Developing a Pedagogy for Reducing ‘Plant Blindness’

Despite human dependence on them, inattention to plants or plant blindness is a well–known phenomenon in urban societies. This thesis investigates the efficacy of a suite of novel teaching approaches for botany with adults and children and considers how these published research–based resources can contribute to a pedagogy for reducing plant blindness, in conjunction with the existing literature. This research was based on a mixed methods design using knowledge tests, questionnaires and interviews. It focused on two themes: novel methods for learning taxonomy (digital keys, mnemonics, drawing and game–playing) and drama–based methods for learning reproduction and classification. The literature review examined the characteristics of plant blindness and its impacts on teaching and learning. The fundamental cause of plant blindness was shown to be diminished experience with plants in urban societies which leads to low interest in plants compared to animals. A majority of pedagogic studies were based on learning with live plants, many of which were inquiry-based learning. Half the studies included outdoor learning and half used digital learning approaches. A content analysis of published research using themes based on theories of embodied cognition, memory and positive affect found the textual data to be evenly distributed across all three themes. The pedagogic approaches promoted learning through elaborative techniques, instructional tools with high usability, multimedia experiences and emotional wellbeing. Drawing and keys favoured observation over other perceptual modes, whereas drama facilitated multisensory experience. The research identified physical and cognitive factors that may assist or impede learning. A theoretical contribution of the research was the application of memory theory to learning taxonomy, advancing our understanding of how the design of keys and mnemonics may assist retention. Drama studies enhanced our understanding of children’s attitudes to plants and how a brief intervention may address these

Influence of Nanoparticle Size and Shape on Oligomer Formation of an Amyloidogenic Peptide

Understanding the influence of macromolecular crowding and nanoparticles on the formation of in-register $\beta$-sheets, the primary structural component of amyloid fibrils, is a first step towards describing \emph{in vivo} protein aggregation and interactions between synthetic materials and proteins. Using all atom molecular simulations in implicit solvent we illustrate the effects of nanoparticle size, shape, and volume fraction on oligomer formation of an amyloidogenic peptide from the transthyretin protein. Surprisingly, we find that inert spherical crowding particles destabilize in-register $\beta$-sheets formed by dimers while stabilizing $\beta$-sheets comprised of trimers and tetramers. As the radius of the nanoparticle increases crowding effects decrease, implying smaller crowding particles have the largest influence on the earliest amyloid species. We explain these results using a theory based on the depletion effect. Finally, we show that spherocylindrical crowders destabilize the ordered $\beta$-sheet dimer to a greater extent than spherical crowders, which underscores the influence of nanoparticle shape on protein aggregation

Cell Mediated Immunity by Cytotoxicity Assay and the effect of CORYNEBACTERIUM PARVUM and Radiation on Mice Bearing Herpes-Induced Tumors

Cell mediated immune (CMI) cytotoxic reactivity of Balb/c mice against H238 cells, a Herpes simplex virus (HSV) Type 2 - induced sarcoma, was measured by the 125IUdR release assay. The Balb/c mouse response to the growing HSV-induced tumor, treated with radiation and , was measured by survival rate, tumor growth and immune cytotoxicity of spleen and peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) as determined by 125IUdR release assay. Subcutaneous (s.c.) inoculation of 1 x 106 H238 cells (high dose) produced progressive tumor growth while s.c. inoculation of 1 x 104 H238 cells (low dose) produced no tumors. A kinetic study was made of the primary and secondary CMI response. These responses were found to be biphasic with early (days 2-8 after inoculation) and late (days 18-20) components. The primary early response of the high dose inoculum was found to precede by four days the CMI response of the low dose [inculum], while the late response of low dose was greater in magnitude and duration than that of the high dose. For the secondary CMI response the early component occurred at the same time interval as that of the high dose inoculum, while the late component developed similar to that of the low dose inoculum in magnitude and duration. But as with the 1 x 106 cell inoculum no ability to stop tumor progression developed. C. parvum, 350 mg, and radiation, 0-3500 rads, in varied combinations were used as therapeutic agents to help the mice destroy the tumor. The C. parvum in combination with radiation increased the survival rate of the mice bearing tumors. The best results were obtained when C. parvum treatment was combined with 800 rads of radiation. This group demonstrated a 53% increase in survival as compared to the radiation treated group without C. parvum. However, overall the combined therapy had no consistent effect on the CMI or PEC\u27s ability to respond to the tumor. Radiation alone had a marked effect on the growth rate of the tumor, causing reduction in tumor size after being administered. 3500 rads, in some cases, caused complete regression of the tumor

