Neuregulin-1 attenuates mortality associated with experimental cerebral malaria.

BackgroundCerebral Malaria (CM) is a diffuse encephalopathy caused by Plasmodium falciparum infection. Despite availability of antimalarial drugs, CM-associated mortality remains high at approximately 30% and a subset of survivors develop neurological and cognitive disabilities. While antimalarials are effective at clearing Plasmodium parasites they do little to protect against CM pathophysiology and parasite-induced brain inflammation that leads to seizures, coma and long-term neurological sequelae in CM patients. Thus, there is urgent need to explore therapeutics that can reduce or prevent CM pathogenesis and associated brain inflammation to improve survival. Neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) is a neurotrophic growth factor shown to protect against brain injury associated with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and neurotoxin exposure. However, this drug has not been tested against CM-associated brain injury. Since CM-associated brain injuries and AIS share similar pathophysiological features, we hypothesized that NRG-1 will reduce or prevent neuroinflammation and brain damage as well as improve survival in mice with late-stage experimental cerebral malaria (ECM).MethodsWe tested the effects of NRG-1 on ECM-associated brain inflammation and mortality in P. berghei ANKA (PbA)-infected mice and compared to artemether (ARM) treatment; an antimalarial currently used in various combination therapies against malaria.ResultsTreatment with ARM (25 mg/kg/day) effectively cleared parasites and reduced mortality in PbA-infected mice by 82%. Remarkably, NRG-1 therapy (1.25 ng/kg/day) significantly improved survival against ECM by 73% despite increase in parasite burden within NRG-1-treated mice. Additionally, NRG-1 therapy reduced systemic and brain pro-inflammatory factors TNFalpha, IL-6, IL-1alpha and CXCL10 and enhanced anti-inflammatory factors, IL-5 and IL-13 while decreasing leukocyte accumulation in brain microvessels.ConclusionsThis study suggests that NRG-1 attenuates ECM-associated brain inflammation and injuries and may represent a novel supportive therapy for the management of CM

Engaging the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education as a Lens for Assessment in ePortfolio Social Pedagogy Ecosystem for Science Teacher Education

This article highlights a case study that assesses how graduate-level, in-service science teachers engage in an ePortfolio social pedagogy ecosystem to document their growth in knowledge practices and dispositions in information literacy. The ePortfolio social pedagogy ecosystem and this study are situated within the context of the Catalyst Framework. The three modes of interrelated social learning activities include: (1) authoring the written ePortfolio in an online ePortfolio digital media platform, (2) presenting the ePortfolio in the webinar platform, and (3) presenting the ePortfolio in- person in a physical setting. We used case study methodology to systematically investigate how each participant used their ePortfolio capstone exit project to engage the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (2015) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL Framework) as a conceptual lens to document their competencies (as part of reflective practice) in information literacy. The unit of analysis we used was the ePortfolio entry focused on using information literacy to understand science education theory and practice. Findings show that the participants emphasized content in different but connected communication modes across the ePortfolio social pedagogy ecosystem. Findings also show that ePortfolio is an effective tool for self- assessment and reflection on one’s information literacy competencies. Implications for outcomes assessment are also discussed

Exploring Innovative Ways to Incorporate the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework in Graduate Science Teacher Education ePortfolio Projects

This article investigates ways in which student voice informed design research into information literacy instruction in a year-long graduate science education ePortfolio culminating project. Library and science education faculty partnered in a two-year project to create communities of secondary science education students, in two cohorts, who used the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to support their own research and reflections into information literacy. The overarching goal was to improve the course design to help science teachers develop their professional competencies in information literacy to conduct research to support their practice. Examination of students’ responses to research experiences enabled faculty to improve the students’ information literacy experience from one year to another. Findings show that students became more familiar with ways to use the ACRL Framework to interrogate their own and their colleagues’ research process as they shared their own reflections on research and information literacy. It was also found that this was fostered by shifts in when and how the ARCL Framework was introduced. Education students can benefit from knowledge of an information literacy framework to impact the way that they conduct their own professional research, work with students on research projects, and participate in scholarly conversations

Nutrition-related policy and environmental strategies to prevent obesity in rural communities: A systematic review of the literature, 2002-2013

