JUNB regulatory functions in lymphangiogenesis: from mESCs to zebrafish

In higher vertebrates, the development of a functional circulatory system based on blood and lymphatic vessels is a basic step in order to generate a full organism. The formation of the vasculature involves the generation of mesodermal-derived angioblasts and their subsequent differentiation into blood endothelial or lymphatic endothelial cell lineages. The switch between the undifferentiated and cell-specific genetic programs during cell differentiation requires an orchestrated spatiotemporal coordination of gene expression. JUNB, a member of the AP-1 family, is a context-dependent transcription factor that exerts both positive and negative functions. Loss of function studies in mice revealed that JUNB is a key regulator of vascular development in embryos. Hence, JUNB transactivates pro-angiogenic molecules such as Vegfa, Cbfβ and Hmox1. Recently, Junb was described to regulate the development of lymphatic vessels in zebrafish via its target miR182. However, it remained unclear whether activator functions of JUNB are relevant for lymphangiogenesis. Therefore, I aimed to investigate whether JUNB is necessary for the formation of lymphatics and if so, to unravel in which specific step of the lymphatic vascular development JUNB is implicated. For this purpose, I used a dual approach of in vitro differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into lymphatic endothelial cells and an in vivo approach by generating junb mutant zebrafish in the background of the transgenic reporter line Tg(fli:EGFP)y1 to evaluate the development of the vasculature. The study of the JUNB kinetics during the LEC differentiation process revealed that JUNB is strongly induced at the RNA and protein level during the angioblast formation until the formation of the LEC-like cells. Strikingly, Junb-/- mESCs failed to form proper LECs due to considerable cell death during the angioblast formation. This increased apoptosis could be associated to a failure to initiate the induction of VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 expression. In the parallel in vivo approach, novel zebrafish mutants with ablated junba and junbb expression were generated using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Successful mutations resulted in a premature end of the reading frame. Homozygous junba-/- embryos could not be identified and the Mendelian ration of wildtype and heterozygous offspring suggests a recessive lethal phenotype. By contrast, junbb mutants were detected according to expected Mendelian ratio, reached adulthood and were fertile. Albeit the mutant embryos exhibited an allele-dependent decrease in the number of parachordal cells present at 3 days post fertilization; almost all the analyzed embryos displayed a complete thoracic duct at 5 dpf. Surprisingly, the mutants developed ectopic sprouts at the dorsal side of the trunk from 3 dpf until 5 dpf recapitulating the phenotype previously observed upon neuronal loss of soluble vegfr1 in zebrafish. In summary, these data underscore the role of JUNB not only in lymphangiogenesis but also at an earlier developmental stage, namely the angioblast formation and suggest a JUNB-dependent regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors during development

WHAT SOCIAL WORKERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CYBERBULLYING

Cyberbullying (CB) has been a growing concern that has affected students, parents, and professionals in significant ways.One of the main professionals that have been affected by CB are school social workers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify what social workers need to know about CB. This study used a qualitative study design because we wanted to obtain an in-depth examination of CB views and beliefs.Data was gathered from 8 middle school teachers, a school principal and a school counselor from a public school in the western region of the United States.In the study participants were interviewed with ten questions focusing on CB. This study’s findings indicated 10 major themes which are the following:almost all participants were able to provide examples of CB occurring in the social networking website Facebook, more than half of all participants could not name any specific CB school policies or laws,the majority of all respondents had distinct views of the protocol for reporting CB,more than half of all the participants had different views of CB symptoms,the respondents were split in half on their beliefs of CB occurring more than traditional bullying,almost all participants believed that this public elementary and middle school took CB seriously, almost all of the teachers were uncertain whether CB was a problem at this public elementary and middle school, almost all of teachers had different ideas for preventing CB, almost all middle school teachers had different ideas for what helping professionals should know about iv CB, almost all teachers suggested different ideas for social workers to prevent CB. Future research should include training for school professionals on how to address CB as our results found that most participants were uncertain as to what to do and thus would be better able to provide suggestions for what social workers should know on CB

