Doctoral Students\u27 Relational Communication with their Advisors: A Dyadic Examination using Chickering\u27s Theory of Psychosocial Development

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how psychosocial development affects doctoral students\u27 relationships with their advisor and their success in graduate school. Toward this goal, three objectives were identified. The first objective was to integrate Chickering and Reisser\u27s (1993) vectors of psychosocial development into the doctoral education context to understand how mature students maintain their relationships and address conflict with their advisor. The second objective was to investigate the extent to which doctoral students\u27 psychosocial development and communication behaviors affected satisfaction in the student-advisor relationship. The third objective was to examine the effect of psychosocial development on doctoral students\u27 attrition and indicators of academic success. Self-report surveys were completed by both doctoral students and graduate faculty advisors. The results revealed that students who were further progressed along the vectors of psychosocial development were more likely to use relational maintenance behaviors and handle their conflict with integrative strategies, whereas students who were not as psychosocially developed were more inclined to use distributive and avoidance strategies to handle conflict in the student-advisor relationship. Psychosocial development also positively affected doctoral students\u27 persistence, perceived time to degree, and their general success in graduate school (i.e., academic preparedness, quality of work, research self-efficacy, research productivity). The results also indicated that students\u27 relational maintenance behaviors and conflict strategies played an essential role in explaining the positive effects of psychosocial development on student-advisor relational and communication satisfaction. Taken together, the findings support the importance of psychosocial development in graduate school and provide valuable information that may be used to improve the quality of doctoral programs

Grassroots Professional Development via the New England Research Data Management Roundtables

Objectives: To meet the changing needs of our campuses, librarians responsible for research data services are often tasked with starting new endeavors with new populations without much support. This paper reports on a collaborative effort to build a community of practice of librarians tasked with addressing the research data needs of their campuses, describes how this effort was evaluated, and presents future opportunities. Methods: In March of 2015, three librarians found themselves in a situation of serendipitous professional development: one was seeking to provide a new method of mentorship, and two more were working on an event, hoping to broadcast it to a wider community. From these two disparate goals, the Research Data Management (RDM) Roundtables were created. The RDM Roundtables planning committee developed a low-cost professional development day divided into two parts: a morning session that detailed an idea or solution relevant to our practice, and an afternoon roundtable discussion on practical aspects of research data services. Evaluations from these events were coded in NVivo and we report on the common themes. Results: Participants returned sixty-one evaluations from four events. Five themes emerged from the evaluations: learning, sharing, format, networking, and empathy. Conclusion: The events provide a valuable professional development experience for attendees, and the authors hope that by providing a description of the events’ development, others will establish their own local communities of practice

The UCSC cancer genomics browser: update 2011

The UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser (https://genome-cancer.ucsc.edu) comprises a suite of web-based tools to integrate, visualize and analyze cancer genomics and clinical data. The browser displays whole-genome views of genome-wide experimental measurements for multiple samples alongside their associated clinical information. Multiple data sets can be viewed simultaneously as coordinated ‘heatmap tracks’ to compare across studies or different data modalities. Users can order, filter, aggregate, classify and display data interactively based on any given feature set including clinical features, annotated biological pathways and user-contributed collections of genes. Integrated standard statistical tools provide dynamic quantitative analysis within all available data sets. The browser hosts a growing body of publicly available cancer genomics data from a variety of cancer types, including data generated from the Cancer Genome Atlas project. Multiple consortiums use the browser on confidential prepublication data enabled by private installations. Many new features have been added, including the hgMicroscope tumor image viewer, hgSignature for real-time genomic signature evaluation on any browser track, and ‘PARADIGM’ pathway tracks to display integrative pathway activities. The browser is integrated with the UCSC Genome Browser; thus inheriting and integrating the Genome Browser’s rich set of human biology and genetics data that enhances the interpretability of the cancer genomics data

Highlights From the Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society 2022

