Taking the LEAP (Learner Engaged Advising Programs): VCCS Advising Practices and Recommendations

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) administration identified the need for adequate and proactive advising programs to foster student success. This paper presents a review of “best practices” in advising to determine commonalities, provides a comparison with current VCCS advising practices, and offers recommendations that support the goal of ensuring high quality advising programs

Complete Genome Sequences of 13 Bacillus subtilis Soil Isolates for Studying Secondary Metabolite Diversity

Bacillus subtilis is a plant-benefiting soil-dwelling Gram-positive bacterium with secondary metabolite production potential. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of 13 B. subtilis strains isolated from different soil samples in Germany and Denmark

The Grizzly, October 12, 2006

Editorial: Call to Responsibility • Letter of Apology • New Shopping Center Near Campus • Spring Registration Just Around the Corner • Preventing Sexual Assault • Sexual Assault Awareness on Campus • New Incentive Program Underway for CAB • Ursinus Students Evoke Shakespeare\u27s Spirit in Two Gentlemen of Verona • Degas: His Work, His Vision, His Camera • Opinions: On Habeas Corpus; Hurt Feelings; Fundamental Importance of Negative Campaigning • Bears Pull Out Victory in Second Half Comeback • Men\u27s Soccer Capture First Win • A Look Into Ursinus College Fall Athleticshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1721/thumbnail.jp

Increased water-use efficiency and reduced CO2 uptake by plants during droughts at a continental-scale

Severe droughts in the Northern Hemisphere cause a widespread decline of agricultural yield, the reduction of forest carbon uptake, and increased CO2 growth rates in the atmosphere. Plants respond to droughts by partially closing their stomata to limit their evaporative water loss, at the expense of carbon uptake by photosynthesis. This trade-off maximizes their water-use efficiency (WUE), as measured for many individual plants under laboratory conditions and field experiments. Here we analyse the 13C/12C stable isotope ratio in atmospheric CO2 to provide new observational evidence of the impact of droughts on the WUE across areas of millions of square kilometres and spanning one decade of recent climate variability. We find strong and spatially coherent increases in WUE along with widespread reductions of net carbon uptake over the Northern Hemisphere during severe droughts that affected Europe, Russia and the United States in 2001–2011. The impact of those droughts on WUE and carbon uptake by vegetation is substantially larger than simulated by the land-surface schemes of six state-of-the-art climate models. This suggests that drought-induced carbon–climate feedbacks may be too small in these models and improvements to their vegetation dynamics using stable isotope observations can help to improve their drought response

A bacterial inflammation sensor regulates c-di-GMP signaling, adhesion, and biofilm formation

Bacteria that colonize animals must overcome, or coexist, with the reactive oxygen species products of inflammation, a front-line defense of innate immunity. Among these is the neutrophilic oxidant bleach, hypochlorous acid (HOCl), a potent antimicrobial that plays a primary role in killing bacteria through nonspecific oxidation of proteins, lipids, and DNA. Here, we report that in response to increasing HOCl levels, Escherichia coli regulates biofilm production via activation of the diguanylate cyclase DgcZ. We identify the mechanism of DgcZ sensing of HOCl to be direct oxidation of its regulatory chemoreceptor zinc-binding (CZB) domain. Dissection of CZB signal transduction reveals that oxidation of the conserved zinc-binding cysteine controls CZB Zn2+ occupancy, which in turn regulates the catalysis of c-di-GMP by the associated GGDEF domain. We find DgcZ-dependent biofilm formation and HOCl sensing to be regulated in vivo by the conserved zinc-coordinating cysteine. Additionally, point mutants that mimic oxidized CZB states increase total biofilm. A survey of bacterial genomes reveals that many pathogenic bacteria that manipulate host inflammation as part of their colonization strategy possess CZB-regulated diguanylate cyclases and chemoreceptors. Our findings suggest that CZB domains are zinc-sensitive regulators that allow host-associated bacteria to perceive host inflammation through reactivity with HOCl

Whitefield News

File includes: January 2016 Volume 3, Issue 7 February 2016 Volume 3, Issue 8 March 2016 Volume 3, Issue 9 April 2016 Volume 3, Issue 10 May 2016 Volume 3, Issue 11 June 2016 Volume 3, Issue 12 July 2016 Volume 4, Issue 1 August 2016 Volume 4, Issue 2 September 2016, Volume 4, Issue 3 October 2016, Volume 4, Issue 4 November 2016, Volume 4, Issue 5 December 2016, Volume 4, Issue

Is (poly-) substance use associated with impaired inhibitory control? A mega-analysis controlling for confounders.

Many studies have reported that heavy substance use is associated with impaired response inhibition. Studies typically focused on associations with a single substance, while polysubstance use is common. Further, most studies compared heavy users with light/non-users, though substance use occurs along a continuum. The current mega-analysis accounted for these issues by aggregating individual data from 43 studies (3610 adult participants) that used the Go/No-Go (GNG) or Stop-signal task (SST) to assess inhibition among mostly "recreational" substance users (i.e., the rate of substance use disorders was low). Main and interaction effects of substance use, demographics, and task-characteristics were entered in a linear mixed model. Contrary to many studies and reviews in the field, we found that only lifetime cannabis use was associated with impaired response inhibition in the SST. An interaction effect was also observed: the relationship between tobacco use and response inhibition (in the SST) differed between cannabis users and non-users, with a negative association between tobacco use and inhibition in the cannabis non-users. In addition, participants' age, education level, and some task characteristics influenced inhibition outcomes. Overall, we found limited support for impaired inhibition among substance users when controlling for demographics and task-characteristics

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)