Using Backcrosses and Tetrad Analysis to Investigate Cell division Cycle Mutants in Kluyveromyes lactis

The cell division cycle is the process by which all cells grow and reproduce. Mechanisms underlying the control of this complicated process have been studied at great length, but are not completely understood. Proper timing and sequencing of events in the cell cycle are maintained by gene products (Morgan, 2007). These Cdc (cell division cycle) proteins perform specific cellular functions that will promote transitions in the cell cycle depending on the current conditions of the internal and external environment. It is important to isolate and identify the function of CDC genes in order to understand how a normal cell cycle works, and how to fix it if it malfunctions. An ideal subject for studying the cell cycle in eukaryotes is budding yeast. Currently, our lab has identified ten cdc mutants using a temperature sensitive (ts) and cdc screen in the budding yeast K. lactis that fall into eight complementation groups. Several additional strains of K. lactis have been identified as potentially carrying cdc mutations in new CDC genes not yet identified. The project discussed in this thesis sought to confirm that these strains were cdc mutants through a new cdc screen. Afterwards, a backcross of the newly identified cdc mutants was performed to create diploids for a recessiveness test and tetrad analysis. Two cdc mutant strains, RCY1110 and RCY1124, were found to carry recessive genes. After several tetrad analyses of these two strains, each was found to only contain a single mutated gene. The ts gene in RCY1110 displayed possible linkage to URA3, while the ts gene in RCY1124 displayed possible linkage to ADE1. Cells from the RCY1110 strain have no bud upon arrest, while cells from the strain RCY1124 exhibit a large bud upon arrest. In future, these mutant strains can undergo complementation testing before the final step of identifying the mutated gene with cloning by complementation. Several other strains including RCY1120 and RCY1123 were found to exhibit Cdc phenotype, but analysis was discontinued as they were found not to be ts on solid media. One strain, RCY1126, was concluded to deviate from the usual bud morphology, but could not be categorized as a cdc mutant because there was no uniform arrest of the cells. RCY1126 and the apparent non-ts strains would be interesting strains to study in a future investigation

Contemplating Mindfulness at Work: An Integrative Review

Mindfulness research activity is surging within organizational science. Emerging evidence across multiple fields suggests that mindfulness is fundamentally connected to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge base has not been systematically integrated to date. This review coalesces the burgeoning body of mindfulness scholarship into a framework to guide mainstream management research investigating a broad range of constructs. The framework identifies how mindfulness influences attention, with downstream effects on functional domains of cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. Ultimately, these domains impact key workplace outcomes, including performance, relationships, and well-being. Consideration of the evidence on mindfulness at work stimulates important questions and challenges key assumptions within management science, generating an agenda for future research

Defining Space Show Card

Show card for Defining Space, three artists exploring a personal sense of space though the visual image. October 7 - November 6, 2005.https://digitalcommons.udallas.edu/defining_space/1000/thumbnail.jp