With more than 6000 attendees between in-person and virtual offerings, the American Epilepsy Society Meeting 2022 in Nashville, felt as busy as in prepandemic times. An ever-growing number of physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals gathered to learn a variety of topics about epilepsy. The program was carefully tailored to meet the needs of professionals with different interests and career stages. This article summarizes the different symposia presented at the meeting. Basic science lectures addressed the primary elements of seizure generation and pathophysiology of epilepsy in different disease states. Scientists congregated to learn about anti-seizure medications, mechanisms of action, and new tools to treat epilepsy including surgery and neurostimulation. Some symposia were also dedicated to discuss epilepsy comorbidities and practical issues regarding epilepsy care. An increasing number of patient advocates discussing their stories were intertwined within scientific activities. Many smaller group sessions targeted more specific topics to encourage member participation, including Special Interest Groups, Investigator, and Skills Workshops. Special lectures included the renown Hoyer and Lombroso, an ILAE/IBE joint session, a spotlight on the impact of Dobbs v. Jackson on reproductive health in epilepsy, and a joint session with the NAEC on coding and reimbursement policies. The hot topics symposium was focused on traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic epilepsy. A balanced collaboration with the industry allowed presentations of the latest pharmaceutical and engineering advances in satellite symposia

Genome-wide meta-analyses reveal novel loci for verbal short-term memory and learning

Understanding the genomic basis of memory processes may help in combating neurodegenerative disorders. Hence, we examined the associations of common genetic variants with verbal short-term memory and verbal learning in adults without dementia or stroke (N = 53,637). We identified novel loci in the intronic region of CDH18, and at 13q21 and 3p21.1, as well as an expected signal in the APOE/APOC1/TOMM40 region. These results replicated in an independent sample. Functional and bioinformatic analyses supported many of these loci and further implicated POC1. We showed that polygenic score for verbal learning associated with brain activation in right parieto-occipital region during working memory task. Finally, we showed genetic correlations of these memory traits with several neurocognitive and health outcomes. Our findings suggest a role of several genomic loci in verbal memory processes.Peer reviewe

Genetic effects on gene expression across human tissues

Characterization of the molecular function of the human genome and its variation across individuals is essential for identifying the cellular mechanisms that underlie human genetic traits and diseases. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project aims to characterize variation in gene expression levels across individuals and diverse tissues of the human body, many of which are not easily accessible. Here we describe genetic effects on gene expression levels across 44 human tissues. We find that local genetic variation affects gene expression levels for the majority of genes, and we further identify inter-chromosomal genetic effects for 93 genes and 112 loci. On the basis of the identified genetic effects, we characterize patterns of tissue specificity, compare local and distal effects, and evaluate the functional properties of the genetic effects. We also demonstrate that multi-tissue, multi-individual data can be used to identify genes and pathways affected by human disease-associated variation, enabling a mechanistic interpretation of gene regulation and the genetic basis of diseas

The Somatic Genomic Landscape of Glioblastoma

We describe the landscape of somatic genomic alterations based on multi-dimensional and comprehensive characterization of more than 500 glioblastoma tumors (GBMs). We identify several novel mutated genes as well as complex rearrangements of signature receptors including EGFR and PDGFRA. TERT promoter mutations are shown to correlate with elevated mRNA expression, supporting a role in telomerase reactivation. Correlative analyses confirm that the survival advantage of the proneural subtype is conferred by the G-CIMP phenotype, and MGMT DNA methylation may be a predictive biomarker for treatment response only in classical subtype GBM. Integrative analysis of genomic and proteomic profiles challenges the notion of therapeutic inhibition of a pathway as an alternative to inhibition of the target itself. These data will facilitate the discovery of therapeutic and diagnostic target candidates, the validation of research and clinical observations and the generation of unanticipated hypotheses that can advance our molecular understanding of this lethal cancer

Genetic effects on gene expression across human tissues

Characterization of the molecular function of the human genome and its variation across individuals is essential for identifying the cellular mechanisms that underlie human genetic traits and diseases. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project aims to characterize variation in gene expression levels across individuals and diverse tissues of the human body, many of which are not easily accessible. Here we describe genetic effects on gene expression levels across 44 human tissues. We find that local genetic variation affects gene expression levels for the majority of genes, and we further identify inter-chromosomal genetic effects for 93 genes and 112 loci. On the basis of the identified genetic effects, we characterize patterns of tissue specificity, compare local and distal effects, and evaluate the functional properties of the genetic effects. We also demonstrate that multi-tissue, multi-individual data can be used to identify genes and pathways affected by human disease-associated variation, enabling a mechanistic interpretation of gene regulation and the genetic basis of disease