Inductive Math Instruction

It is no secret that America no longer leads the world in math achievement. Reports over the last 15 years,focusing on the integrity of instruction, have assured that every student is taught the correct material, bya qualified teacher, with a standardized textbook bearing the state\u27s seal. Presumably, as the correctmaterials assembled in the correct fashion will build a sturdy house, solid instruction and instructionalmaterials should produce a solid education. Now, with over a decade of standardized curriculum andassessment behind us, these measures have not borne the results expected. The meager gains in Americantest scores have been doubled and tripled by Asia and Europe. New classroom equipment aside, we mustlook beyond the cover, to our approach to education and the underlying philosophy of learning

Reflections on my career in analytical chemistry and biochemistry

My career has been focused in two major areas, analytical chemistry and biochemistry of complex lipids and glycoconjugates. Included here are the pioneering work on the gas chromatography of long-chain sphingolipid bases, carbohydrates, steroids and urinary organic acids. Mass spectrometry was utilized extensively in structural studies of sphingolipids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, steroids, urinary organic acids, polyisoprenoid alcohols, and juvenile hormone. Computer systems were developed for the acquisition and analysis of mass spectra, and were used for development of automated metabolic profiling of complex mixtures of metabolites. Fabry’s disease was discovered to be a glycosphingolipidosis. Enzymes of lysosomal metabolism of glycosphingolipids were purified, characterized, and used in one of the first demonstrations of the feasibility of enzyme replacement therapy in a lysosomal storage disorder (Fabry’s disease). Extracellular sialidases were studied to evaluate the hypothesis that they might be involved in the regulation of membrane growth factor receptors. The enzyme for hematoside synthesis was purified and characterized

Nitrogen utilization in heterotrophic Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

2017 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The aim of this dissertation research is to bring better understanding to the process of nitrogen adaptation in heterotrophic Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Microalgae are a diverse group of aquatic photosynthetic organisms that account for almost 50% of the photosynthetic productivity on Earth. There is immense interest in using the unique ability of microalgae to convert sunlight to triacylglycerides (TAGs) for industrial purposes. However, to date there has been little success in implementing these systems at scale and price parity with non-biological methods. Microalgae can modify their metabolism to adapt to the surrounding environment. Under certain circumstances, including nutrient stress, microalgae divert carbon flow away from biomass production and into TAG accumulation. The most common nutrient stress used to trigger TAG accumulation is nitrogen stress, most often induced by transferring a cell from a nitrogen replete medium to a deficient one. The goals of this research were to understand this process, develop methods to manipulate the stress response, and ultimately, to find a way to decouple lipid production from nutrient depletion entirely. Chapter 1 introduces the concepts and research referenced throughout the dissertation including: a background of the C. reinhardtii species, the cultivation techniques that have been applied to cultivation, the physiology behind nitrogen stress, the mechanism that algae use to incorporate nitrogen into the cell, and finally an introduction to the global nitrogen regulator, PII. Chapters 2 through 4 present research into the nitrogen stress pathway and its modification. Chapter 2 discusses a simple method of cultivation used to bring about new insights into the nitrogen stress response, as well as a proposed technique for increasing cellular lipid production. Through differential nitrogen feeding, significantly different effects on cell growth were observed, demonstrating that the response to nitrogen availability is a continuous effect as opposed to an all or nothing "stress response". Chapter 3 describes experiments in which C. reinhardtii was genetically modified to increase understanding of the nitrogen stress response. A nitrogen regulatory protein, PII, was downregulated via amiRNA. Cultures of a mutant strain with lower levels of PII exhibited slow adaptation to fresh nutrient-replete medium but achieved a higher final cell number, final mass concentration, and total neutral lipid content. Similar results were obtained in cultures shifted to nitrogen-free medium. Chapter 4 employs proteomics to identify differences in the specific protein expression pattern between a functional PII strain and a knock-down mutant. Chapter 5 demonstrates a unique approach to producing an engineered nutrient-limited environment in a continuous stirred tank bioreactor. Chapters 7 and 8 summarize the research findings and offer possible direction for future research. Through this research work, new information was obtained on the effects of PII on the cellular response to nitrogen limitation. By increasing our understanding of this basic mechanism, we have proposed several processing conditions that may be implemented to increase microalgal productivity. Furthermore, the homology between microalgae and terrestrial plants suggests the possibility that the results discussed within could give genetic engineers new targets for creating crops with decreased nitrogen demands and increased nitrogen-stress tolerance traits

Repasz Band

Photograph of Repasz Band; Illustration of notebooks with composer and publisher nameshttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/12615/thumbnail.jp

