Decision-making techniques for community groups

"Community groups often have a problem coming to a decision about projects to undertake. Quite often, resources, both human and financial, are limited; the number of problems seem overwhelming; or there are forceful advocates of a 'pet' project. How can a group overcome these difficulties? The four decision-making techniques shown in this guide will make the task easier. The first two techniques generate ideas about community goals or projects, while the last two prioritize the alternatives you have identified."--Page 1.Reviewed by Sarah Hultine Massengale (Community Economic Development). Johanna Reed Adams, Charles M. St. Clair and William E. Robertson (Department of Community Development)Reviewed 03/202

Integrating Informational Text and STEM: An Innovative and Necessary Curricular Approach

Recent standards-based reforms call for the use of a variety of informational texts at the elementary level. Informational texts are essential for implementing integrated problem-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning in elementary classrooms. Additionally, integrated STEM projects support the use of informational texts as students conduct research, design solutions, and communicate their results, thereby providing real-world applications of informational text. Elementary teachers need encouragement and support in order to increase the use of informational texts that assist in implementing effective STEM lessons. The authors provide strategies for melding informational texts with problem- and project-based learning in STEM

Diversity and Keratin Degrading Ability of Fungi Isolated from Canadian Arctic Marine Bird Feathers

We present the first records of fungi associated with feathers from seabirds and sea ducks in the Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic. Birds sampled in Nunavut and Newfoundland (Canada) included the Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), King Eider (S. spectabilis), Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus), Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle), and Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia). In total 19 fungal species were cultured from feathers, identified using ITS rDNA barcoding, and screened for their ability to degrade keratin using a keratin azure assay. Our results indicate that 1) of the 19 isolates, 74% were ascomycetes, while the remaining 26% were basidiomycetes (yeasts); 2) 21% of the ascomycete isolates demonstrated keratinolytic activity (a known pathogenicity factor for fungi that may potentially be harmful to birds); 3) the largest number of fungi were cultured from the sampled Thick-billed Murre; and 4) based on a multiple correspondence analysis, there is some indication that both the King Eider and the Thick-billed Murre collected in the low Arctic had distinct fungal communities that were different from each other and from the other birds sampled. Although our sample sizes were small, initial trends in point (4) do demonstrate that additional study is merited to assess whether the fungal community differences are influenced by variation in the known ecologies of the avian hosts and fungi identified.Nous présentons les premiers enregistrements de champignons se rapportant aux plumes d’oiseaux et de canards de mer dans l’Arctique et la région subarctique du Canada. Parmi les oiseaux échantillonnés au Nunavut et à Terre-Neuve (Canada), notons l’eider à duvet (Somateria mollissima), l’eider à tête grise (S. spectabilis), la mouette tridactyle (Rissa tridactyla), le fulmar boréal (Fulmarus glacialis), le goéland bourgmestre (Larus hyperboreus), le guillemot à miroir (Cepphus grylle) et le guillemot de Brünnich (Uria lomvia). En tout, 19 espèces de champignons ont été prélevées à partir de plumes. Elles ont été identifiées au moyen de codes à barres ITS ADNr et examinées afin de déterminer si elles sont capables de dégrader la kératine, et ce, à l’aide d’une épreuve de dégradation de la kératine au bleu azur. Nos résultats indiquent : 1) que parmi les 19 isolats, 74 % étaient des ascomycètes et que les 26 % restants étaient des basidiomycètes (levures); 2) que 21 % des isolats d’ascomycètes ont affiché une activité kératinolytique (un facteur de pathogénicité pour les champignons, facteur susceptible de nuire aux oiseaux); 3) que le plus grand nombre de cultures de champignons a été prélevé chez le guillemot de Brünnich; et 4) que d’après une analyse de correspondance multiple, il y a une certaine indication que les échantillons de l’eider à tête grise et du guillemot de Brünnich recueillis dans le Bas-Arctique comprenaient des communautés fongiques distinctes qui différaient les unes des autres ainsi que des autres oiseaux échantillonnés. Même si la taille de nos échantillons était petite, les premières tendances ressortant du point (4) démontrent qu’il y a lieu de faire des études plus poussées afin de déterminer si les différences entre les communautés fongiques sont influencées par la variation des écologies connues des hôtes aviaires et des champignons identifiés

Small molecule inhibitors of Late SV40 Factor (LSF) abrogate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): evaluation using an endogenous HCC model

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal malignancy with high mortality and poor prognosis. Oncogenic transcription factor Late SV40 Factor (LSF) plays an important role in promoting HCC. A small molecule inhibitor of LSF, Factor Quinolinone Inhibitor 1 (FQI1), significantly inhibited human HCC xenografts in nude mice without harming normal cells. Here we evaluated the efficacy of FQI1 and another inhibitor, FQI2, in inhibiting endogenous hepatocarcinogenesis. HCC was induced in a transgenic mouse with hepatocyte-specific overexpression of c-myc (Alb/c-myc) by injecting N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN) followed by FQI1 or FQI2 treatment after tumor development. LSF inhibitors markedly decreased tumor burden in Alb/c-myc mice with a corresponding decrease in proliferation and angiogenesis. Interestingly, in vitro treatment of human HCC cells with LSF inhibitors resulted in mitotic arrest with an accompanying increase in CyclinB1. Inhibition of CyclinB1 induction by Cycloheximide or CDK1 activity by Roscovitine significantly prevented FQI-induced mitotic arrest. A significant induction of apoptosis was also observed upon treatment with FQI. These effects of LSF inhibition, mitotic arrest and induction of apoptosis by FQI1s provide multiple avenues by which these inhibitors eliminate HCC cells. LSF inhibitors might be highly potent and effective therapeutics for HCC either alone or in combination with currently existing therapies.The present study was supported in part by grants from The James S. McDonnell Foundation, National Cancer Institute Grant R01 CA138540-01A1 (DS), National Institutes of Health Grant R01 CA134721 (PBF), the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) (DS and PBF), National Institutes of Health Grants R01 GM078240 and P50 GM67041 (SES), the Johnson and Johnson Clinical Innovation Award (UH), and the Boston University Ignition Award (UH). JLSW was supported by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. DS is the Harrison Endowed Scholar in Cancer Research and Blick scholar. PBF holds the Thelma Newmeyer Corman Chair in Cancer Research. The authors acknowledge Dr. Lauren E. Brown (Dept. Chemistry, Boston University) for the synthesis of FQI1 and FQI2, and Lucy Flynn (Dept. Biology, Boston University) for initially identifying G2/M effects caused by FQI1. (James S. McDonnell Foundation; R01 CA138540-01A1 - National Cancer Institute; R01 CA134721 - National Institutes of Health; R01 GM078240 - National Institutes of Health; P50 GM67041 - National Institutes of Health; Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF); Johnson and Johnson Clinical Innovation Award; Boston University Ignition Award; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)Published versio

HIV Care Coordination promotes care re-engagement and viral suppression among people who have been out of HIV medical care: an observational effectiveness study using a surveillance-based contemporaneous comparison group

Background Medical care re-engagement is critical to suppressing viral load and preventing HIV transmission, morbidity and mortality, yet few rigorous intervention studies address this outcome. We assessed the effectiveness of a Ryan White Part A-funded HIV Care Coordination Program relative to ‘usual care,’ for short-term care re-engagement and viral suppression among people without recent HIV medical care. Methods The Care Coordination Program was launched in 2009 at 28 hospitals, health centers, and community-based organizations in New York City. Designed for people with HIV (PWH) experiencing or at risk for poor HIV outcomes, the Care Coordination Program provides long-term, comprehensive medical case management utilizing interdisciplinary teams, structured health education and patient navigation. The intervention was implemented as a safety-net services program, without a designated comparison group. To evaluate it retrospectively, we created an observational, matched cohort of clients and controls. Using the HIV surveillance registry, we identified individuals meeting program eligibility criteria from December 1, 2009 to March 31, 2013 and excluded those dying prior to 12 months of follow-up. We then matched clients to controls on baseline status (lacking evidence of viral suppression, consistently suppressed, inconsistently suppressed, or newly diagnosed in the past 12 months), start of follow-up and propensity score. For this analysis, we limited to those out of care at baseline (defined as having no viral load test in the 12 months pre-enrollment) and still residing within jurisdiction (defined as having a viral load or CD4 test reported to local surveillance and dated within the 12-month follow-up period). Using a GEE model with binary error distribution and logit link, we compared odds of care re-engagement (defined as having ≥ 2 laboratory events ≥ 90 days apart) and viral suppression (defined as having HIV RNA ≤ 200 copies/mL on the most recent viral load test) at 12-month follow-up. Results Among 326 individuals out of care at baseline, 87.2% of clients and 48.2% of controls achieved care re-engagement (Odds Ratio: 4.53; 95%CI 2.66, 7.71); 58.3% of clients and 49.3% of controls achieved viral suppression (Odds Ratio: 2.05; 95%CI 1.30, 3.23). Conclusions HIV Care Coordination shows evidence of effectiveness for care and treatment re-engagement

