You See, I See, We All See UC

A 21 year old male with a six month history of biopsy-proven ulcerative colitis presented to Henry Ford with worsening abdominal pain and rectal bleeding despite steroid therapy. Upon CT evaluation, the patient was found to have a significant mass of the descending colon. Biopsy was completed and showed EBV+ B-cell lymphoma. The patient’s clinical course was complicated by bowel perforation, but he was ultimately able to receive chemotherapy and treatment.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2020caserpt/1062/thumbnail.jp

A Quantitative Investigation of the Relationship between Technology Transfer Outreach Programs and Innovation Output at U.S. Research Universities

University administrators regard technology transfer as their "Third Mission," because they benefit from more than a billion dollars in annual revenue stream through technology transfer operations. Technology transfer (TT) is the process by which research intensive universities transfer scientific innovations from an academic institution to companies and receive financial compensations. Although innovator engagement is a critical step towards encouraging innovation output, universities have not paid much attention to outreach programs. While a large body of literature has focused on downstream value-creation of commercialization, it has neglected to investigate the upstream innovation-creation process resulting in limited insights. The purpose of this research study was to build upon work engagement theory and multi-perspective models to investigate the relationship between TT outreach programs and innovation output at U.S. research universities. The research design included a quantitative internet survey method involving 163 U.S. research universities and 223 innovators. Data from the survey were analyzed using inferential statistics and IBM SPSS quantitative software to investigate the relationship and explore innovator engagement phenomenon. By identifying preferred training programs and communication channels, recognition and reward systems, and innovation output, this study aims to inform and guide university officials on effective outreach programs preferred from the perspectives of innovators and TT professionals. The findings indicated innovation output is associated with TT outreach programs. Experienced innovators preferred one-on-one interactions with TT offices to address their specific concerns and utilized up-to-date websites with searchable database at their conveniences. Innovators also expressed time constraint to innovate. Although TTOs recognized face-to-face interaction is an effective channel, budget constraint to have enough work force to manage such interactions is a challenge. Both innovators and TTOs indicated university administrators needed to include TT activities in the promotion and tenure consideration. In conclusion, outreach programs have the potential to increase innovation output for novice innovators that include students. University administrators should consider faculty's technology transfer accomplishments as academic achievements and allow time for faculty to innovate.Ed.D., Educational Leadership and Management -- Drexel University, 201

The AFF4 scaffold binds human P-TEFb adjacent to HIV Tat.

Human positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) phosphorylates RNA polymerase II and regulatory proteins to trigger elongation of many gene transcripts. The HIV-1 Tat protein selectively recruits P-TEFb as part of a super elongation complex (SEC) organized on a flexible AFF1 or AFF4 scaffold. To understand this specificity and determine if scaffold binding alters P-TEFb conformation, we determined the structure of a tripartite complex containing the recognition regions of P-TEFb and AFF4. AFF4 meanders over the surface of the P-TEFb cyclin T1 (CycT1) subunit but makes no stable contacts with the CDK9 kinase subunit. Interface mutations reduced CycT1 binding and AFF4-dependent transcription. AFF4 is positioned to make unexpected direct contacts with HIV Tat, and Tat enhances P-TEFb affinity for AFF4. These studies define the mechanism of scaffold recognition by P-TEFb and reveal an unanticipated intersubunit pocket on the AFF4 SEC that potentially represents a target for therapeutic intervention against HIV/AIDS. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00327.001

Temporary microglia-depletion after cosmic radiation modifies phagocytic activity and prevents cognitive deficits.