Production of mannitol by streptococcus mutans

Mannitol was produced as an end product when resting cell suspensions of strains of Streptococcus mutans were given high levels of sucrose or glucose. The presence of mannitol in the supernatant from glucose incubated cells and the occasional detection of mannitol-1-phosphate suggest that mannitol was formed by a reduction of fructose-6-phosphate. This pathway would permit the regeneration of NAD under anaerobic conditions, thereby permitting maximal catabolism of hexoses via the glycolytic pathway.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21913/1/0000320.pd

VASCULAR DYSFUNCTION IN THE Α-GALACTOSIDASE A-KNOCKOUT MOUSE IS AN ENDOTHELIAL CELL-, PLASMA MEMBRANE-BASED DEFECT

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75176/1/j.1440-1681.2008.04984.x.pd

A re-investigation of the path of carbon in photosynthesis utilizing GC/MS methodology. Unequivocal verification of the participation of octulose phosphates in the pathway

A GC/EIMS/SIM methodology has been developed to re-examine the path of carbon in photosynthesis. Exposing isolated spinach chloroplasts to (13)CO(2 )on a solid support for a defined period followed by quenching and work-up provided a mixture of labelled sugar phosphates. After enzymatic dephosphorylation and derivatization, the Mox-TMS sugars were analysed using the above method. The purpose of the study was to try to calculate the atom% enrichment of (13)C in as many of the individual carbons in each of the derivatized sugars as was practical using diagnostic fragment ions. In the event, only one 45 s experiment provided sufficient data to enable a range of enrichment values to be calculated. This confirmed that D-glycero-D-altro-octulose phosphate was present in the chloroplasts and was heavily labelled in the C4, C5 and C6 positions, in keeping with the hypothesis that it had an inclusive role and a labelling pattern consistent with a new modified pathway of carbon in photosynthesis

Patients affected with Fabry disease have an increased incidence of progressive hearing loss and sudden deafness: an investigation of twenty-two hemizygous male patients

BACKGROUND: Fabry disease (FD, OMIM 301500) is an X-linked inborn error of glycosphingolipid metabolism due to the deficient activity of alpha-galactosidase A, a lysosomal enzyme. While the progressive systemic deposition of uncleaved glycosphingolipids throughout the body is known to have protean clinical manifestations, few data are available regarding the cochlear involvement. METHODS: We non-invasively investigated cochlear functions in 22 consecutive hemizygous males (age 19–64 years, mean 39) affected with classic FD. Conventional audiometry, tympanometry, ABR audiometry, otoacoustic emissions were performed in all patients, together with medical history record and physical examination as part of an exhaustive baseline evaluation prior to enzyme replacement therapy. RESULTS: A total of 12 patients (54.5%) with classic FD were found to have abnormal audition. Five patients had progressive hearing loss and seven patients (32%) experienced sudden deafness. In addition, a hearing loss on high-tone frequencies was found in 7 out of the 10 remaining patients without clinical impairment, despite their young age at time of examination. The incidence of hearing loss appeared significantly increased in FD patients with kidney failure (P < 0.01) or cerebrovascular lesions (P < 0.01), whereas there was no correlation with left ventricular hypertrophy. In addition, tinnitus aurium was also found in six patients (27%). CONCLUSION: This is the first evidence of a high incidence of both progressive hearing loss and sudden deafness in a cohort of male patients affected with classic Fabry disease. The exact pathophysiologic mechanism(s) of the cochlear involvement deserves further studies

Phthalate ester toxicity in human cell cultures

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and butyl glycolyl butyl phthalate, plasticizers which can be leached into blood from polyvinyl chloride-containing medical devices, cause significant growth inhibition in cultures of the human diploid cell strain WI-38. The ID50 (dose which causes 50% growth inhibition in tissue culture) values for di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and butyl glycolyl butyl phthalate were 70 [mu] and 12 [mu], respectively, for WI-38 cells. Toxic effects were greater in a replicating cell population than in a nonreplicating, confluent cell layer. WI-38 cells which were grown in 160 [mu] di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate for 3 days, and subsequently subcultured into control medium, showed only 60% of control growth after 5 days in control medium. Cells treated with 14 [mu] butyl glycolyl butyl phthalate for 3 or 5 days exhibited growth equivalent to the controls when subcultured into control medium. Toxic levels for di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate were within the range of concentrations found in blood which has been stored in polyvinyl chloride blood bags for up to 21 days at 4[deg]C. ID50 values were reported for several other phthalate esters and for two nonphthalide compounds which are leachable from certain polyvinyl chloride plastic medical devices.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22136/1/0000565.pd