AWARENESS OF PRIVILEGE AND OPPRESSION SCALE-2: CONSTRUCTION AND INITIAL VALIDATION

The purpose of this study was to revise the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale (Montross, 2003) and to improve upon the psychometric properties of the original instrument. The APOS-2 is a diversity training outcome measure that is designed to measure the social justice-related construct awareness of privilege and oppression. I retained 26 items from the original APOS (Montross, 2003) and utilized an expert focus group to generate new test items for the APOS-2. Feedback from an expert rater group was solicited and then incorporated into the APOS-2 to help reduce the number of items, improve item content, and evaluate content validity. The newly revised scale was then administered to a combined sample of 484 undergraduate students at a large public university through an internet-based survey. Item-analysis procedures and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with direct oblim oblique rotation were utilized to further reduce the number of items and then determine the psychometric properties of the final solution. The EFA of the APOS-2 data provided support for the theoretical four-factor solution. The observed Cronbach alpha reliability estimates for the final 40-item total score and subscale scores were as follows: Total score (.92), Awareness of Heterosexism (.84), Awareness of Sexism (.73), Awareness of Classism (.84), and Awareness of Racism (.86). The APOS-2 correlated low and positively (r = .29) with a measure of openness to diversity and negatively and close to zero (r = -.10) with a social desirability measure. These collective data suggest the APOS-2 may be a viable alternative to the original APOS with a stronger initial effort to link item content to the extant literature, improved subscale reliability estimates, continued support for the use of the theoretically derived subscales, and a predictable relationship with measures of convergent and discriminant validity

Cellular reprogramming by Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigens

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a widespread human B cell virus that is linked to many malignancies. EBV modulates the transcriptome of B lymphocytes to drive immortalisation and viral persistence. This is primarily coordinated by the EBV nuclear antigens (EBNA) 2 and the EBNA 3 family (3A, 3B and 3C), which regulate overlapping sets of cellular genes. Using Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) coupled to next generation sequencing we found >21000 EBNA 2 and >7000 EBNA 3 binding sites in the human genome, providing the first evidence of EBNA 3 association with the human genome in vivo. Binding sites were predominantly distal to transcription start sites (TSS) indicating a key role in long-range gene control. This was especially pronounced for EBNA 3 proteins (84% of sites over 4kb from any TSS). 56% of genes previously reported to be regulated by these EBNA proteins in micro array experiments were bound by an EBNA. Using ChIP-QPCR we confirmed EBNA 3C bound to and promoted epigenetic silencing of a subset of integrin receptor signalling genes (ITGA4, ITGB1, ADAM28, ADAMDEC1). Indirect silencing of CXCL10 and CXCL11 chemokines by EBNA 3C was also demonstrated. 75% of sites bound by EBNA 3 were also bound by EBNA 2 implicating extensive interplay between EBNA proteins in gene regulation. By examining novel (WEE1, CTBP2) and known (BCL2L11, ITGAL) targets of EBNA 3 proteins bound at promoter-proximal or distal binding sites, we found both cell-type and locus-specific binding and transcriptional regulation. Importantly, genes differentially regulated by a subset EBNA 3 proteins were bound by the same subset, providing a mechanism for selective regulation of host genes by EBNA 3 proteins. In summary, this research demonstrates that EBNA proteins primarily act through long-range enhancer elements and regulate gene expression in a locus and gene-specific manner through differential binding

Organization of the command system in the lamprey brain that initiates locomotor behavior

Abstract only availableIn vertebrate animals, the muscle activity pattern for locomotor behavior is produced by central pattern generators (CPGs) in the spinal cord. In the brain, “command” systems, which have several levels, process information and, if appropriate, initiate locomotor behavior. The output neural elements of the command system, which are reticulospinal (RS) neurons, send neural processes to the spinal cord to activate the CPGs and initiate locomotor behavior. The lamprey, a lower vertebrate, has many advantages for studying the organization of command systems. Neurophysiological experiments indicate that several brain areas are part of the command system: rostrolateral rhombencephalon (RLR); ventromedial diencephalons (VMD); dorsolateral mesencephalon (DLM); and RS neurons (Paggett et al. 2004). Other experiments suggest the following organization for the command system: RLR VMD & DLM RS neurons à spinal CPGs In the present study, various lesions were made in the brain to interrupt some of the above pathways, and muscle activity (EMGs) was recorded soon after the lesions to test the behavioral capabilities of the animals. Also, for lesions that initially abolished locomotor behavior, EMG recordings were made at various recovery times to determine if axonal regeneration within the brain restored the lesioned pathways in the command system. First, lesions at the mesencephalon-rhombencephalon border, which disrupt the RLR VMD & DLM pathways, usually abolished locomotor activity that normally would be initiated by stimulation of the head. Two weeks after the above lesion, locomotor activity could once again be initiated by stimulation of the head. Second, lesions in the middle of the mesencephalon or at the diencephalons-mesenencephalon border, both of which disrupt the RLR VMD but not the RLR DLM pathways, did not abolish locomotor behavior. Results from the present study support the above model of the locomotor command system in the lamprey brain. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that axons severed by brain lesions could regenerate and restore the function of the command system.NSF-REU Biology & Biochemistr

