An Instructional Strategy for Pictorial Drawing

This contribution presents two major findings from a qualitative investigation into spatial ability. The elicited data suggested that one of the significant differences between individuals identified as high and low in spatial ability was their decomposition skill relative to spatial problems. Also revealing was the impact of frustration and anxiety on spatial functioning. The author discusses an instructional strategy for pictorial drawing that appeared effective for individuals solving pictorial drawing problems

Purdue Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation Policy Changes: Giant Leaps Forward

Inspired by the University of Iowa’s Beyond the PDF event last year, the Purdue Graduate School evaluated their policies pertaining to theses and dissertations. The evaluation concluded last summer and found that existing policies were unclear regarding acceptable types of theses, in particular, requiring submission in the PDF format. As students continue to utilize emerging technologies and publish journal articles to supplement their research, policies were rewritten to include non-traditional formats and types of theses. The challenges, motivations, and inspirations for the new policies will be shared as well as early indications of their impacts

A role for the androgen-receptor in clinically localized and advanced prostate cancer

Earlier studies of androgen-receptor (AR) expression using frozen prostate tissue, and later studies using archived specimens, produced the consensus that ligand-stabilized AR is nuclear, AR expression is similar in benign epithelia and stroma, AR expression is greater in secretory epithelia than basal cells, and AR expression is more variable in prostate cancer (CaP) than in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Accurate measurement of AR expression remains technically challenging but necessary to evaluate the relevance of ARs to clinical CaP. Recent studies demonstrated that AR expression in epithelia and stroma may be prognostic in clinically localized CaP, and AR expression may play a role in racial differences in CaP mortality and predict response to androgen deprivation therapy. High levels of AR and AR-regulated gene expression indicate a central role for AR in growth regulation of castration-recurrent CaP. New treatments for the lethal phenotype of CaP require better understanding of AR transactivation during androgen deprivation therapy

Java Web Start based software for automated quantitative nuclear analysis of prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia

BACKGROUND: Androgen acts via androgen receptor (AR) and accurate measurement of the levels of AR protein expression is critical for prostate research. The expression of AR in paired specimens of benign prostate and prostate cancer from 20 African and 20 Caucasian Americans was compared to demonstrate an application of this system. METHODS: A set of 200 immunopositive and 200 immunonegative nuclei were collected from the images using a macro developed in Image Pro Plus. Linear Discriminant and Logistic Regression analyses were performed on the data to generate classification coefficients. Classification coefficients render the automated image analysis software independent of the type of immunostaining or image acquisition system used. The image analysis software performs local segmentation and uses nuclear shape and size to detect prostatic epithelial nuclei. AR expression is described by (a) percentage of immunopositive nuclei; (b) percentage of immunopositive nuclear area; and (c) intensity of AR expression among immunopositive nuclei or areas. RESULTS: The percent positive nuclei and percent nuclear area were similar by race in both benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer. In prostate cancer epithelial nuclei, African Americans exhibited 38% higher levels of AR immunostaining than Caucasian Americans (two sided Student's t-tests; P < 0.05). Intensity of AR immunostaining was similar between races in benign prostate. CONCLUSION: The differences measured in the intensity of AR expression in prostate cancer were consistent with previous studies. Classification coefficients are required due to non-standardized immunostaining and image collection methods across medical institutions and research laboratories and helps customize the software for the specimen under study. The availability of a free, automated system creates new opportunities for testing, evaluation and use of this image analysis system by many research groups who study nuclear protein expression

A Review of Spatial Ability Research

Spatial ability research has been approached from several psychological vantages since its beginnings in the late 1800s. This contribution attempts a summation of spatial ability research, beginning with a historical vignette and a major section on each psychological approach including the psychometric, developmental, differential and information processing approach. Of importance is what each approach has contributed to our knowledge of spatial ability

Improving Spatial Ability with Mentored Sketching

As the result of a qualitative investigation into spatial ability, a teaching technique called mentored sketching was found to be effective for teaching visualization skills to freshman engineering students. This contribution describes the technique, how it evolved, and comments made by students as to its effectiveness. While mentored sketching emerged as a novel approach for the advancement of student sketching and spatial ability skills, it appears unhindered by class size and provides few constraints as a teaching methodology

Cellular Response to an Antisense-mediated Shift of Bcl-x Pre-mRNA Splicing and Antineoplastic Agents

Overexpression of Bcl-xL, an anti-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, negatively correlates with the sensitivity of various cancers to chemotherapeutic agents. We show here that high levels of expression of Bcl-xL promoted apoptosis of cells treated with an antisense oligonucleotide (5'Bcl-x AS) that shifts the splicing pattern of Bcl-x pre-mRNA from the anti-apoptotic variant, Bcl-xL, to the pro-apoptotic variant, Bcl-xS. This surprising finding illustrates the advantage of antisense-induced modulation of alternative splicing versus down-regulation of targeted genes. It also suggests a specificity of the oligonucleotide effects since non-cancerous cells with low levels of Bcl-xL should resist the treatment. 5'Bcl-x AS sensitized cells to several antineoplastic agents and radiation and was effective in promoting apoptosis of MCF-7/ADR cells, a breast cancer cell line resistant to doxorubicin via overexpression of the mdr1 gene. Efficacy of 5'Bcl-x AS combined with chemotherapeutic agents in the PC3 prostate cancer cell line may be translated to clinical prostate cancer since recurrent prostate cancer tissue samples expressed higher levels of Bcl-xL than benign prostate tissue. Treatment with 5'Bcl-x AS may enhance the efficacy of standard anti-cancer regimens and should be explored, especially in recurrent prostate cancer

Potential Prostate Cancer Drug Target: Bioactivation of Androstanediol by Conversion to Dihydrotestosterone: Figure 1.

High affinity binding of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to the androgen receptor (AR) initiates androgen-dependent gene activation required for normal male sex development in utero, and contributes to prostate cancer development and progression in men. Under normal physiological conditions, DHT is synthesized predominantly by 5α-reduction of testosterone, the major circulating androgen produced by the testis. During androgen deprivation therapy, intratumoral androgen production is sufficient for AR activation and prostate cancer growth even though circulating testicular androgen levels are low. Recent studies indicate that the metabolism of 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol by 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 6 in benign prostate and prostate cancer cells is a major biosynthetic pathway for intratumoral synthesis of DHT that binds AR and initiates transactivation to promote prostate cancer growth during androgen deprivation therapy. Drugs that target the so-called backdoor pathway of DHT synthesis provide an opportunity to enhance clinical response to LHRH agonists or antagonists, AR antagonists, inhibitors of 5α-reductase enzymes, finasteride or dutasteride, and steroid metabolism enzyme inhibitors, ketoconazole or the recently available abiraterone acetate

The transcriptomics of de novo androgen biosynthesis in prostate cancer cells following androgen reduction

The progression of prostate cancer to the castration-recurrent phenotype remains a major problem medically. The present study examined the transcriptomics of de novo androgen synthesis as a potential mechanism to escape from dependence on circulating androgen. VCaP, LNCaP and LAPC4 cells were acclimated to 1 nM testosterone for 5 generations before subjecting them to a reduced level of 0.03 nM testosterone. Changes in gene expression were quantified using qRT-PCR. Analyses of the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway and the Δ4, Δ5 and backdoor steroidogenic pathways were carried out. VCaP cells showed no change in the transcriptome of cholesterol biosynthesis. However, several receptors for cholesterol transport were up-regulated. The Δ4 and Δ5 steroidogenic pathways, but not the backdoor pathway, were stimulated. Additionally, androgen receptor (AR) expression was increased. Taken together, the above changes might allow recovery of AR activity to a near normal level. In contrast, LNCaP cells showed only minimal adjustment in the transcriptome of steroidogenesis. LAPC4 cells were equally unresponsive to boosting the machinery of androgen production. In brief, our results suggest that the VCaP model is an appropriate model for further investigation of targeting the androgen-AR axis to block the emergence of castration-resistant prostate cancer

Really Simple Syndication (RSS): An Educational Approach

Today's post-secondary students are technologically savvy and they expect faculty to use myriad web technologies for course delivery. This includes taking advantage of email, course web sites, and online learning communities. However, expectations now also include RSS, blogs, web- and pod-casting, extending the classroom experience to provide active learning materials anytime, anywhere, and in multiple modalities. This contribution outlines the novel use of RSS technology for a course announcement system at Purdue University. It begins by describing RSS technology and discussing the different possibilities for RSS within classroom. It also describes the specific RSS application for real-time course announcements, detailing its creation and implementation. Initial student feedback is also presented.Editors: Patrick McAndrew (Open University, UK).Reviewers: Tony Hirst (Open University, UK) and S. Jeff Cold (Utah Valley University, USA)