U.S. Agricultural Commodity Organizations\u27 Use of Blogs as a Communications Tool

Current communications trends and social media have given individuals and organizations unprecedented opportunities to build relationships with audience members while introducing and encouraging new perspectives. One particular form of social media is blogging, which allows people to share a wider variety of information than other forms of social media. The purpose of this study was to explore how agricultural commodity organizations use blogs as a communication tool. The researchers purposively selected nine U.S. agricultural commodity groups that had an organizational blog and collected data through in-depth interviews. The findings indicated the organizations started blogging because blogs were the newest communication tool they could use to reach new and traditional audiences. The commodity organizations used some online analytics and mentions on other social media outlets to measure blog success, but they did not establish goals for their blog prior to the blog’s launch. The findings offer an understanding of how agricultural commodity organizations are utilizing blogs, which provides insight for others in the agricultural industry who may decide to use this technology

Cultural Differences in Critical Thinking Style: A Comparison of U. S. and Chinese Undergraduate Agricultural Students

This study aimed to compare critical thinking styles between students studying agriculture in the U.S. and China. A survey of critical thinking styles was administered to two groups of students in U.S. (n = 104) and China (n = 103). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied to determine if there were significant differences in critical thinking styles between the two groups. Results indicate that U.S. students tended to prefer an engaging critical thinking style, whereas Chinese students tended to prefer an information seeking critical thinking style. These differences between critical thinking style preferences may be explained by students’ cultural backgrounds. This study can help agricultural educators understand the differences in critical thinking style preferences among culturally-diverse students. Further, it provides empirical evidence to guide agricultural educators seeking to adopt effective pedagogical approaches to cultivate critical thinking among students from diverse cultural backgrounds. This study provides fresh insight into the individualism and collectivism theory by explaining the cross-cultural differences in critical thinking style between U.S. and Chinese agricultural students

Time Well Spent: Exploring the Role of Attitude and Topic Importance on Selective Exposure to Agricultural Messages

New digital technologies, such as Web 3.0 and algorithms, allow social media users to customize their feeds, creating their own information bubble, which tends to align with prior beliefs and/or attitude. This action of seeking information that emphasizes or confirms pre-existing beliefs is called confirmation bias, which is often expressed through selective exposure. Although previous studies have explored selective exposure in the context of political and health communications, limited research has been completed related to this phenomenon in agricultural communications. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of attitude and topic importance on selective exposure to different agricultural messages. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study used a Qualtrics questionnaire to collect data from undergraduate students in a laboratory setting. Participants provided their attitudes and topic important for two agricultural issues. A fictional Twitter feed was created that linked to four blog posts that served as the message stimuli. To determine selective exposure, we recorded how many blog posts they selected and how long they spent on each message. The results indicated that participants had varying attitudes of the two agricultural topics but had equal views of importance. No significant difference in time spent on the messages on was found. The results indicated that the process of selective exposure is a complex construct that involves many factors. Additional research in this area will help agricultural communicators develop more effective message strategies and understand the role of confirmation bias in information processing

RNA Binding Protein CUGBP2/CELF2 Mediates Curcumin-Induced Mitotic Catastrophe of Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Curcumin inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer tumor xenografts in nude mice; however, the mechanism of action is not well understood. It is becoming increasingly clear that RNA binding proteins regulate posttranscriptional gene expression and play a critical role in RNA stability and translation. Here, we have determined that curcumin modulates the expression of RNA binding protein CUGBP2 to inhibit pancreatic cancer growth.In this study, we show that curcumin treated tumor xenografts have a significant reduction in tumor volume and angiogenesis. Curcumin inhibited the proliferation, while inducing G2-M arrest and apoptosis resulting in mitotic catastrophe of various pancreatic cancer cells. This was further confirmed by increased phosphorylation of checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2) protein coupled with higher levels of nuclear cyclin B1 and Cdc-2. Curcumin increased the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA, but protein levels were lower. Furthermore, curcumin increased the expression of RNA binding proteins CUGBP2/CELF2 and TIA-1. CUGBP2 binding to COX-2 and VEGF mRNA was also enhanced, thereby increasing mRNA stability, the half-life changing from 30 min to 8 h. On the other hand, silencer-mediated knockdown of CUGBP2 partially restored the expression of COX-2 and VEGF even with curcumin treatment. COX-2 and VEGF mRNA levels were reduced to control levels, while proteins levels were higher.Curcumin inhibits pancreatic tumor growth through mitotic catastrophe by increasing the expression of RNA binding protein CUGBP2, thereby inhibiting the translation of COX-2 and VEGF mRNA. These data suggest that translation inhibition is a novel mechanism of action for curcumin during the therapeutic intervention of pancreatic cancers

Leveraging structure determination with fragment screening for infectious disease drug targets: MECP synthase from Burkholderia pseudomallei

As part of the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, we seek to enhance structural genomics with ligand-bound structure data which can serve as a blueprint for structure-based drug design. We have adapted fragment-based screening methods to our structural genomics pipeline to generate multiple ligand-bound structures of high priority drug targets from pathogenic organisms. In this study, we report fragment screening methods and structure determination results for 2C-methyl-D-erythritol-2,4-cyclo-diphosphate (MECP) synthase from Burkholderia pseudomallei, the gram-negative bacterium which causes melioidosis. Screening by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as well as crystal soaking followed by X-ray diffraction led to the identification of several small molecules which bind this enzyme in a critical metabolic pathway. A series of complex structures obtained with screening hits reveal distinct binding pockets and a range of small molecules which form complexes with the target. Additional soaks with these compounds further demonstrate a subset of fragments to only bind the protein when present in specific combinations. This ensemble of fragment-bound complexes illuminates several characteristics of MECP synthase, including a previously unknown binding surface external to the catalytic active site. These ligand-bound structures now serve to guide medicinal chemists and structural biologists in rational design of novel inhibitors for this enzyme

Out in the Cold About COOL: An Analysis of U.S. Consumers' Awareness of Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labels for Beef

Mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) is a policy that requires a label noting what country or countries from which many fresh food products derive. While some have favored the policy as a marketing tool, others have criticized it as confusing, expensive, and difficult to mandate. An online survey of U.S. beef consumers who were their households' primary grocery buyers (N=396) was conducted to examine their knowledge and awareness of COOL and the information sources they use to make food purchases. Only 10 respondents (2.5%) knew COOL stood for country-of-origin labeling, and 287 respondents (72.5%) indicated they had never heard of COOL. Despite an apparent lack of knowledge and awareness, a majority of the participants still supported the idea of mandatory COOL and preferred to have COOL for beef. The results indicated that more consumer education is needed about COOL. Further research is necessary to examine this policy as it diffuses among consumers

Bozza, Burris, Gullo, and White

Use this component as a template for your group's research project