Introduction Residents of rural communities in the United States are at higher risk for obesity than their urban and suburban counterparts. Policy and environmental-change strategies supporting healthier dietary intake can prevent obesity and promote health equity. Evidence in support of these strategies is based largely on urban and suburban studies; little is known about use of these strategies in rural communities. The purpose of this review was to synthesize available evidence on the adaptation, implementation, and effectiveness of policy and environmental obesity-prevention strategies in rural settings. Methods The review was guided by a list of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States, commonly known as the COCOMO strategies. We searched PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Public Affairs Information Service, and Cochrane databases for articles published from 2002 through 2013 that reported findings from research on nutrition-related policy and environmental strategies in rural communities in the United States and Canada. Two researchers independently abstracted data from each article, and resolved discrepancies by consensus. Results Of the 663 articles retrieved, 33 met inclusion criteria. The interventions most commonly focused on increasing access to more nutritious foods and beverages or decreasing access to less nutritious options. Rural adaptations included accommodating distance to food sources, tailoring to local food cultures, and building community partnerships. Conclusions Findings from this literature review provide guidance on adapting and implementing policy and environmental strategies in rural communities

Developing an agenda for research about policies to improve access to healthy foods in rural communities: a concept mapping study

Background Policies that improve access to healthy, affordable foods may improve population health and reduce health disparities. In the United States most food access policy research focuses on urban communities even though residents of rural communities face disproportionately higher risk for nutrition-related chronic diseases compared to residents of urban communities. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify the factors associated with access to healthy, affordable food in rural communities in the United States; and (2) prioritize a meaningful and feasible rural food policy research agenda. Methods This study was conducted by the Rural Food Access Workgroup (RFAWG), a workgroup facilitated by the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network. A national sample of academic and non-academic researchers, public health and cooperative extension practitioners, and other experts who focus on rural food access and economic development was invited to complete a concept mapping process that included brainstorming the factors that are associated with rural food access, sorting and organizing the factors into similar domains, and rating the importance of policies and research to address these factors. As a last step, RFAWG members convened to interpret the data and establish research recommendations. Results Seventy-five participants in the brainstorming exercise represented the following sectors: non-extension research (n = 27), non-extension program administration (n = 18), “other� (n = 14), policy advocacy (n = 10), and cooperative extension service (n = 6). The brainstorming exercise generated 90 distinct statements about factors associated with rural food access in the United States; these were sorted into 5 clusters. Go Zones were established for the factors that were rated highly as both a priority policy target and a priority for research. The highest ranked policy and research priorities include strategies designed to build economic viability in rural communities, improve access to federal food and nutrition assistance programs, improve food retail systems, and increase the personal food production capacity of rural residents. Respondents also prioritized the development of valid and reliable research methodologies to measure variables associated with rural food access. Conclusions This collaborative, trans-disciplinary, participatory process, created a map to guide and prioritize research about polices to improve healthy, affordable food access in rural communities

Identification of common genetic risk variants for autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heritable and heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental phenotypes diagnosed in more than 1% of children. Common genetic variants contribute substantially to ASD susceptibility, but to date no individual variants have been robustly associated with ASD. With a marked sample-size increase from a unique Danish population resource, we report a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 18,381 individuals with ASD and 27,969 controls that identified five genome-wide-significant loci. Leveraging GWAS results from three phenotypes with significantly overlapping genetic architectures (schizophrenia, major depression, and educational attainment), we identified seven additional loci shared with other traits at equally strict significance levels. Dissecting the polygenic architecture, we found both quantitative and qualitative polygenic heterogeneity across ASD subtypes. These results highlight biological insights, particularly relating to neuronal function and corticogenesis, and establish that GWAS performed at scale will be much more productive in the near term in ASD

Association of whole-genome and NETRIN1 signaling pathway-derived polygenic risk scores for Major Depressive Disorder and white matter microstructure in UK Biobank

