It All Adds Up: Examining and Enhancing Campus Climate for Affordability at a Four-Year University

This study examined undergraduate students’ perceptions of non-academic spending in college and how they navigated these expenses. Using a mixed-methods study at a public comprehensive university in the southeastern United States, we conceptualized these perceptions as a central component of campus climate for affordability in college. Findings demonstrated that campus policies, practices, and spaces facilitated non-academic spending and exacerbated students’ perceptions that college is unaffordable. Non-academic and social costs were more expensive than students anticipated, and many students struggled to manage their money and cover these costs. Students shared a range of strategies to navigate non-academic expenses, from opting out of social activities to forgoing savings and loan payments. These findings draw attention to policies and practices in higher education that problematize institutions’ commitment to affordability

“We Just Don’t Have the Possibility Yet”: U.S. Latina/o Narratives on Study Abroad

Whether indirectly from governmental and non-governmental organizations or directly from higher education institutions, students receive messages that they should study abroad. Studying in a foreign country is considered essential if students are to be marketable to future employers and prepared to lead the U.S. into a new era. Despite the presence of such messages, the understanding of what it means to be absent from the undergraduate student population willing and able to study in a foreign country is severely limited. Importantly, what are the perceptions and experiences of students who repeatedly hear the value of study abroad and who, at the same time, are not willing and/or able to participate? The purpose of this critical qualitative study was to seek answers to this question by exploring the perceptions and experiences of a population that continues to experience low rates of study abroad participation: Latina/o undergraduate students

MicroRNA-143 activation regulates smooth muscle and endothelial cell crosstalk in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Rationale: The pathogenesis of PAH remains unclear. The four microRNAs representing the miR-143 and miR-145 stem loops are genomically clustered. Objective: To elucidate the transcriptional regulation of the miR-143/145 cluster, and the role of miR-143 in PAH. Methods and Results: We identified the promoter region that regulates miR-143/145 miRNA expression in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). We mapped PAH-related signalling pathways, including estrogens receptor (ER), liver X factor/retinoic X receptor (LXR/RXR), TGF-β (Smads), and hypoxia (HRE) that regulated levels of all pri-miR stem loop transcription and resulting miRNA expression. We observed that miR-143-3p is selectively upregulated compared to miR-143-5p during PASMC migration. Modulation of miR-143 in PASMCs significantly altered cell migration and apoptosis. In addition, we found high abundance of miR-143-3p in PASMCs-derived exosomes. Using assays with pulmonary arterial endothelial cells (PAECs) we demonstrated a paracrine pro-migratory and pro-angiogenic effect of miR-143-3p enriched exosomes from PASMC. Quantitative PCR and in situ hybridisation showed elevated expression of miR-143 in calf models of PAH as well as in samples from PAH patients. Moreover, in contrast to our previous findings that had not supported a therapeutic role in vivo, we now demonstrate a protective role for miR-143 in experimental PH in vivo in miR-143-/- and antimiR143-3p-treated mice exposed to chronic hypoxia in both preventative and reversal settings. Conclusions: MiR-143-3p modulated both cellular and exosome-mediated responses in pulmonary vascular cells, while inhibition of miR-143-3p blocked experimental PH. Taken together these findings confirm an important role for the miR-143/145 cluster in PAH pathobiology

A Minimally Replicative HIV-2 Live-Virus Vaccine ProtectsM. nemestrinafrom Disease after HIV-2287Challenge

AbstractM. nemestrinaimmunized with an apathogenic HIV-2 molecular clone (HIV-2KR) were protected from CD4 decline and disease upon challenge with HIV-2287, after any immunizing virus could be detected. Higher but not lower inocula of HIV-2KRwere protective against intravenous inoculation of either 105or 101TCID50of HIV-2287. Protected animals displayed substantial reductions in PBMC proviral burden (1–3 logs), viral titers (1–2 logs), and plasma viral RNA (2–4 logs) compared to unprotected or naive animals as early as 1 week postinfection. Plasma viral RNA became undetectable after 24 weeks in protected animals, but remained high in unprotected animals. No viral RNA was present in the spleen of the protected animal necropsied more than a year after challenge (though viral DNA was still present). No neutralizing responses could be demonstrated, but CTL activity was detected sooner and at higher levels after challenge in protected than in unprotected macaques. In this novel HIV-2 vaccine model, protection was clearly dose-dependent, and clearance of challenge virus RNA from the plasma did not require detectable ongoing replication of the immunizing virus at the time of challenge

The Host Galaxy of GRB 031203: Implications of its low metallicity, low redshift, and starburst nature

