Emerging adulthood: Defining the life stage and its developmental tasks

Emerging adulthood, as first proposed by Jeffrey Arnett, is the developmental period spanning ages 18-29. Culturally, it is a time of institutionalized role moratorium, especially in post-industrial societies. Emerging adults share the five characteristics of self-focus, instability, identity explorations, feeling in-between, and a sense of possibilities. Emerging adulthood takes place across racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups, although the experience of emerging adulthood varies among groups. The present paper provides an overview of the theory of emerging adulthood and its expressions in American society. An original program called “The Something Potluck” is outlined in the Appendix. The Something Potluck is designed to facilitate the developmental growth of emerging adult participants by providing psychoeducation and community support

Comparison of host immune responses to homologous and heterologous type II porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) challenge in vaccinated and unvaccinated pigs

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a high-consequence animal disease with current vaccines providing limited protection from infection due to the high degree of genetic variation of field PRRS virus. Therefore, understanding host immune responses elicited by different PRRSV strains will facilitate the development of more effective vaccines. Using IngelVac modified live PRRSV vaccine (MLV), its parental strain VR-2332, and the heterologous KS-06-72109 strain (a Kansas isolate of PRRSV), we compared immune responses induced by vaccination and/or PRRSV infection. Our results showed that MLV can provide complete protection from homologous virus (VR-2332) and partial protection from heterologous (KS-06) challenge. The protection was associated with the levels of PRRSV neutralizing antibodies at the time of challenge, with vaccinated pigs having higher titers to VR-2332 compared to KS-06 strain. Challenge strain did not alter the cytokine expression profiles in the serum of vaccinated pigs or subpopulations of T cells. However, higher frequencies of IFN-γ-secreting PBMCs were generated from pigs challenged with heterologous PRRSV in a recall response when PBMCs were re-stimulated with PRRSV. Thus, this study indicates that serum neutralizing antibody titers are associated with PRRSV vaccination-induced protection against homologous and heterologous challenge

Probing genetic control of swine responses to PRRSV infection: current progress of the PRRS host genetics consortium

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Understanding the role of host genetics in resistance to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection, and the effects of PRRS on pig health and related growth, are goals of the PRRS Host Genetics Consortium (PHGC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The project uses a nursery pig model to assess pig resistance/susceptibility to primary PRRSV infection. To date, 6 groups of 200 crossbred pigs from high health farms were donated by commercial sources. After acclimation, the pigs were infected with PRRSV in a biosecure facility and followed for 42 days post infection (dpi). Blood samples were collected at 0, 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 dpi for serum and whole blood RNA gene expression analyses; weekly weights were recorded for growth traits. All data have been entered into the PHGC relational database. Genomic DNAs from all PHGC1-6 pigs were prepared and genotyped with the Porcine SNP60 SNPchip.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results have affirmed that all challenged pigs become PRRSV infected with peak viremia being observed between 4-21 dpi. Multivariate statistical analyses of viral load and weight data have identified PHGC pigs in different virus/weight categories. Sera are now being compared for factors involved in recovery from infection, including speed of response and levels of immune cytokines. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are underway to identify genes and chromosomal locations that identify PRRS resistant/susceptible pigs and pigs able to maintain growth while infected with PRRSV.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, the PHGC project will enable researchers to discover and verify important genotypes and phenotypes that predict resistance/susceptibility to PRRSV infection. The availability of PHGC samples provides a unique opportunity to continue to develop deeper phenotypes on every PRRSV infected pig.</p

Active/Passive, ‘Diminished’/‘Beautiful’, ‘Light’ from Above and Below: Rereading Shekhinah’s Sexual Desire in Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs)

In Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim, the Zohar’s reading of Song of Songs, Shekhinah, echoing themes associated with the Shulamite of the biblical text, consistently initiates cosmic union. Sexual desire in the zoharic texts is a form of capital necessary to facilitate sefirotic intercourse, although scholarly readings of the zoharic corpus often identify Shekhinah as a passive receptacle. This, however, is only true if the endemic contradictions within the texts are glossed over. In Song of Songs, the Shulamite’s sexual ‘initiative’ is core. This was not lost on the author(s) of Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim, who, in struggling to explain Shekhinah’s sefirotic role in line with the erotics of Song of Songs, inescapably echoed the ‘depatriarchalizing’ themes of the biblical text. As this article demonstrates, in Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim, Shekhinah is active and repeatedly encourages and frustrates cosmic sexual intercourse. Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim shows that it is possible to reread Shekhinah’s role beyond the androcentrism of the authors as well as scholarly assumptions about her passivity

Exploring genetic control of swine responses to viral diseases.