Incidencia de niños quemados a causa de accidentes domésticos

El presente trabajo pretende determinar las principales causas y factores que provocan accidentes domésticos, en especial quemaduras, en niños internados en el Hospital Pediátrico Humberto Notti en el segundo semestre de 2016. Busca además, conocer el perfil socioeconómico de la familia y detectar rango de edades de los pacientes. Es un estudio con diseño cuantitativo, descriptivo, correlacional y transversal. La muestra tomada es un total de 30 familias de niños afectados. Como técnica de recolección de datos se utilizó una entrevista abierta a cada familia, donde se realizaron preguntas anónimas, cerradas y de múltiple opción.Fil: Becerra, Laura. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería..Fil: Miranda, Antonio. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería..Fil: Obando, Fanny. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería.

The Effects of Mega-Herbivore Extinctions on Seed Dispersal and Community Structure in An East African Savanna

Herbivory is a prominent top-down force shaping the landscape of semi-arid savannas in East Africa. Herbivores participate in seed dispersal both by ingesting and defecating the seeds of endozoochorously-dispersed plants and by translocating the seeds of exozoochorously-dispersed plants. In this study, we sought to determine how the extinction of large mammalian herbivores would affect the abundance of five focal species of plants that use fruiting as theira primary dispersal mechanism. We also examined how the absence of large mammalian herbivores affected seed predation by small mammals. We counted the number of individual plants for each of the five species in three short-term (5 yearr. old) exclusion blocks and one long-term (15 yearr. old) exclusion block. We found that total abundance of fleshy-fruited species increaseds as successive levels of large mammalian herbivores weare excluded and as the duration of herbivore exclusion increaseds. Within species, we found that C. orthacantha and S. campylacanthum increased in the absence of herbivores, while O. stricta decreased in the absence of herbivores. B. aegyptiaca and B. albitrunca did not exhibit differences in abundance between different levels of herbivore exclosure. We found that small mammals demonstrated a preference for B. albitrunca and O. stricta seeds, which were consumed primarily by the fringe-tailed gerbil, Gerbilliscus robustus. Understanding the interactions between herbivores and vegetation is vital to conserving understanding how plant communities as well as understanding how they may change in the future, as well as how to conserve them

The Longevity of the Magnet Effect: Fire-Herbivory Interactions in Central Kenya

The coexistence of grass and trees that typifies savanna ecosystems is maintained in part by top-down forces including herbivory and fire. Understanding fire-herbivore interactions is an integral step in determining the effect of these forces individually and informs decisions about the use of fire as a livestock management technique. The magnet effect, in which grazers are drawn to an area after it is burned, is one such interaction between fire and herbivores. While the process of the magnet effect has been described, neither its longevity nor the manner through which fire intensity affects its strength is understood. In this study, we explored whether the increase in herbivory pressure predicted by the magnet effect is maintained over long periods after a fire, how fire intensity influences the strength of the magnet effect, and which feeder types are most influenced by the magnet effect. We established five field sites at the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Kenya that ranged in fire intensity and elapsed time since last the burn. We found that the magnet effect is transient on a seven-year scale and affects grazers more than browsers or mixed feeders, though herbivory and grass biomass responses to fire intensity were conflicting. This research clarifies the role of the magnet effect in maintaining savanna ecosystems and can aid agriculturalists seeking to use fire as a management technique by indicating how long after a burn increased palatability of grass can be expected

Orientación normativa en diccionarios monolingües de inglés como lengua extranjera

