Faculty accountability and faculty workload: A preliminary cost analysis of their relationship as revealed by PhD productivity

General concerns for faculty accountability are examined in the context of faculty workload and costs. Graduating a PhD student is used as the unit for analysis. The unit is compared to instructional productivity. The data came from a 10-year interval at a major graduate university. Six liberal arts departments with a 225-member faculty provide the PhD output and workload information. Work equivalents are determined from institutional and faculty self-reports. Graduating a PhD is found to be equivalent to one-third of a full workload. Implications are given for comparisons between programs within a university and between types of institutions in the larger system of higher education. Concerns also emerge for improved personnel practices with respect to faculty work assignments.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43583/1/11162_2004_Article_BF00991561.pd

Furanyl-rhodanines are unattractive drug candidates for development as inhibitors of bacterial RNA polymerase.

Previous studies suggest that furanyl-rhodanines might specifically inhibit bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP). We further explored three compounds from this class. Although they inhibited RNAP, each compound also inhibited malate dehydrogenase and chymotrypsin. Using biosensors responsive to inhibition of macromolecular synthesis and membrane damaging assays, we concluded that in bacteria, one compound inhibited DNA synthesis and another caused membrane damage. The third rhodanine lacked antibacterial activity. We consider furanyl-rhodanines to be unattractive RNAP inhibitor drug candidates

Novel Mechanism for Regulation of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Endocytosis Revealed by Protein Kinase A Inhibition

Current models put forward that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is efficiently internalized via clathrin-coated pits only in response to ligand-induced activation of its intrinsic tyrosine kinase and is subsequently directed into a lysosomal-proteasomal degradation pathway by mechanisms that include receptor tyrosine phosphorylation and ubiquitylation. Herein, we report a novel mechanism of EGFR internalization that does not require ligand binding, receptor kinase activity, or ubiquitylation and does not direct the receptor into a degradative pathway. Inhibition of basal protein kinase A (PKA) activity by H89 and the cell-permeable substrate peptide Myr-PKI induced internalization of 40–60% unoccupied, inactive EGFR, and its accumulation into early endosomes without affecting endocytosis of transferrin and μ-opioid receptors. This effect was abrogated by interfering with clathrin function. Thus, the predominant distribution of inactive EGFR at the plasma membrane is not simply by default but involves a PKA-dependent restrictive condition resulting in receptor avoidance of endocytosis until it is stimulated by ligand. Furthermore, PKA inhibition may contribute to ligand-induced EGFR endocytosis because epidermal growth factor inhibited 26% of PKA basal activity. On the other hand, H89 did not alter ligand-induced internalization of EGFR but doubled its half-time of down-regulation by retarding its segregation into degradative compartments, seemingly due to a delay in the receptor tyrosine phosphorylation and ubiquitylation. Our results reveal that PKA basal activity controls EGFR function at two levels: 1) residence time of inactive EGFR at the cell surface by a process of “endocytic evasion,” modulating the accessibility of receptors to stimuli; and 2) sorting events leading to the down-regulation pathway of ligand-activated EGFR, determining the length of its intracellular signaling. They add a new dimension to the fine-tuning of EGFR function in response to cellular demands and cross talk with other signaling receptors