Elementary School Meets University

When school districts and universities combine their strengths, both benefit. Like teaching hospitals associated with medical schools, professional development schools (PDSs) train future practitioners, develop state-of-the-art practices, and nurture professional growth. Schools benefit from sustained professional development focused on their unique needs. Teacher preparation programs benefit from exemplary placements for student teachers and the wisdom of current practitioners. Both gain from joint research into innovative practices and the cross-fertilization of ideas

An expert system interfaced with a database system to perform troubleshooting of aircraft carrier piping systems

Maintaining and troubleshooting aircraft carrier through tank piping systems is a labor intensive, operational fleet problem. There is a clear need for a useful database and expert system to aid in fault isolation and repair planning for these systems. The multiple extensive piping systems of an aircraft carrier create an intimidating modeling problem for implementation in a database. The interface of an expert system to a large database to obtain improved execution speed, exploit a useful data model, reduce memory requirements, and enhance total system capability is examined and implemented, A flexible model for representing a large ship's piping systems in a database is presented.http://archive.org/details/expertsysteminte00clayCommander, United States NavyLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Definition, Analysis, Purpose of Social Capital

A list of definitions of social capital related terms used by the ILO.International Labour Organizationunpublishe

Negotiating the boundaries of the welfare state: Changing perspectives of social cohesion

Paper presented at the Biannual European IUCISD Conference Sept. 23-26, 1999.International Labour Organizationunpublishe

Social and Health Care Standards - Best Practices

Outline of best practice in social servicesInternational Labour Organizationunpublishe

Disruption in murine Eml1 perturbs retinal lamination during early development.

During mammalian development, establishing functional neural networks in stratified tissues of the mammalian central nervous system depends upon the proper migration and positioning of neurons, a process known as lamination. In particular, the pseudostratified neuroepithelia of the retina and cerebrocortical ventricular zones provide a platform for progenitor cell proliferation and migration. Lamination defects in these tissues lead to mispositioned neurons, disrupted neuronal connections, and abnormal function. The molecular mechanisms necessary for proper lamination in these tissues are incompletely understood. Here, we identified a nonsense mutation in the Eml1 gene in a novel murine model, tvrm360, displaying subcortical heterotopia, hydrocephalus and disorganization of retinal architecture. In the retina, Eml1 disruption caused abnormal positioning of photoreceptor cell nuclei early in development. Upon maturation, these ectopic photoreceptors possessed cilia and formed synapses but failed to produce robust outer segments, implying a late defect in photoreceptor differentiation secondary to mislocalization. In addition, abnormal positioning of Müller cell bodies and bipolar cells was evident throughout the inner neuroblastic layer. Basal displacement of mitotic nuclei in the retinal neuroepithelium was observed in tvrm360 mice at postnatal day 0. The abnormal positioning of retinal progenitor cells at birth and ectopic presence of photoreceptors and secondary neurons upon maturation suggest that EML1 functions early in eye development and is crucial for proper retinal lamination during cellular proliferation and development

Genetic Interaction between Mfrp and Adipor1 Mutations Affect Retinal Disease Phenotypes

Adipor1tm1Dgen and Mfrprd6 mutant mice share similar eye disease characteristics. Previously, studies established a functional relationship of ADIPOR1 and MFRP proteins in maintaining retinal lipidome homeostasis and visual function. However, the independent and/or interactive contribution of both genes to similar disease phenotypes, including fundus spots, decreased axial length, and photoreceptor degeneration has yet to be examined. We performed a gene-interaction study where homozygous Adipor1tm1Dgen and Mfrprd6 mice were bred together and the resulting doubly heterozygous F1 offspring were intercrossed to produce 210 F2 progeny. Four-month-old mice from all nine genotypic combinations obtained in the F2 generation were assessed for white spots by fundus photo documentation, for axial length by caliper measurements, and for photoreceptor degeneration by histology. Two-way factorial ANOVA was performed to study individual as well as gene interaction effects on each phenotype. Here, we report the first observation of reduced axial length in Adipor1tmlDgen homozygotes. We show that while Adipor1 and Mfrp interact to affect spotting and degeneration, they act independently to control axial length, highlighting the complex functional association between these two genes. Further examination of the molecular basis of this interaction may help in uncovering mechanisms by which these genes perturb ocular homeostasis

C-terminal methylation of truncated neuropeptides: An enzyme- assistedextraction artifact involving methanol

Neuropeptides are the largest class of signaling molecules used by nervous systems. Today, neuropeptidediscovery commonly involves chemical extraction from a tissue source followed by mass spectrometriccharacterization. Ideally, the extraction procedure accurately preserves the sequence and any inher-ent modifications of the native peptides. Here, we present data showing that this is not always true.Specifically, we present evidence showing that, in the lobster Homarus americanus, the orcokinin fam-ily members, NFDEIDRSGFG-OMe and SSEDMDRLGFG-OMe, are non-native peptides generated fromfull-length orcokinin precursors as the result of a highly selective peptide modification (peptide trun-cation with C-terminal methylation) that occurs during extraction. These peptides were observed byMALDI-FTMS and LC-Q-TOFMS analyses when eyestalk ganglia were extracted in a methanolic solvent,but not when tissues were dissected, co-crystallized with matrix, and analyzed directly with methanolexcluded from the sample preparation. The identity of NFDEIDRSGFG-OMe was established using MALDI-FTMS/SORI-CID, LC-Q-TOFMS/MS, and comparison with a peptide standard. Extraction substitutingdeuterated methanol for methanol confirmed that the latter is the source of the C-terminal methyl group,and MS/MS confirmed the C-terminal localization of the added CD3. Surprisingly, NFDEIDRSGFG-OMe isnot produced via a chemical acid-catalyzed esterification. Instead, the methylated peptide appears toresult from proteolytic truncation in the presence of methanol, as evidenced by a reduction in conver-sion with the addition of a protease-inhibitor cocktail; heat effectively eliminated the conversion. Thisunusual and highly specific extraction-derived peptide conversion exemplifies the need to consider bothchemical and biochemical processes that may modify the structure of endogenous neuropeptides. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Distinct or shared actions of peptide family isoforms: II. Multiple pyrokinins exert similar effects in the lobster stomatogastric nervous system

Many neuropeptides are members of peptide families, with multiple structurally similar isoforms frequently found even within a single species. This raises the question of whether the individual peptides serve common or distinct functions. In the accompanying paper, we found high isoform specificity in the responses of the lobster (Homarus americanus) cardiac neuromuscular system to members of the pyrokinin peptide family: only one of five crustacean isoforms showed any bioactivity in the cardiac system. Because previous studies in other species had found little isoform specificity in pyrokinin actions, we examined the effects of the same five crustacean pyrokinins on the lobster stomatogastric nervous system (STNS). In contrast to our findings in the cardiac system, the effects of the five pyrokinin isoforms on the STNS were indistinguishable: they all activated or enhanced the gastric mill motor pattern, but did not alter the pyloric pattern. These results, in combination with those from the cardiac ganglion, suggest that members of a peptide family in the same species can be both isoform specific and highly promiscuous in their modulatory capacity. The mechanisms that underlie these differences in specificity have not yet been elucidated; one possible explanation, which has yet to be tested, is the presence and differential distribution of multiple receptors for members of this peptide family