The Impact of Instructional Coaching on North Texas Elementary Writing Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Content Knowledge & Instructional Practices

Writing is a complex, multi-faceted skill that students begin to learn early in their elementary school years and utilize throughout the rest of their academic, personal, and professional lives. Despite the importance of developing effective writing skills, elementary teachers today often lack the necessary training and preparation to provide high-quality writing instruction in both preservice education and on-the-job professional development. Teachers therefore may not be confident in their writing content knowledge and instructional practices. At one elementary school in North Texas, students’ writing scores on both district and state assessments show less growth than other subjects. To improve writing instruction quality and ultimately increase student writing achievement, this study explored how four weeks of intentional instructional coaching, coupled with traditional professional development, facilitated higher teacher self-efficacy in both content knowledge (the writing process) and instructional practices (conferencing with students about writing). Responses from an open-ended questionnaire and a focus group were used to identify common themes. This phenomenological qualitative study’s findings substantiate those of previous research on instructional coaching and teacher self-efficacy. The five writing teachers in this study overwhelmingly believed that successful professional development should be job-embedded. In addition, they believed that instructional coaching, used alongside traditional training, is the most beneficial way to increase their confidence in the writing process and conferencing with students about writing. Specific to the writing process, these teachers believed instructional coaching and professional development increased their confidence, increased student growth and enthusiasm, and further developed their belief that teaching writing is recursive. Specific to conferencing with students about writing, these teachers believed instructional coaching and professional development increased the quality of teacher-student interactions, increased their understanding of the effects of students’ “aha” moments, and increased students’ confidence in their writing. It is important to understand that the instructional coaching intervention occurred during a worldwide pandemic; therefore, coaching sessions occurred via live video conferencing. Despite the lack of in-person instructional coaching, the study’s findings overwhelmingly demonstrate that instructional coaching, when used with professional development, increases writing teachers’ self-efficacy in both content knowledge and instructional practices

Unanticipated Antigens: Translation Initiation at CUG with Leucine

Major histocompatibility class I molecules display tens of thousands of peptides on the cell surface for immune surveillance by T cells. The peptide repertoire represents virtually all cellular translation products, and can thus reveal a foreign presence inside the cell. These peptides are derived from not only conventional but also cryptic translational reading frames, including some without conventional AUG codons. To define the mechanism that generates these cryptic peptides, we used T cells as probes to analyze the peptides generated in transfected cells. We found that when CUG acts as an alternate initiation codon, it can be decoded as leucine rather than the expected methionine residue. The leucine start does not depend on an internal ribosome entry site–like mRNA structure, and its efficiency is enhanced by the Kozak nucleotide context. Furthermore, ribosomes scan 5′ to 3′ specifically for the CUG initiation codon in a eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2–independent manner. Because eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 is frequently targeted to inhibit protein synthesis, this novel translation mechanism allows stressed cells to display antigenic peptides. This initiation mechanism could also be used at non-AUG initiation codons often found in viral transcripts as well as in a growing list of cellular genes

A microbial-based cancer vaccine for induction of EGFRvIII-specific CD8+ T cells and anti-tumor immunity.

Dysregulated signaling via the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-family is believed to contribute to the progression of a diverse array of cancers. The most common variant of EGFR is EGFRvIII, which results from a consistent and tumor-specific in-frame deletion of exons 2-7 of the EGFR gene. This deletion generates a novel glycine at the junction and leads to constitutive ligand-independent activity. This junction forms a novel shared tumor neo-antigen with demonstrated immunogenicity in both mice and humans. A 21-amino acid peptide spanning the junctional region was selected, and then one or five copies of this 21-AA neo-peptide were incorporated into live-attenuated Listeria monocytogenes-based vaccine vector. These vaccine candidates demonstrated efficient secretion of the recombinant protein and potent induction of EGFRvIII-specific CD8+ T cells, which prevented growth of an EGFRvIII-expressing squamous cell carcinoma. These data demonstrate the potency of a novel cancer-specific vaccine candidate that can elicit EGFRvIII-specific cellular immunity, for the purpose of targeting EGFRvIII positive cancers that are resistant to conventional therapies

Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI): Facing the Challenges and Pathways of Global Change in the Twenty-first Century

During the past several decades, the Earth system has changed significantly, especially across Northern Eurasia. Changes in the socio-economic conditions of the larger countries in the region have also resulted in a variety of regional environmental changes that can have global consequences. The Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI) has been designed as an essential continuation of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), which was launched in 2004. NEESPI sought to elucidate all aspects of ongoing environmental change, to inform societies and, thus, to better prepare societies for future developments. A key principle of NEFI is that these developments must now be secured through science-based strategies codesigned with regional decision-makers to lead their societies to prosperity in the face of environmental and institutional challenges. NEESPI scientific research, data, and models have created a solid knowledge base to support the NEFI program. This paper presents the NEFI research vision consensus based on that knowledge. It provides the reader with samples of recent accomplishments in regional studies and formulates new NEFI science questions. To address these questions, nine research foci are identified and their selections are briefly justified. These foci include warming of the Arctic; changing frequency, pattern, and intensity of extreme and inclement environmental conditions; retreat of the cryosphere; changes in terrestrial water cycles; changes in the biosphere; pressures on land use; changes in infrastructure; societal actions in response to environmental change; and quantification of Northern Eurasia’s role in the global Earth system. Powerful feedbacks between the Earth and human systems in Northern Eurasia (e.g., mega-fires, droughts, depletion of the cryosphere essential for water supply, retreat of sea ice) result from past and current human activities (e.g., large-scale water withdrawals, land use, and governance change) and potentially restrict or provide new opportunities for future human activities. Therefore, we propose that integrated assessment models are needed as the final stage of global change assessment. The overarching goal of this NEFI modeling effort will enable evaluation of economic decisions in response to changing environmental conditions and justification of mitigation and adaptation efforts

Genetic influences on schizophrenia and subcortical brain volumes: large-scale proof-of-concept and roadmap for future studies

Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness with high heritability. Brain structure and function differ, on average, between schizophrenia cases and healthy individuals. As common genetic associations are emerging for both schizophrenia and brain imaging phenotypes, we can now use genome-wide data to investigate genetic overlap. Here we integrated results from common variant studies of schizophrenia (33,636 cases, 43,008 controls) and volumes of several (mainly subcortical) brain structures (11,840 subjects). We did not find evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical volume measures either at the level of common variant genetic architecture or for single genetic markers. The current study provides proof-of-concept (albeit based on a limited set of structural brain measures), and defines a roadmap for future studies investigating the genetic covariance between structural/functional brain phenotypes and risk for psychiatric disorders

Reversible Inactivation and Desiccation Tolerance of Silicified Viruses

Long-distance host-independent virus dispersal is poorly understood, especially for viruses found in isolated ecosystems. Todemonstrate a possible dispersal mechanism, we show that bacteriophage T4, archaeal virus Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus Kamchatka, and vaccinia virus are reversibly inactivated by mineralization in silica under conditions similar to volcanic hotsprings. In contrast, bacteriophage PRD1 is not silicified. Moreover, silicification provides viruses with remarkable desiccationresistance, which could allow extensive aerial dispersal

Unanticipated antigens: translation initiation at CUG with leucine.

Major histocompatibility class I molecules display tens of thousands of peptides on the cell surface for immune surveillance by T cells. The peptide repertoire represents virtually all cellular translation products, and can thus reveal a foreign presence inside the cell. These peptides are derived from not only conventional but also cryptic translational reading frames, including some without conventional AUG codons. To define the mechanism that generates these cryptic peptides, we used T cells as probes to analyze the peptides generated in transfected cells. We found that when CUG acts as an alternate initiation codon, it can be decoded as leucine rather than the expected methionine residue. The leucine start does not depend on an internal ribosome entry site-like mRNA structure, and its efficiency is enhanced by the Kozak nucleotide context. Furthermore, ribosomes scan 5' to 3' specifically for the CUG initiation codon in a eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-independent manner. Because eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 is frequently targeted to inhibit protein synthesis, this novel translation mechanism allows stressed cells to display antigenic peptides. This initiation mechanism could also be used at non-AUG initiation codons often found in viral transcripts as well as in a growing list of cellular genes

A self-help program for memory CD8+ T cells: positive feedback via CD40-CD40L signaling as a critical determinant of secondary expansion.

The ability of memory CD8+ T cells to rapidly proliferate and acquire cytolytic activity is critical for protective immunity against intracellular pathogens. The signals that control this recall response remain unclear. We show that CD40L production by memory CD8+ T cells themselves is an essential catalyst for secondary expansion when systemic inflammation is limited. Secondary immunization accompanied by high levels of systemic inflammation results in CD8+ T cell secondary expansion independent of CD4+ T cells and CD40-CD40L signaling. Conversely, when the inflammatory response is limited, memory CD8+ T cell secondary expansion requires CD40L-producing cells, and memory CD8+ T cells can provide this signal. These results demonstrate that vaccination regimens differ in their dependence on CD40L-expressing CD8+ T cells for secondary expansion, and propose that CD40L-expression by CD8+ T cells is a fail-safe mechanism that can promote memory CD8+ T cell secondary expansion when inflammation is limited

The Optimal Nucleotide Context for the CUG Initiation Codon

<div><p>(A and B) The indicated degenerate oligonucleotides were cloned into the pcDNA1 vector. “<u>N</u>” represents any one of T, A, C, and G nucleotides. The CTG or CCC initiation codons are boxed and the peptide coding sequence is indicated by [SEL8]. 96 randomly picked plasmids for the CTG-initiated peptide and an equal number for the CCC-initiated peptide were purified. The plasmids were transfected into COS-7 cells along with the K^b MHC class I molecule, and the T cell response was measured. Each bar represents the T cell response to cells transfected with an individual plasmid.</p> <p>(C) Three sets of 18 representative plasmids, each yielding high, intermediate, and low responses (as shown) were selected for nucleotide sequencing.</p> <p>(D) Summary of the nucleotide sequences of plasmids yielding high, intermediate, and low responses. The left, middle, and right panels, respectively, correspond to the plasmids shown in (C). Each panel shows the percent of each nucleotide found at the –6, –3, and +4 degenerate positions indicated by the “<u>N</u>” in A. For example, the upper left square shows that, of the high T cell-stimulating plasmids, the –6 position was T for 67%, A for 6.7%, C for 20%, G for 6.7%, a pyrimidine (T or C) for 87%, and a purine (A or G) for 13%.</p></div