The C. Elegans ROR receptor tyrosine kinase, CAM-1, non-autonomously inhibits the Wnt pathway

Inhibitors of Wnt signaling promote normal development and prevent cancer by restraining when and where the Wnt pathway is activated. ROR proteins, a class of Wnt-binding receptor tyrosine kinases, inhibit Wnt signaling by an unknown mechanism. To clarify how RORs inhibit the Wnt pathway, we examined the relationship between Wnts and the sole C. elegans ROR homolog, cam-1, during C. elegans vulval development, a Wnt-regulated process. We found that loss and overexpression of cam-1 causes reciprocal defects in Wnt-mediated cell-fate specification. Our molecular and genetic analyses revealed that the CAM-1 extracellular domain (ECD) is sufficient to non-autonomously antagonize multiple Wnts, suggesting that the CAM-1/ROR ECD sequesters Wnts. A sequestration model is supported by our findings that the CAM-1 ECD binds to several Wnts in vitro. These results demonstrate how ROR proteins help to refine the spatial pattern of Wnt activity in a complex multicellular environment

ANIMAL HEALTH: THE POTENTIAL ROLE FOR LIVESTOCK DISEASE INSURANCE

Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Opposing Wnt Pathways Orient Cell Polarity during Organogenesis

The orientation of asymmetric cell division contributes to the organization of cells within a tissue or organ. For example, mirror-image symmetry of the C. elegans vulva is achieved by the opposite division orientation of the vulval precursor cells (VPCs) flanking the axis of symmetry. We characterized the molecular mechanisms contributing to this division pattern. Wnts MOM-2 and LIN-44 are expressed at the axis of symmetry and orient the VPCs toward the center. These Wnts act via Fz/LIN-17 and Ryk/LIN-18, which control β-catenin localization and activate gene transcription. In addition, VPCs on both sides of the axis of symmetry possess a uniform underlying “ground” polarity, established by the instructive activity of Wnt/EGL-20. EGL-20 establishes ground polarity via a novel type of signaling involving the Ror receptor tyrosine kinase CAM-1 and the planar cell polarity component Van Gogh/VANG-1. Thus, tissue polarity is determined by the integration of multiple Wnt pathways

The University of Alabama Libraries and Student Support Services (SSS) Partnership: Non-Traditional Outreach to Academic Support Programs

Abstract: Outreach programs on University campuses are crucial to reaching students who may not otherwise be introduced to the library and the services that the library can offer. In addition to traditional library liaison work with colleges within the university as a whole, it is important to develop outreach programs to work with students in academic support services. At the University of Alabama Libraries we have partnered with the Student Support Services TRiO program, a grant-funded program through the U. S. Department of Education that works to increase the retention and graduation rates of first generation college students, students with limited family income, and students with disabilities. We have developed a program that utilizes a combination of classroom instruction in the library and outreach hours at the Student Support Services building, we are able to engage with the students on multiple levels while remaining cognizant of any accommodations they may require. We provide instruction on utilizing the library’s website as well as one-on-one consultations for students who need research support. Although this program is only in its second semester it has proved quite successful and we see great potential for expansion to other non-traditional academic services on campus. This poster was originally presented at the Alabama Library Association annual convention, April 2016https://ir.una.edu/libfacpresentation/1003/thumbnail.jp

From NCLB to ESSA: Implications for Teacher Preparation and Policy

With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the term highly qualified teacher (HQT) became an important component of teacher licensure, including for special educators. However, when ESEA was reauthorized in 2015 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the highly qualified regulations were removed. The purpose of this study was to look back at the historical record of policy implementation of HQT and compare the record across states to provide implications for teacher preparation and licensure policy in the era of ESSA. This was accomplished through a review of the history of special education teacher licensure and completion of a comprehensive analysis of state licensure requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Despite a general consistency across three domains (i.e., degree, examination, and licensure) of the highly qualified statute, inconsistencies among states at both the elementary and secondary levels of special educator licensure may yield significant challenges related to the impact of teacher quality on student outcomes. Better understanding of these challenges is important as policymakers will be better able to make decisions regarding what teachers need to know prior to entering the field to meet students’ needs and generate student achievement

Implementation and Utilization of Mobile Technology In Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Patients