Background: Major depressive disorder is a clinically heterogeneous psychiatric disorder with a polygenic architecture. Genome-wide association studies have identified a number of risk-associated variants across the genome and have reported growing evidence of NETRIN1 pathway involvement. Stratifying disease risk by genetic variation within the NETRIN1 pathway may provide important routes for identification of disease mechanisms by focusing on a specific process, excluding heterogeneous risk-associated variation in other pathways. Here, we sought to investigate whether major depressive disorder polygenic risk scores derived from the NETRIN1 signaling pathway (NETRIN1-PRSs) and the whole genome, excluding NETRIN1 pathway genes (genomic-PRSs), were associated with white matter microstructure. Methods: We used two diffusion tensor imaging measures, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), in the most up-to-date UK Biobank neuroimaging data release (FA: n = 6401; MD: n = 6390). Results: We found significantly lower FA in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (β = −.035, p =.029) and significantly higher MD in a global measure of thalamic radiations (β =.029, p =.021), as well as higher MD in the superior (β =.034, p =.039) and inferior (β =.029, p =.043) longitudinal fasciculus and in the anterior (β =.025, p =.046) and superior (β =.027, p =.043) thalamic radiation associated with NETRIN1-PRS. Genomic-PRS was also associated with lower FA and higher MD in several tracts. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that variation in the NETRIN1 signaling pathway may confer risk for major depressive disorder through effects on a number of white matter tracts

Order by Disorder and a Classical Spin Liquid on the Kagome Lattice: A Heisenberg Antiferromagnet With Chiral Interactions

The kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet (KHAFM) has an extensive zero temperature entropy, in direct violation of the third law of thermodynamics. Nonetheless, its statictical mechanics predict the onset of order which is not present in the ground state manifold, and this has been verified in Monte Carlo simulations for decades. A similar effect has been demonstrated by means of a different physical mechanism in the pyrochlore antiferromagnet. It too has a large classical ground state manifold, but linear spin-wave calculations indicate that semiclassical corrections favor collinear ground states over generic ground states. In the following work, I describe an extension of the KHAFM by introducing a three-body interaction which imposes a chirality on the kagome lattice triangles. The conditions for the above effects are demonstrated for the chiral kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The order by disorder mechanisms are even more discriminating than those of the pure antiferromagnet, and give rise to a classical Z2 spin liquid, and a phase whose defects combine according to a non-Abelian group, namely the binary octahedral group, 2O

Moving From One-Shot Information Literacy Workshops to ePortfolios: Deepening Students’ Information Literacy Through Librarian-Faculty Partnerships

Fruitful faculty-librarian partnerships go a long way towards identifying innovative ways to integrate information literacy into capstone class assignments. Shared goals include deepening student understanding about inquiry, research, and scholarship. Presenters partnered to enrich the student information literacy experience through an innovative ePortfolio information literacy and science education annotated-bibliography capstone project for graduate secondary science education Master\u27s (in-service and pre-service) candidates. The purpose of this presentation is to showcase how a faculty-librarian partnership leads to development of a year-long information literacy exploration that includes a flipped information literacy assignment and class, information literacy mid-term question, and ePortfolio capstone project with an information literacy component. The presenters will share how this ePortfolio capstone information literacy assignment uses the Framework for Information Literacy to support students by extending a traditional graduate student annotated bibliography project into a semester-long independent and student-designed information literacy project. The Framework offers a structure through which teacher candidates can self-assess through reflective practice their own learning by identifying information literacy knowledge practices and dispositions related to their own professional competencies. ePortfolios provide a place for students to document, reflect on, and present their learning in three modes, including written portfolio, online synchronous presentation, and videotaped in-person oral presentation of the final capstone ePortfolio. Student projects and reflections will be presented in conjunction with discussion related to impact of this partnership on future collaborative information literacy projects on campus and in MS-HS classrooms

A Study of Basal Rates in Daphnia Magna and Aquatic Oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus Using Videography and Computational Analysis

Daphnia has been used to demonstrate the effect of stimulants such as caffeine and energy drinks in several activities designed for use in high schools. There are similar activities designed for college level students utilizing blackworms. This presentation describes how these activities were enhanced by coupling a microscope to a video recording device and digital data recording system such that more accurate quantification of the rate of heartbeats (in the case of the Daphnia) and the blood vessel pulsation (in the place of the blackworms) can be obtained. Thiis facilitates the use of these systems, not only to demonstrate stimulant activities in compounds but also to screen cardiovascular properties in new compounds and or in extracts from medicinal plants. Dose related responses were found and analyzed for each of the stimulant studied. This presentation will describe the set-up for the video recorder and data acquisition system to the microscope and the results obtained and how this could be replicated in middle and high school labs