Digital Commons Network^™

Patchy Progress On Obesity Prevention: Emerging Exemplars, Entrenched Barriers, And New Thinking, Christina A. Roberto, Boyd Swinburn, Corinna Hawkes, Terry T-K Huang, Sergio Costa, Marice Ashe, Lindsey Zwicker, John H. Cawley, Kelly D. Brownell

Publications and Research

Although there have been positive pockets of change, no country has yet turned around its obesity epidemic. Preventing an increase in obesity prevalence will require urgent actions from government as well as a broader spectrum of stakeholders than previously emphasized. In this paper, we review a number of regulatory and non-regulatory actions taken around the world to address obesity and discuss some of the reasons for the patchy progress. In addition, we preview the papers in this Lancet series, which each identify priority actions on key obesity issues and challenge some of the entrenched dichotomies that present obesity and its …

Alumni Of The Arts Are Often Happier Than Most, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Positive News For Lgbt People In Science Fields, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Higher Education Distortions Enter Into Debates, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Haitian Americans, Steven S. Coughlin, Erica I. Lubetkin, Jennifer L. Hay, Renald Raphael, Selina A. Smith

Publications and Research

Background

Few studies have examined colorectal cancer screening among Haitian Americans, although striking disparities in colorectal cancer screening and mortality are well-documented among U.S. Blacks. Race, socioeconomic status, and place of birth are factors associated with colorectal cancer incidence and mortality patterns.

Methods

In this article, we summarize published studies on colorectal cancer screening among Haitian Americans, identified through bibliographic searches in PubMed and CINAHL through August 2015, and offer recommendations for further research.

Results

Only one qualitative study and three quantitative surveys have examined colorectal cancer screening among Haitian Americans. A qualitative study found important differences in perceptions of …

In Pursuit Of Peace: A Qualitative Study On Subjectification And Peaceful Co-Existence In Four Elementary School Classrooms, Debbie Sonu

Publications and Research

This paper presents qualitative data gleaned from four New York City elementary classrooms and focuses on how teachers attempt, each in their own distinct way, to create educational cultures of peace. Here, classroom vignettes are reconstructed from two months of observational and interview data with attention to how teacher beliefs on peaceful co-existence manifest in the playing field of a child's subject formation. Drawing from Judith Butler's concept of subjectification, this study asks: what conditions of possibility do teachers conceive of when thinking about peace in their classrooms? Findings show that teachers create conditions that emerge from their particular theories …

Heterometallic Titanium–Gold Complexes Inhibit Renal Cancer Cells In Vitro And In Vivo, Jacob Fernandez-Gallardo, Benelita T. Elie, Tanmoy Sadhukha, Swayam Prabha, Mercedes Sanau, Susan A. Rotenberg, Joe W. Ramos, Maria Contel

Publications and Research

Following recent work on heterometallic titanocene–gold complexes as potential chemotherapeutics for renal cancer, we report here on the synthesis, characterization and stability studies of new titanocene complexes containing a methyl group and a carboxylate ligand (mba ¼ S–C6H4–COO) bound to gold(I)-phosphane fragments through a thiolate group [(h-C5H5)2TiMe(m-mba)Au(PR3)]. The compounds are more stable in physiological media than those previously reported and are highly cytotoxic against human cancer renal cell lines. We describe here preliminary mechanistic data involving studies on the interaction of selected compounds with plasmid (pBR322) DNA used as a model nucleic acid, and with selected protein kinases from a …

Acute Cocaine Differentially Induces Pka Phosphorylation Substrates In Male And Female Rats, Wei-Lun Sun, Luyi Zhou, Arbi Nazarian, Vanya Quinones-Jenab, Shirzad Jenab

Publications and Research

Background: Sex differences in intracellular dopamine pathways may contribute to the known sex differences in psychomotor responses to cocaine and differential development of dependence. This study aimed to determine whether there are sex differences in the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2, or p44/p42 MAPK) and PKA phosphorylation-dependent substrates in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) of male and female rats at baseline or after acute cocaine administration.

