Foundation Funding to Address Domestic Violence in California

The emotional, physical, and mental health consequences of domestic violence are numerous and ripple not only through generations of families directly impacted, but through communities and society overall. Programs and policies that enable survivors and their families to access services and escape violence are critical to breaking the cycle of violence for future generations. Education and prevention are increasingly important to promote healthy relationships. Eliminating domestic violence in California will require partnership and collaboration among leaders, advocates, and practitioners from local and state government, community organizations, and organized philanthropy. To enable this work, Blue Shield of California Foundation commissioned the Foundation Center to prepare this first-ever examination of the role of U.S. foundations in addressing domestic violence-related issues in California

Growth in Foundation Support for Media in the United States

Over the last decade, media -- the means by which we communicate -- has evolved significantly. Television, radio, and print newspapers and magazines were once the primary means to obtain news and information. However, the rapid evolution of the Internet and mobile technology has generated new media platforms and expanded the universe of information creators, producers, and distributors. Media information once flowed in one direction, but the expansion of the field has made the movement more diffuse.With this changing landscape as a backdrop, the Foundation Center, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation, and in collaboration with Media Impact Funders, GuideStar, and the Ford Foundation, sought to provide a fuller picture of media-related grantmaking by U.S. foundations. Tracking investments from 2009 to 2011, the data reveals that foundations are increasingly supporting media-related work across multiple areas. At the same time, they are tapping into larger trends, with investments in new media growing at a faster pace than traditional media investments. However, growth in grantmaking across the spectrum of media is inconsistent -- with growth in public broadcasting falling behind growth in investments in other areas.As demand for media funding continues to rise, these gaps are the most important ones to watch -- especially considering the 2011 Federal Communications Commission report, "The Information Needs of Communities", which called for philanthropy to play a bigger role in supporting media. Since this is a baseline assessment, it will be crucial to see how media grantmaking evolves

Liver Regeneration and Aging: A Current Perspective

Many organ systems exhibit significant age-related deficits, but, based on studies in old rodents and elderly humans, the liver appears to be relatively protected from such changes. A remarkable feature of the liver is its capacity to regenerate its mass following partial hepatectomy. Reports suggests that aging compromises the liver's regenerative capacity, both in the rate and to the extent the organ's original volume is restored. There has been modest definitive information as to which cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating hepatic regeneration are affected by aging. Changes in hepatic sensitivity to growth factors, for example, epidermal growth factor (EGF), appear to influence regeneration in old animals. Studies have demonstrated (a) a 60% decline in EGF binding to hepatocyte plasma membranes, (b) reduced expression of the hepatic high affinity EGF receptor and (c) a block between G1 and S-phases of the cell cycle in old rats following EGF stimulation. Recent studies suggest that reduced phosphorylation and dimerization of the EGF receptor, critical steps in the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway and subsequent cell proliferation are responsible. Other studies have demonstrated that aging affects the upregulation of a Forkhead Box transcription factor, FoxM1B, which is essential for growth hormone-stimulated liver regeneration in hepatectomized mice. Aging appears to compromise liver regeneration by influencing several pathways, the result of which is a reduction in the rate of regeneration, but not in the capacity to restore the organ to its original volume

Fabrication and functionalization of PCB gold electrodes suitable for DNA-based electrochemical sensing

The request of high specificity and selectivity sensors suitable for mass production is a constant demand in medical research. For applications in point-of-care diagnostics and therapy, there is a high demand for low cost and rapid sensing platforms. This paper describes the fabrication and functionalization of gold electrodes arrays for the detection of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The process can be implemented to produce efficiently a large number of biosensors. We report an electrolytic plating procedure to fabricate low-density gold microarrays on PCB suitable for electrochemical DNA detection in research fields such as cancer diagnostics or pharmacogenetics, where biosensors are usually targeted to detect a small number of genes. PCB technology allows producing high precision, fast and low cost microelectrodes. The surface of the microarray is functionalized with self-assembled monolayers of mercaptoundodecanoic acid or thiolated DNA. The PCB microarray is tested by cyclic voltammetry in presence of 5 mM of the redox probe K3Fe(CN6) in 0.1 M KCl. The voltammograms prove the correct immobilization of both the alkanethiol systems. The sensor is tested for detecting relevant markers for breast cancer. Results for 5 nM of the target TACSTD1 against the complementary TACSTD1 and non-complementary GRP, MYC, SCGB2A1, SCGB2A2, TOP2A probes show a remarkable detection limit of 0.05 nM and a high specificity

Are biochemical biomarker responses related to physiological performance of juvenile sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) caged in a polluted harbour ?

