Tackling Wicked Problems Through Engaged Scholarship

Engaged scholarship combines the work of universities with that of community partners. The results can be powerful examples of the synergy that arises between theory and practice. By examining engaged scholarship and reflecting on the nuances that exist between it and engaged research, this paper follows the ways that research questions can be explored in a practical application versus in a controlled environment. I examine the benefits of community-engaged scholarship relative to service recipients, scholars, organizations, and communities at large. The academic benefits extend far beyond the universities; engaged scholarship allows for university programs to provide realistic training to students as an example of future work-related duties and assignments and to collaborate with community partners in service delivery. Results of collective collaboration and community-engaged scholarship can lead to a strengthened sense of community in lasting partnerships that increase dialogue surrounding challenging issues

Regional Advisory Councils to Support Nascent Rural Entrepreneurs

Traditional economic development efforts have been unable to address the nuances of rural communities. Entrepreneurship can be an important process and a vital component for building rural resiliency. As part of RISE29, a grant funded program, regional advisory councils have been established an act as a crucial extension tool for East Carolina University. The goal of these councils is to incorporate the narrative and discourse of the importance of entrepreneurship as a part of inclusive rural economic development strategies

Collaborative Public Management as a Hunger Prevention Strategy

Collaboration between public and private partners in the food assistance network is critical to reducing hunger. Access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food is a public health concern best addressed through a multi-sector, multi-prong approach. Extension programs across the United States provide community-based responses to hunger and can use their considerable resources to partner with governmental and nonprofit actors to boost participation in federally funded nutrition assistance programs to take full advantage of the dollars already appropriated for hunger relief and to generate economic benefits for communities at large

Membrane permeability of human oocytes in the presence of the cryoprotectant propane-1,2-diol

Objective: To determine the permeability of unfertilized human oocytes to water and the cryoprotectant propane-1,2-diol over a range of temperatures and to use these data to predict osmotic responses under given conditions. Design: Laboratory-based study. Setting: Teaching hospital. Patient(s): Infertility patients donating unfertilized oocytes in excess of those required for treatment. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): Water and cryoprotectant permeability were determined from measurements of oocyte volume excursions on exposure to 1.5 M propane-1,2-diol at 30°C, 24°C, and 10°C. Result(s): Permeability of human oocytes to water and cryoprotectant increased as temperature increased. The predicted response of oocytes, based on these data, closely matched the measured response of an oocyte on exposure to a widely used method for addition of cryoprotectant before freezing. Conclusion(s): Commonly used cryopreservation protocols involving slow cooling in the presence of propane-1,2-diol cause potentially damaging excursions in cell volume on exposure to cryoprotectant. Modifications that can be expected to reduce cell volume excursions, based on oocyte permeability data, are suggested

Contrast agent bubble and erythrocyte behavior in a 1.5-mhz standing ultrasound wave

Human erythrocytes and Optison contrastagent have been exposed to ultrasound, both alone and in combination, in a single-half-wavelength chamber driven at its resonance frequency (fo) of 1.5MHz. Cell movements were recorded by video microscopy at speeds up to 500 frames/s. The hypothesis that cells near astandingwave pressure node might be stressed by the microbubble products of sonicated contrastagent was examined. In the absence of contrastagent, cells moved rapidly to form an aggregate in the standingwave pressure node plane. First subharmonic and second harmonic emissions were detected from cell-contrastagent suspensions immediately on exposure to a threshold peak pressure amplitude of 0.98 MPa. Emissions at 3fo/2 occurred at 1.47 MPa, whereas white noise and lower-order subharmonic emissions coincided with the appearance of visible bubbles at a threshold of approximately 1.96 MPa. Cells exposed together with contrastagent at a pressure of 0.98 MPa precessed very rapidly about the pressure node plane. This behavior was discussed in the context of a recent analysis predicting that, in contrast to the situation for lower-pressure amplitudes, subresonant size bubbles translate about pressure node plane if the driving pressure amplitude is sufficiently high. Many precessing erythrocytes were clearly spiculated and this morphology persisted after the cells had left the area of precession. Hemoglobin release was significant under conditions inducing precession with first subharmonic and first harmonic emissions. Protein release increased discontinuously near the pressure thresholds, where more complex categories of frequency emission were detected. The potential of this system, which induces erythrocyte morphology changes and some protein release at the first emission threshold, to provide some control on the membrane-permeabilizing stress experienced by cells in a cavitation field is discussed