Methods: 60-day-old male and female Fischer rats were injected with saline or cocaine (30 mg/kg) and sacrificed 5, 15, 30, 45 or 90 minutes later. Total locomotor activity, Stereotypic, rearing, and ambulatory behaviors …

A Principle Of Economy Predicts The Functional Architecture Of Grid Cells, Xue-Xin Wei, Jason Prentice, Vijay Balasubramanian

Publications and Research

Grid cells in the brain respond when an animal occupies a periodic lattice of ‘grid fields’ during navigation. Grids are organized in modules with different periodicity. We propose that the grid system implements a hierarchical code for space that economizes the number of neurons required to encode location with a given resolution across a range equal to the largest period. This theory predicts that (i) grid fields should lie on a triangular lattice, (ii) grid scales should follow a geometric progression, (iii) the ratio between adjacent grid scales should be √e for idealized neurons, and lie between 1.4 and 1.7 …

Pathway And Network Approaches For Identification Of Cancer Signature Markers From Omics Data, Jinlian Wang, Yiming Zuo, Yan-Gao Man, Itzhak Avital, Alexander Stojadinovic, Meng Liu, Xiaowei Yang, Rency S. Varghese, Mahlet G. Tadesse, Habtom W. Ressom

Publications and Research

The advancement of high throughput omic technologies during the past few years has made it possible to perform many complex assays in a much shorter time than the traditional approaches. The rapid accumulation and wide availability of omic data generated by these technologies offer great opportunities to unravel disease mechanisms, but also presents significant challenges to extract knowledge from such massive data and to evaluate the findings. To address these challenges, a number of pathway and network based approaches have been introduced. This review article evaluates these methods and discusses their application in cancer biomarker discovery using hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) …

Git And Github For Librarians, Robin Camille Davis

Publications and Research

One of the fastest-growing professional social networks is GitHub, an online space to share code. GitHub is based on free and open-source software called Git, a version control system used in many digital projects, from library websites to government data portals to scientific research. For projects that involve developing code and collaborating with others, Git is an invaluable tool; it also creates a backup system and structured documentation. In this article, we examine version control, the particulars of Git, the burgeoning social network of GitHub, and how Git can be an archival tool.

Interpersonal Rejection Sensitivity Predicts Burnout: A Prospective Study, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Laurent

Publications and Research

We examined whether interpersonal rejection sensitivity (IRS)—the hallmark of atypical depression – prospectively predicted burnout, controlling for baseline symptoms, history of depressive disorders, antidepressant intake, gender, age, and length of employment (mean between-assessment duration: 21 months; n = 578; 74% female). IRS was related to a 119% increased risk of burnout at follow-up. Three of four burned out participants reported to be affected by IRS, or 2.5 times the rate observed in participants with no (or subthreshold) burnout symptoms. Our study highlights a dispositional factor in burnout’s etiology also known to be a key component of atypical depression’s etiology. The …

Re-Conceptualizing Developmental Areas Of Assessment For Screening, Eligibility Determination And Program Planning In Early Intervention, Bonnie Keilty, Patricia M. Blasco, Serra Acar

Publications and Research

Contemporary recommended practices in early childhood assessment strive to gain a holistic picture of child learning and development to inform screening, eligibility, and program planning decisions. These practices have traditionally focused on competencies reflected in developmental domains with limited attention to the approaches-tolearning used to acquire those competencies. In this article, we call for the examination of early childhood constructs that impact a child’s ability to learn and develop, such as executive function (EF), mastery motivation, self-regulation and selfdetermination, specifically in the infant-toddler period. With EF defined as a wide range of central control processes in the brain that link …

Literary Translingualism: Multilingual Identity And Creativity, Steven G. Kellman, Natasha Lvovich

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Comparative Analysis Of Prostate Cancer Gene Regulatory Networks Via Hub Type Variation, Pegah Khosravi, Vahid H. Gazestani, Mohammad Akbarzadeh, Samira Mirkhalaf, Mehdi Sadeghi, Bahram Goliaei

Publications and Research

Background

Prostate cancer is one of the most widespread cancers in men and is fundamentally a genetic disease. Identifying regulators in cancer using novel systems biology approaches will potentially lead to new insight into this disease. It was sought to address this by inferring gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Moreover, dynamical analysis of GRNs can explain how regulators change among different conditions, such as cancer subtypes.

Methods

In our approach, independent gene regulatory networks from each prostate state were reconstructed using one of the current state-of-art reverse engineering approaches. Next, crucial genes involved in this cancer were highlighted by analyzing each …

Robot Saints, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

In the Middle Ages, articulating religious figures like wooden Deposition crucifixes and ambulatory saints were tools for devotion, techno-mythological objects that distilled the wonders of engineering and holiness. Robots are gestures toward immortality, created in the face of the undeniable fact and experience of the ongoing decay of our fleshy bodies. Both like and unlike human beings, robots and androids occupy a nebulous perceptual realm between life and death, animation and inanimation. Masahiro Mori called this in-between space the “uncanny valley.” In this essay I argue that unlike a modern person apprehending an android (the uncanny human-like object that resides …

Chemical Basis Of Traditional Medicines And New Potential Applications, Chunlin Long, Shi-Biao Wu, William C. S. Cho

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

A Western-Fed Diet Increases Plasma Hdl And Ldl-Cholesterol Levels In Apod–/– Mice, Kamilah Ali, Ehab M. Abo-Ali, M. D. Kabir, Bethany Riggins, Susanna Nguy, Lisa Li, Ujala Srivastava, Su Mya Mya Thinn

Publications and Research

Objective Plasma apolipoprotein (apo)D, a ubiquitously expressed protein that binds small hydrophobic ligands, is found mainly on HDL particles. According to studies of human genetics and lipid disorders, plasma apoD levels positively correlate with HDL-cholesterol and apoAI levels. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that apoD was a regulator of HDL metabolism. Methods & Results We compared the plasma lipid and lipoprotein profiles of wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice with apoD−/− mice on a C57BL/6 background after receiving a high fat-high cholesterol diet for 12 weeks. ApoD−/− mice had higher HDL-cholesterol levels (61±13-apoD−/− vs. 52±10-WT-males; 37±11-apoD−/− vs. 22±2 WT-female) than WT mice …

Light Dulls And Darkens Bird Eggs, Johanna Y. Navarro, David C. Lahti

Publications and Research

Although egg color is generally consistent within individual birds and robust to environmental variation, recent evidence suggests a degree of susceptibility to environmental perturbation or modulation of egg color. Most of this variation manifests via the physiology of the laying female, but some direct impacts of the environment on laid eggs have also been discovered. Here we test whether light changes bird egg color and we quantify its effect, by subjecting variable blue-green eggs of Rüppell's weaver (Ploceus galbula) to a broad-spectrum light source under laboratory conditions, and measuring egg reflectance every few hours. Eggshells gradually decreased in reflectance across …

High Intralocus Variability And Interlocus Recombination Promote Immunological Diversity In A Minimal Major Histocompatibility System, Anthony B. Wilson, Camilla M. Whittington, Angela Bahr

Publications and Research

Background: The genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC/MH) have attracted considerable scientific interest due to their exceptional levels of variability and important function as part of the adaptive immune system. Despite a large number of studies on MH class II diversity of both model and non-model organisms, most research has focused on patterns of genetic variability at individual loci, failing to capture the functional diversity of the biologically active dimeric molecule. Here, we take a systematic approach to the study of MH variation, analyzing patterns of genetic variation at MH class IIα and IIβ loci of the seahorse, which …

Green Tea Polyphenol Treatment Is Chondroprotective, Anti-Inflammatory And Palliative In A Mouse Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis Model, Daniel J. Leong, Marwa Choudhury, Regina Hanstein, David M. Hirsh, Sun Jin Kim, Robert Majeska, Mitchell B. Schaffler, John A. Hardin, David C. Spray, Mary B. Goldring, Neil J. Cobelli, Hui B. Sun

Publications and Research

Introduction Epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol present in green tea, was shown to exert chondroprotective effects in vitro. In this study, we used a posttraumatic osteoarthritis (OA) mouse model to test whether EGCG could slow the progression of OA and relieve OA-associated pain. Methods C57BL/6 mice were subjected to surgical destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) or sham surgery. EGCG (25 mg/kg) or vehicle control was administered daily for 4 or 8 weeks by intraperitoneal injection starting on the day of surgery. OA severity was evaluated using Safranin O staining and Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) scores, as well as …

Molecular-Like Hierarchical Self-Assembly Of Monolayers Of Mixtures Of Particles, P. Singh, Md. Shahadat Hossain, S. K. Gurupatham, K. Shah, E. Amah, D. Ju, M. Janjua, S. Nudurupati, I. Fischer

Publications and Research

We present a technique that uses an externally applied electric field to self-assemble monolayers of mixtures of particles into molecular-like hierarchical arrangements on fluid-liquid interfaces. The arrangements consist of composite particles (analogous to molecules) which are arranged in a pattern. The structure of a composite particle depends on factors such as the relative sizes of the particles and their polarizabilities, and the electric field intensity. If the particles sizes differ by a factor of two or more, the composite particle has a larger particle at its core and several smaller particles form a ring around it. The number of particles …

Transceptors At The Boundary Of Nutrient Transporters And Receptors: A New Role For Arabidopsis Sultr1;2 In Sulfur Sensing, Zheng Zhiliang, Bo Zheng, Thomsa Leustek

Publications and Research

Plants have evolved a sophisticated mechanism to sense the extracellular sulfur (S) status so that sulfate transport and S assimilation/metabolism can be coordinated. Genetic, biochemical, and molecular studies in Arabidopsis over the past 10 years have started to shed some light on the regulatory mechanism of the S response. Key advances in transcriptional regulation (SLIM1, MYB, and miR395), involvement of hormones (auxin, cytokinin, and abscisic acid) and identification of putative sensors (OASTL and SULTR1;2) are highlighted here. Although our current view of S nutrient sensing and signaling remains fragmented, it is anticipated that through further studies a sensing and signaling …

Sampling Strategies For Frequency Spectrum-Based Population Genomic Inference, John D. Robinson, Alec J. Coffman, Michael J. Hickerson, Ryan N. Gutenkunst

Publications and Research

Background The allele frequency spectrum (AFS) consists of counts of the number of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci with derived variants present at each given frequency in a sample. Multiple approaches have recently been developed for parameter estimation and calculation of model likelihoods based on the joint AFS from two or more populations. We conducted a simulation study of one of these approaches, implemented in the Python module δaδi, to compare parameter estimation and model selection accuracy given different sample sizes under one- and two-population models. Results Our simulations included a variety of demographic models and two parameterizations that differed …

Pregnancy Intent Among A Sample Of Recently Diagnosed Hiv-Positive Women And Men Practicing Unprotected Sex In Cape Town, South Africa, Joanne E. Mantell, Theresa M. Exner, Diane Cooper, Dan Bai, Cheng-Shiun Leu, Susie Hoffman, Landon Myer, Jennifer Moodley, Elizabeth A. Kelvin, Debbie Constant, Karen Jennings, Virginia Zweigenthal, Zena A. Stein

Publications and Research

Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for HIV-positive women and men often neglect their fertility desires. We examined factors associated with pregnancy intent among recently diagnosed HIV-positive women (N = 106) and men (N = 91) who reported inconsistent condom use and were enrolled in an SRH intervention conducted in public sector HIV care clinics in Cape Town. Methods: Participants were recruited when receiving their first CD4+ results at the clinic. All reported unprotected sex in the previous 3 months. Logistic regression identified predictors of pregnancy intent for the total sample and by gender. Results: About three fifths of …

Inhibition Of Osteoclastogenesis And Inflammatory Bone Resorption By Targeting Bet Proteins And Epigenetic Regulation, Kyung-Hyun Park-Min, Elisha Lim, Min Joon Lee, Sung Ho Park, Eugenia Giannopoulos, Anna Yarilina, Marjolein Van Der Meulen, Baohong Zhao, Nicholas Smithers, Jason Witherington, Kevin Lee, Paul P. Tak, Rab K. Prinjha, Lionel B. Ivashkiv

Publications and Research

Emerging evidence suggests that RANKL-induced changes in chromatin state are important for osteoclastogenesis, but these epigenetic mechanisms are not well understood and have not been therapeutically targeted. In this study we find that the small molecule I-BET151 that targets bromo and extra-terminal (BET) proteins that “read” chromatin states by binding to acetylated histones strongly suppresses osteoclastogenesis. I-BET151 suppresses pathologic bone loss in TNF-induced inflammatory osteolysis, inflammatory arthritis, and post-ovariectomy models. Transcriptome analysis identifies a MYC-NFAT axis important for osteoclastogenesis. Mechanistically, I-BET151 inhibits expression of the master osteoclast regulator NFATC1 by suppressing expression and recruitment of its newly identified upstream regulator …