Microglia are the main immune component in the brain that can regulate neuronal health and synapse function. Exposure to cosmic radiation can cause long-term cognitive impairments in rodent models thereby presenting potential obstacles for astronauts engaged in deep space travel. The mechanism/s for how cosmic radiation induces cognitive deficits are currently unknown. We find that temporary microglia depletion, one week after cosmic radiation, prevents the development of long-term memory deficits. Gene array profiling reveals that acute microglia depletion alters the late neuroinflammatory response to cosmic radiation. The repopulated microglia present a modified functional phenotype with reduced expression of scavenger receptors, lysosome membrane protein and complement receptor, all shown to be involved in microglia-synapses interaction. The lower phagocytic activity observed in the repopulated microglia is paralleled by improved synaptic protein expression. Our data provide mechanistic evidence for the role of microglia in the development of cognitive deficits after cosmic radiation exposure

CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e-Fixing One-Carbon Metabolism in a Cellulose-Degrading Bacterium \u3cem\u3eClostridium thermocellum\u3c/em\u3e

Clostridium thermocellum can ferment cellulosic biomass to formate and other end products, including CO2. This organism lacks formate dehydrogenase (Fdh), which catalyzes the reduction of CO2 to formate. However, feeding the bacterium 13C-bicarbonate and cellobiose followed by NMR analysis showed the production of 13C-formate in C. thermocellum culture, indicating the presence of an uncharacterized pathway capable of converting CO2 to formate. Combining genomic and experimental data, we demonstrated that the conversion of CO2 to formate serves as a CO2 entry point into the reductive one-carbon (C1) metabolism, and internalizes CO2 via two biochemical reactions: the reversed pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase (rPFOR), which incorporates CO2 using acetyl-CoA as a substrate and generates pyruvate, and pyruvate- formate lyase (PFL) converting pyruvate to formate and acetyl-CoA. We analyzed the labeling patterns of proteinogenic amino acids in individual deletions of all five putative PFOR mutants and in a PFL deletion mutant. We identified two enzymes acting as rPFOR, confirmed the dual activities of rPFOR and PFL crucial for CO2 uptake, and provided physical evidence of a distinct in vivo “rPFOR-PFL shunt” to reduce CO2 to formate while circumventing the lack of Fdh. Such a pathway precedes CO2 fixation via the reductive C1 metabolic pathway in C. thermocellum. These findings demonstrated the metabolic versatility of C. thermocellum, which is thought of as primarily a cellulosic heterotroph but is shown here to be endowed with the ability to fix CO2 as well

Parkin Mediates Apparent E2-Independent Monoubiquitination In Vitro and Contains an Intrinsic Activity That Catalyzes Polyubiquitination

10.1371/journal.pone.0019720PLoS ONE65

Medical Student Perspectives on Opioid Use Disorders: An Innovative MAT Waiver Training Integration during IM Clerkships

The opioid epidemic in the US has become a major issue in healthcare. In 2017, there was an estimated 72,306 drug overdose related deaths and Emergency Departments (ED) nationally saw a 30% increase in opioid related overdoses. Innovative programs can help ensure patients are offered optimal treatment options. Most primary care physicians self-report they lack the skills to identify and appropriately treat substance abuse disorders (SUDs). Studies have suggested that the best solution is to improve medical school curricula, which translates to better educated future physicians. Unfortunately, due to timing and exposure constraints, most medical school programs do not provide the necessary information to successfully manage and treat SUDs in practice. To prescribe buprenorphine, an 8-hour Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) training must be completed. Only 35,604 of the approximate 800,000 US physicians (\u3c3%) are registered to prescribe buprenorphine. We implemented an innovative approach to provide students with the skills to understand how to prescribe buprenorphine and build confidence to medically manage opioid use disorders in the future. By completing the training students will be eligible for a their MAT waiver upon obtaining their permanent license. Prior to integrating the training into the internal medicine clerkship, a preliminary study similar in nature was performed that focused on first and second year medical students perspectives. The results were analyzed and presented, and based on the positive results of the study, it was decided to implement the study into the internal medicine clerkship during the third year of medical school

Author Correction: Temporary microglia-depletion after cosmic radiation modifies phagocytic activity and prevents cognitive deficits.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper