Essential Role for Integrin-Linked Kinase in Melanoblast Colonization of the Skin

Melanocytes are pigment-producing cells found in the skin and other tissues. Alterations in the melanocyte lineage give rise to a plethora of human diseases, from neurocristopathies and pigmentation disorders to melanoma. During embryogenesis, neural crest cell subsets give rise to two waves of melanoblasts, which migrate dorsolaterally, hone to the skin, and differentiate into melanocytes. However, the mechanisms that govern colonization of the skin by the first wave of melanoblasts are poorly understood. Here we report that targeted inactivation of the integrin-linked kinase gene in first wave melanoblasts causes defects in the ability of these cells to form long pseudopods, to migrate, and to proliferate in vivo. As a result, integrin-linked kinase–deficient melanoblasts fail to populate normally the developing epidermis and hair follicles. We also show that defects in motility and dendricity occur upon integrin-linked kinase gene inactivation in mature melanocytes, causing abnormalities in cell responses to the extracellular matrix substrates collagen I and laminin 332. Significantly, the ability to form long protrusions in mutant cells in response to collagen is restored in the presence of constitutively active Rac1, suggesting that an integrin-linked kinase-Rac1 nexus is likely implicated in melanocytic cell establishment, dendricity, and functions in the skin

Facilitating Team-Based Data Science: Lessons Learned from the DSC-WAV Project

While coursework provides undergraduate data science students with some relevant analytic skills, many are not given the rich experiences with data and computing they need to be successful in the workplace. Additionally, students often have limited exposure to team-based data science and the principles and tools of collaboration that are encountered outside of school. In this paper, we describe the DSC-WAV program, an NSF-funded data science workforce development project in which teams of undergraduate sophomores and juniors work with a local non-profit organization on a data-focused problem. To help students develop a sense of agency and improve confidence in their technical and non-technical data science skills, the project promoted a team-based approach to data science, adopting several processes and tools intended to facilitate this collaboration. Evidence from the project evaluation, including participant survey and interview data, is presented to document the degree to which the project was successful in engaging students in team-based data science, and how the project changed the students\u27 perceptions of their technical and non-technical skills. We also examine opportunities for improvement and offer insight to other data science educators who may want to implement a similar team-based approach to data science projects at their own institutions

Computational thinking in high school courses

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The Community Reinvestment Act: Its Impact on Lending in Low-Income Communities in the United States

This paper reviews data and research studies that demonstrate that CRA has helped to increase lending to low-income borrowers and in low-income neighborhoods, and that expanded CRA lending has been accomplished while maintaining sound lending practices and bank profitability. The paper also discusses literature that draws alternative conclusions, as well as studies that find, despite increases in lending and banking services to low- and moderate-income areas and to minority borrowers, that disparities still exist between the services afforded to these communities and those offered to the market as a whole

Prospectus, November 8, 1989

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1989/1027/thumbnail.jp

The Impact of Selected Social Environmental and Individual Factors on Stress Responses

a. The authors attempt to clarify some factors in the relationships between high levels of stress and poor physical and mental health. They review many possible sources of individual variation in responses to stress, including different living environments, interrelated social and individual factors, and differences across gender groups. Physiological and behavioral data collected from college students at a blood bank assessed multiple social and individual factors, self-reported stress, and levels of norepinephrine, a physiological indicator of stress. Results showed a fairly complex pattern of results, although social support was generally helpful in reducing stress, and gender differences in both social and physiological responses were found.This research was supported in part by the Office of Navel Research and in part by the gracious contributions of Edward and Marjorie Grey