The Effects of a Sex Positive Sexual Violence Prevention Program on College Women

The development of effective sexual violence prevention programming has been an effort spanning several decades, while prevalence of such violence remains high. The present study describes the development and evaluation of a violence prevention program (Relationships, Sexuality, and Violence Prevention: RSVP) for women that draws from other types of interventions, and is grounded in Social Cognitive Theory and current research-generated recommendations. The evaluation of the program measured change between treatment and control group college women on a number of relevant factors: (a) rape myth acceptance, (b) sexual double standards, (c) positive sexual self-understanding, (d) sexual communication, (e) sexual consent understanding, (f) willingness to intervene against sexual aggression, and (g) self-defense self-efficacy. A series of one-way ANOVAs showed a significant decrease of rape myth acceptance, F(1, 150) = 30.3, p = .00, η2p = .20, and increase of self-defense self-efficacy, F(1, 145) = 31.5, p = .00, η2p = .16, for college women who participated in RSVP. Both of these outcomes are well-established as important protective factors associated with sexual violence prevention. These results represent important contributions in the ongoing effort to establish the effectiveness of the RSVP program. Implications for future research include continuing to emphasize self-efficacy, agency, and empowerment across the program content, and to reflect planned behavioral change and incidence of sexual violence more accurately in longitudinal analyses

STEM Active Learning Vignette Series: Leveraging Evidence-based Practice, Community, and Systems of Support at California State University, Fresno

In 2017, Equal Measure visited five campuses representing four of the initial seven STEM Active Learning Networks to delve into site-level changes supporting progress toward network goals. In this vignette, we highlight the work of Fresno State, which designed the Building Opportunities with Networks of Discovery (BOND) program.Led by two junior faculty in the Fresno State College of Science and Mathematics (CSM), the CSM BOND program aims to "increase students' sense of self efficacy, sense of belonging, as well as their critical thinking and quantitative learning in order to increase student retention rates, graduation rates, and minimize the achievement gap of CSM students."The CSM BOND team developed tools and frameworks to enhance instructor efficacy, and experimented with a comprehensive model of wraparound support services for students by building and strengthening relationships with the Advising and Resources Center and the Learning Center, among other campus entities

Water governance in the UK and EU: So far, so what and what next? Symposium Report. 16th September 2015, Royal Society, London.

Improving water governance is key to achieving a range of environmental, social and economic objectives including food, water and energy security, climate change resilience, health and well-being, and sustainable economic growth. This symposium brought together examples of initiatives in research, policy and practice for transforming water governance, including: CADWAGO case studies from the UK, Canada and Australia; the OECD’s work on water governance principles; DEFRA’s overview of the Catchment-based Approach; and the work of the Roe Catchment Community Water Management Group in the UK. CADWAGO researchers from the Open University have been working with Government bodies, NGOs, consultants, water industry, academics, and others to better understand the current water governance situation and how it might be improved in practice. The results of this engagement — focusing on transformations in stakes and stakeholding, facilitation, institutions and policies, and knowing and learning — were used as a starting point for developing of an agenda for transforming water governance in the UK and the EU. This report provides an overview of the presentations and group discussions from the symposium

The steady-state repertoire of human SCF Ubiquitin ligase complexes does not require ongoing Nedd8 conjugation

The human genome encodes 69 different F-box proteins (FBPs), each of which can potentially assemble with Skp1-Cul1-RING to serve as the substrate specificity subunit of an SCF ubiquitin ligase complex. SCF activity is switched on by conjugation of the ubiquitin- like protein Nedd8 to Cul1. Cycles of Nedd8 conjugation and deconjugation acting in conjunction with the Cul1-sequestering factor Cand1 are thought to control dynamic cycles of SCF assembly and disassembly, which would enable a dynamic equilibrium between the Cul1- RING catalytic core of SCF and the cellular repertoire of FBPs. To test this hypothesis, we determined the cellular composition of SCF complexes and evaluated the impact of Nedd8 conjugation on this steady-state. At least 42 FBPs assembled with Cul1 in HEK 293 cells, and the levels of Cul1-bound FBPs varied by over two orders of magnitude. Unexpectedly, quantitative mass spectrometry revealed that blockade of Nedd8 conjugation led to a modest increase, rather than a decrease, in the overall level of most SCF complexes. We suggest that multiple mechanisms including FBP dissociation and turnover cooperate to maintain the cellular pool of SCF ubiquitin ligases

Cdc48/p97 promotes degradation of aberrant nascent polypeptides bound to the ribosome

Ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis can initiate at ribosomes for myriad reasons including misfolding of a nascent chain or stalling of the ribosome during translation of mRNA. Clearance of a stalled complex is required to recycle the ribosome for future use. Here we show that the ubiquitin (Ub) pathway segregase Cdc48/p97 and its adaptors Ufd1-Npl4 participate in ribosome-associated degradation (RAD) by mediating the clearance of ubiquitinated, tRNA-linked nascent peptides from ribosomes. Through characterization of both endogenously-generated and heterologous model substrates for the RAD pathway, we conclude that budding yeast Cdc48 functions downstream of the Ub ligases Ltn1 and Ubr1 to release nascent proteins from the ribosome so that they can be degraded by the proteasome. Defective RAD could contribute to the pathophysiology of human diseases caused by mutations in p97

Capturing Budget Impact Considerations Within Economic Evaluations: A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations of Rotavirus Vaccine in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and a Proposed Assessment Framework.

