[Review of] Barbara Bryant Solomon, Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities

At long last an issue of great importance to the Black communit [community] in the social work arena has been addressed. The commencement of social service programs in the l960\u27s brought about an even greate [greater] need for a deeper understanding of the effects of social ills on minorities, especially Blacks. While some individuals had good intentions of bringing about this understanding, they lacked the necessary familiarity with the Black community and its conditions. Black Empowerment addresses itself to this concern by describing the operational mobility of the Black community within a larger society

The Prevalence and Certain Sources of Teacher Stress among Elementary School Teachers

The problem of this study was to determine the prevalence and certain sources of stress among elementary school teachers (grades kindergarten through six), and the relationship of stress to certain selected teacher factors. This study followed the ex post facto design which attempted to determine if certain teacher factors affected the way in which teachers responded to the questionnaire regarding the prevalence and sources of stress perceived. The Teacher Stress Questionnaire was selected to assess the prevalence and certain sources of stress of elementary teachers regarding sex, age, length of time in the teaching profession, length of time in the present teaching position, number of years of formal preparation for the teaching profession, the grade level taught, length of time since taking course work, amount of professional reading accomplished per week, number of hours spent working on school items outside of school hours, and the number of days absent due to illness in the preceding school year. The differences showing significance in the study supported the following conclusions. (1) Rural teachers experienced more stress and different sources of stress than urban teachers in the surveyed geographical area. (2) Grades taught and teaching experience did not appear to be significant factors in the amount or sources of stress reported by teachers. (3) Gender did not appear to be a factor in the amount of stress reported by teachers. However, female teachers tended to perceive one source of stress, time pressures, as more stressful than male teachers. (4) Age did not appear to be a factor in the amount of stress reported by teachers. However, teachers, ages thirty and above, reported Category B, poor working conditions, as more stressful than younger teachers. (5) Professional preparation for the teaching profession and the length of time in the present position did not appear to be significant factors in the amount or sources of stress reported by elementary teachers. (6) The number of hours spent working on school items outside of school hours and the length of time since taking course work did not appear to be significant factors in the amount of stress reported by elementary teachers. (7) The teachers who did more professional reading per week reported significantly less stress than those teachers who accomplished zero through one hour of professional reading per week. (8) Teachers with higher absenteeism due to illness reported more stress than those teachers with lower absenteeism due to illness. (9) Teachers exhibited frequency of physical and mental symptoms of stress comparable to the amount of stress reported. Elementary teachers in the urban and rural areas are experiencing stress in the teaching environment. Urban and rural teachers in the surveyed geographical area do report differences in the amounts and sources of stress. Certain teacher characteristics, such as the amount of professional reading accomplished per week and higher absenteeism due to illness, make a difference in the amount of stress reported by elementary teachers. Teachers also are exhibiting some mental and physical symptoms of stress

The Anaphase-Promoting Complex Interacts with Histone Modification Proteins and Chromatin Assembly Factors

