Exploring the Developmental Effects of Antidepressants in Caenorhabditis elegans

It is so important to explore the potential side effects of antidepressants especially if these side effects could lead to a future detriment to an individual’s financial and social well-being. A better understanding of these side effects in regards to human developmental issues is imperative considering issues related to mental health and depression affect a large percentage of the population. In this study, we tested if Caenorhabditis (C.) elegans could be a potential model organism to predict possible side effects associated with select antidepressants. Their developmental problems potentially encountered upon drug treatment may be encountered in humans

Ideals with Larger Projective Dimension and Regularity

We define a family of homogeneous ideals with large projective dimension and regularity relative to the number of generators and their common degree. This family subsumes and improves upon constructions given in [Cav04] and [McC]. In particular, we describe a family of three-generated homogeneous ideals in arbitrary characteristic whose projective dimension grows asymptotically as sqrt{d}^(sqrt(d) - 1).Comment: 10 pages. This work was completed at the MRC for Commutative Algebra in Snowbird, UT, which was generously supported by the AM

Structural basis of template-boundary definition in Tetrahymena telomerase.

Telomerase is required to maintain repetitive G-rich telomeric DNA sequences at chromosome ends. To do so, the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) subunit reiteratively uses a small region of the integral telomerase RNA (TER) as a template. An essential feature of telomerase catalysis is the strict definition of the template boundary to determine the precise TER nucleotides to be reverse transcribed by TERT. We report the 3-Å crystal structure of the Tetrahymena TERT RNA-binding domain (tTRBD) bound to the template boundary element (TBE) of TER. tTRBD is wedged into the base of the TBE RNA stem-loop, and each of the flanking RNA strands wraps around opposite sides of the protein domain. The structure illustrates how the tTRBD establishes the template boundary by positioning the TBE at the correct distance from the TERT active site to prohibit copying of nontemplate nucleotides

Frameworks for Measuring Innovation: Initial Approaches

In January 2008, the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report, Innovation Measurement: Tracking the State of Innovation in the American Economy (DOC, 2008), which recommended "a stronger framework for identifying and measuring innovation in the national economy." As part of that work, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) requested that the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) explore the business perspectives of innovation. The resulting report, Measuring Innovation and Intangibles: A Business Perspective (Stone et al., 2008,) created a compendium of the logic and methods businesses use to measure and monetize innovation. It also identified sources for, and gaps in, innovation data and outlined critical areas for future research. This report extends that work and presents two alternative frameworks for measuring innovation. The first framework focuses on measuring innovation activities at the firm/organization level. The second takes a broader macro-level look at the fundamental investments that allow firms and other organizations to carry out innovation activities

Evaluation of the eOrganic Webinar Program

eOrganic evaluated webinars on organic agriculture topics to assess the size and composition of the audience, how attendees heard about webinars, webinar quality and utility, whether participants use other eOrganic resources, and the impact on farmer and advisory practices. Results showed that eOrganic webinars reached their target audience. An average of 97% of respondents indicated that the webinars improved their understanding of the topics to some degree, and 96% intended to apply information to their work to some degree. Follow-up surveys on a subset of webinars revealed that they influenced changes in farming and advisory practices

Placing the human in mammalian synthetic biology

Synthetic biology (SB) is the application of engineering approaches to construct novel biological entities and redesign existing ones. With aspirations to heal, heat and feed us, SB has captured the imaginations of scientists, social scientists, policy makers and industry alike. Mammalian synthetic biology (MSB) especially is framed as potentially transformative of human healthcare and medicine. Correspondingly, humans have become a key reference point for both technical and social enquiry. Recent decades have produced an abundance of social scientific research into SB. However, studies that focus on the human as a direct topic of investigation tend to focus on ethical enquiry ‘downstream’ of real-time research activities, or co-production of SB research with its wider social institutions (such as governance structures of human germline editing). Any research that focuses on the specific research activities themselves (such as experimental work or automation practices) only entangle the human indirectly. There exists no targeted empirical investigation into how, when or where the human appears in real-time SB research activities; the forms such appearances take; their patterns of presence and absence; or the work they perform. This thesis addresses this gap specifically in relation to MSB research. I adopt an ethnographic approach to exploring four MSB projects ‘in-the-making’ that engage with biomedical topics and a range of human and non-human experimental systems. I follow these through a diverse set of research activities including laboratory work, organising project resources, reporting results, and engaging with different communities. I generate data using participant observation, documentary sources, and semi-structured interviews. I then deploy theory from Science and Technology Studies, Human Geography, and elements of Critical Discourse Analysis to interrogate how the human appears. I demonstrate there are multiple ways the human can appear in real-time research practices. These range from biological materials being considered ‘human’, to imaginations of human health and future human consumers. However, I also argue that whether these human appearances do materialise is contingent on the other materialities with which they are entangled, the practices through which they are performed, and the function they can accomplish (such as negotiating value or accommodating non-specialist audiences). I also argue that human appearances are deeply rooted in notions of place. Where, when, and how they emerge is tightly coupled with notions of ‘belonging’ in some places and not others. This generates a set of associations between the human appearances, project materialities, and specific places of MSB research. Some places emerge as strongholds of human enactment (such as places of organisation), others emerge as strongholds of human estrangement (such as places of experimentation). Through demonstrating these contingencies and complexities, I disintegrate any notion of a stable, singular way the human appears as part of real-time MSB research activity. Finally, I conclude by advocating that the role of place be acknowledged and accommodated when engaging with human appearances in the context of MSB real-time research. Specifically, I suggest rethinking interaction in STS research to foster a more integrated and place-centric approach moving forward