Relaxin gene family in teleosts: phylogeny, syntenic mapping, selective constraint, and expression analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years, the relaxin family of signaling molecules has been shown to play diverse roles in mammalian physiology, but little is known about its diversity or physiology in teleosts, an infraclass of the bony fishes comprising ~ 50% of all extant vertebrates. In this paper, 32 relaxin family sequences were obtained by searching genomic and cDNA databases from eight teleost species; phylogenetic, molecular evolutionary, and syntenic data analyses were conducted to understand the relationship and differential patterns of evolution of relaxin family genes in teleosts compared with mammals. Additionally, real-time quantitative PCR was used to confirm and assess the tissues of expression of five relaxin family genes in <it>Danio rerio </it>and <it>in situ </it>hybridization used to assess the site-specific expression of the insulin 3-like gene in <it>D. rerio </it>testis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Up to six relaxin family genes were identified in each teleost species. Comparative syntenic mapping revealed that fish possess two paralogous copies of human <it>RLN3</it>, which we call <it>rln3a </it>and <it>rln3b</it>, an orthologue of human <it>RLN2</it>, <it>rln</it>, two paralogous copies of human <it>INSL5</it>, <it>insl5a and insl5b</it>, and an orthologue of human <it>INSL3</it>, <it>insl3</it>. Molecular evolutionary analyses indicated that: <it>rln3a, rln3b </it>and <it>rln </it>are under strong evolutionary constraint, that <it>insl3 </it>has been subject to moderate rates of sequence evolution with two amino acids in <it>insl3/INSL3 </it>showing evidence of positively selection, and that <it>insl5b </it>exhibits a higher rate of sequence evolution than its paralogue <it>insl5a </it>suggesting that it may have been neo-functionalized after the teleost whole genome duplication. Quantitative PCR analyses in <it>D. rerio </it>indicated that <it>rln3a </it>and r<it>ln3b </it>are expressed in brain, <it>insl3 </it>is highly expressed in gonads, and that there was low expression of both <it>insl5 </it>genes in adult zebrafish. Finally, <it>in situ </it>hybridization of <it>insl3 </it>in <it>D. rerio </it>testes showed highly specific hybridization to interstitial Leydig cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Contrary to previous studies, we find convincing evidence that teleosts contain orthologues of four relaxin family peptides. Overall our analyses suggest that in teleosts: 1) <it>rln3 </it>exhibits a similar evolution and expression pattern to mammalian <it>RLN3</it>, 2) <it>insl3 </it>has been subject to positive selection like its mammalian counterpart and shows similar tissue-specific expression in Leydig cells, 3) <it>insl5 </it>genes are highly represented and have a relatively high rate of sequence evolution in teleost genomes, but they exhibited only low levels of expression in adult zebrafish, 4) <it>rln </it>is evolving under very different selective constraints from mammalian <it>RLN</it>. The results presented here should facilitate the development of hypothesis-driven experimental work on the specific roles of relaxin family genes in teleosts.</p

Ursinus College Bulletin Vol. 9, No. 9, June 1893

A digitized copy of the June 1893 Ursinus College Bulletin.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ucbulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp

Achieving high cancer control trial enrollment in the community setting: An analysis of the Community Clinical Oncology Program

Determining the factors that lead to successful enrollment of patients in cancer control clinical trials is essential as cancer patients are often burdened with side effects such as pain, nausea, and fatigue. One promising intervention for increasing enrollment in cancer control trials is the National Cancer Institute’s Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). In this article, we examined CCOP staffing, polices, and procedures associated with enrollment in control trials. Data were obtained from three sources: the online CCOP, MB-CCOP, and Research Base Management System, CCOP Annual Progress Reports, and a survey of CCOP Administrators conducted in 2011. We analyzed cancer control trial accrual in 2011 among 46 CCOPs using multivariate regression. Three factors were significant predictors of accrual. First, having a team of staff dedicated to enrolling patients in control and prevention trials, compared to having no dedicated staff, was associated on average with an additional 30 patients enrolled in control trials (p <0.05). Second, CCOPs that recognized physicians for enrolling a large number of patients compared to CCOPs that did not recognize high enrolling physicians enrolled on average an additional 25 patients in control trials (p <0.05). Lastly, the number of cancer control trials available was also associated with enrollment (β = 5.50, p<0.00). Our results indicate that CCOPs looking to increase enrollment in control trials should consider dedicating a team of staff to enroll patients in these types of trials. In addition, CCOPs or other volunteer research systems looking to increase physician participation should consider recognizing high enrolling physicians

Pollination Biology and Adaptive Radiation of Agavaceae, with Special Emphasis on the Genus Agave

Agavaceae are an American family that comprises nine genera and ca. 300 species distributed in arid and semiarid environments, mainly in Mexico. The family is very successful and displays a wide array of ecological, reproductive, and morphological adaptations. Many of its members play important roles as keystone species, because they produce abundant resources during the reproductive season. In this paper we analyze the current knowledge about the pollination ecology of the different genera in the family and the role that pollination systems have played in the ecological and phylogenetic success of the group. After providing an overview of each of the genera in the family, we discuss in detail aspects of the reproductive ecology of species in the genus Agave s.l., which is composed of ca. 208 species and includes subgenera of Agave (Agave and Littaea), Manfreda, Polianthes, and Prochnyanthes. Finally, we describe the results of analyses to test the hypothesis that there has been an adaptive radiation in the genus Agave. Using chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences we estimate the age of the Agavaceae family and the genus Agave to be 12-26 millions of years ago (MYA) and 10 MYA, respectively, and show that mean rates of diversification were higher in the genus Agave than the genus Yucca. The values we report for rates of diversification in Agave s.l. are high when compared to other radiations in plants and animals. We suggest that the desertification of North America, which started ca. 15 MY A was critical in the radiation of agaves and that the generalist pollination system of Agave has been more successful in generating new species than the extreme specialization of Yucca

