Developing a Teacher Professional Development Activity with Social Learning Theory to Address Educators’ Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills in Working with LGBTQIA+ Youth

It is well documented that children who identify as a sexual minority or as gender-non-conforming are at an increased likelihood to experience adverse events and risk factors that can make it difficult to function in the community, home, and school environments. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA+) youth report high levels of bullying and victimization with little or no effective intervention from teachers in schools. Research shows that not only are teachers ill-prepared to effectively intervene, but also they engage in homophobic behavior that contribute to a negative school climate. Previous literature shows that there is a lack of teacher preparation in teacher education programs to support this at-risk population. Therefore, teachers would benefit from ongoing professional development to provide knowledge, help them to challenge biases, and equip them with skills to best support LGBTQIA+ youth in schools. There is a lack of empirical studies that show the effectiveness of teacher professional development on LGBTQIA+ issues. This study was conducted to add to the literature regarding the effectiveness of teacher professional development on increasing teacher knowledge, attitudes, and skills in order to support LGBTQIA+ youth in schools. The two-hour professional development model utilized social learning theory as a foundation for facilitating teacher learning. Utilizing a quasi-experimental approach, this study provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of teacher professional development in increasing knowledge, challenging attitudes, and equipping them with skills. The results of the study also show that teacher professional development is able to lower self-perceived levels of homophobia. However, there was no relationships between participants’ self-reported knowledge, attitudes and skills regarding supporting LGBTQIA+ youth and these participants’ homophobic beliefs

Bullying at Work and Its Impact on Job Satisfaction: An Exploration of School Psychologists

Given the persistent national shortage of school psychologists, as well as their job retention concerns, likely related to burnout, it is necessary to examine any factors that negatively impact school psychologists’ job satisfaction. In this sample of 94 Pennsylvania school psychologists, the experience of being bullied at work was associated with diminished job satisfaction. Specifically, the independent variables of being bullying at work predicted 18.2% of the variance in job satisfaction in this sample, with verbal and indirect bullying the only types of bullying that contributed a significant amount of the variance. This study indicates that this issue should be closely monitored by management and addressed promptly

Wild Pfister forms over Henselian fields, K-theory, and conic division algebras

The epicenter of this paper concerns Pfister quadratic forms over a field $F$ with a Henselian discrete valuation. All characteristics are considered but we focus on the most complicated case where the residue field has characteristic 2 but $F$ does not. We also prove results about round quadratic forms, composition algebras, generalizations of composition algebras we call conic algebras, and central simple associative symbol algebras. Finally we give relationships between these objects and Kato's filtration on the Milnor $K$-groups of $F$

Characterization of homologous sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase isoforms in the bacterial pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Sphingolipids (SLs) are ubiquitous elements in eukaryotic membranes and are also found in some bacterial and viral species. As well as playing an integral structural role, SLs also act as potent signalling molecules involved in numerous cellular pathways and have been linked to many human diseases. A central SL signalling molecule is sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) whose breakdown is catalysed by sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase (S1PL), a pyridoxal 5 '-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzyme that catalyses the cleavage of S1P to (2E)-hexadecenal (2E-HEX) and phosphoethanolamine (PE). Here we show the pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei K96243 encodes two homologous proteins (S1PL2021 and S1PL2025) that display moderate sequence identity to known eukaryotic and prokaryotic S1PLs. Using an established mass spectrometry-based methodology we show that recombinant S1PL2021 is catalytically active. Using recombinant human fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase (FALDH) we developed a spectrophotometric, enzyme-coupled assay to detect 2E-HEX formation and measure the kinetic constants of the two B. pseudomallei S1PL isoforms. Furthermore, we determined the x-ray crystal structure of the PLP-bound form of S1PL2021 at 2.1 Å resolution revealing the enzyme displays a conserved structural fold and active site architecture comparable with known S1PLs. The combined data suggest that B. pseudomallei has the potential to degrade host SLs in a S1PL-dependent manner.The authors thanks the following for funding: The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for an EastBio Doctoral Training Programme PhD studentship award to C McLean (BB/J01446X/1) and a grant awarded to DJ Campopiano (BB/I013687/1) that supported J Lowther and DJ Clarke. R Custodio was supported by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory under contract DSTLX-1000060221 (WP1). We thank the staff of the Diamond Light Source, UK for help with data collection. The authors thank Prof. John RW Govan (University of Edinburgh) for his suggestions regarding Burkholderia strains and enthusiastic support of this work. We also thanks Dr. Kevin Ralston for help in the synthesis of 2E-HEX. The data associated with this paper is available to download (http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/ds/1412)

Imaging aspects of cardiovascular disease at the cell and molecular level

Cell and molecular imaging has a long and distinguished history. Erythrocytes were visualized microscopically by van Leeuwenhoek in 1674, and microscope technology has evolved mightily since the first single-lens instruments, and now incorporates many types that do not use photons of light for image formation. The combination of these instruments with preparations stained with histochemical and immunohistochemical markers has revolutionized imaging by allowing the biochemical identification of components at subcellular resolution. The field of cardiovascular disease has benefited greatly from these advances for the characterization of disease etiologies. In this review, we will highlight and summarize the use of microscopy imaging systems, including light microscopy, electron microscopy, confocal scanning laser microscopy, laser scanning cytometry, laser microdissection, and atomic force microscopy in conjunction with a variety of histochemical techniques in studies aimed at understanding mechanisms underlying cardiovascular diseases at the cell and molecular level

A gene expression fingerprint of C. elegans embryonic motor neurons

BACKGROUND: Differential gene expression specifies the highly diverse cell types that constitute the nervous system. With its sequenced genome and simple, well-defined neuroanatomy, the nematode C. elegans is a useful model system in which to correlate gene expression with neuron identity. The UNC-4 transcription factor is expressed in thirteen embryonic motor neurons where it specifies axonal morphology and synaptic function. These cells can be marked with an unc-4::GFP reporter transgene. Here we describe a powerful strategy, Micro-Array Profiling of C. elegans cells (MAPCeL), and confirm that this approach provides a comprehensive gene expression profile of unc-4::GFP motor neurons in vivo. RESULTS: Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) was used to isolate unc-4::GFP neurons from primary cultures of C. elegans embryonic cells. Microarray experiments detected 6,217 unique transcripts of which ~1,000 are enriched in unc-4::GFP neurons relative to the average nematode embryonic cell. The reliability of these data was validated by the detection of known cell-specific transcripts and by expression in UNC-4 motor neurons of GFP reporters derived from the enriched data set. In addition to genes involved in neurotransmitter packaging and release, the microarray data include transcripts for receptors to a remarkably wide variety of signaling molecules. The added presence of a robust array of G-protein pathway components is indicative of complex and highly integrated mechanisms for modulating motor neuron activity. Over half of the enriched genes (537) have human homologs, a finding that could reflect substantial overlap with the gene expression repertoire of mammalian motor neurons. CONCLUSION: We have described a microarray-based method, MAPCeL, for profiling gene expression in specific C. elegans motor neurons and provide evidence that this approach can reveal candidate genes for key roles in the differentiation and function of these cells. These methods can now be applied to generate a gene expression map of the C. elegans nervous system

Cell-specific microarray profiling experiments reveal a comprehensive picture of gene expression in the C. elegans nervous system

A novel strategy for profiling Caenorhabditis elegans cells identifies transcripts highly enriched in either the embryonic or larval C. elegans nervous system, including 19 conserved transcripts of unknown function that are also expressed in the mammalian brain

ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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