The Role of Telomere Dysfunction in Driving Genomic Instability

The mechanistic role of radiation-induced genomic instability in radiation carcinogenesis is an attractive hypothesis that remains to be rigorously tested. There are few in vivo studies on which to base judgments, but work in our laboratory with mouse models of radiogenic mammary neoplasia provided the first indications that certain forms of genetically predisposed radiation-induced genomic instability may contribute to tumor development. The central goal of this research project is to more firmly establish the mechanistic basis of this radiation-associated genomic instability and, from this, to assess whether such induced instability might play a major role in tumorigenesis at low doses of low LET radiation. In the case of mouse mammary tumors, susceptibility to induced instability is expressed as an autosomal recessive trait in mammary epithelial cells and is manifest largely as excess chromatid damage. Recently published studies associate this form of instability with DNA repair deficiency, polymorphic variation in the gene encoding DNA-PKcs (Prkdc), and mammary associated susceptibility. The underlying hypothesis being tested in this project is that tumor-associated genomic instability is preferentially expressed in certain recombinogenic genomic domains and that these may be cell lineage/individual-specific

A Matter of Priorities: Effects of Increased Opportunities for Extracurricular and Non-Traditional Learning Experiences on Student Time Management and Attitudes

Many schools are emphasizing non-traditional and extracurricular learning experiences for undergraduate engineering students. These include activities such as incorporating servicelearning projects into the classroom, involving students in design competitions (e.g., solar car, formula car races), and promoting involvement in traditional campus organizations. Often this emphasis is in response to changes in ABET requirements, desires of future employers, and needs to improve student retention. What are the effects of emphasizing these sorts of activities on student attitudes and time management decisions? We examine the influences on students\u27 priorities for allocating their time and their perceptions of the relative importance of available activities, especially traditional coursework. We present data relating key personality and motivational factors to patterns of student social involvement, organizational commitment, academic performance, and work habits and attitudes. Implications for educators and potential cost-benefit trade-offs for particular student subpopulations are also presented

Reproductive Ecology of the Azooxanthellate Coral Tubastraea coccinea in the Equatorial Eastern Pacific: Part V. Dendrophylliidae

The reproductive ecology of Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, an azooxanthellate tropical scleractinian coral, was studied over various periods from 1985 to 2006 at four principal eastern Pacific locations in Costa Rica, Panamá, and the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). This small (polyp diameter 0.8–1.0 cm), relatively cryptic species produced ova and planulae year round, including colonies with as few as 2–10 polyps. Of 424 colonies examined histologically, 13.7% contained both ova and sperm. Mature ova varied in diameter from ~300 to 800 µm and the time from spawning and fertilization of oocytes to release of brooded planulae was about 6 weeks. Planulae were 0.5–1.5 mm long and they settled and metamorphosed on a variety of substrates after 1–3 days. Spermaries, though more difficult to distinguish in histological sections, were present throughout the year. Spent spermaries were never observed in sections, but several colonies in Panamá and the Galápagos Islands released sperm from night one to night five after full moon, indicating the potential for cross-fertilization among colonies. Planula release was observed at Uva Island (Panamá) in March, May, June, and July, and in general planula presence was higher at warm ocean temperatures at all sites, whether or not the sites were inXuenced by seasonal upwelling. Annual fecundity estimates for T. coccinea are comparable with other high fecundity brooding species, including the zooxanthellate Porites panamensis, with which it co-occurs in Panamá. Tubastraea coccinea is widely distributed in the tropical Indo-Pacific and has colonized substrates in the western Atlantic. In addition to the reproductive characteristics described in the present study, other features of the biology of T. coccinea, such as an ability to withstand conditions that produce bleaching and mortality in zooxanthellate species, may account for its widespread, low-latitude distribution in multiple oceans

Examining trends in nonâ fatal strangulation among sexual assault survivors seeking Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner care from 2002 to 2017

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154499/1/ijgo13058_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154499/2/ijgo13058.pd

Temporal genomics in Hawaiian crickets reveals compensatory intragenomic coadaptation during adaptive evolution

This study was supported with funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council to N.W.B. (NE/T000619/1, NE/T014806/1, NE/L011255/1) and M.B. (NE/W001519/1). We are grateful for bioinformatics support from Iain Milne and the use of the UK\u2019s Crop Diversity Bioinformatics HPC, funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/S019669/1), as well as the St Andrews Bioinformatics Unit, funded by a Wellcome Trust ISSF award (105621/Z/14/Z).Theory predicts that compensatory genetic changes reduce negative indirect effects of selected variants during adaptive evolution, but evidence is scarce. Here, we test this in a wild population of Hawaiian crickets using temporal genomics and a high-quality chromosome-level cricket genome. In this population, a mutation, flatwing, silences males and rapidly spread due to an acoustically-orienting parasitoid. Our sampling spanned a social transition during which flatwing fixed and the population went silent. We find long-range linkage disequilibrium around the putative flatwing locus was maintained over time, and hitchhiking genes had functions related to negative flatwing-associated effects. We develop a combinatorial enrichment approach using transcriptome data to test for compensatory, intragenomic coevolution. Temporal changes in genomic selection were distributed genome-wide and functionally associated with the population’s transition to silence, particularly behavioural responses to silent environments. Our results demonstrate how ‘adaptation begets adaptation’; changes to the sociogenetic environment accompanying rapid trait evolution can generate selection provoking further, compensatory adaptation.Peer reviewe

Safetxt: a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone to increase safer sex behaviours in young people.