Guidance in language use is an inherent aspect of language learning. Nonetheless, English linguistics has not paid attention to this dimension. Paradoxically, English learner’s dictionaries are characterized by offering evident guidance on language use. In the framework of a research project to compile a dictionary of Brazilian learners’ doubts about the Spanish language, we decided to investigate the English language lexicographic tradition, whose learner’s dictionaries lead substantial advances in foreign language teaching. This paper aimed to analyse how English learner’s dictionaries provide instruction on language use. The methodology consists of the application of a set of formal distinctions based on the opposition between description and prescription, and, subsequently, prescribing a certain language use or forbidding it. Our results show that the English language lexicography applies this whole array of guidance techniques on a particularly efficient and multidimensional way. We could conclude that the description-prescription dichotomy does not sustain itself in English learner’s lexicography. Ultimately, the act of looking for guidance about the English language in use reflects the learner’s inherent desire for instructions.La orientación en el uso de la lengua es una dimensión inherente al aprendizaje; a pesar de ello, la lingüística anglosajona nunca le ha prestado mayor atención a esta dimensión. Paradojalmente, los diccionarios monolingües de inglés como lengua extranjera se caracterizan por ofrecer una orientación ostensiva. En el marco de un proyecto de un diccionario de dudas para estudiantes de español brasileños, decidimos investigar cómo se realiza la orientación en el uso de la lengua al seno de la tradición de la lexicografía monolingüe de aprendientes de inglés, que representa siempre los mayores avances en materia de enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la clase de orientación que los diccionarios monolingües de inglés como lengua extranjera presentan. Como metodología, establecimos una red de distinciones basada en la oposición entre descripción y prescripción y, subsecuentemente, entre prescribir un uso determinado o prohibirlo. Nuestros resultados demuestran que la lexicografía anglosajona emplea todo este espectro de posibilidades de orientación de una manera particularmente eficiente y multidimensional. Pudimos concluir que la dicotomía descripción-prescripción no se sustenta en la lexicografía monolingüe de aprendientes de inglés como lengua extranjera. En última instancia la búsqueda por orientación obedece a un anhelo del aprendiente

The science of improvement in teacher preparation

Due to new United States (U.S.) Federal Regulations and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation standards focusing on K-12 student outcomes, teacher education providers are facing the challenge of gaining access to data on their graduates. Our College of Education (COE) has taken strategic steps to secure post-graduation data access for program completers with the primary purpose of using it for program improvement. To do this, we needed a disciplined process for employing data as the driver for improvement. Improvement science provides a methodology for accelerating the process of learning to improve through disciplined inquiry. Central to this approach are gradual, iterative cycles that focus on evidence related to specific problems of practice and the influence of system factors on the implementation of change. Working within networked communities, practitioners engage in rapid cycles of learning through a plan-do-study-act process that seeks to build shared knowledge and ownership within the improvement process. Using the improvement science model as our guide, we started by focusing our work to be problem specific and user-centered. Specifically, we needed to better align our candidate intake, assessment, and graduation processes across five teacher education programs. We also sought to learn more about variations between program processes. We used our exploration to align around clear action steps serving an overall COE goal. Through this process, we have learned that the tools and processes of improvement science offer a way for teacher education providers to build capacity and drive innovative improvement initiatives

Fire Edge Effect on Water Potential and Stomatal Conductance in Salvia leucophylla

While most plants caught in the middle of wildfires are completely incinerated, many in the edges survive despite suffering partial incineration and/or heat-induced damage. We hypothesized that heat damaged Salvia leucophylla will display a decrease in both stomatal conductance and water potential. We suspected that applying excess heat would lower the plant’s water levels and damage functional components necessary for photosynthesis, so the stomata would close to conserve water. S. leucophylla was chosen to study due to the likelihood of this widespread coastal sage to be found in the edges of wildfires in the Santa Monica Mountains. Using a heat gun, we applied sufficient heat to induce cellular death in six treatment groups, and measured their stomatal conductance, fluorescence, and water potential to compare to the six control groups. Contrary to our expected outcome, we found no difference in water potential (P \u3e 0.05) and a significant increase in stomatal conductance (P \u3c 0.05) in the healthy leaves that survived the applied heat. We believe the fourfold increase in stomatal conductance is a result of increased water availability per leaf and of increased demand for energy supply per leaf