The Isolation and Characterization of Growth Regulatory Factors Produced by a Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Transformed Mouse Tumor Cell Line, H238

Transformation of cells with herpes simplex virus Type 2 (HSV- 2)occurs by an unknown mechanism. No specific gene or gene product has been consistently associated with HSV-2 transformation as is the case for other tumor viruses. This study was performed in an attempt to associate HSV-2-transformation with specific growth factors in order to develop a testable model for HSV-2-transformation. For some tumor viruses, particularly those containing RNA, there has been a central concept (autocrine secretion) linking oncogenes and growth factors. This concept centers on the ability of the cancer cells to produce and respond to their own autologous factors. We report here the isolation and characterization of four growth regulatory factors produced by H238, an HSV-2-transformed mouse tumor cell line. The H238 cells were grown in culture flasks to two-thirds confluency in medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum. The medium was removed, the cells were washed and medium without serum was added to the cells. At intervals of 48 hours, this conditioned medium (H238-CM), which contained growth regulatory factors, produced by the cells, was withdrawn and stored frozen. These factors were separated from the H238-CM by heparin-sepharose affinity chromatography into three peaks of mitogenic activity and a fourth containing inhibitory activity for splenocytes. The three peaks of mitogenic activity have been identified based on physiochemical characteristics: the first supported the anchorage-independent growth of EGF treated NRK-c-49 cells and resembles transforming growth factor-^ (TGF-/3); the second bound to lectin-coated sepharose beads and was sensitive to trypsin, neuroaminidase, and the reducing agent dithiothreitol (DTT) and, resembled a platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-like factor; and the third displaced [ 125I]-labeled basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in a dose dependent fashion when tested with a radioimmune assay (RIA). The fourth peak was inhibitory for a variety of splenocyte function assays. It inhibited lectininduced blastogenesis, allogenic mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR), and It appeared to act on splenocyte Gq/G-^ transition causing growth arrest by inhibiting c-myc proto-oncogene IL-2 production by splenocytes. expression. A model for the interaction of these factors in vivo is presented with an emphasis on testability

Transcriptional Regulation of Drosophila Neural Development

The CNS consists of a diverse array of motorneurons, interneurons, and glia. We are interested in how transcription factors and signaling pathways interact in regulatory circuits to control cell fate and differentiation during development. The Drosophila CNS midline cells consist of 22 cells per segment including glia, interneurons, motorneurons, and neurosecretory cells. We identified and analyzed the expression of 286 genes expressed in midline cells, and are now utilizing this information to understand how midline neurons acquire their distinct identities. Despite the small number of embryonic midline cells, the origins of midline neurons and glia remained relatively unknown. We used a combination of single-cell gene expression mapping and time-lapse imaging to identify individual midline precursor (MP) cells, their locations, movements, and stereotyped patterns of division. This information was then utilized to reveal multiple roles of lethal of scute [l(1)sc] in midline neuronal cell development. Midline precursors (MPs) divide once to generate 2 neurons, and MP3 divides asymmetrically to yield two different neurons, H-cell and H-cell sib. Notch signaling directs the fates of the glutamatergic H-cell sib. We demonstrated that l(1)sc plays an essential role in the development of the dopaminergic H-cell. l(1)sc is expressed in MP3, and both daughter neurons (H-cell and H-cell sib) after birth. However, L(1)sc protein soon becomes asymmetrically localized in H-cell. Mutant and misexpression studies indicated that l(1)sc is required for expression of genes involved in dopamine biosynthesis and transport, and neurotransmitter receptor genes. There are 4 additional transcription factors (BarH1, Scute, SoxNeuro, and Tailup) that are expressed in H-cell, and genetic experiments indicated that these control subsets of H-cell-expressed genes. Thus, l(1)sc is required for most H-cell-specific gene expression, and additional transcription factors function combinatorially to carry-out this regulatory program. Using a combination of genetics and genomics we have defined a series of molecular events that describe neuronal differentiation from precursor division to acquisition of differentiated properties

