CENTERING THE VOICES OF SOUTH CAROLINA\u27S EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION TEACHERS: A MULTI-CASE STUDY EXAMINING HOW THEY SELECT AND ARE INFORMED BY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the existing literature focused on quality early care and education (ECE). Specifically, this study examines two main research questions: (1) How do teachers in South Carolina licensed, privately-funded ECE programs select professional development opportunities and (2) How does participating in professional development inform their practices? These questions are particularly significant in light of the minimal requirements for teachers to enter the ECE field in South Carolina. Due to the low entry requirements for ECE teachers, professional development can play a key role in transforming minimally qualified individuals into teachers who care for and educate the state\u27s youngest children for future success. The review of research literature found few studies focused squarely on privately-funded ECE settings and even fewer studies incorporating the voices of ECE teachers regarding professional development. This study uses a multi-case methodology involving four privately-funded ECE centers in South Carolina. Through single- and cross-case analyses, assertions emerge suggesting that teachers are most likely to select training based on content and that delivery approaches are most likely to determine whether the professional development will inform their teaching practices. This study centers teacher voices within the research arena, a sphere of influence where they are not typically found, but where they are needed to aid ECE advocates and policy makers to better understand the complexities surrounding required professional development within ECE settings in South Carolina

MicroRNA-204 promotes vascular endoplasmic reticulum stress and endothelial dysfunction by targeting Sirtuin1

Abstract Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been implicated in vascular endothelial dysfunction of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. MicroRNAs play an important role in regulating ER stress. Here we show that microRNA-204 (miR-204) promotes vascular ER stress and endothelial dysfunction by targeting the Sirtuin1 (Sirt1) lysine deacetylase. Pharmacologic ER stress induced by tunicamycin upregulates miR-204 and downregulates Sirt1 in the vascular wall/endothelium in vivo and in endothelial cells in vitro. Inhibition of miR-204 protects against tunicamycin-induced vascular/endothelial ER stress, associated impairment of endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation, and preserves endothelial Sirt1. A miR-204 mimic leads to ER stress and downregulates Sirt1 in endothelial cells. Knockdown of Sirt1 in endothelial cells, and conditional deletion of endothelial Sirt1 in mice, promotes ER stress via upregulation of miR-204, whereas overexpression of Sirt1 in endothelial cells suppresses miR-204-induced ER stress. Furthermore, increase in vascular reactive oxygen species induced by ER stress is mitigated by by miR-204 inhibition. Finally, nutritional stress in the form of a Western diet promotes vascular ER stress through miR-204. These findings show that miR-204 is obligatory for vascular ER stress and ER stress-induced vascular endothelial dysfunction, and that miR-204 promotes vascular ER stress via downregulation of Sirt1

Prediction of homoprotein and heteroprotein complexes by protein docking and template-based modeling: A CASP-CAPRI experiment

We present the results for CAPRI Round 30, the first joint CASP-CAPRI experiment, which brought together experts from the protein structure prediction and protein-protein docking communities. The Round comprised 25 targets from amongst those submitted for the CASP11 prediction experiment of 2014. The targets included mostly homodimers, a few homotetramers, and two heterodimers, and comprised protein chains that could readily be modeled using templates from the Protein Data Bank. On average 24 CAPRI groups and 7 CASP groups submitted docking predictions for each target, and 12 CAPRI groups per target participated in the CAPRI scoring experiment. In total more than 9500 models were assessed against the 3D structures of the corresponding target complexes. Results show that the prediction of homodimer assemblies by homology modeling techniques and docking calculations is quite successful for targets featuring large enough subunit interfaces to represent stable associations. Targets with ambiguous or inaccurate oligomeric state assignments, often featuring crystal contact-sized interfaces, represented a confounding factor. For those, a much poorer prediction performance was achieved, while nonetheless often providing helpful clues on the correct oligomeric state of the protein. The prediction performance was very poor for genuine tetrameric targets, where the inaccuracy of the homology-built subunit models and the smaller pair-wise interfaces severely limited the ability to derive the correct assembly mode. Our analysis also shows that docking procedures tend to perform better than standard homology modeling techniques and that highly accurate models of the protein components are not always required to identify their association modes with acceptable accuracy