Choose Your Own Adventure: Integrating an Information Literacy Rubric into Seven (Very) Different Colleges

It is no small feat to develop a replicable, dependable information literacy rubric that is appropriate to an institution’s unique student population. But once the rubric is created, how does it become edited, adopted, and utilized by campus stakeholders to actually improve information literacy learning? And, what happens when you multiply this by a consortial context, wherein one information literacy rubric is presented to five undergraduate colleges and two graduate schools, each with unique governance models, assessment profiles, and relationships with the library they share? The visual nature of a poster will provide a perfect means to map out the different paths the rubric and its librarian advocates have taken at each of the Claremont College campuses. The schools represent a range of governance models from top down to consensus based to grass roots, and are at very different stages of outcomes-based assessment, a few already utilizing numerous evaluation methods while others are brand new to systematic assessment. Our insight into information literacy assessment and advocacy across different institutional structures will speak to librarians from primary to higher education contexts. While all institutions are unique, any librarian should be able to identify with one or more paths toward information literacy assessment integration, and transform this knowledge into successful campus information literacy assessment collaborations

Visual Curriculum Mapping: Charting the Learner Experience

American Library Association Annual Conference 201

Effectiveness of hydrotherapy as an adjunct treatment for the management of breast cancer related lymphoedema in women following breast cancer surgery: a systematic review

Cancer is a leading cause of death and disability around the world. Of all cancers, breast cancer commonly ranks amongst the top three. Surgical intervention for breast cancer is common and a possible side effect of this is breast cancer related lymphoedema (BCRL). Women with breast cancer related lymphoedema commonly have regional limb swelling and pain, which can negatively impact mental and social well-being as well as upper limb function. Hydrotherapy is therapeutic modality which may be used as an adjunct to self-management strategies after the intensive phase of lymphoedema management. Yet despite its popularity, recent research has questioned its effectiveness in clinical practice. Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of hydrotherapy as an adjunct treatment to usual care on arm volume and pain when compared with usual care alone for women with breast cancer related lymphoedema. Method: A comprehensive search of eight electronic databases, including Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, AMED, The Cochrane Library and PEDro was completed. Studies of adult women with secondary upper limb lymphoedema following breast cancer surgery, which measured lymphoedema volume, pain, upper limb and QOL outcomes were included. Methodological quality was assessed using a modified CASP tool for randomised controlled trials. The NHMRC FORM methodology was utilised to synthesise the evidence and provide an overall grade of recommendation. Results: Four randomised controlled trials and one controlled clinical trial were included in this systematic review. Critical appraisal of the included studies revealed overall methodological quality to be moderate. Hydrotherapy interventions duration varied between 8 to 12 weeks with some similarities between outcome measures assessed. Collectively, there is mixed evidence to support the positive impact of hydrotherapy as an adjunct treatment on reducing lymphoedema volume in the short-term and emerging evidence for upper limb function, pain and QOL. Conclusion: A small number of studies have investigated the effect of hydrotherapy as an adjunct treatment in the breast cancer related lymphoedema population. Hydrotherapy could be considered as an adjunct treatment for women with breast cancer related lymphoedema, although the evidence base is mixed. Hydrotherapy may have positive physiological as well psychosocial impacts, as it is delivered in a group setting. However, the current literature base is limited by small sample size, lack of standardised exercise parameters, inadequate baseline characteristic assessment and limited long-term follow-up