. Our work therefore describes a powerful new approach for predicting stabilizing mutations that can be successfully applied even to large, complex proteins such as hemagglutinin. This approach also makes a mathematical link between phylogenetics and experimentally measurable protein properties, potentially paving the way for more accurate analyses of molecular evolution

Minimization of Biosynthetic Costs in Adaptive Gene Expression Responses of Yeast to Environmental Changes

Yeast successfully adapts to an environmental stress by altering physiology and fine-tuning metabolism. This fine-tuning is achieved through regulation of both gene expression and protein activity, and it is shaped by various physiological requirements. Such requirements impose a sustained evolutionary pressure that ultimately selects a specific gene expression profile, generating a suitable adaptive response to each environmental change. Although some of the requirements are stress specific, it is likely that others are common to various situations. We hypothesize that an evolutionary pressure for minimizing biosynthetic costs might have left signatures in the physicochemical properties of proteins whose gene expression is fine-tuned during adaptive responses. To test this hypothesis we analyze existing yeast transcriptomic data for such responses and investigate how several properties of proteins correlate to changes in gene expression. Our results reveal signatures that are consistent with a selective pressure for economy in protein synthesis during adaptive response of yeast to various types of stress. These signatures differentiate two groups of adaptive responses with respect to how cells manage expenditure in protein biosynthesis. In one group, significant trends towards downregulation of large proteins and upregulation of small ones are observed. In the other group we find no such trends. These results are consistent with resource limitation being important in the evolution of the first group of stress responses

Bioinformatic Characterization of P-Type ATPases Encoded Within the Fully Sequenced Genomes of 26 Eukaryotes

P-type ATPases play essential roles in numerous processes, which in humans include nerve impulse propagation, relaxation of muscle fibers, secretion and absorption in the kidney, acidification of the stomach and nutrient absorption in the intestine. Published evidence suggests that uncharacterized families of P-type ATPases with novel specificities exist. In this study, the fully sequenced genomes of 26 eukaryotes, including animals, plants, fungi and unicellular eukaryotes, were analyzed for P-type ATPases. We report the organismal distributions, phylogenetic relationships, probable topologies and conserved motifs of nine functionally characterized families and 13 uncharacterized families of these enzyme transporters. We have classified these proteins according to the conventions of the functional and phylogenetic IUBMB-approved transporter classification system (www.tcdb.org, Saier et al. in Nucleic Acids Res 34:181–186, 2006; Nucleic Acids Res 37:274–278, 2009)

DH and JH usage in murine fetal liver mirrors that of human fetal liver

In mouse and human, the regulated development of antibody repertoire diversity during ontogeny proceeds in parallel with the development of the ability to generate antibodies to an array of specific antigens. Compared to adult, the human fetal antibody repertoire limits N addition and uses specifically positioned VDJ gene segments more frequently, including V6-1 the most DH-proximal VH, DQ52, the most JH-proximal DH, and JH2, which is DH-proximal. The murine fetal antibody repertoire also limits the incorporation of N nucleotides and uses its most DH proximal VH, VH81X, more frequently. To test whether DH and JH also follow the pattern observed in human, we used the scheme of Hardy to sort B lineage cells from BALB/c fetal and neonatal liver, RT-PCR cloned and sequenced VH7183-containing VDJCμ transcripts, and then assessed VH7183-DH-JH and complementary determining region 3 of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (CDR-H3) content in comparison to the previously studied adult BALB/c mouse repertoire. Due to the deficiency in N nucleotide addition, perinatal CDR-H3s manifested a distinct pattern of amino acid usage and predicted loop structures. As in the case of adult bone marrow, we observed a focusing of CDR-H3 length and CDR-H3 loop hydrophobicity, especially in the transition from the early to late pre-B cell stage, a developmental checkpoint associated with expression of the pre-B cell receptor. However, fetal liver usage of JH-proximal DHQ52 and DH-proximal JH2 was markedly greater than that of adult bone marrow. Thus, the early pattern of DH and JH usage in mouse feta liver mirrors that of human