Our goal is to understand genomic control of viral disease responses focusing on the economically most important disease of pigs, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome

Sequence- and Interactome-Based Prediction of Viral Protein Hotspots Targeting Host Proteins: A Case Study for HIV Nef

Virus proteins alter protein pathways of the host toward the synthesis of viral particles by breaking and making edges via binding to host proteins. In this study, we developed a computational approach to predict viral sequence hotspots for binding to host proteins based on sequences of viral and host proteins and literature-curated virus-host protein interactome data. We use a motif discovery algorithm repeatedly on collections of sequences of viral proteins and immediate binding partners of their host targets and choose only those motifs that are conserved on viral sequences and highly statistically enriched among binding partners of virus protein targeted host proteins. Our results match experimental data on binding sites of Nef to host proteins such as MAPK1, VAV1, LCK, HCK, HLA-A, CD4, FYN, and GNB2L1 with high statistical significance but is a poor predictor of Nef binding sites on highly flexible, hoop-like regions. Predicted hotspots recapture CD8 cell epitopes of HIV Nef highlighting their importance in modulating virus-host interactions. Host proteins potentially targeted or outcompeted by Nef appear crowding the T cell receptor, natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity, and neurotrophin signaling pathways. Scanning of HIV Nef motifs on multiple alignments of hepatitis C protein NS5A produces results consistent with literature, indicating the potential value of the hotspot discovery in advancing our understanding of virus-host crosstalk

Quantitative Analysis of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Viremia Profiles from Experimental Infection: A Statistical Modelling Approach

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is one of the most economically significant viral diseases facing the global swine industry. Viremia profiles of PRRS virus challenged pigs reflect the severity and progression of infection within the host and provide crucial information for subsequent control measures. In this study we analyse the largest longitudinal PRRS viremia dataset from an in-vivo experiment. The primary objective was to provide a suitable mathematical description of all viremia profiles with biologically meaningful parameters for quantitative analysis of profile characteristics. The Wood's function, a gamma-type function, and a biphasic extended Wood's function were fit to the individual profiles using Bayesian inference with a likelihood framework. Using maximum likelihood inference and numerous fit criteria, we established that the broad spectrum of viremia trends could be adequately represented by either uni- or biphasic Wood's functions. Three viremic categories emerged: cleared (uni-modal and below detection within 42 days post infection(dpi)), persistent (transient experimental persistence over 42 dpi) and rebound (biphasic within 42 dpi). The convenient biological interpretation of the model parameters estimates, allowed us not only to quantify inter-host variation, but also to establish common viremia curve characteristics and their predictability. Statistical analysis of the profile characteristics revealed that persistent profiles were distinguishable already within the first 21 dpi, whereas it is not possible to predict the onset of viremia rebound. Analysis of the neutralizing antibody(nAb) data indicated that there was a ubiquitous strong response to the homologous PRRSV challenge, but high variability in the range of cross-protection of the nAbs. Persistent pigs were found to have a significantly higher nAb cross-protectivity than pigs that either cleared viremia or experienced rebound within 42 dpi. Our study provides novel insights into the nature and degree of variation of hosts' responses to infection as well as new informative traits for subsequent genomic and modelling studies

An integrative approach for a network based meta-analysis of viral RNAi screens.

BACKGROUND: Big data is becoming ubiquitous in biology, and poses significant challenges in data analysis and interpretation. RNAi screening has become a workhorse of functional genomics, and has been applied, for example, to identify host factors involved in infection for a panel of different viruses. However, the analysis of data resulting from such screens is difficult, with often low overlap between hit lists, even when comparing screens targeting the same virus. This makes it a major challenge to select interesting candidates for further detailed, mechanistic experimental characterization. RESULTS: To address this problem we propose an integrative bioinformatics pipeline that allows for a network based meta-analysis of viral high-throughput RNAi screens. Initially, we collate a human protein interaction network from various public repositories, which is then subjected to unsupervised clustering to determine functional modules. Modules that are significantly enriched with host dependency factors (HDFs) and/or host restriction factors (HRFs) are then filtered based on network topology and semantic similarity measures. Modules passing all these criteria are finally interpreted for their biological significance using enrichment analysis, and interesting candidate genes can be selected from the modules. CONCLUSIONS: We apply our approach to seven screens targeting three different viruses, and compare results with other published meta-analyses of viral RNAi screens. We recover key hit genes, and identify additional candidates from the screens. While we demonstrate the application of the approach using viral RNAi data, the method is generally applicable to identify underlying mechanisms from hit lists derived from high-throughput experimental data, and to select a small number of most promising genes for further mechanistic studies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13015-015-0035-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Determination of copper at surface-modified electrodes: Effects of competitive binding and electrode size

Electrodes modified with electropolymerized films of [Ru(v-bpy)3]2+ into which Xylenol orange, Eriochrome cyanine R, Nitroso R salt or Bathocuproine sulfonate were incorporated by ion exchange can be used to determine copper in solution with high sensitivity, excellent linearity and a dynamic range of over two orders of magnitude. The presence of iron, cobalt, nickel, chloride or bromide does not alter the response measurably. Oxalate anions produce a steady increase in the current measured at the potential for oxidation of the copper complexes. The presence of phosphate anions in the preconcentration solution also gives rise to an enhanced signal. The use of modified microelectrodes (75 μm diameter) or ultramicroelectrodes (5 μm diameter) results in an enhancement in the sensitivity, although a saturation response is obtained for copperconcentrations above 6 × 10-6M. Ultramicroelectrodes modified with Bathocuproine sulfonate could be used in multiple determinations with good reproducibility (±9%) and without the need for remodification of the electrode surface. © 1993