The Insulin/Igf Signaling Regulators Cytohesin/Grp-1 And Pip5k/Ppk-1 Modulate Susceptibility To Excitotoxicity In C. Elegans, Nazila Tehrani, John Del Rosario, Moises Dominguez, Robert Kalb, Itzhak Mano

Publications and Research

During ischemic stroke, malfunction of excitatory amino acid transporters and reduced synaptic clearance causes accumulation of Glutamate (Glu) and excessive stimulation of postsynaptic neurons, which can lead to their degeneration by excitotoxicity. The balance between cell death-promoting (neurotoxic) and survival-promoting (neuroprotective) signaling cascades determines the fate of neurons exposed to the excitotoxic insult. The evolutionary conserved Insulin/IGF Signaling (IIS) cascade can participate in this balance, as it controls cell stress resistance in nematodes and mammals. Blocking the IIS cascade allows the transcription factor FoxO3/DAF-16 to accumulate in the nucleus and activate a transcriptional program that protects cells from a range …

Activity-Based Therapies For Repair Of The Corticospinal System Injured During Development, Kathleen M. Friel, Preston T. J. A. Williams, Najet Serradj, Samit Chakrabarty, John H. Martin

Publications and Research

This review presents the mechanistic underpinnings of corticospinal tract (CST) development, derived from animal models, and applies what has been learned to inform neural activity-based strategies for CST repair.We first discuss that, in normal development, early bilateral CST projections are later refined into a dense crossed CST projection, with maintenance of sparse ipsilateral projections. Using a novel mouse genetic model, we show that promoting the ipsilateral CST projection produces mirror movements, common in hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP), suggesting that ipsilateral CST projections become maladaptive when they become abnormally dense and strong.We next discuss howanimal studies support a developmental “competition rule” …

The Oestrogen Receptor Alpha-Regulated Lncrna Neat1 Is A Critical Modulator Of Prostate Cancer, Dimple Chakravarty, Andrea Sboner, Sujit S. Nair, Eugenia Giannopoulou, Ruohan Li, Sven Hennig, Juan Miguel Mosquera, Jonathan Pauwels, Kyung Park, Myriam Kossai, Theresa Y. Macdonald, Jacqueline Fontugne, Nicholas Erho, Ismael A. Vergara, Mercedeh Ghadessi, Elai Davicioni, Robert B. Jenkins, Nallasivam Palanisamy, Zhengming Chen, Shinichi Nakagawa, Tetsuro Hirose, Neil H. Bander, Himisha Beltran, Archa H. Fox, Olivier Elemento, Mark A. Rubin

Publications and Research

The androgen receptor (AR) plays a central role in establishing an oncogenic cascade that drives prostate cancer progression. Some prostate cancers escape androgen dependence and are often associated with an aggressive phenotype. The oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is expressed in prostate cancers, independent of AR status. However, the role of ERα remains elusive. Using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and RNA-sequencing data, we identified an ERα-specific non-coding transcriptome signature. Among putatively ERα-regulated intergenic long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), we identified nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) as the most significantly overexpressed lncRNA in prostate cancer. Analysis of two large clinical …

Frequency And Fitness Consequences Of Bacteriophage Φ6 Host Range Mutations, Brian E. Ford, Bruce Sun, James Carpino, Elizabeth S. Chapler, Jane Ching, Yoon Choi, Kevin Jhun, Jung D. Kim, Gregory G. Lallos, Rachelle Morgenstern, Shalini Singh, Sai Theja, John J. Dennehy

Publications and Research

Viruses readily mutate and gain the ability to infect novel hosts, but few data are available regarding the number of possible host range-expanding mutations allowing infection of any given novel host, and the fitness consequences of these mutations on original and novel hosts. To gain insight into the process of host range expansion, we isolated and sequenced 69 independent mutants of the dsRNA bacteriophage Φ6 able to infect the novel host, Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes. In total, we found at least 17 unique suites of mutations among these 69 mutants. We assayed fitness for 13 of 17 mutant genotypes on P. pseudoalcaligenes …