Regional/District economic developments: District economic overview (and) state economic conditions

Federal Reserve District, 5th ; Economic indicators ; Economic conditions

Regional/District economic development : District economic overview and State economic conditions

Federal Reserve District, 5th ; Economic conditions ; Economic indicators

Regional/District economic developments

Federal Reserve District, 5th ; Economic indicators

The Role of Mentorship Programs in LIS Education and in Professional Development

Although mentoring is widely valued and encouraged within librarianship, it has been conceived mostly as a professional relationship that occurs after one has obtained a position. Thus, mentoring among LIS students is not customary – largely because internships and field experiences are not universally required. To address this problem, the investigators wanted to distinguish the kind of education a mentorship program provides. This study identifies the kinds of knowledge academic librarians and LIS students gained after participation in a semester-long mentorship program. Data was collected through two focus group interviews, which were transcribed, analyzed, and compared for inter-coder agreement. The mentees gained knowledge related to the work life of academic librarians, job seeking, and workplace expectations. The mentors valued the experience because it promoted currency in the field, self-awareness, and reflection on practice. This research supports the need to emphasize internships and mentoring within the LIS curriculum

Speech and language therapy students’ experience of peer assisted learning:Undergraduates investigate PAL as a means of enhancing academic and professional development

The implementation of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) on healthcare courses in Higher Education Institutions has been explored in a number of studies. This paper presents research into the experience of PAL on a BSc Speech & Language Therapy (SLT) programme. The research was conducted by final year undergraduate SLT students to form the basis for their final dissertations. The focus for their research was on the effects of PAL on academic and professional development for both mentees and mentors on the same course. Data were generated from standard PAL evaluations and focus groups. Findings indicate that mentees benefit from PAL in terms of their university experience and learning. Mentors benefited from opportunities to develop and practice skills for their future employment. Engagement with PAL is attributed to its structured yet informal nature and the enthusiasm of the mentors. However, the collaborative nature of PAL takes time to develop, impacting on the behaviours of both mentees and mentors. Overall PAL offers mentees and mentors opportunities which enhance their academic learning and professional development

Proteomic analysis of secretagogue-stimulated neutrophils implicates a role for actin and actin-interacting proteins in Rac2-mediated granule exocytosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neutrophils are abundant leukocytes that play a primary role in defence against pathogens. Neutrophils enter sites of infection where they eliminate pathogens via phagocytosis and the release of antimicrobial mediators via degranulation. Rho GTPases, particularly Rac2, play a key role in neutrophil degranulation. The purpose of this study was to identify Rac2-dependent changes in protein abundance in stimulated neutrophils.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a proteomic analysis on secretagogue-stimulated bone marrow neutrophils that were isolated from wild-type and Rac2^-/-mice. Protein abundance was analyzed by 2-dimensional SDS-PAGE of fluorescently labelled samples which allowed the detection ~3500 proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 22 proteins that showed significant changes in abundance after secretagogue-stimulation of wild-type neutrophils, which did not occur in neutrophils isolated from Rac2^-/-mice. As expected, the abundance of several granule proteins was reduced in wild-type cells; this did not occur in Rac2^-/-neutrophils which confirms the requirement for Rac2 in degranulation. We also found changes in abundance of many actin remodelling proteins including coronin-1A, β-actin and the F-actin capping protein, (CapZ-β). Coronin-1A showed elevated levels of several isoforms after stimulation of neutrophils from wild-type, but not from Rac2^-/-mice. These isoforms were immunoreactive with anti-phospho-threonine antibodies, suggesting that neutrophil stimulation triggers a Rac2-dependent kinase cascade that results in the phosphorylation of coronin-1A.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The control of Rac2-mediated degranulation in neutrophils likely functions through actin remodelling via activation of several actin-binding proteins. We found coronin-1A to be a novel downstream effector protein of this pathway that is threonine phosphorylated in response to secretagogue stimulation.</p