The Anaphase-Promoting Complex (APC) plays an important role in cell cycle progression. This evolutionarily conserved multi-subunit ubiquitin ligase is responsible for targeting proteins that hinder passage through mitosis and G1 progression for ubiquitination and proteasome-dependent degradation. Our laboratory has previously linked the APC with mitotic chromatin metabolism, as APC mutants were shown to exhibit impaired chromatin assembly. Chromatin assembly occurs when appropriately acetylated histones are deposited onto DNA. To date the only chromatin assembly factor linked to the cell cycle is the evolutionarily conserved CAF-I, a three-subunit complex of Cac1, Cac2 and Msi1. CAF-I associates with the histone chaperone Asf1, which first presents histones H3 and H4 to the histone acetyltransferases (HATs), Gcn5 and Rtt109, for acetylation. Following acetylation the histones are then passed on to CAF-I, which facilitates chromatin formation. Defective chromatin assembly has been linked to mitotic defects, leading to chromosomal rearrangements and aneuploidy. In addition to chromatin assembly, histone modifications have been linked to transcriptional activity and mitotic progression. The molecular mechanisms employed by the APC to govern chromatin biogenesis are unknown. In this thesis project, a modified genetic screen was performed to identify HAT and histone deacetylase (HDAC) mutants that interacted with APC mutants in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This thesis focuses on the genetic and biochemical interactions observed between the APC and the HATs, Elp3 and Gcn5. As the majority of the proteins involved in chromatin assembly and histone modification are evolutionarily conserved, the insights obtained from the studies presented here utilizing the budding yeast S. cerevisiae should be directly applicable to research in human cells. Via Western assays, this thesis demonstrates that yeast cells harboring mutations to the APC exhibit altered histone acetylation levels as well as altered total histone levels. Our genetic screen found that the temperature sensitive apc5CA (chromatin assembly) mutant genetically interacted with a number of HATs and HDACs. Combining the apc5CA allele with deletion of the genes ELP3, GCN5, HDA1 or SAS3 worsened the growth of the apc5CA mutant, whereas deletion of HOS1, HOS2, HOS3 or SAS2 improved the growth of the apc5CA mutant. Consistent with the genetic interaction results, increased expression of genes encoding the HATs Elp3, Gcn5 and Rtt109 (binds to Asf1) rescued the apc5CA temperature sensitive phenotype. The temperature sensitive phenotype of the apc5CA mutant was also rescued by increased expression of the genes encoding the CAFs Asf1 and Msi1 (a CAF-I subunit), as well as those encoding histones H3 and H4. These results suggest that increased deposition of acetylated histones is beneficial to APC function. Further analysis demonstrated that the APC and the HATs Elp3 and Gcn5 interact in the same pathway: cells lacking ELP3 or GCN5 accumulated in mitosis, whereas cells lacking both accumulated in G1 regardless of whether the APC was mutated or not. Additionally, increased APC5 expression partially rescued the severely slow growing elp3∆ gcn5∆ double mutant. Elp3 and Gcn5 do not activate the APC, as the APC target Clb2 remained unstable in elp3∆ gcn5∆ cells. Our analysis suggests that Elp3, Gcn5 and the APC work together to promote mitotic progression. However, as increased expression of ELP3 or GCN5 causes cells to arrest in G1 this may reflect a need to degrade Gcn5 and/or Elp3 to exit G1. This is consistent with previous findings that show Gcn5 is required to transcribe genes necessary for mitotic exit. Using protein degradation assays we determined that Gcn5 is unstable during G1 in an APC dependent manner. Furthermore, wild-type Elp3 modification patterns are dependent on various APC subunits, the E2 Ubc1 and the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor Rpn10. This thesis presents a model where the activities of Elp3 and Gcn5, along with the APC, promote mitotic exit and G1 progression, but that Gcn5, and possibly Elp3, must be degraded to allow progression into S-phase. The APC is further linked to chromatin assembly in that the APC physically interacted with the CAFs Asf1 and Cac2 (a CAF-I subunit). This interaction with Cac2 still occurred in the absence of Asf1. The literature has genetically linked Cac2 with Gcn5 and here my findings demonstrate that Cac2 and Gcn5 physically associate. Taken together, the data presented in this thesis suggest that the APC may bring the proteins involved in chromatin assembly and histone modification into close proximity in order to facilitate and possibly optimize chromatin assembly and subsequently genomic stability

Associations between environmental exposures and asthma control and exacerbations in young children : a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Acute and chronic effects of beetroot supplementation on blood pressure and arterial stiffness in humans

This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to peer review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Proceedings of the Nutrition Society published by Cambridge University Press. Copyright The Authors 2015.Dietary supplementation of beetroot juice, containing nitrate- a potent vasodilation agent, has been shown to be vasoprotective( 1 ), and dose dependent decreases in blood pressure (BP) have been previously demonstrated(2,3). To our knowledge there has been only one study investigating the effect of beetroot supplementation in humans on arterial stiffness, measured using pulsewave velocity (PWV) and, although there was no effect of supplementation on PWV, there was a significant reduction due to beetroot supplementation in acute diastolic BP (3hrs, P = 0·023)( 4 ). A double-blind, randomised, cross-over intervention trial was carried out in a cohort of 12 healthy male participants (mean age (SEM) = 43 (2·1) yrs, BMI = 27·8 (1·1) kg.m2) who underwent both beetroot juice and placebo supplementation for 14 days. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of 6·45 mmol of nitrate in a concentrated 70 ml beetroot drink (James White Ltd, Ipswich, UK) on systolic and diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure (MAP) and arterial stiffness (PWV, aortic augmentation index (Aix), brachial Aix) in humans. BP and arterial stiffness measurements weretaken using PWV (Arteriograph, TensioMed,Hungary). Measurements were taken intriplicate at baseline, 3 hours post-supplementation (either beetroot juice orplacebo) and post-intervention (day 15). This was followed by a 7-day washoutperiod before participants were transferred to the alternate supplement. Table 1 shows that there was no significant acute or short term effect of beetroot juice supplementation on the parameters measured when compared to placebo. However, there was a significant decrease in systolic BP (P = 0·009), diastolic BP (P = 0·035), MAP (P = 0·017), aortic and brachial AIX (P = 0·042 and 0·041 respectively), 3hours post beetroot supplementation. These results confirm previous findings( 4 ) that beetroot supplementation does not have an acute or short term effect on arterial stiffness measures. However, acute effects on arterial stiffness and BP within the beetroot juice supplementation group were observed. Further large scale studies on dietary nitrate supplementation and cardiovascular health are required to further assess efficacy