Mass Culturing Soil Bacteria from Radium Springs and Analysis of Antibiotic Activity

Antibiotics have become a regularity in human life. Discovered accidentally, they proved to be vital to public health. Since then, they have become integrated into a variety of widely used products such as detergents, soaps, and clothes. Unfortunately, the overuse of antibiotics as a precautionary tool for the betterment of public health has led to an era in which bacterial strains have evolved resistance and antibiotics are becoming increasingly useless. For example, Enterococcus faecalis, one of six ESKAPE pathogens prevalent in nosocomial infections, is commonly found in the GI tract, but frequently causes infections leading to endocarditis, urinary tract infections, and meningitis. E. faecalis is multi-drug resistant, making it difficult to control once an infection arises. It’s resistance against vancomycin, however, has drawn the most attention. Vancomycin is currently the only line of defense against many pathogenic bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus. It is possible for E. faecalis to transfer this resistance to other pathogens that it comes into contact with, such as S. aureus. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a new source of antibiotics, which could defend against E. faecalis, may be identified from pathogens found at a location that has been sparsely examined. Soil from Radium Springs in Albany, Georgia has been filtered, cultured, and assessed for antibiotic secretions using a diverse array of methods. Preliminary results show a modest level of E. faecalis inhibition by secretions from soil pathogens incubated at 37℃ under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions using a low-nutrient medium, R2A agar. These methods will aid with culturing a wide variety of bacteria in an array of different conditions in hopes of identifying a usable source of antibiotics, capable of competing with aggressive and pathogenic bacteria such as E. faecalis

Octopaminergic Sleep Regulation in Drosophila

Octopamine (OA), the invertebrate homolog of norepinephrine, has been implicated in multiple behaviors in Drosophila such as feeding, sleep, and aggression. The precise circuit mechanisms by which octopamine regulates these behaviors remains largely unexplored. Using a high resolution neurogenetic screening we have identified a subset of octopamine neurons (VPM 4,5) that suppresses sleep and increases wakefulness. Neuroanatomical analysis reveals that these neurons project to the mushroom body (MB), an associative neural network analogous to the mammalian cortex. Using genetic, anatomical, and behavioral approaches we show that the OA-VPM neurons release octopamine that interacts with subsets of dopamine neurons in the MB in regulating sleep. Furthermore, calcium imaging studies show that flies that are sleep deprived display reduced activity within OA-VPM neurons as compared to sleep-replete controls. Taken together, these results reveal octopamine is important in sleep regulation through these neuronal connections. In addition to presenting this data, we will also discuss potential receptor mediated mechanisms underlying these connections

A note on the singularity probability of random directed dd-regular graphs

In this note we show that the singular probability of the adjacency matrix of a random $d$-regular graph on $n$ vertices, where $d$ is fixed and $n \to \infty$, is bounded by $n^{-1/3+o(1)}$. This improves a recent bound by Huang. Our method is based on the study of the singularity problem modulo a prime together with an inverse-type result on the decay of the characteristic function. The latter is related to the inverse Kneser's problem in combinatorics.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure

Accurate Alternative Measurements for Female Lifetime Reproductive Success in Drosophila Melanogaster

Fitness is an individual\u27s ability to survive and reproduce, and is an important concept in evolutionary biology. However, accurately measuring fitness is often difficult, and appropriate fitness surrogates need to be identified. Lifetime reproductive success, the total progeny an organism can produce in their lifetime, is thought to be a suitable proxy for fitness, but the measure of an organism\u27s reproductive output across a lifetime can be difficult or impossible to obtain. Here we demonstrate that the short-term measure of reproductive success across five days provides a reasonable prediction of an individual\u27s total lifetime reproductive success in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the lifetime reproductive success of a female that has only mated once is not correlated to the lifetime reproductive success of a female that is allowed to mate multiple times, demonstrating that these measures should not serve as surrogates nor be used to make inferences about one another

Adiponectin Deficiency Impairs Maternal Metabolic Adaptation to Pregnancy in Mice.

Hypoadiponectinemia has been widely observed in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). To investigate the causal role of hypoadiponectinemia in GDM, adiponectin gene knockout (Adipoq-/- ) and wild-type (WT) mice were crossed to produce pregnant mouse models with or without adiponectin deficiency. Adenoviral vector-mediated in vivo transduction was used to reconstitute adiponectin during late pregnancy. Results showed that Adipoq-/- dams developed glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia in late pregnancy. Increased fetal body weight was detected in Adipoq-/- dams. Adiponectin reconstitution abolished these metabolic defects in Adipoq-/- dams. Hepatic glucose and triglyceride production rates of Adipoq-/- dams were significantly higher than those of WT dams. Robustly enhanced lipolysis was found in gonadal fat of Adipoq-/- dams. Interestingly, similar levels of insulin-induced glucose disposal and insulin signaling in metabolically active tissues in Adipoq-/- and WT dams indicated that maternal adiponectin deficiency does not reduce insulin sensitivity. However, remarkably decreased serum insulin concentrations were observed in Adipoq-/- dams. Furthermore, β-cell mass, but not glucose-stimulated insulin release, in Adipoq-/- dams was significantly reduced compared with WT dams. Together, these results demonstrate that adiponectin plays an important role in controlling maternal metabolic adaptation to pregnancy

