Building a Community on the Fast Track: ENG. 09/111 at Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) as a Tier C Model

This author organized and taught the new ENG 09/111 classes at her college, as well as authoring the course text and workbook. In this article, she details the course structure, discusses its statistical assessment, and includes the reactions from students who have taken the class

Broad and thematic remodeling of the surfaceome and glycoproteome on isogenic cells transformed with driving proliferative oncogenes.

The cell surface proteome, the surfaceome, is the interface for engaging the extracellular space in normal and cancer cells. Here we apply quantitative proteomics of N-linked glycoproteins to reveal how a collection of some 700 surface proteins is dramatically remodeled in an isogenic breast epithelial cell line stably expressing any of six of the most prominent proliferative oncogenes, including the receptor tyrosine kinases, EGFR and HER2, and downstream signaling partners such as KRAS, BRAF, MEK, and AKT. We find that each oncogene has somewhat different surfaceomes, but the functions of these proteins are harmonized by common biological themes including up-regulation of nutrient transporters, down-regulation of adhesion molecules and tumor suppressing phosphatases, and alteration in immune modulators. Addition of a potent MEK inhibitor that blocks MAPK signaling brings each oncogene-induced surfaceome back to a common state reflecting the strong dependence of the oncogene on the MAPK pathway to propagate signaling. Cell surface protein capture is mediated by covalent tagging of surface glycans, yet current methods do not afford sequencing of intact glycopeptides. Thus, we complement the surfaceome data with whole cell glycoproteomics enabled by a recently developed technique called activated ion electron transfer dissociation (AI-ETD). We found massive oncogene-induced changes to the glycoproteome and differential increases in complex hybrid glycans, especially for KRAS and HER2 oncogenes. Overall, these studies provide a broad systems-level view of how specific driver oncogenes remodel the surfaceome and the glycoproteome in a cell autologous fashion, and suggest possible surface targets, and combinations thereof, for drug and biomarker discovery

Exploring Circle Packing Algorithms

We present an interactive tool for visualizing and experimenting with different circle packing algorithms

An Examination of Finish Time Variation for Collegiate Cross Country National Championships by Gender

In cross country, women compete over shorter distances than men with little justification for these differences. The purpose of this study was to assess gender differences for the spread of finishing times and examine the appropriateness of shorter competition distances for females. Forty-six cross country national championship data sets (nmales = 10,788; nfemales = 10,884) from the NCAA (1999-2011) and NAIA (2005-2011) were utilized for analyses. Several measures of variation were computed to assess spread of finishing times data (i.e., Coefficient of Variation [CV]; Interpercentile Ranges [IR], and Rates of Separation [RS; IR divided by the distance of the race]). Independent t-tests revealed significant gender differences on all three measures of variations. Males and females differed on CV (Mmales = 3.93, SD = 1.04; Mfemales = 4.84, SD = 1.05, p \u3c .001), as well as each percentile range for IR and RS. Specifically, males and females differed on IR for NCAA Division I, IR5th-95th (Mmales = 194.32; Mfemales = 167.93, p \u3c .001), IR10th-90th (Mmales = 146.66; Mfemales = 127.51, p \u3c .001), and Division II, IR10th-90th (Mmales = 237.32; Mfemales = 203.37, p = .001). Males and females also differed on all RSs for all four levels of competition. For women, a race distance at 68.6% of the distance of the men could generate equivalent variations between genders. Finish times for women’s races were more spread out than for men’s races when adjusted for distance and time. The spread of finishing times may justify shorter distances run by women

An Analysis of Horizontal Forces Between Sports

Different sports have various demands that athletes must meet to perform at the requisite level. For example, hockey athletes produce primarily horizontal forces due to skating. However, in basketball, there are a combination of horizontal forces from running and vertical forces from frequent jumping. Therefore, utilizing forces exclusively in one direction as a metric to compare athletes of different sports could provide a limited analysis. PURPOSE: The purpose of this investigation was to compare the relationship between horizontal and vertical forces between athletes who participate in the 4 major sports in the US by using a ratio of horizontal and vertical forces produced, called Fmax ratios. We hypothesized that athletes who move primary horizontally, like hockey players, would have greater Fmax ratios than athletes who participate in sports that involve jumping, like basketball. METHODS: Kinetic data were collected on 28 male athletes (8 baseball, 8 basketball, 6 hockey, 3 football, 22.4±4.53 yrs., 1.86±0.08m, 86.39±8.64kg) who participate in the 4 major US sports. All athletes had their horizontal forces measured using a DynaSpeed MUSCLELAB system. Athletes ran at various %’s of bodyweight using the DynaSpeed, and regression was used to predict peak horizontal forces. To measure vertical forces, athletes performed a countermovement jump on a force platform. Fmax ratios were calculated by dividing peak horizontal force by peak vertical force. A one-way ANOVA was used to compare Fmax ratios between athletes of the 4 major US sports. RESULTS: No differences were found in Fmax ratios between sports (Baseball = 0.22±0.03, Basketball = 0.20±0.02, Hockey = 0.21±0.02, Football = 0.20±0.01, p=0.34). CONCLUSION: Results contradict our hypothesis as no mean differences were found between any sports. Furthermore, an exploratory analysis found no differences in horizontal forces between groups. This suggests that regardless of predominant direction utilized in sport, athletes of different sports still produce the same magnitude of horizontal forces as well as ratios. Future studies that investigate Fmax ratios should aim to measure horizontal and vertical forces simultaneously rather than separately to best capture sport specificity

GLBT Center Minutes from October 2010 Gender Neutral Bathroom Meeting‏

This document is the GLBT Center Minutes from October 2010 Gender Neutral Bathroom Meeting‏