A Bridge to the Future: Cultivating Academic Leadership Today for Better Communities Tomorrow

The purpose of this project is to develop a plan for expanding and funding the Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute (GEHLI). Currently, teams of leadership scholars selected from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) develop projects relating to the academic community in addition to studying the dynamics of effective leadership. Consistent with VCU\u27s vision of partnering with and service to metropolitan Richmond, we propose that future teams of leadership scholars develop outreach projects that involve and benefit the local community. The training in which scholars would participate would include learning about the Richmond community, its needs and goals, as well as the dynamics of leadership. Project teams would collaborate with community groups or leaders, thereby strengthening the bonds between VCU and the community, and providing public service, in accordance with VCU\u27s mission. Projects might include education, outreach, fundraising, mentoring, or research that would benefit Richmond and provide scholars with opportunities to network with local leaders. Financial and philanthropic resources will be investigated and a list of potential funding organizations will be generated

UNLV - CCSD Collaborative English Language Learners

This proposal will provide statistical context of the overall performance of English Language Learner (ELL) students in Clark County School District (CCSD) and proposes a study that will assist the CCSD in identifying programs and strategies that increase ELL student performance on the third grade State mandated Criterion Reference Test (SMCRT) in reading and mathematics. To accomplish this goal, the proposed research project will first identify teaching methodologies, curricular strategies and support services that CCSD teachers are employing to assist ELL students in achieving satisfactory performance. These factors will be analyzed in comparison to SMCRT scores to determine the relative success or failure of these approaches

Unravelling the mechanisms of trapline foraging in bees

International audienceAddendum to: Lihoreau M, Raine NE, Reynolds AM, Stelzer RJ, Lim KS, Smith AD, et al.; Addendum to. Radar tracking and motion-sensitive cameras on flowers reveal the development of pollinator multi-destination routes of bumblebees over large spatial scales. PLoS Biol 2012; 10:e1001392; PMID:23049479; http://dx.doi. org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001392. T rapline foraging (repeated sequential visits to a series of feeding locations) is a taxonomically widespread but poorly understood behavior. Investigating these routing strategies in the field is particularly difficult, as it requires extensive tracking of animal movements to retrace their complete foraging history. In a recent study, we used harmonic radar and motion-triggered video cameras to track bumblebees foraging between artificial flowers in a large open field. We describe how all bees gradually developed a near optimal trapline to link all flowers and have identified a simple learning heuristic capable of replicating this optimization behavior. Our results provide new perspectives to clarify the sequence of decisions made by pollinat-ing insects during trapline foraging, and explore how spatial memory is organized in their small brains. " I have always regretted that I did not mark the bees by attaching bits of cotton wool or eiderdown to them with rubber, because this would have made it much easier to follow their paths. " Charles Darwin

Distinct Patterns of IFITM-Mediated Restriction of Filoviruses, SARS Coronavirus, and Influenza A Virus

Interferon-inducible transmembrane proteins 1, 2, and 3 (IFITM1, 2, and 3) are recently identified viral restriction factors that inhibit infection mediated by the influenza A virus (IAV) hemagglutinin (HA) protein. Here we show that IFITM proteins restricted infection mediated by the entry glycoproteins (GP1,2) of Marburg and Ebola filoviruses (MARV, EBOV). Consistent with these observations, interferon-β specifically restricted filovirus and IAV entry processes. IFITM proteins also inhibited replication of infectious MARV and EBOV. We observed distinct patterns of IFITM-mediated restriction: compared with IAV, the entry processes of MARV and EBOV were less restricted by IFITM3, but more restricted by IFITM1. Moreover, murine Ifitm5 and 6 did not restrict IAV, but efficiently inhibited filovirus entry. We further demonstrate that replication of infectious SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and entry mediated by the SARS-CoV spike (S) protein are restricted by IFITM proteins. The profile of IFITM-mediated restriction of SARS-CoV was more similar to that of filoviruses than to IAV. Trypsin treatment of receptor-associated SARS-CoV pseudovirions, which bypasses their dependence on lysosomal cathepsin L, also bypassed IFITM-mediated restriction. However, IFITM proteins did not reduce cellular cathepsin activity or limit access of virions to acidic intracellular compartments. Our data indicate that IFITM-mediated restriction is localized to a late stage in the endocytic pathway. They further show that IFITM proteins differentially restrict the entry of a broad range of enveloped viruses, and modulate cellular tropism independently of viral receptor expression

Association of DASH Diet With Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Youth With Diabetes Mellitus: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

We have shown that adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is related to blood pressure in youth with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. We explored the impact of the DASH diet on other cardiovascular disease risk factors

Immunostimulatory Motifs Enhance Antiviral siRNAs Targeting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus is endemic in many regions around the world and remains a significant pandemic threat. To date H5N1 has claimed almost 300 human lives worldwide, with a mortality rate of 60% and has caused the death or culling of hundreds of millions of poultry since its initial outbreak in 1997. We have designed multi-functional RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics targeting H5N1 that degrade viral mRNA via the RNAi pathway while at the same time augmenting the host antiviral response by inducing host type I interferon (IFN) production. Moreover, we have identified two factors critical for maximising the immunostimulatory properties of short interfering (si)RNAs in chicken cells (i) mode of synthesis and (ii) nucleoside sequence to augment the response to virus. The 5-bp nucleoside sequence 5′-UGUGU-3′ is a key determinant in inducing high levels of expression of IFN -α, -β, -λ and interleukin 1- β in chicken cells. Positioning of this 5′-UGUGU-3′ motif at the 5′- end of the sense strand of siRNAs, but not the 3′- end, resulted in a rapid and enhanced induction of type I IFN. An anti-H5N1 avian influenza siRNA directed against the PB1 gene (PB1-2257) tagged with 5′-UGUGU-3′ induced type I IFN earlier and to a greater extent compared to a non-tagged PB1-2257. Tested against H5N1 in vitro, the tagged PB1-2257 was more effective than non-tagged PB1-2257. These data demonstrate the ability of an immunostimulatory motif to improve the performance of an RNAi-based antiviral, a finding that may influence the design of future RNAi-based anti-influenza therapeutics