Obesity is the most prevalent chronic disease of childhood. Obese adolescents are likely to become obese adults with significant associated co-morbidities and early mortality. In Massachusetts, 30% of children ages 10-17 are overweight or obese. It is projected that 48% of Massachusetts’ adults will be obese by 2030. In March of 2015, the Good Fit Adolescent Weight and Wellness Center opened, with a goal of addressing this issue with a proven multidisciplinary approach. Mobile technology continues to develop at a rapid pace. Adolescent access to mobile technology on smart phones and tablets continues to increase. Mobile fitness tracker applications are numerous and easy to use for today’s tech savvy teens. Successful weight loss and health maintenance is variable and has been difficult to validate with this technology so far. The purpose of this study is to evaluate existing mobile applications to be used by adolescent patients in the Good Fit Center. Our aim is to determine whether adolescent patients will be compliant with diet and exercise challenges sent through a mobile application and social media platform. We will work closely with dietitians, physicians and surgeons to evaluate feasibility and compliance within the first year of this project. In the second year, we will then test the functionality of this mobile application as it relates to patient success in the Good Fit program. The proposed research is a novel multimodal study combining behavioral sciences research, clinical outcomes research, and mobile technology to help to better understand the fitness management of adolescents struggling with morbid obesity. The findings of our research may have a number of important implications. These include the refinement of existing fitness strategies, as well as the development of a new useful piece of technology to combat obesity and improve the health and clinical outcomes of our nation’s children

The norovirus NS3 protein is a dynamic lipid- and microtubule-associated protein involved in viral RNA replication

Norovirus (NoV) infections are a significant health burden to society, yet the lack of reliable tissue culture systems has hampered the development of appropriate antiviral therapies. Here we show that the NoV NS3 protein, derived from murine NoV (MNV), is intimately associated with the MNV replication complex and the viral replication intermediate double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). We observed that when expressed individually, MNV NS3 and NS3 encoded by human Norwalk virus (NV) induced the formation of distinct vesicle-like structures that did not colocalize with any particular protein markers to cellular organelles but localized to cellular membranes, in particular those with a high cholesterol content. Both proteins also showed some degree of colocalization with the cytoskeleton marker β-tubulin. Although the distribution of MNV and NV NS3s were similar, NV NS3 displayed a higher level of colocalization with the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, we observed that although both proteins colocalized in membranes counterstained with filipin, an indicator of cholesterol content, MNV NS3 displayed a greater association with flotillin and stomatin, proteins known to associate with sphingolipid- and cholesterol-rich microdomains. Utilizing time-lapse epifluorescence microscopy, we observed that the membrane-derived vesicular structures induced by MNV NS3 were highly motile and dynamic in nature, and their movement was dependent on intact microtubules. These results begin to interrogate the functions of NoV proteins during virus replication and highlight the conserved properties of the NoV NS3 proteins among the seven Norovirus genogroups

Opening dialogue and fostering collaboration: different ways of knowing in fisheries research

We set out to explore some of the impediments which hinder effective communication among fishers, fisheries researchers and managers using detailed ethnographic research amongst commercial handline fishers from two sites- one on the southern Cape coast and the other on the west coast of South Africa. Rather than assuming that the knowledge of fishers and scientists is inherently divergent and incompatible, we discuss an emerging relational approach to working with multiple ways of knowing and suggest that this approach might benefit future collaborative endeavours. Three major themes arising from the ethnographic fieldwork findings are explored: different classifications of species and things; bringing enumerative approaches into dialogue with relational approaches; and the challenge of articulating embodied ways of relating to fish and the sea. Although disconcertments arise when apparently incommensurable approaches are brought into dialogue, we suggest that working with multiple ways of knowing is both productive and indeed necessary in the current South African fisheries research and management contexts. The research findings and discussion on opening dialogue offered in this work suggest a need to rethink contemporary approaches to fisheries research in order to mobilise otherwise stagnant conversations, bringing different ways of knowing into productive conversation

Gypsum-DL: an open-source program for preparing small-molecule libraries for structure-based virtual screening

Computational techniques such as structure-based virtual screening require carefully prepared 3D models of potential small-molecule ligands. Though powerful, existing commercial programs for virtual-library preparation have restrictive and/or expensive licenses. Freely available alternatives, though often effective, do not fully account for all possible ionization, tautomeric, and ring-conformational variants. We here present Gypsum-DL, a free, robust open-source program that addresses these challenges. As input, Gypsum-DL accepts virtual compound libraries in SMILES or flat SDF formats. For each molecule in the virtual library, it enumerates appropriate ionization, tautomeric, chiral, cis/trans isomeric, and ring-conformational forms. As output, Gypsum-DL produces an SDF file containing each molecular form, with 3D coordinates assigned. To demonstrate its utility, we processed 1558 molecules taken from the NCI Diversity Set VI and 56,608 molecules taken from a Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) combinatorial virtual library. We also used 4463 high-quality protein-ligand complexes from the PDBBind database to show that Gypsum-DL processing can improve virtual-screening pose prediction. Gypsum-DL is available free of charge under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0