Reflections On Contributing To “Big Discoveries” About The Fly Clock: Our Fortunate Paths As Post-Docs With 2017 Nobel Laureates Jeff Hall, Michael Rosbash, And Mike Young

In the early 1980s Jeff Hall and Michael Rosbash at Brandeis University and Mike Young at Rockefeller University set out to isolate the period (per) gene, which was recovered in a revolutionary genetic screen by Ron Konopka and Seymour Benzer for mutants that altered circadian behavioral rhythms. Over the next 15 years the Hall, Rosbash and Young labs made a series of groundbreaking discoveries that defined the molecular timekeeping mechanism and formed the basis for them being awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Here the authors recount their experiences as post-docs in the Hall, Rosbash and Young labs from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and provide a perspective of how basic research conducted on a simple model system during that era profoundly influenced the direction of the clocks field and established novel approaches that are now standard operating procedure for studying complex behavior

University Student Beliefs About Sexual Violence in Prison: Rape Myth Acceptance, Punitiveness, and Empathy

Although prison rape has been recognised for years, it began to receive increased attention in the USA following the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). In addition to prevalence and victimisation estimates, several researchers have examined the attitudes of correctional personnel towards prison rape. However, few have surveyed the opinions of those not currently working in the criminal justice system. Drawing from the body of research on rape myths, our goal was to examine prison rape myth acceptance among a university student sample to describe these beliefs, as well as examine attitudinal correlates. The findings indicated that prison rape-supportive beliefs were evident among a minority of the sample and were predicted by general punitiveness and male and female rape myth acceptance. The acceptance of victim-blaming myths identified in this study warrants further investigation. It is possible that educational efforts would be successful in reducing these rape-supportive beliefs

Zippo Case Study: Where Have All The Smokers Gone?

The primary subject of this case concerns Zippo Manufacturing Company, the company famous for its Zippo windproof lighters with their lifetime guarantee and the distinctive “click” when opened.  Today, the company continues to manufacture and sell lighters from its main facility located in Bradford, Pennsylvania.  The company has expanded into the production of high-quality hunting, pocket, and utility knives as a result of the purchase of W.R. Case & Sons and, through a subsidiary, Zippo Fashion Italia S.r.l., it sells leather products.  This case presents an historical development of the firm taking it to its current day position and noting current challenges and future opportunities facing the company.  A secondary issue confronting Zippo involves changes in American culture that have affected this company; more recent issues for Zippo include problems related to the Department of Transportation’s rule governing the shipment of hazardous materials and problems resulting from the manufacture of cheap knockoff lighters being produced in China.  This case was written for use in a Strategic Management class

The Use of On-Line Computer adaptive Testing to raise Standardized Test Scores

Nursing school graduates are under pressure to pass the RN-NCLEX Exam on the first attempt since New York State monitors the results and uses them to evaluate the school’s nursing programs. Since the RN-NCLEX Exam is a standardized test, we sought a method to make our students better test takers. The use of on-line computer adaptive testing has raised our student’s standardized test scores at the end of the nursing course

Parental Distress, Parenting Practices, and Child Adaptive Outcomes Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Moderate and severe pediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are associated with significant familial distress and child adaptive sequelae. Our aim was to examine the relationship between parental psychological distress, parenting practices (authoritarian, permissive, authoritative), and child adaptive functioning 12–36 months following TBI or orthopedic injury (OI). Injury type was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between parental distress and child adaptive functioning, demonstrating a significantly stronger relationship in the TBI relative to OI group. Authoritarian parenting practices were hypothesized to mediate relationship between parental distress and child adaptive functioning across groups. Groups (TBI n=21, OI n=23) did not differ significantly on age at injury, time since injury, sex, race, or SES. Parents completed the Brief Symptom Inventory, Parenting Practices Questionnaire, and Vineland-II. Moderation and mediation hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression and a bootstrapping approach, respectively. Results supported moderation and revealed that higher parental psychological distress was associated with lower child adaptive functioning in the TBI group only. Mediation results indicated that higher parental distress was associated with authoritarian parenting practices and lower adaptive functioning across groups. Results suggest that parenting practices are an important area of focus for studies attempting to elucidate the relationship between parent and child functioning following TBI

Rotator cuff injury in the pediatric population: a systematic review of patient characteristics, treatment, and outcomes

