Thirsty for Justice: A People's Blueprint for California Water

The report's first chapter analyzes the origins of environmental discrimination in California water policy. After an overview of how low income communities and communities of color have been historically left out of California water management, we analyze political, economic and social trends that produce the current exclusionary system and emerging policies and technologies that could further harm low-income communities and communities of color.In the second chapter, we provide an overview of what we term "water governance": who controls water supply and quality and what agencies are responsible for ensuring that people have enough clean water. We explain the current system of water governance, examine changing patterns in control over water, and provide examples of communities that face profound barriers to participating in water decisions. We conclude by discussing barriers within water regulatory entities that prevent community voices from entering into water decision-making.In the third chapter, we provide a picture of water-related environmental injustices that low-income communities and communities of color face on a daily basis. These communities' lack of access to safe, affordable drinking water and healthy watersheds exemplifies the health burdens many communities bear as a result of California's water policies.Our report concludes with policy recommendations for how to remedy some of the most pressing water concerns low-income communities and communities of color face, in order to guarantee the basic right to safe and affordable water

A partnership in Nebraska with the Humane Society

Perhaps service-learning continues to grow as an effective pedagogy in colleges of education because it offers everyone involved an opportunity to put words into action. With the news full of stories of bullying and school shootings, teachers and teacher candidates look for someone to help them make sense of what feels to be a growing trend of cruelty. Perhaps it is a natural reaction for teachers to want to do something positive in the face of brutality. Perhaps our wanting to be proactive corresponds to whatever drew us to education in the first place. Regardless of the cause, four literacy professors used the vehicle of service-learning to challenge their graduate and undergraduate students to consider issues of bullying, brutality and cruelty

Role of SPI-1 Secreted Effectors in Acute Bovine Response to Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium: A Systems Biology Analysis Approach

Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) causes enterocolitis with diarrhea and polymorphonuclear cell (PMN) influx into the intestinal mucosa in humans and calves. The Salmonella Type III Secretion System (T3SS) encoded at Pathogenicity Island I translocates Salmonella effector proteins SipA, SopA, SopB, SopD, and SopE2 into epithelial cells and is required for induction of diarrhea. These effector proteins act together to induce intestinal fluid secretion and transcription of C-X-C chemokines, recruiting PMNs to the infection site. While individual molecular interactions of the effectors with cultured host cells have been characterized, their combined role in intestinal fluid secretion and inflammation is less understood. We hypothesized that comparison of the bovine intestinal mucosal response to wild type Salmonella and a SipA, SopABDE2 effector mutant relative to uninfected bovine ileum would reveal heretofore unidentified diarrhea-associated host cellular pathways. To determine the coordinated effects of these virulence factors, a bovine ligated ileal loop model was used to measure responses to wild type S. Typhimurium (WT) and a ΔsipA, sopABDE2 mutant (MUT) across 12 hours of infection using a bovine microarray. Data were analyzed using standard microarray analysis and a dynamic Bayesian network modeling approach (DBN). Both analytical methods confirmed increased expression of immune response genes to Salmonella infection and novel gene expression. Gene expression changes mapped to 219 molecular interaction pathways and 1620 gene ontology groups. Bayesian network modeling identified effects of infection on several interrelated signaling pathways including MAPK, Phosphatidylinositol, mTOR, Calcium, Toll-like Receptor, CCR3, Wnt, TGF-β, and Regulation of Actin Cytoskeleton and Apoptosis that were used to model of host-pathogen interactions. Comparison of WT and MUT demonstrated significantly different patterns of host response at early time points of infection (15 minutes, 30 minutes and one hour) within phosphatidylinositol, CCR3, Wnt, and TGF-β signaling pathways and the regulation of actin cytoskeleton pathway

Pharmacogenetic allele nomenclature: International workgroup recommendations for test result reporting

This manuscript provides nomenclature recommendations developed by an international workgroup to increase transparency and standardization of pharmacogenetic (PGx) result reporting. Presently, sequence variants identified by PGx tests are described using different nomenclature systems. In addition, PGx analysis may detect different sets of variants for each gene, which can affect interpretation of results. This practice has caused confusion and may thereby impede the adoption of clinical PGx testing. Standardization is critical to move PGx forward

Probing the stability of a model jellyroll [beta]-sandwich protein

A major challenge in the field of protein folding involves dissecting the thermodynamic and kinetic pathways by which a polypeptide acquires its unique, minimal free-energy structure. While much research has focussed on α-helical containing proteins, the folding pathways of their all-β-sheet counterparts remains less well defined. To this end, thermodynamic investigations of the second N-terminal cellulose binding domain of Cellulomonas fimi endoglucanase C (CBDN2) were carried out. This 153 residue domain is composed of 11 β-strands that assemble into two anti-parallel β-sheets with the topology of a jellyroll β-sandwich. Using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, CBDN2 is shown to undergo fully reversible unfolding induced by both heating and the addition of denaturants. Unfolding of CBDN2 occurs in a largely pH independent manner. This thesis describes the results of "native state hydrogen exchange (HX)" experiments in non-denaturing concentrations of GuanidineDCl (GuDCl). Amide hydrogen to deuteron exchange provides a means of obtaining residue specific stability, since these rates reflect the structural fluctuations and hydrogen bond disruptions required for solvent exposure. Many of these rates increase when measured in the presence of low GuDCl concentration, since the free-energy barrier against structural fluctuations is decreased, although the protein remains globally folded. The core residues of CBDN2 exhibit a high degree of protection, exchanging only as a result of global unfolding fluctuations. The stability measured for these unfolding fluctuations corresponds to the global stability measured by CD denaturation. Amide groups in loop regions and near the termini exhibited much less protection, exchanging via low energy fluctuations. There appeared to be no difference in exchange patterns or residue specific stability between residues in sheet-A and sheet-B, suggesting a two-state folding mechanism and the absence of any partially unfolded intermediates. Residues most protected from HX were highly conserved among the 8 most sequence homologous proteins.Science, Faculty ofChemistry, Department ofGraduat