Identification of a new European rabbit IgA with a serine-rich hinge region

<div><p>In mammals, the most striking IgA system belongs to Lagomorpha. Indeed, 14 IgA subclasses have been identified in European rabbits, 11 of which are expressed. In contrast, most other mammals have only one IgA, or in the case of hominoids, two IgA subclasses. Characteristic features of the mammalian IgA subclasses are the length and amino acid sequence of their hinge regions, which are often rich in Pro, Ser and Thr residues and may also carry Cys residues. Here, we describe a new IgA that was expressed in New Zealand White domestic rabbits of <i>IGHV</i>a1 allotype. This IgA has an extended hinge region containing an intriguing stretch of nine consecutive Ser residues and no Pro or Thr residues, a motif exclusive to this new rabbit IgA. Considering the amino acid properties, this hinge motif may present some advantage over the common IgA hinge by affording novel functional capabilities. We also sequenced for the first time the IgA14 CH2 and CH3 domains and showed that IgA14 and IgA3 are expressed.</p></div

Reassurance Seeking as Mediator Between Memory Confidence and Test Performance

Test-related safety behaviors, referred to as reassurance seeking, are involved in the underlying processes that maintain test anxiety and are associated with lower performance on standardized exams. The pilot and main study examine whether a cognitive model of checking behavior in OCD is applicable to reassurance seeking in test anxiety. Adapting this cognitive model to the test anxiety domain, we propose that low memory confidence contributes to poor test performance through reassurance seeking. The pilot and main study provide a test of the hypothesized mediation model. Participants of both studies are undergraduate students in introductory level psychology courses who completed the relevant measures of reassurance seeking and beliefs about memory. The participants also gave permission for researchers to access academic data and psychology course results through the university’s registration and records. In the pilot study Hayes’ PROCESS macro for SPSS Model 4 was used to examine the proposed mediation model. This analysis found a significant indirect effect from low memory confidence on standardized exam scores through reassurance seeking. The pilot study provided support for the potential applicability of a memory confidence model of compulsive checking behavior to the test anxiety domain. The main study replicated the pilot study and aimed to address several of the first study’s limitations. The main study proposed that reassurance seeking and spoiling answers mediate the relationship between low memory confidence and performance on an academic exam. Results of the main study did not support the proposed mediation model. The main study results did reveal a significant association and direct effect from low memory confidence to reassurance seeking. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.B.A. (Bachelor of Arts

Student Engagement Fund Narrative (Fall 2018)

This is a narrative report of my attendance of the 52nd Annual Convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Washington, D.C. I attended and presented a poster with my faculty mentor Dr. David Valentiner from the psychology department.This is a narrative report of my attendance of the 52nd Annual Convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Washington, D.C. I attended and presented a poster with my faculty mentor Dr. David Valentiner from the psychology department.Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learnin

Immunoglobulin genes undergo legitimate repair in human B cells not only after cis- but also frequent trans-class switch recombination.

International audienceImmunoglobulin (Ig) genes specifically recruit activation-induced deaminase (AID) for 'on-target' DNA deamination, initiating either variable (V) region somatic hypermutation, or double-strand break intermediates of class switch recombination (CSR). Such breaks overwhelmingly undergo legitimate intra-Ig repair rather than rare illegitimate and potentially oncogenic junctions outside of Ig loci. We show that in human B cells, legitimate synapsis and repair efficiently join Ig genes whether physically linked on one chromosome or located apart on both alleles. This indicates mechanisms faithfully recognizing and/or pairing loci with homology in structure and accessibility, thus licensing interchromosomal trans-CSR junctions while usually preventing illegitimate interchromosomal recombination with AID off-target genes. Physical linkage of IgH genes in cis on the same allele just increases the likelihood of legitimate repair by another fourfold. The strongest force driving CSR might thus be recognition of legitimate target genes. Formation of IgH intra-allelic loops along this process would then constitute a consequence rather than a pre-requisite of this gene-pairing process