Background: Rotator cuff injuries (RCIs), traditionally thought to be an adult-type pathology, have been reported in the pediatric population, but there remains limited evidence regarding this injury pattern in pediatric patients. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature to characterize the epidemiology, injury patterns, treatment modalities, and outcomes for pediatric patients with RCIs. Methods: A systematic review was performed in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines reviewing Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane, and CINAHL databases. Studies reporting imaging confirmed RCIs and treatment outcomes in patientsdemographics, mechanism, injury type and injury location were recorded. Treatment type and patient outcomes were abstracted when available and summarized with descriptive statistics. Results: Our search identified 28 studies published from 1994-2020 which included 215 total tendons injured in 185 patients. Twenty-six studies were classified as Level IV evidence while only two were Level III. When described, the most injured tendon (n=184) was the supraspinatus while the most described injury type (n=215) was a partial tear. Surgical intervention was pursued in 75.8% of injuries, with arthroscopy being more common than open repair (79.4% vs. 20.6%). Nonoperative treatment was primarily utilized for partial tears. Among the 24 studies reporting on return to sports, nonoperatively managed patients returned later than those treated operatively (mean: 10.7 vs. 7 months). Only 8 studies included Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and just 5 had pre- and post-treatment scores. Three complications were noted, all in operative patients. Conclusion: RCIs in pediatric patients have been reported in the literature with increasing frequency over the last decade, but the quality of evidence remains poor with inconsistent injury descriptions and outcome reporting. Excellent results were seen for all injury types and locations with both operative and nonoperative treatments. The literature for pediatric RCIs remains limited in guiding management decisions indicating a need for more high-quality studies to compare outcomes across injury and treatment type

Principles And Practices Fostering Inclusive Excellence: Lessons From The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Capstone Institutions

Best-practices pedagogy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) aims for inclusive excellence that fosters student persistence. This paper describes principles of inclusivity across 11 primarily undergraduate institutions designated as Capstone Awardees in Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) 2012 competition. The Capstones represent a range of institutional missions, student profiles, and geographical locations. Each successfully directed activities toward persistence of STEM students, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups, through a set of common elements: mentoring programs to build community; research experiences to strengthen scientific skill/identity; attention to quantitative skills; and outreach/bridge programs to broaden the student pool. This paper grounds these program elements in learning theory, emphasizing their essential principles with examples of how they were implemented within institutional contexts. We also describe common assessment approaches that in many cases informed programming and created traction for stakeholder buy-in. The lessons learned from our shared experiences in pursuit of inclusive excellence, including the resources housed on our companion website, can inform others’ efforts to increase access to and persistence in STEM in higher education

The Role Of Cuticular Pheromones In Courtship Conditioning Of Drosophila Males

Courtship conditioning is an associative learning paradigm in Drosophila melanogaster, wherein male courtship behavior is modified by experience with unreceptive, previously mated females. While the training experience with mated females involves multiple sensory and behavioral interactions, we hypothesized that female cuticular hydrocarbons function as a specific chemosensory conditioned stimulus in this learning paradigm. The effects of training with mated females were determined in courtship tests with either wild-type virgin females as courtship targets, or with target flies of different genotypes that express distinct Cuticular hydrocarbon (CH) profiles. Results of tests with female targets that lacked the normal CH profile, and with male targets that expressed typically female CH profiles, indicated that components of this CH profile are both necessary and sufficient cues to elicit the effects of conditioning. Results with additional targets indicated that the female-specific 7,11-dienes, which induce naive males to court, are not essential components of the conditioned Stimulus. Rather, the learned response was significantly correlated with the levels of 9-pentacosene (9-P), a compound found in both males and females of many Drosophila strains and species. Adding 9-P to target flies showed that it stimulates courting males to attempt to copulate, and confirmed its role as a component of the conditioned stimulus by demonstrating dose-dependent increases in the expression of the learned response. Thus, 9-P can contribute significantly to the conditioned Suppression of male courtship toward targets that express this pheromone

Pharmacologic Inhibition of the Anaphase-Promoting Complex Induces A Spindle Checkpoint-Dependent Mitotic Arrest in the Absence of Spindle Damage

SummaryMicrotubule inhibitors are important cancer drugs that induce mitotic arrest by activating the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which, in turn, inhibits the ubiquitin ligase activity of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC). Here, we report a small molecule, tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester (TAME), which binds to the APC and prevents its activation by Cdc20 and Cdh1. A prodrug of TAME arrests cells in metaphase without perturbing the spindle, but nonetheless the arrest is dependent on the SAC. Metaphase arrest induced by a proteasome inhibitor is also SAC dependent, suggesting that APC-dependent proteolysis is required to inactivate the SAC. We propose that mutual antagonism between the APC and the SAC yields a positive feedback loop that amplifies the ability of TAME to induce mitotic arrest