School attrition and dropout recovery ameliorated by literacy, engagement, and resilience

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors and feelings that contribute to students leaving school and later returning to adult education programs to attain a General Educational Development (GED) credential. This process was found to be ameliorated by the positive factors of literacy, engagement, and resilience. These factors were selected because of their importance to the success of the schooling process and their interrelatedness. When these factors were self-reported at low levels combined with negative social circumstances, it was much more difficult for students to avoid school attrition or to reengage in dropout recovery. An explanatory sequential mixed methods research design was employed with an emancipatory lens facilitated by a supportive listener, as researcher, to examine the voices of a disadvantaged population of high school dropouts who shared their educational journeys and reconnection to school. These personal reports were given through the use of the Survey of Adolescent Reading Attitudes (SARA), The Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ), and ethnographic interviews. Students felt that the inherent value of a high school credential was equally as important as the desire to garner employment. Literacy, they believed, was a protective factor as a skill that was an early-developed asset; however, that ability alone could not help them prevail in view of overwhelming personal roadblocks and ever increasing complex content material. Literacy skills did help reassure students of the possibility of success when finding a good dropout recovery program to obtain a GED. Students’ self-determination, through engagement and resilience, revealed an intrinsic feeling of wanting to reach the educational goal for “myself.” A significant link between reading attitudes and resilience was demonstrated in a correlation study with the two established assessment scales

Statin and rottlerin small-molecule inhibitors restrict colon cancer progression and metastasis via MACC1

MACC1 (Metastasis Associated in Colon Cancer 1) is a key driver and prognostic biomarker for cancer progression and metastasis in a large variety of solid tumor types, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC). However, no MACC1 inhibitors have been identified yet. Therefore, we aimed to target MACC1 expression using a luciferase reporter-based high-throughput screening with the ChemBioNet library of more than 30,000 compounds. The small molecules lovastatin and rottlerin emerged as the most potent MACC1 transcriptional inhibitors. They remarkably inhibited MACC1 promoter activity and expression, resulting in reduced cell motility. Lovastatin impaired the binding of the transcription factors c-Jun and Sp1 to the MACC1 promoter, thereby inhibiting MACC1 transcription. Most importantly, in CRC-xenografted mice, lovastatin and rottlerin restricted MACC1 expression and liver metastasis. This is—to the best of our knowledge—the first identification of inhibitors restricting cancer progression and metastasis via the novel target MACC1. This drug repositioning might be of therapeutic value for CRC patients

Signal Transmission in the Auditory System

Contains table of contents for Section 3, an introduction and reports on six research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant RO1-DC-00194-11National Institutes of Health Grant PO1-DC00119 Sub-Project 1National Institutes of Health Grant F32-DC00073-3National Institutes of Health Contract P01-DC00119National Institutes of Health Grant R01 DC00238National Institutes of Health Grant P01-DC00119National Institutes of Health Grant T32-DC00038National Institutes of Health Contract P01-DC00361National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00235National Institutes of Health Contract NO1-DC2240

The Occurrence of Rocky Habitable-zone Planets around Solar-like Stars from Kepler Data

We present the occurrence rates for rocky planets in the habitable zones (HZs) of main-sequence dwarf stars based on the Kepler DR25 planet candidate catalog and Gaia-based stellar properties. We provide the first analysis in terms of star-dependent instellation flux, which allows us to track HZ planets. We define η⊕ as the HZ occurrence of planets with radii between 0.5 and 1.5 R⊕ orbiting stars with effective temperatures between 4800 and 6300 K. We find that η⊕ for the conservative HZ is between 0.37^(+0.48)_(−0.21) (errors reflect 68% credible intervals) and 0.60^(+0.90)_(−0.36) planets per star, while the optimistic HZ occurrence is between 0.58^(+0.73)_(−0.33) and 0.88^(+1.28)_(−0.51) planets per star. These bounds reflect two extreme assumptions about the extrapolation of completeness beyond orbital periods where DR25 completeness data are available. The large uncertainties are due to the small number of detected small HZ planets. We find similar occurrence rates between using Poisson likelihood Bayesian analysis and using Approximate Bayesian Computation. Our results are corrected for catalog completeness and reliability. Both completeness and the planet occurrence rate are dependent on stellar effective temperature. We also present occurrence rates for various stellar populations and planet size ranges. We estimate with 95% confidence that, on average, the nearest HZ planet around G and K dwarfs is ~6 pc away and there are ~4 HZ rocky planets around G and K dwarfs within 10 pc of the Sun

The Occurrence of Rocky Habitable Zone Planets Around Solar-Like Stars from Kepler Data

We present occurrence rates for rocky planets in the habitable zones (HZ) of main-sequence dwarf stars based on the Kepler DR25 planet candidate catalog and Gaia-based stellar properties. We provide the first analysis in terms of star-dependent instellation flux, which allows us to track HZ planets. We define $\eta_\oplus$ as the HZ occurrence of planets with radius between 0.5 and 1.5 $R_\oplus$ orbiting stars with effective temperatures between 4800 K and 6300 K. We find that $\eta_\oplus$ for the conservative HZ is between $0.37^{+0.48}_{-0.21}$ (errors reflect 68\% credible intervals) and $0.60^{+0.90}_{-0.36}$ planets per star, while the optimistic HZ occurrence is between $0.58^{+0.73}_{-0.33}$ and $0.88^{+1.28}_{-0.51}$ planets per star. These bounds reflect two extreme assumptions about the extrapolation of completeness beyond orbital periods where DR25 completeness data are available. The large uncertainties are due to the small number of detected small HZ planets. We find similar occurrence rates using both a Poisson likelihood Bayesian analysis and Approximate Bayesian Computation. Our results are corrected for catalog completeness and reliability. Both completeness and the planet occurrence rate are dependent on stellar effective temperature. We also present occurrence rates for various stellar populations and planet size ranges. We estimate with $95\%$ confidence that, on average, the nearest HZ planet around G and K dwarfs is about 6 pc away, and there are about 4 HZ rocky planets around G and K dwarfs within 10 pc of the Sun.Comment: To appear in The Astronomical Journa

Real time identification of large space structures

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1987.Microfiche copy available in Archives and Barker.Bibliography: p. 194-195.by Janice Elaine Voss.Ph.D

The effect of rottlerin on MACC1 expression.

<p>(A–B) HCT116 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of rottlerin for 24 h (A) or a single dose of 2.5 μM rottlerin (B) for the time points indicated. MACC1 mRNA expression and protein expression were determined by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot analysis, respectively. Treated samples are shown with black bars. (C) HCT116/vector and HCT116/MACC1 cells were treated with 2.5 μM rottlerin for 24 h, and MACC1 mRNA and protein levels were analyzed (<i>p</i> < 0.01). (D–F) SW48 (D), DLD-1 (E), and SW620 (F) cells were treated with increasing concentrations of rottlerin for 24 h. MACC1 mRNA expression was analyzed by qRT-PCR. Samples with a 50% decrease in MACC1 mRNA levels are highlighted with black bars. MACC1 mRNA was normalized with G6PD and expressed as a percentage of solvent-treated cells (<i>p</i> < 0.001), whereas β-actin was used as loading control for western blotting. Data represent mean ± SEM (<i>n</i> ≥ 2), *<i>p</i> < 0.05, **<i>p</i> < 0.01 ***<i>p</i> < 0.001.</p