Organizational and physician factors associated with patient enrollment in cancer clinical trials

Our purpose was to identify physicians’ individual characteristics, attitudes, and organizational contextual factors associated with higher enrollment of patients in cancer clinical trials among physician participants in the National Cancer Institute’s Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). We hypothesized that physicians’ individual characteristics, such as age, medical specialty, tenure, CCOP organizational factors (i.e., policies and procedures to encourage enrollment), and attitudes towards participating in CCOP would directly determine enrollment. We also hypothesized that physicians’ characteristics and CCOP organizational factors would influence physicians’ attitudes towards participating in CCOP, which in turn would predict enrollment

Blending human and artificial intelligence to support autistic children’s social communication skills

This paper examines the educational efficacy of a learning environment in which children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) engage in social interactions with an artificially intelligent (AI) virtual agent and where a human practitioner acts in support of the interactions. A multi-site intervention study in schools across the UK was conducted with 29 children with ASC and learning difficulties, aged 4-14 years old. For reasons related to data completeness and amount of exposure to the AI environment, data for 15 children was included in the analysis. The analysis revealed a significant increase in the proportion of social responses made by ASC children to human practitioners. The number of initiations made to human practitioners and to the virtual agent by the ASC children also increased numerically over the course of the sessions. However, due to large individual differences within the ASC group, this did not reach significance. Although no evidence of transfer to the real-world post-test was shown, anecdotal evidence of classroom transfer was reported. The work presented in this paper offers an important contribution to the growing body of research in the context of AI technology design and use for autism intervention in real school contexts. Specifically, the work highlights key methodological challenges and opportunities in this area by leveraging interdisciplinary insights in a way that (i) bridges between educational interventions and intelligent technology design practices, (ii) considers the design of technology as well as the design of its use (context and procedures) on par with one another, and (iii) includes design contributions from different stakeholders, including children with and without ASC diagnosis, educational practitioners and researchers

Identification of limb-specific Lmx1b auto-regulatory modules with Nail-patella syndrome pathogenicity

© The Author(s) 2021.LMX1B haploinsufficiency causes Nail-patella syndrome (NPS; MIM 161200), characterized by nail dysplasia, absent/hypoplastic patellae, chronic kidney disease, and glaucoma. Accordingly in mice, Lmx1b has been shown to play crucial roles in the development of the limb, kidney and eye. Although one functional allele of Lmx1b appears adequate for development, Lmx1b null mice display ventral-ventral distal limbs with abnormal kidney, eye and cerebellar development, more disruptive, but fully concordant with NPS. In Lmx1b functional knockouts (KOs), Lmx1b transcription in the limb is decreased nearly 6-fold, indicating autoregulation. Herein, we report on two conserved Lmx1b-associated cis-regulatory modules (LARM1 and LARM2) that are bound by Lmx1b, amplify Lmx1b expression with unique spatial modularity in the limb, and are necessary for Lmx1b-mediated limb dorsalization. These enhancers, being conserved across vertebrates (including coelacanth, but not other fish species), and required for normal locomotion, provide a unique opportunity to study the role of dorsalization in the fin to limb transition. We also report on two NPS patient families with normal LMX1B coding sequence, but with loss-of-function variations in the LARM1/2 region, stressing the role of regulatory modules in disease pathogenesis.This work was supported in part by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (M.A.R) (BFU2017-88265-P); the National Organization for Rare Disorders (K.C.O.), and the Loma Linda University Pathology Research Endowment Fund (K.C.O.)