BACKGROUND: In low- and middle-income countries, budget impact is an important criterion for funding new interventions, particularly for large public health investments such as new vaccines. However, budget impact analyses remain less frequently conducted and less well researched than cost-effectiveness analyses. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to fill the gap in research on budget impact analyses by assessing (1) the quality of stand-alone budget impact analyses, and (2) the feasibility of extending cost-effectiveness analyses to capture budget impact. METHODS: We developed a budget impact analysis checklist and scoring system for budget impact analyses, which we then adapted for cost-effectiveness analyses, based on current International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Task Force recommendations. We applied both budget impact analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis checklists and scoring systems to examine the extent to which existing economic evaluations provide sufficient evidence about budget impact to enable decision making. We used rotavirus vaccination as an illustrative case in which low- and middle-income countries uptake has been limited despite demonstrated cost effectiveness. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify economic evaluations of rotavirus vaccine in low- and middle-income countries published between January 2000 and February 2017. We critically appraised the quality of budget impact analyses, and assessed the extension of cost-effectiveness analyses to provide useful budget impact information. RESULTS: Six budget impact analyses and 60 cost-effectiveness analyses were identified. Budget impact analyses adhered to most International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research recommendations, with key exceptions being provision of undiscounted financial streams for each budget period and model validation. Most cost-effectiveness analyses could not be extended to provide useful budget impact information; cost-effectiveness analyses also rarely presented undiscounted annual costs, or estimated financial streams during the first years of programme scale-up. CONCLUSIONS: Cost-effectiveness analyses vastly outnumber budget impact analyses of rotavirus vaccination, despite both being critical for policy decision making. Straightforward changes to the presentation of cost-effectiveness analyses results could facilitate their adaptation into budget impact analyses

Identification of a functional docking site in the Rpn1 LRR domain for the UBA-UBL domain protein Ddi1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The proteasome is a multi-subunit protein machine that is the final destination for cellular proteins that have been marked for degradation via an ubiquitin (Ub) chain appendage. These ubiquitylated proteins either bind directly to the intrinsic proteasome ubiqutin chain receptors Rpn10, Rpn13, or Rpt5, or are shuttled to the proteasome by Rad23, Dsk2, or Ddi1. The latter proteins share an Ub association domain (UBA) for binding poly-Ub chains and an Ub-like-domain (UBL) for binding to the proteasome. It has been proposed that shuttling receptors dock on the proteasome via Rpn1, but the precise nature of the docking site remains poorly defined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To shed light on the recruitment of shuttling receptors to the proteasome, we performed both site-directed mutagenesis and genetic screening to identify mutations in Rpn1 that disrupt its binding to UBA-UBL proteins. Here we demonstrate that delivery of Ub conjugates and docking of Ddi1 (and to a lesser extent Dsk2) to the proteasome are strongly impaired by an aspartic acid to alanine point mutation in the highly-conserved D517 residue of Rpn1. Moreover, degradation of the Ddi1-dependent proteasome substrate, Ufo1, is blocked in <it>rpn1-D517A </it>yeast cells. By contrast, Rad23 recruitment to the proteasome is not affected by <it>rpn1-D517A</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These studies provide insight into the mechanism by which the UBA-UBL protein Ddi1 is recruited to the proteasome to enable Ub-dependent degradation of its ligands. Our studies suggest that different UBA-UBL proteins are recruited to the proteasome by distinct mechanisms.</p

Stakeholders' Experiences of Research Integrity Support in Universities:A Qualitative Study in three European Countries

Fostering research integrity (RI) increasingly focuses on normative guidance and supportive measures within institutions. To be successful, the implementation of support should be informed by stakeholders’ experiences of RI support. This study aims to explore experiences of RI support in Dutch, Spanish and Croatian universities. In total, 59 stakeholders (Netherlands n = 25, Spain n = 17, Croatia n = 17) participated in 16 focus groups in three European countries. Global themes on RI support experiences were identified by thematic analysis. Themes identified were: ‘RI governance and institutional implementation’, ‘RI roles and structures’, ‘RI education and supervision’, and ‘Infrastructure, technology and tools supporting daily practice’. Experiences of support differed between countries in relation to: the efforts to translate norms into practice; the extent to which RI oversight was a responsibility of RE structures, or separate RI structures; and the availability of support close to research practice, such as training, responsible supervision, and adequate tools and infrastructure. The study reinforces the importance of a whole institutional approach to RI, embedded within local jurisdictions, rules, and practices. A whole institutional approach puts the emphasis of responsibility on institutions rather than individual researchers. When such an approach is lacking, some stakeholders look for intervention by authorities, such as funders, outside of the university. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11948-022-00390-5