Promoting good mental health in children

Feelings, moods, emotions and behaviours are all inextricably linked. They influence how we function and respond to the demands of day-to-day life. They also help us shape our sense of wellbeing, or our ‘mental health’. The foundations for mental health are formed within the early infant-parent and caregiver relationships (Centre for Community Child Health, 2009). When the foundations are secure and no major trauma is experienced by the child or the family, the child’s development usually continues on a healthy trajectory. Over time, with the parents’ help to master the developmental challenges of each new age and stage, the child develops a robust capacity to manage life’s pains and disappointments and to embrace life’s joys. A healthy child enjoys: exploring the world around them learning new things being part of a family making friends taking part in school and community life However, there are many ways in which a child’s trajectory toward healthy social and emotional development can be disrupted. When this occurs, all the domains of a child’s development – physical, intellectual/ cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual – can be affected. Early detection and recognition of any developmental disruption is vital for the child and the family

Health Insurance for Displaced Workers

CRS_January_2003_Health_Insurance_for_Displaced_Workers.pdf: 566 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

\u3ci\u3eArabidopsis thaliana GH3.9\u3c/i\u3e influences primary root growth

Auxins regulate a complex signal transduction network to direct plant development. Auxin-responsive genes fit into three major classes: the so-called auxin/indole- 3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA), the GH3, and the small auxin-up RNA (SAUR) gene families. The 20-member Arabidopsis thaliana GH3 gene family has been subdivided into three groups. In vitro studies have shown that most Group II members function as IAA–amido synthetases to conjugate amino acids to the plant hormone auxin. Here we report the role of a previously uncharacterized GH3 gene family member, GH3.9, in root growth. Unlike most other Group II family members, GH3.9 expression was repressed by low concentrations of exogenous IAA in seedlings. Transgenic plants harboring a GH3.9 promoter::reporter gene construct indicate that GH3.9 is expressed in the root-hypocotyl junction, leaves and the shoot apical meristem of young seedlings, in mature embryos, and in the root vascular tissue. Expression was also observed in lateral root tips when seedlings were treated with exogenous IAA. Inverse PCR was used to identify an activation tagged T-DNA insertion in chromosome 2 near the 5′UTR region of At2g47750 (GH3.9). Plants homozygous for the T-DNA insertion (gh3.9-1 mutants) had reduced GH3.9 expression, no obvious effects on apical dominance or leaf morphology, greater primary root length, and increased sensitivity to indole- 3-acetic acid (IAA)-mediated root growth inhibition. Additional T-DNA insertion alleles and transgenic plants with reduced GH3.9 transcript levels due to RNA-interference (RNAi) also showed these same phenotypes. Our results provide new information on the function of GH3.9 in roots where it is likely to control auxin activity through amino acid conjugation

Diatoms as Indicators of Water-level Change in Freshwater Lakes

Water-level changes result from a variety of geological, biological, and/or climatic processes. Many of these changes occur over long periods; others may be rapid or result from catastrophic events. In aquatic environments, diatoms are highly sensitive indicator organisms and their microfossils, deposited in lake sediments, can be used to infer environmental changes (Smol, 2008). Unambiguous diatom signals can be reconstructed from lakes isolated from marine or brackish waters (e.g. Fritz et al., this volume; Horton & Sawai, this volume). However, in freshwater systems lake-level changes are often recorded as increases in planktonic (free-floating) diatoms – although as discussed below, interpretation of this signal should be supported by additional evidence

Role of a Transcriptional Regulator in Programmed Cell Death and Plant Development

The long-term goal of this research is to understand the role(s) and molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death (PCD) in the controlling plant growth, development and responses to biotic and abiotic stress. We developed a genetic selection scheme to identify A. thaliana FB1-resistant (fbr) mutants as a way to find genes involved in PCD (Stone et al., 2000; Stone et al., 2005; Khan and Stone, 2008). The disrupted gene in fbr6 (AtSPL14) responsible for the FB1-insensitivity and plant architecture phenotypes encodes a plant-specific SBP DNA-binding domain transcriptional regulator (Stone et al., 2005; Liang et al., 2008). This research plan is designed to fill gaps in the knowledge about the role of SPL14 in plant growth and development. The work is being guided by three objectives aimed at determining the pathways in which SPL14 functions to modulate PCD and/or plant development: (1) determine how SPL14 functions in plant development, (2) identify target genes that are directly regulated by SPL14, and (3) identify SPL14 modifications and interacting proteins. We made significant progress during the funding period. Briefly, some major accomplishments are highlighted below: (1) To identify potential AtSPL14 target genes, we identified a consensus DNA binding site for the AtSPL14 SBP DNA-binding domain using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential selection (SELEX) and site-directed mutagenesis (Liang et al., 2008). This consensus binding site was used to analyze Affymetrix microarray gene expression data obtained from wild-type and fbr6 mutant plants to find possible AtSPL14-regulated genes. These candidate AtSPL14-regulated genes are providing new information on the molecular mechanisms linking plant PCD and plant development through modulation of the 26S proteasome. (2) Transgenic plants expressing epitope-tagged versions of AtSPL14 are being used to confirm the AtSPL14 targets (by ChIP-PCR) and further dissect the molecular interactions (Nazarenus, Liang and Stone, in preparation) (3) Double mutants generated between fbr6 and various accelerated cell death (acd) mutants indicate that sphingolipid metabolism is influenced by AtSPL14 and sphingolipidomics profiling supports this conclusion (Lin, Markham and Stone, in preparation). (4) A new set of phenotypes have been uncovered in the original fbr6-1 mutant, including a short-root phenotype related to auxin signaling and altered photosynthetic parameters related to stomatal density and conductance (Lin and Stone, in preparation; Lin, Madhavan and Stone, in preparation). Additional AtSPL14-related mutants and transgenic plants have been generated to effectively dissect the functions of AtSPL14, including a dominant negative fbr6-2 allele and transgenic plants overexpressing FBR6/AtSPL14 that display an accelerated cell death (acd) phenotype

Effects of Aging on Phoneme and Pause Lengths in Elderly Females

The purpose ofthis investigation was to determine the magnitude of certain fricative, blend and pause durations in speakers in different levels of the elderly maturational process. Subjects were assigned by age to one of three groups: Group I (18-25), Group II (65-75), and Group III (80+)