We present Keck/NIRSPEC near-IR images and Magellan/IMACS optical spectroscopy of the host galaxy of GRB 031203. The host is an actively star-forming galaxy at z=0.1055 +/- 0.0001. This is the lowest redshift GRB to-date, aside from GRB 980425. From the hydrogen Balmer lines, we infer an extinction of A_V = 3.62 +/- 0.25 or a total reddening E_T(B-V) = 1.17 +/- 0.1 toward the sightline to the nebular regions. After correcting for reddening, we perform an emission-line analysis and derive an ISM temperature of T=13400+/-2000K and electron density of n_e = 300 cm^(-3). These imply a metallicity [O/H]=-0.72+/-0.15 dex and a roughly solar abundance pattern for N, Ne, S, and Ar. Integrating Ha, we infer a dust-corrected star formation rate (SFR) of > 11 Msol/yr. These observations have the following implications: (1) the galaxy has a low K'-band luminosity L ~ L^*/5, typical of GRB host galaxies; (2) the low redshift indicates GRB 031203 had an isotropic-equivalent gamma-ray energy release smaller than all previous confirmed GRB events. The burst discovery raises the likelihood of identifying many additional low z, low flux events with Swift; (3) the large SFR, low metallicity, and the inferred hard radiation field is suggestive of massive star formation, supporting the collapsar model; (4) several lines of evidence argue against the identification of GRB 031203 as an X-ray flash event.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Uses emulateapj5.sty. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal on April 20, 200

Retreat, Adapt, Defend - Urban Design Response to Sea Level Rise in 5 Coastal Georgia Communities

Information on this record corrected per JIRA ticket LDC-1043, 11/16/2021This studio is part of a Georgia Conservancy Blueprints initiative assessing impacts of climate change and sea level rise for Coastal Georgia. The studio was organized into five teams to address issues five cities: Savannah, Tybee Island, Brunswick, Darien and St. Marys. Student teams visited each city, meeting with local officials and leaders of non-profit organization who were involved in adapting to climate change.The Georgia Conservanc

Comparing Adult Cannabis Treatment-Seekers Enrolled in a Clinical Trial with National Samples of Cannabis Users in the United States

Background—Cannabis use rates are increasing among adults in the United States (US) while the perception of harm is declining. This may result in an increased prevalence of cannabis use disorder and the need for more clinical trials to evaluate efficacious treatment strategies. Clinical trials are the gold standard for evaluating treatment, yet study samples are rarely representative of the target population. This finding has not yet been established for cannabis treatment trials. This study compared demographic and cannabis use characteristics of a cannabis cessation clinical trial sample (run through National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network) with three nationally representative datasets from the US; 1) National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2) National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III, and 3) Treatment Episodes Data Set – Admissions. Methods—Comparisons were made between the clinical trial sample and appropriate cannabis using sub-samples from the national datasets, and propensity scores were calculated to determine the degree of similarity between samples. Results—Results showed that the clinical trial sample was significantly different from all three national datasets, with the clinical trial sample having greater representation among older adults, African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, adults with more education, non-tobacco users, and daily and almost daily cannabis users. Conclusions—These results are consistent with previous studies of other substance use disorder populations and extend sample representation issues to a cannabis use disorder population. This illustrates the need to ensure representative samples within cannabis treatment clinical trials to improve the generalizability of promising findings

A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of \u3cem\u3eN\u3c/em\u3e-Acetylcysteine for Cannabis Use Disorder in Adults

Background—Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is a prevalent and impairing condition, and established psychosocial treatments convey limited efficacy. In light of recent findings supporting the efficacy of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for CUD in adolescents, the objective of this trial was to evaluate its efficacy in adults. Methods—In a 12-week double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial, treatment-seeking adults ages 18–50 with CUD (N=302), enrolled across six National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network-affiliated clinical sites, were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to a 12-week course of NAC 1200 mg (n=153) or placebo (n=149) twice daily. All participants received contingency management (CM) and medical management. The primary efficacy measure was the odds of negative urine cannabinoid tests during treatment, compared between NAC and placebo participants. Results—There was not statistically significant evidence that the NAC and placebo groups differed in cannabis abstinence (odds ratio = 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.63 – 1.59; p=0.984). Overall, 22.3% of urine cannabinoid tests in the NAC group were negative, compared with 22.4% in the placebo group. Many participants were medication non-adherent; exploratory analysis within medication-adherent subgroups revealed no significant differential abstinence outcomes by treatment group. Conclusions—In contrast with prior findings in adolescents, there is no evidence that NAC 1200 mg twice daily plus CM is differentially efficacious for CUD in adults when compared to placebo plus CM. This discrepant finding between adolescents and adults with CUD may have been influenced by differences in development, cannabis use profiles, responses to embedded behavioral treatment, medication adherence, and other factors