Signaling pathways linking behavior to neurogenesis in healthy brain and disease

Self-repair of the adult brain is limited – most diseases lack effective therapy. In order to better understand how a regenerative response can be achieved, studying mechanisms shaping the neurogenic niche, from environmental factors to intrinsic signaling, is of significance. My work highlights the enormous plasticity of the CNS and the crucial role of serotonin in affecting the behavior of neural stem/progenitor cells. It allows important insights into antidepressant strategies that involve physical activity, adult neurogenesis, BDNF, and signals of the vascular niche. Future research will have to elucidate the systemic cues and targets that regulate neuroplasticity and how they become deregulated in disease. It remains to be seen how they will contribute to the development of novel therapies and biomarkers for cognitive disorders

Establishing the Backbone: An Underexplored Facet of Collective Impact Efforts

Coinciding with a growing interest in collective impact efforts, an increasing number of foundations, policymakers, and practitioners are recommending that multi-sector partnerships make use of a backbone. A backbone is an entity that functions independently as a centralized management team for partnership efforts. While the idea of using a backbone has gained currency, little attention has been paid to how to establish a backbone. Instead, much of the prevailing discussion has focused on what a backbone should do after it has been formed. Research on the Ford Corridors of College Success initiative reveals that communities that want to engage in the collective impact approach need more help in the process of creating a backbone. This brief describes the challenges that early-stage collective impact communities face as they work to identify potential backbone organizations and establish a backbone structure

Parent Perceived Stress and Child Temperament: Qualities that Facilitate or Impede Child Developmental Outcomes

Effective parent-child relationships contribute to the development of well-adjusted children. Taxing personal and situational factors encumber a caregiver’s capacity for responsivity with his or her child. The purpose of the present study was to identify interpersonal factors that impact child outcomes in low socioeconomic status family populations. Data was collected in northeast Florida Head Start centers from 219 low income, at-risk caregivers and their children ages one and a half through almost five. Parents completed questionnaires on parent perceived stress, child temperament, and child developmental outcomes. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the influence of child temperament and parent perceived stress independently and interactively on child developmental outcomes. Although parent stress and negative child temperament significantly influenced child developmental outcomes, there was no significant interaction effect. Policies aimed at ameliorating negative child temperaments or subjective parent stress may serve families and improve child developmental outcomes. Researchers should investigate the potential moderating influence of parent sensitive responding on the relationship between parent stress and child developmental outcomes

The role of serotonin in adult hippocampal neurogenesis

Serotonin is probably best known for its role in conveying a sense of contentedness and happiness. It is one of the most unique and pharmacologically complex monoamines in both the peripheral and central nervous system (CNS). Serotonin has become in focus of interest for the treatment of depression with multiple serotonin-mimetic and modulators of adult neurogenesis used clinically. Here we will take a broad view of serotonin from development to its physiological role as a neurotransmitter and its contribution to homeostasis of the adult rodent hippocampus. This chapter reflects the most significant findings on cellular and molecular mechanisms from neuroscientists in the field over the last two decades. We illustrate the action of serotonin by highlighting basic receptor targeting studies, and how receptors impact brain function. We give an overview of recent genetically modified mouse models that differ in serotonin availability and focus on the role of the monoamine in antidepressant response. We conclude with a synthesis of the most recent data surrounding the role of serotonin in activity and hippocampal neurogenesis. This synopsis sheds light on the mechanisms and potential therapeutic model by which serotonin plays a critical role in the maintenance of mood

A Complex Ecosystem: A Qualitative Investigation Into Dynamics Affecting the Implementation of College Advising Redesigns

Academic advising plays a critical role in student engagement and persistence at community colleges, and colleges are increasingly adopting advising technologies to increase their capacity to support students. However, much remains unknown about the process of planning for and implementing technology-mediated advising redesigns. To explore these reforms’ complex dynamics, we adapted Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory of human development, conceiving of the student advising experience as embedded in three interrelated contexts: the external environment (the political, economic, and cultural environment outside the institution), the institutional environment (where changes in practice are implemented), and the interpersonal environment (where advising interactions occur). Using interview data collected from a diverse group of stakeholders at two community colleges and two broad-access four-year institutions, we identified several dynamics that have implications for practitioners, funders, and policymakers looking to enact technology-mediated advising reforms: External dynamics included involvement in national college completion organizations and initiatives, state policies related to college completion, and state and local economic conditions. Institutional dynamics included resource constraints, the degree to which advising policies and procedures were centralized, and approaches to managing institutional change. Finally, interpersonal dynamics included individual advising approaches, advising capacity, and reactions to technology

Leadership for Transformative Change: Lessons From Technology-Mediated Reform in Broad-Access Colleges

