Determining the Protective Effects of Quercetin Against Cadmium Toxicity in Human Embryonic Kidney Cells

Cadmium is a toxic industrial and environmental pollutant found in groundwater, air, soils, food and cigarettes. Chronic intake of low levels of cadmium has been shown to result in renal dysfunction due to cell death which can occur via apoptosis as well as necrosis. Previous studies have shown that plant extracts containing quercetin, a flavonoid found in many fruits and vegetables, protect against cadmium toxicity in rat liver hepatocytes. To determine if quercetin may have a protective effect in a cadmium-treated human embryonic kidney cell line, HEK-293 cells were treated using concentrations of cadmium chloride from 10 to 50 μM for 24 hours. Using a cell proliferation assay, it was determined that cadmium chloride inhibited cellular proliferation in a concentration dependent manner. For further studies, 30 μM cadmium chloride was used since it inhibited growth by 31.98%. Pretreating cells for 24 hours before cadmium exposure with concentrations of 10 μM to 200 μM quercetin suggested that this flavonoid partially protects HEK-293 cells from cadmium toxicity at all levels of treatment. While these results suggest a protective effect, it is unclear if quercetin is inhibiting a cadmium-induced apoptotic or necrotic pathway. Previous studies have suggested that cadmium-induced apoptosis increases levels of p47phox, one of the subunits of NADPH oxidase. To determine if quercetin reduces p47phox expression, HEK-293 cells were pretreated for 24 hours before cadmium treatment, and immunoblot analysis was used to determine p47phox expression. Preliminary results suggest that quercetin does not reduce p47phox levels and therefore, may not specifically inhibit cadmium-induced apoptosis

Video Summary of How Credible is Online Physical Activity Advice? The Accuracy of Free Adult Educational Materials

The uploaded work is a video summary of original research. The video is less than seven minutes long. The original research summarized in the video examined the credibility of physical activity advice presented in online educational materials for lay adults. The video highlights main points of the research, leads the viewer through steps to judge the credibility of lay material, and provides links to resources for further education and guidance. The video has several supplemental files. They are as follows: (a) the full transcript text to the video narration, which includes the links to the resource material that are listed at the end of the video, (b) a copy of the video summary for free download, and (c) a copy of the closed-captioning file with English subtitles. In conclusion, the uploaded video summary and its supplemental files are for use in a variety of educational settings, serving students and professionals

The Development of the WISE (Writing to Inspire Successful Education) Writing Mentoring Program: A University-School Collaboration

Abstract This paper describes the development of a service learning writing mentoring program designed to close the achievement gap in writing proficiency for economically disadvantaged seventh grade students. Compared to writing mentoring studies found in the published literature, this program has three distinguishing components. First, it focused on economically disadvantaged middle school students. Second, it provided writing mentoring through a university-school partnership in which college students provided the intervention in collaboration with a seventh-grade teacher. Third, the program used technology to facilitate the mentoring process. Over the course of an academic year, mentors created videos with feedback on 19 writing assignments. The writing mentoring program was associated with a four-fold increase in the percentage of students who were graded as ‘proficient’ on a state standardized writing exam. These results suggest that semi-virtual, intensive writing mentoring and individualized feedback from college students can close the achievement gap and improve the quality of middle level education provided to economically disadvantaged students

The economic history of Anglian Deira, 700-870

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Are Kinesiologists Ready to Communicate? Merits of a Practicum Course on Plain Language Communication

The submitted presentation material summarizes a project presented at the 2021 American College of Sports Medicine Virtual Annual Meeting and World Congress on Exercise is Medicine®. The project which the presentation is based on is titled, “Towards Knowledge Translation in Kinesiology: Investigating Barriers and Identifying Opportunities - Part 1.” The uploaded documents consist of the following material: (a) the presentation abstract, and (b) a copy of the e-poster presented at the virtual event. Please follow the social media profiles of Dr. Jafrā Thomas, for timely project updates (e.g., ResearchGate dot net and GoogleScholar dot com). You may find related work from this lab group published to Cal Poly Digital Commons under the Kinesiology and Public Health section (see URL): https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/kinesp/ . Finally, the e-poster contains several interactive prompts that are great learning activities. Using the presentation material in educational settings is encouraged

Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Reprogramming in Response to Inorganic Arsenic Links Inhibition of CTCF Binding, DNMT Expression and Cellular Transformation

Chronic low dose inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure leads to changes in gene expression and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation. During this transformation, cells adopt a fibroblast-like phenotype accompanied by profound gene expression changes. While many mechanisms have been implicated in this transformation, studies that focus on the role of epigenetic alterations in this process are just emerging. DNA methylation controls gene expression in physiologic and pathologic states. Several studies show alterations in DNA methylation patterns in iAs-mediated pathogenesis, but these studies focused on single genes. We present a comprehensive genome-wide DNA methylation analysis using methyl-sequencing to measure changes between normal and iAs-transformed cells. Additionally, these differential methylation changes correlated positively with changes in gene expression and alternative splicing. Interestingly, most of these differentially methylated genes function in cell adhesion and communication pathways. To gain insight into how genomic DNA methylation patterns are regulated during iAs-mediated carcinogenesis, we show that iAs probably targets CTCF binding at the promoter of DNA methyltransferases, regulating their expression. These findings reveal how CTCF binding regulates DNA methyltransferase to reprogram the methylome in response to an environmental toxin

A Screen of FDA-Approved Drugs Identifies Inhibitors of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4A3 (PTP4A3 or PRL-3)

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 4A3 (PTP4A3 or PRL-3) is highly expressed in a variety of cancers, where it promotes tumor cell migration and metastasis leading to poor prognosis. Despite its clinical significance, small molecule inhibitors of PRL-3 are lacking. Here, we screened 1443 FDA-approved drugs for their ability to inhibit the activity of the PRL phosphatase family. We identified five specific inhibitors for PRL-3 as well as one selective inhibitor of PRL-2. Additionally, we found nine drugs that broadly and significantly suppressed PRL activity. Two of these broad-spectrum PRL inhibitors, Salirasib and Candesartan, blocked PRL-3-induced migration in human embryonic kidney cells with no impact on cell viability. Both drugs prevented migration of human colorectal cancer cells in a PRL-3 dependent manner and were selective towards PRLs over other phosphatases. In silico modeling revealed that Salirasib binds a putative allosteric site near the WPD loop of PRL-3, while Candesartan binds a potentially novel targetable site adjacent to the CX5R motif. Inhibitor binding at either of these sites is predicted to trap PRL-3 in a closed conformation, preventing substrate binding and inhibiting function

Altitude and life-history shape the evolution of Heliconius wings.

Phenotypic divergence between closely related species has long interested biologists. Taxa that inhabit a range of environments and have diverse natural histories can help understand how selection drives phenotypic divergence. In butterflies, wing color patterns have been extensively studied but diversity in wing shape and size is less well understood. Here, we assess the relative importance of phylogenetic relatedness, natural history, and habitat on shaping wing morphology in a large dataset of over 3500 individuals, representing 13 Heliconius species from across the Neotropics. We find that both larval and adult behavioral ecology correlate with patterns of wing sexual dimorphism and adult size. Species with solitary larvae have larger adult males, in contrast to gregarious Heliconius species, and indeed most Lepidoptera, where females are larger. Species in the pupal-mating clade are smaller than those in the adult-mating clade. Interestingly, we find that high-altitude species tend to have rounder wings and, in one of the two major Heliconius clades, are also bigger than their lowland relatives. Furthermore, within two widespread species, we find that high-altitude populations also have rounder wings. Thus, we reveal novel adaptive wing morphological divergence among Heliconius species beyond that imposed by natural selection on aposematic wing coloration