Promoting Interdisciplinary Practice: An Interview With Steven R. Forness

As part of an ongoing oral history project, a conversation was held with Dr. Stephen Forness on the past, present, and possible future of the field of providing services to children with emotional-behavioral disorders. Dr. Forness stresses the increasing importance of providing an interdisciplinary approach to meeting these needs

Children's responses to a social story song in three inclusive preschool classrooms: A pilot study

The social story is a pedagogical strategy presented individually, often in print, to primary grade children with autism. Authors examined teachers’ perceptions of the effect of a social story song adapted for preschoolers in six inclusive classes. A board certified music therapist composed a social story song set to a familiar melody about waiting, a behavior of significant concern for preschool teachers teaching on a military post. Teachers, trained by the music therapist, implemented the social story song within each of their part day, multi-age classrooms for five weeks. Results of this pilot suggest teachers perceived the training to be sufficient for immediate use and the song effective in modifying behavior in both exceptionally and typically developing children when either the teacher or children initiated it. Social story songs for preliterate children may be an effective intervention strategy to support behavior change within inclusive preschool settings

Synthesis and greener pastures biological study of bis-thiadiazoles as potential Covid-19 drug candidates

A novel series of bis- (Abdelhamid et al., 2017, Banerjee et al., 2018, Bharanidharan et al., 2022)thiadiazoles was synthesized from the reaction of precursor dimethyl 2,2′-(1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diylidene)-bis(hydrazine-1-carbodithioate) and hydrazonyl chlorides in ethanol under ultrasonic irradiation. Spectral tools (IR. NMR, MS, elemental analyses, molecular dynamic simulation, DFT and LUMO and HOMO) were used to elucidate the structure of the isolated products. Molecular docking for the precursor, 3 and ligands 6a-i to two COVID-19 important proteins M$^{pro}$ and RdRp was compared with two approved drugs, Remdesivir and Ivermectin. The binding affinity varied between the ligands and the drugs. The highest recorded binding affinity of 6c with M$^{pro}$ was (−9.2 kcal/mol), followed by 6b and 6a, (−8.9 and −8.5 kcal/mol), respectively. The lowest recorded binding affinity was (−7.0 kcal/mol) for 6 g. In comparison, the approved drugs showed binding affinity (−7.4 and −7.7 kcal/mol), for Remdesivir and Ivermectin, respectively, which are within the range of the binding affinity of our ligands. The binding affinity of the approved drug Ivermectin against RdRp recoded the highest (−8.6 kcal/mol), followed by 6a, 6 h, and 6i are the same have (−8.2 kcal/mol). The lowest reading was found for compound 3 ligand (−6.3 kcal/mol). On the other side, the amino acids also differed between the compounds studied in this project for both the viral proteins. The ligand 6a forms three H-bonds with Thr 319(A), Sr 255(A) and Arg 457(A), whereas Ivermectin forms three H-bonds with His 41(A), Gly143(A) and Gln 18(A) for viral M$^{pro}$. The RdRp amino acids residues could be divided into four groups based on the amino acids that interact with hydrogen or hydrophobic interactions. The first group contained 6d, 6b, 6 g, and Remdesivir with 1–4 hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions 1 to 10. Group 2 is 6a and 6f exhibited 1 and 3 hydrogen bonds and 15 and 14 hydrophobic interactions. Group 3 has 6e and Ivermectin shows 4 and 3 hydrogen bonds, respectively and 11 hydrophobic interactions for both compounds. The last group contains ligands 3, 6c, 6 h, and 6i gave 1–3 hydrogen bonds and 6c and 3 recorded the highest number of hydrophobic interactions, 14 for both 6c and 6 h. Pro Tox-II estimated compounds’ activities as Hepatoxic, Carcinogenic and Mutagenic, revealing that 6f-h were inactive in all five similar to that found with Remdesivir and Ivermectin. The drug-likeness prediction was carried out by studying physicochemical properties, lipophilicity, size, polarity, insolubility, unsaturation, and flexibility. Generally, some properties of the ligands were comparable to that of the standards used in this study, Remdesivir and Ivermectin

Deconstruction of the (Paleo)Polyploid Grapevine Genome Based on the Analysis of Transposition Events Involving NBS Resistance Genes

Plants have followed a reticulate type of evolution and taxa have frequently merged via allopolyploidization. A polyploid structure of sequenced genomes has often been proposed, but the chromosomes belonging to putative component genomes are difficult to identify. The 19 grapevine chromosomes are evolutionary stable structures: their homologous triplets have strongly conserved gene order, interrupted by rare translocations. The aim of this study is to examine how the grapevine nucleotide-binding site (NBS)-encoding resistance (NBS-R) genes have evolved in the genomic context and to understand mechanisms for the genome evolution. We show that, in grapevine, i) helitrons have significantly contributed to transposition of NBS-R genes, and ii) NBS-R gene cluster similarity indicates the existence of two groups of chromosomes (named as Va and Vc) that may have evolved independently. Chromosome triplets consist of two Va and one Vc chromosomes, as expected from the tetraploid and diploid conditions of the two component genomes. The hexaploid state could have been derived from either allopolyploidy or the separation of the Va and Vc component genomes in the same nucleus before fusion, as known for Rosaceae species. Time estimation indicates that grapevine component genomes may have fused about 60 mya, having had at least 40–60 mya to evolve independently. Chromosome number variation in the Vitaceae and related families, and the gap between the time of eudicot radiation and the age of Vitaceae fossils, are accounted for by our hypothesis

Advocating for children with emotional and behavioral disorders: an interview with Eleanor Guetzloe

Eleanor Guetzloe shares her unique professional history in a conversation. Eleanor outlines her views on the history of the field and provides the reader with her insights on the future of the field. She offers valuable advice to those entering this field and shares what she sees as the areas where we can provide better support for children with challenging needs