Community colleges and broad-access four-year institutions have a crucial role to play in increasing educational equity in the United States. In order to fulfill this role, however, institutions must engage in organizational change to address their low completion rates. Drawing on qualitative case studies of six colleges, this study explores the influence of different types of leadership approaches on the implementation of a technology-mediated advising reform, and assesses which types of leadership are associated with transformative organizational change. Expanding on s theory of adaptive change and Karp and Fletcher’s Readiness for Technology Adoption framework, the authors find that transformative change requires multitiered leadership with a unified commitment to a shared vision for the reform and its goals

Supporting Military Veteran Students: Early Lessons From Kohlberg Prize Recipients

The Post-9/11 GI Bill of 2008 has increased postsecondary education participation rates of military service members and veterans. Such participation is critical for military-connected individuals as they transition to civilian life. Postsecondary education enables military-connected individuals to upgrade their existing skills, gain new skills, or earn a credential that helps translate their skills into nonmilitary occupations. However, federal statistics indicate that while the Post-9/11 GI Bill has increased higher education participation rates overall, a higher percentage of veterans have entered for-profit colleges than have entered public institutions. In 2007–2008, 14 percent of veterans enrolled in college were at for-profit institutions, and 42 percent were at community colleges; by 2011–2012, these proportions had shifted to 24 percent and 37 percent, respectively

Understanding the Role of Higher Education in Addressing Students’ Basic Needs

In recent years, attention to the number of students struggling to meet basic needs such as food and housing has grown, and services such as food pantries, emergency grants, and assistance accessing public benefits have become increasingly common on college campuses. However, much is still unknown about why colleges and universities are adopting basic needs services, how colleges and universities are incorporating basic needs services into organizational functioning, and what challenges may make it difficult for colleges and universities to provide basic needs services. The current coverage of basic needs in higher education largely focuses on documenting the prevalence of food and housing insecurity among students and advocating for basic needs services as a strategy to promote student success. To date, little research has been done to explore what it means for higher education to provide basic needs services from an institutional perspective. To better understand what it means for colleges as institutions to provide basic needs services, the dissertation uses qualitative interviews with individuals from community colleges, public four-year colleges, private four-year colleges, and highly selective private four-year universities to examine the influence of external environmental pressures as well as internal organizational dynamics on the provision of basic needs services. I find that while external pressures and internal dynamics are conveying the message that colleges should provide basic needs services, they offer little guidance over how to do so. Basic needs services tend to operate on the periphery of organizational functioning, with limited institutional support, and faculty and staff are struggling to define the extent of higher education’s responsibility. The study contributes not only to organizational theory research in higher education, but also to policy research regarding strategies for strengthening the social safety net. It concludes by highlighting remaining unanswered questions about the role of higher education in addressing students’ basic needs and offering recommendations for new research into strategies for enhancing the role of cross-sector partnerships in supporting students’ basic needs and maximizing the potential of college-based basic needs services

Practitioner Perspectives on the Use of Predictive Analytics in Targeted Advising for College Students

This study examines the perspectives of college personnel engaged in the consideration, launch, and use of predictive analytics tools for targeted advising. Based on interview data from college staff members at nine public two- and four-year institutions at different stages of implementation of predictive analytics software, the authors provide a broad look at the positive and negative reactions to this potentially influential educational innovation. Overall, advisors and other end users of predictive analytics tools were more critical of them than either administrators or college personnel who helped develop their use as part of a campus-wide advising reform. In addition, compared with personnel at colleges in the early stages of planning and implementing predictive analytics tools, personnel at colleges that had been actively using the tools for some time reported more concerns. While the use of predictive analytics holds substantial promise in helping to target student services, the results of the study suggest that a greater examination of concerns about validity, interpretation, and ethics is warranted

Lack of Brain Serotonin Affects Feeding and Differentiation of Newborn Cells in the Adult Hypothalamus

Serotonin (5-HT) is a crucial signal in the neurogenic niche microenvironment. Dysregulation of the 5-HT system leads to mood disorders but also to changes in appetite and metabolic rate. Tryptophan hydroxylase 2-deficient (Tph2-/-) mice depleted of brain 5-HT display alterations in these parameters, e.g., increased food consumption, modest impairment of sleep and respiration accompanied by a less anxious phenotype. The newly discovered neural stem cell niche of the adult hypothalamus has potential implications of mediating stress responses and homeostatic functions. Using Tph2-/- mice, we explore stem cell behavior and cell genesis in the adult hypothalamus. Specifically, we examine precursor cell proliferation and survival in Tph2-/- mice at baseline and following Western-type diet (WD). Our results show a decline in BrdU numbers with aging in the absence of 5-HT. Furthermore, wild type mice under dietary challenge decrease cell proliferation and survival in the hypothalamic niche. In contrast, increased high-calorie food intake by Tph2-/- mice does not come along with alterations in cell numbers. However, lack of brain 5-HT results in a shift of cell phenotypes that was abolished under WD. We conclude that precursor cells in the hypothalamus retain fate plasticity and respond to environmental challenges. A novel link between 5-HT signaling and cell genesis in the hypothalamus could be exploited as therapeutic target in metabolic disease