Science and EAL teachers’ perspectives and practices in building word knowledge in implementing the new Victorian EAL curriculum

The recent implementation of The Victorian Curriculum F-10: EAL requires content teachers who teach EAL students to be familiar with the revised EAL curriculum for the purposes of planning and developing approaches to assist learners’ development in English. In the literature and in curriculum frameworks, word knowledge is considered an important aspect of EAL students’ learning. However, little is known about what pedagogical practices teachers across the curriculum perceive as being important, and use, in developing EAL students’ vocabulary. In this study, we investigated linguistically responsive vocabulary teaching in a Year 7 science class. Our aim was to elucidate teachers’ perceptions and practices in teaching vocabulary in science. The qualitative case study drew on principles of linguistically responsive instruction (LRI), which refers to practices for meeting the needs of students in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. Analysis of interview and classroom data from an EAL teacher and a science teacher revealed a range of LRI practices for developing word knowledge based on understanding the distinction between conversational and academic language, language learning principles, responsive teacher talk, plurilingual awareness, and the importance of social interaction for learners. We offer recommendations for a whole school approach to LRI, adaptation to online LRI, and curriculum development

PDE8 controls CD4(+) T cell motility through the PDE8A-Raf-1 kinase signaling complex

The levels of cAMP are regulated by phosphodiesterase enzymes (PDEs), which are targets for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. We have previously shown that PDE8 regulates T cell motility. Here, for the first time, we report that PDE8A exerts part of its control of T cell function through the V-raf-1 murine leukemia viral oncogene homolog 1 (Raf-1) kinase signaling pathway. To examine T cell motility under physiologic conditions, we analyzed T cell interactions with endothelial cells and ligands in flow assays. The highly PDE8-selective enzymatic inhibitor PF-04957325 suppresses adhesion of in vivo myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) activated inflammatory CD4(+) T effector (Teff) cells to brain endothelial cells under shear stress. Recently, PDE8A was shown to associate with Raf-1 creating a compartment of low cAMP levels around Raf-1 thereby protecting it from protein kinase A (PKA) mediated inhibitory phosphorylation. To test the function of this complex in Teff cells, we used a cell permeable peptide that selectively disrupts the PDE8A-Raf-1 interaction. The disruptor peptide inhibits the Teff-endothelial cell interaction more potently than the enzymatic inhibitor. Furthermore, the LFA-1/ICAM-1 interaction was identified as a target of disruptor peptide mediated reduction of adhesion, spreading and locomotion of Teff cells under flow. Mechanistically, we observed that disruption of the PDE8A-Raf-1 complex profoundly alters Raf-1 signaling in Teff cells. Collectively, our studies demonstrate that PDE8A inhibition by enzymatic inhibitors or PDE8A-Raf-1 kinase complex disruptors decreases Teff cell adhesion and migration under flow, and represents a novel approach to target T cells in inflammation

Youth Crisis and Transition Services (CATS): Incorporating Family Peer Support Specialists to Assist Families During Crisis

Abstract Introduction: Crisis and Transition Services (CATS) provides transitional mental health services to high-acuity youth discharging from emergency departments (EDs). A novel component of CATS is the inclusion of a family peer support specialist (FSS) on the care team, who provides direct support to the parent or guardian in developing self-advocacy, crisis management skills, and self-efficacy in navigating systems. The FSS is not a typical role in a clinically oriented crisis program; empiric evaluation of this role can help guide quality improvements in the program and in workforce recruitment, training and support. Methods: Demographic and service data were collected from CATS providers, and families were surveyed two months after completing CATS to collect feedback and clinical outcomes (n=147). Participants were sorted into two groups: did engage with FSS (n=89) and did not engage with FSS (n=58). Predictive factors for successful engagement with a FSS were analyzed using Pearson’s chi-square tests. Descriptive statistics of services provided to families and family satisfaction ratings were also evaluated. A qualitative analysis of family feedback comments identified common themes regarding family experiences of the FSS. Results: When the FSS attended the first team meeting after intake, parents were more likely to engage with peer support χ2 (1, n = 147) = 20.60, p \u3c .001. As part of the follow-up survey, parents rated their experience with the FSS on a scale of 1 (completely unsatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied). Over 70% (n = 65) of families rated their experience with the FSS as a 7 or above. The most prominent theme in the qualitative comment analysis was that parents had positive experiences with the FSS. The most common negative comment was that the parent didn’t understand how the FSS would be helpful or did not feel the FSS role would be useful for their family. Conclusions: The program elements that predict the likelihood of a family engaging with peer support, together with parent satisfaction ratings and feedback comments, provide insight into the successful implementation of parent peer support in a crisis program for youth. These have important implications for FSS professional and workforce development