OBJECTIVE: To test the procedures proposed for a main trial of a safer sex intervention for young people delivered by mobile phone text message ('safetxt'). DESIGN AND SETTING: Pilot randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited through sexual health services in the UK. An independent online randomisation system allocated participants to receive the safetxt intervention or to receive the control text messages (monthly messages about participation in the study). Texting software delivered the messages in accordance with a predetermined schedule. PARTICIPANTS: Residents of England aged 16-24 who had received either a positive chlamydia test result or reported unsafe sex in the last year (defined as more than 1 partner and at least 1 occasion of sex without a condom). INTERVENTION: The safetxt intervention is designed to reduce sexually transmitted infection in young people by supporting them in using condoms, telling a partner about an infection and testing before unprotected sex with a new partner. Safetxt was developed drawing on: behavioural science; face-to-face interventions; the factors known to influence safer sex behaviours and the views of young people. OUTCOMES: The coprimary outcomes of the pilot trial were the recruitment rate and completeness of follow-up. RESULTS: We recruited 200 participants within our target of 3 months and we achieved 81% (162/200) follow-up response for the proposed primary outcome of the main trial, cumulative incidence of chlamydia at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Recruitment, randomisation, intervention delivery and follow-up were successful and a randomised controlled trial of the safetxt intervention is feasible. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN02304709; Results

Primary physical education, coaches and continuing professional development

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Sport, Education and Society, 16(4), 485 - 505, 2011, copyright @ Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13573322.2011.589645.Physical education (PE) in primary schools has traditionally been taught by qualified primary teachers. More recently, some teaching of PE in primary schools has been undertaken by coaches (mostly football coaches). These coaches hold national governing body awards but do not hold teaching qualifications. Thus, coaches may not be adequately prepared to teach PE in curriculum time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of a group of community-based football coaches working in primary schools for the impact of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme on their ability to undertake ‘specified work’ to cover PE in primary schools. The programme focused on four areas identified as important to enable coaches to cover specified work: short- and medium-term planning, pedagogy, knowledge of the curriculum and reflection. Results showed that for the majority of coaches the CPD programme had made them more aware of the importance of these four areas and had helped to develop their knowledge and ability to put this into practice in covering planning, preparation and assessment time. However, further input is still required to develop coaches’ knowledge and understanding in all four areas, but especially their curriculum knowledge, as well as their ability to put these into practice consistently. These findings are discussed in relation to the implications of employing coaches to cover the teaching of PE in primary schools and, if employed, what CPD coaches need to develop the necessary knowledge, skill and understanding for covering specified work in schools

Patterns of patient-reported symptoms and association with sociodemographic and systemic sclerosis disease characteristics: a scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort cross-sectional study

Background Systemic sclerosis is a heterogenous disease in which little is known about patterns of patient-reported symptom clusters. We aimed to identify classes of individuals with similar anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain symptoms and to evaluate associated sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics. Methods This multi-centre cross-sectional study used baseline data from Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network Cohort participants enrolled from 2014 to 2020. Eligible participants completed the PROMIS-29 v2.0 measure. Latent profile analysis was used to identify homogeneous classes of participants based on patterns of anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain scores. Sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics were compared across classes. Findings Among 2212 participants, we identified five classes, including four classes with “Low” (565 participants, 26%), “Normal” (651 participants, 29%), “High” (569 participants, 26%), or “Very High” (193 participants, 9%) symptom levels across all symptoms. Participants in a fifth class, “High Fatigue/Sleep/Pain and Low Anxiety/Depression” (234 participants, 11%) had similar levels of fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain as in the “High” class but low anxiety and depression symptoms. There were significant and substantive trends in sociodemographic characteristics (age, education, race or ethnicity, marital or partner status) and increasing disease severity (diffuse disease, tendon friction rubs, joint contractures, gastrointestinal symptoms) across severity-based classes. Disease severity and sociodemographic characteristics of “High Fatigue/Sleep/Pain and Low Anxiety/Depression” class participants were similar to the “High” severity class. Interpretation Most people with systemic sclerosis can be classified by levels of patient-reported symptoms, which are consistent across symptoms and highly associated with sociodemographic and disease-related variables, except for one group which reports low mental health symptoms despite high levels of other symptoms and substantial disease burden. Studies are needed to better understand resilience in systemic sclerosis and to identify and facilitate implementation of cognitive and behavioural strategies to improve coping and overall quality of life