Overexpression of Mineralocorticoid Receptors in the Mouse Forebrain Partly Alleviates the Effects of Chronic Early Life Stress on Spatial Memory, Neurogenesis and Synaptic Function in the Dentate Gyrus

Evidence from human studies suggests that high expression of brain mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) may promote resilience against negative consequences of stress exposure, including childhood trauma. We examined, in mice, whether brain MR overexpression can alleviate the effects of chronic early life stress (ELS) on contextual memory formation under low and high stress conditions, and neurogenesis and synaptic function of dentate gyrus granular cells. Male mice were exposed to ELS by housing the dam with limited nesting and bedding material from postnatal day (PND) 2 to 9. We investigated the moderating role of MRs by using forebrain-specific transgenic MR overexpression (MR-tg) mice. Low-stress contextual (i.e., object relocation) memory formation was hampered by ELS in wildtype but not MR-tg mice. Anxiety like behavior and high-stress contextual (i.e., fear) memory formation were unaffected by ELS and/or MR expression level. At the cellular level, an interaction effect was observed between ELS and MR overexpression on the number of doublecortin-positive cells, with a significant difference between the wildtype ELS and MR-tg ELS groups. No interaction was found regarding Ki-67 and BrdU staining. A significant interaction between ELS and MR expression was further observed with regard to mEPSCs and mIPSC frequency. The ratio of evoked EPSC/IPSC or NMDA/AMPA responses was unaffected. Overall, these results suggest that ELS affects contextual memory formation under low stress conditions as well as neurogenesis and synaptic transmission in dentate granule cells, an effect that can be alleviated by MR-overexpression

Increasing MSW Students’ Information Competencies Through Online Tutorials, Application Exercises, and Course Assignments

Increasing MSW students’ information competencies was achieved through a 2-year project in which online video tutorials, in-class exercises, and course assignments were created and integrated into two required foundation courses. Tutorials demonstrated basic and advanced search techniques, online databases, and online course-specific research guides. Tutorials were viewed during and outside of class. In-class exercises and course assignments enabled students to immediately apply what they had learned. Results indicate a significant increase in the adequacy of students’ search for online information and ability to critically examine sources and evidence. Implications for social work education are discussed

Increasing MSW Students’ Information Competencies through Online Tutorials, Application Exercises, and Course Assignments

Increasing MSW students’ information competencies was achieved through a 2-year project in which online video tutorials, in-class exercises, and course assignments were created and integrated into two required foundation courses. Tutorials demonstrated basic and advanced search techniques, online databases, and online course-specific research guides. Tutorials were viewed during and outside of class. In-class exercises and course assignments enabled students to immediately apply what they had learned. Results indicate a significant increase in the adequacy of students’ search for online information and ability to critically examine sources and evidence. Implications for social work education are discussed

Countywide Evaluation of the Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency Plan: Countywide Evaluation Report

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted the Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency (LTFSS) Plan in November, 1999. The LTFSS Plan consists of 46 projects whose goal is to promote self-sufficiency among families that are participating in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act of 1997 (CalWORKs) program, former CalWORKs families, and other low-income families. The LTFSS Plan was explicitly guided by a results-based decision making framework developed by Mark Friedman. RAND analyzed historical quantitative data on indicators selected by the Plan to establish trends against which to track future LTFSS performance countywide. We also interviewed 65 key informants in the county and analyzed a wide range of written materials to assess the use and utility of the framework. This document summarizes the quantitative and qualitative findings from three earlier RAND reports on the LTFSS effort