International audienceBiomarker responses to toxic exposure have been used for decades to indicate stress in aquatic organisms, or the magnitude of environmental pollution. However, little has been done to compare the simultaneous responses of both biochemical and physiological biomarkers. The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly to analyse the responses of several biochemical biomarkers measured on juvenile sea bass and turbot caged in a northern France harbour at a reference and contaminated stations. Several biotransformation parameters (Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase - EROD - and Glutathione S-transferase -GST) and an antioxidant enzyme (Catalase -CAT) were analysed. Secondly, to compare their responses to several growth and condition indices, measured on the same fish. In the contaminated station, EROD and GST activities were found to be significantly higher, and a decrease of CAT activity was observed for both species. For individual sea bass, biochemical biomarkers showed numerous significant correlations with growth and condition indices, such as the Fulton's K condition index, the RNA:DNA ratio and the lipid storage index. On the contrary, there were only a few significant correlations for turbot, suggesting a species-specific response. Our study indicates that the analysis of the simultaneous responses of both biochemical and physiological biomarkers can be useful for monitoring complex exposure and to assess habitat quality

Implementation Guidance for Wood Harvesting and Storage

This implementation guidance focuses on carbon removal and sequestration via wood harvesting and storage (WHS), a process where woody biomass, with the embedded carbon, is stored for long timescales in shallow geologic storage. The engineering structure designed to ensure such durable storage by preventing biomass decomposition is called a Wood Vault. This guidance contains the requirements for a basic Wood Vault project, and is intended to aid project developers, verifiers, and registries in this space. It describes a set of requirements that govern the end-to-end process of carbon removal and sequestration. This includes carbon accounting, wood sourcing via wood residual (WR) utilization, Wood Vault construction and maintenance, as well as processes for monitoring, verification, and credit issuance. Carbon accounting requirements include baseline, or counterfactual specification, and full life cycle analysis (LCA) within a specified process boundary. For the vault itself, the guidance describes a buried vault with the burial chamber covered by a layer of low permeability material to create anoxic condition. Other types of vaults can also be used to adjust to local environmental, transport, and economic constraints. Monitoring and verification requirements include in-situ sensors, gas sampling, sample excavations, and site maintenance. This guidance also contemplates land ownership and legal assurances, as well as environmental and societal impact assessments. The implementation guidance concludes with recommendations regarding auditing, certification and carbon credit issuance

Factors Influencing the Decision of Minority Students to Attend Graduate Schools of Social Work

This study of 255 minority students enrolled in Graduate Schools of Social Work examined factors which influenced them to decide to attend these schools. The most frequently mentioned reasons were the curriculum and location of the school followed by prestige, financial incentives, emphasis on minority concerns and influence of significant others. Those schools which attracted greater numbers of minorities tended to attract them on the basis of curriculum, emphasis on minority concerns and not requiring entrance examinations. Formal recruitment activities were not seen as particularly effective

Composable Models for Timing and Liveness Analysis in Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems Middleware

Middleware for distributed real-time embedded (DRE) systems has grown increasingly complex, to address functional and temporal requirements of diverse applications. While current approaches to modeling middleware have eased the task of assembling, deploying and configuring middleware and the applications that use it, a lower-level set of formal models is needed to uncover subtle timing and liveness hazards introduced by interference between and within distributed computations, particularly in the face of alternative middleware concurrency strategies. In this paper, we propose timed automata as a formal model of low-level middleware building blocks from which a variety different middleware configurations can be constructed. When combined with analysis techniques such as model checking, this formal model can help developers in verifying the correctness of various middleware configurations with respect to the timing and liveness constraints of each particular application

Activation of G proteins by GIV-GEF is a pivot point for insulin resistance and sensitivity.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a metabolic disorder characterized by impaired insulin signaling and cellular glucose uptake. The current paradigm for insulin signaling centers upon the insulin receptor (InsR) and its substrate IRS1; the latter is believed to be the sole conduit for postreceptor signaling. Here we challenge that paradigm and show that GIV/Girdin, a guanidine exchange factor (GEF) for the trimeric G protein Gαi, is another major hierarchical conduit for the metabolic insulin response. By virtue of its ability to directly bind InsR, IRS1, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase, GIV serves as a key hub in the immediate postreceptor level, which coordinately enhances the metabolic insulin response and glucose uptake in myotubes via its GEF function. Site-directed mutagenesis or phosphoinhibition of GIV-GEF by the fatty acid/protein kinase C-theta pathway triggers IR. Insulin sensitizers reverse phosphoinhibition of GIV and reinstate insulin sensitivity. We also provide evidence for such reversible regulation of GIV-GEF in skeletal muscles from patients with IR. Thus GIV is an essential upstream component that couples InsR to G-protein signaling to enhance the metabolic insulin response, and impairment of such coupling triggers IR. We also provide evidence that GIV-GEF serves as therapeutic target for exogenous manipulation of physiological insulin response and reversal of IR in skeletal muscles