Prospectus, January 30, 2002

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2002/1003/thumbnail.jp

Photoemission Spectroscopy

Contains reports on two research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-78-C-0020

The Path Forward: A Post-Omicron Strategy for the Global COVID-19 Response

At this pivotal moment, the world's response to the pandemic must shift from emergency crisis management to a sustainable control strategy. This strategy should help to build resilient health systems with capabilities to address potential future COVID-19 outbreaks and other public health threats. Driving the urgent need for an updated strategy are important recent developments related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the impact of current vaccines, and the world's response to the pandemic

Prospectus, March 13, 2002

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2002/1009/thumbnail.jp

Occurrence, Distribution , and Remodeling of Arachidonic Acid in Phospholipid Fractions from the Salivary Glands of Amblyomma Americanum (L.)

Analysis of lipids in salivary glands of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, demonstrated that arachidonic acid (20:4, n-6) comprises 8% of all fatty acids identified by gas chromatography. The occurrence of arachidonic acid and other C~ polyunsaturated fatty acids in tick salivary glands was confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Arachidonate is located entirely in the phospholipid fraction and is associated exclusively with phosphatidylcholine {PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine {PE). Salivary glands stored and frozen for several months had a similar lipid composition as freshly dissected salivary glands, with the exception of a small amount of free arachidonic acid and an increase in lysophosphatidylcholine. Incubation of salivary gland homogenates with snake venom phospholipase A:z showed that most saturated fatty acids are esterified in the sn-1 position of PC and PE, with the unsaturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position. Approximately 75% of arachidonic acid is in the sn-2 position of PC and PE, adding support to the hypothesis that arachidonic acid is released into the cytoplasm after activation of a phospholipase A:z for subsequent metabolism to prostaglandins and/or other eicosanoids.The lipid composition of salivary glands from male and female lone star ticks, .Amblyomma americanum, was investigated at progressive stages of tick feeding. The amounts of fatty acids from both phospholipid and neutral lipid fractions increased dramatically during the initial stage of feeding, and peaked in partially-fed females weighing 100-250 mg. Percent compositions of myristic (14:0} and palmitic acid (16:0} decreased, but stearic (18:0), oleic (18:1), linoleic (18:2), and arachidonic acid (20:4} increased during tick feeding. Arachidonic acid, the precursor to eicosanoids including the 2-series of prostaglandins, increased from 1.3% of all fatty acids in salivary glands from unfed female ticks to 8.2% in salivary glands from fully engorged female ticks. Arachidonic acid was found in the triglyceride fraction of unfed and fed virgin females, but only in phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine from salivary glands of other fed female ticks. Comparisons between fed and unfed male ticks and fed/virgin, fed/mated, and unfed females demonstrate that feeding is necessary for accumulation of arachidonic acid in salivary gland phospholipids.The subclass composition of choline- and ethanolaminecontaining phospholipids was determined by analysis of acyl-linked fatty acids released by base hydrolysis of diradylglycerobenzoates formed from lone star tick salivary gland diacyl, alkylacyl and alkenylacyl phospholipids. Of the ether-linked phospholipids, the alkylacyl subclass comprises about 9% and the alkenylacyl subclass about 4% of choline phospholipids. Ethanolamine phospholipids consist of about 14% and 13% alkylacyl and alkenylacyl lipids, respectively. Arachidonic acid (20:4) is the most abundant fatty acid released from the acyl linkage of alkylacyl-PC (28% of all fatty acids) and is 17% in alkenylacyl-PC. Alkylacyl-PE is also rich in 20:4 (24%) while the alkenylacyl-PE subclass contains only 9% arachidonic acid. Overall, although the amount of arachidonic acid in etherlinked lipids is relatively high, the majority of the salivary gland arachidonic acid (>83%) is in the diacyl phospholipids because of the higher amounts of this phospholipid subclass in tick salivary glands. Isolated salivary glands incorporated [3H]-arachidonic acid after 15 min primarily into the diacyl subclass of phosphatidylcholine (PC) > phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and some into triglycerides. Additional incubation in the absence of exogenous labeled arachidonic acid for up to 120 min shows a remodeling of 3H-20:4 from PC into PE, and from the diacyl subclass to the alkylacyl subclass in the choline phospholipids.Entomolog