Darcin: a male pheromone that stimulates female memory and sexual attraction to an individual male's odour

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Among invertebrates, specific pheromones elicit inherent (fixed) behavioural responses to coordinate social behaviours such as sexual recognition and attraction. By contrast, the much more complex social odours of mammals provide a broad range of information about the individual owner and stimulate individual-specific responses that are modulated by learning. How do mammals use such odours to coordinate important social interactions such as sexual attraction while allowing for individual-specific choice? We hypothesized that male mouse urine contains a specific pheromonal component that invokes inherent sexual attraction to the scent and which also stimulates female memory and conditions sexual attraction to the airborne odours of an individual scent owner associated with this pheromone.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using wild-stock house mice to ensure natural responses that generalize across individual genomes, we identify a single atypical male-specific major urinary protein (MUP) of mass 18893Da that invokes a female's inherent sexual attraction to male compared to female urinary scent. Attraction to this protein pheromone, which we named darcin, was as strong as the attraction to intact male urine. Importantly, contact with darcin also stimulated a strong learned attraction to the associated airborne urinary odour of an individual male, such that, subsequently, females were attracted to the airborne scent of that specific individual but not to that of other males.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This involatile protein is a mammalian male sex pheromone that stimulates a flexible response to individual-specific odours through associative learning and memory, allowing female sexual attraction to be inherent but selective towards particular males. This 'darcin effect' offers a new system to investigate the neural basis of individual-specific memories in the brain and give new insights into the regulation of behaviour in complex social mammals.</p> <p>See associated Commentary <url>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/71</url></p

Milling plant and soil material in plastic tubes over-estimates carbon and under-estimates nitrogen concentrations

Peer reviewedPostprin

a4-Containing GABA _A Receptors on DRD2 Neurons of the Nucleus Accumbens Mediate Instrumental Responding for Conditioned Reinforcers and Its Potentiation by Cocaine

Extrasynaptic GABA A receptors (GABA ARs) composed of a4, b, and d subunits mediate GABAergic tonic inhibition and are potential molecular targets in the modulation of behavioral responses to natural and drug rewards. These GABA ARs are highly expressed within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), where they influence the excitability of the medium spiny neurons. Here, we explore their role in modulating behavioral responses to food-conditioned cues and the behavior-potentiating effects of cocaine. a4-Subunit constitutive knock-out mice (a4 /) showed higher rates of instrumental responding for reward-paired stimuli in a test of conditioned reinforcement (CRf). A similar effect was seen fol-lowing viral knockdown of GABA AR a4 subunits within the NAc. Local infusion of the a4b d-GABA AR-preferring agonist THIP (4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo[5,4-c]pyridin-3-ol; Gaboxadol) into the NAc had no effect on responding when given alone but reduced cocaine potentiation of responding for conditioned reinforcers in wild-type, but not a4 / mice. Finally, specific deletion of a4-subunits from dopamine D2, but not D1, receptor-expressing neurons (DRD2 and DRD1 neurons), mimicked the phenotype of the constitutive knockout, potentiating CRf responding, and blocking intra-accumbal THIP attenuation of cocaine-potentiated CRf responding. These data demonstrate that a4-GABA AR-mediated inhibition of DRD2 neurons reduces instrumental responding for a conditioned reinforcer and its po-tentiation by cocaine and emphasize the importance of GABAergic signaling within the NAc in mediating the effects of cocaine.</p