The Beacon Community Centers Middle School Initiative: Final Report on Implementation and Youth Experience in the Initiative

The report evaluates New York City's Beacon Middle School Initiative, which was launched to increase services to middle-grades youth through programs in academics, life skills, career awareness, civic engagement, physical health, and arts and culture. The report describes youth characteristics and participation, program features, connections to school and communities, youth reports of their experiences, and relationships between program characteristics and youth outcomes

Cucurbitacin I Inhibits Cell Motility by Indirectly Interfering with Actin Dynamics

Cucurbitacins are plant natural products that inhibit activation of the Janus kinase 2 (JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway by an unknown mechanism. They are also known to cause changes in the organization of the actin cytoskeleton. actin depolymerization experiments, cucurbitacin I had no effect on the rate of actin filament disassembly at the nanomolar concentrations that inhibit cell migration. At elevated concentrations, the depolymerization rate was also unaffected, although there was a delay in the initiation of depolymerization. Therefore, cucurbitacin I targets some factor involved in cellular actin dynamics other than actin itself. Two candidate proteins that play roles in actin depolymerization are the actin-severing proteins cofilin and gelsolin. Cucurbitacin I possesses electrophilic reactivity that may lead to chemical modification of its target protein, as suggested by structure-activity relationship data. However, mass spectrometry revealed no evidence for modification of purified cofilin or gelsolin by cucurbitacin I.Cucurbitacin I results in accumulation of actin filaments in cells by a unique indirect mechanism. Furthermore, the proximal target of cucurbitacin I relevant to cell migration is unlikely to be the same one involved in activation of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Development of a Pain Scoring System for Use in Sheep Surgically Implanted with Ventricular Assist Devices

Purpose/Aim: In prey species, such as sheep, clinical signs of postoperative pain can manifest in subtle ways or may be concealed entirely. Previous publications describing pain assessment in ruminants focus on lameness and flock behavior, often in a farm environment. These indicators of pain may be difficult to assess in sheep housed in biomedical research settings. We have developed a novel pain scoring system for sheep undergoing thoracotomy for implantation of ventricular assist devices that are permanently housed in modified stanchions. Materials and Methods: The pain scoring system includes ruminant-specific behavioral signs of pain in addition to objective measurements that can be readily evaluated in a biomedical research setting. A numerical score is generated by the evaluator for each category. A decision tree is utilized to help guide further action following the generation of a cumulative score by the evaluator. A total score of 0–2 requires no intervention, 3–9 requires the consideration of additional analgesic administration, and a pain score ≥ 10 warrants the consideration of additional multimodal analgesia. Results: A novel pain scoring system and decision tree specifically designed for sheep undergoing thoracotomy in a biomedical research environment was developed and successfully utilized. Out of 102 postoperative pain scores measured, 86 scores were <2. There were 17/102 postoperative pain scores ≥3, which typically resulted in the administration of supplemental rescue analgesia in the immediate postoperative period. Conclusions: A novel pain scoring system was developed and utilized in a biomedical research environment for evaluating postoperative pain in sheep undergoing thoracotomy for implantation of a ventricular assist device. Further studies are necessary to validate the reliability of this novel pain scoring system

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

10.1111/gcb.14904GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY261119-18