Structural Disorder Provides Increased Adaptability for Vesicle Trafficking Pathways

Vesicle trafficking systems play essential roles in the communication between the organelles of eukaryotic cells and also between cells and their environment. Endocytosis and the late secretory route are mediated by clathrin-coated vesicles, while the COat Protein I and II (COPI and COPII) routes stand for the bidirectional traffic between the ER and the Golgi apparatus. Despite similar fundamental organizations, the molecular machinery, functions, and evolutionary characteristics of the three systems are very different. In this work, we compiled the basic functional protein groups of the three main routes for human and yeast and analyzed them from the structural disorder perspective. We found similar overall disorder content in yeast and human proteins, confirming the well-conserved nature of these systems. Most functional groups contain highly disordered proteins, supporting the general importance of structural disorder in these routes, although some of them seem to heavily rely on disorder, while others do not. Interestingly, the clathrin system is significantly more disordered (,23%) than the other two, COPI (,9%) and COPII (,8%). We show that this structural phenomenon enhances the inherent plasticity and increased evolutionary adaptability of the clathrin system, which distinguishes it from the other two routes. Since multi-functionality (moonlighting) is indicative of both plasticity and adaptability, we studied its prevalence in vesicle trafficking proteins and correlated it with structural disorder. Clathrin adaptors have the highest capability for moonlighting while also comprising the most highly disordered members. The ability to acquire tissue specific functions was also used to approach adaptability: clathrin route genes have the most tissue specific exons encoding for protein segments enriched in structural disorder and interaction sites. Overall, our results confirm the general importance of structural disorder in vesicle trafficking and suggest major roles for this structural property in shaping the differences of evolutionary adaptability in the three routes

MidExDB: A database of Drosophila CNS midline cell gene expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The <it>Drosophila </it>CNS midline cells are an excellent model system to study neuronal and glial development because of their diversity of cell types and the relative ease in identifying and studying the function of midline-expressed genes. In situ hybridization experiments generated a large dataset of midline gene expression patterns. To help synthesize these data and make them available to the scientific community, we developed a web-accessible database.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>MidExDB (<it>Drosophila </it>CNS Midline Gene Expression Database) is comprised of images and data from our in situ hybridization experiments that examined midline gene expression. Multiple search tools are available to allow each type of data to be viewed and compared. Descriptions of each midline cell type and their development are included as background information.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MidExDB integrates large-scale gene expression data with the ability to identify individual cell types providing the foundation for detailed genetic, molecular, and biochemical studies of CNS midline cell neuronal and glial development and function. This information has general relevance for the study of nervous system development in other organisms, and also provides insight into transcriptional regulation.</p

Brief Report: Is Impaired Classification of Subtle Facial Expressions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Related to Atypical Emotion Category Boundaries?

Impairments in recognizing subtle facial expressions, in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), may relate to difficulties in constructing prototypes of these expressions. Eighteen children with predominantly intellectual low-functioning ASD (LFA, IQ <80) and two control groups (mental and chronological age matched), were assessed for their ability to classify emotional faces, of high, medium and low intensities, as happy or angry. For anger, the LFA group made more errors for lower intensity expressions than the control groups, classifications did not differ for happiness. This is the first study to find that the LFA group made more across-valence errors than controls. These data are consistent with atypical facial expression processing in ASD being associated with differences in the structure of emotion categories

Screening for latent TB, HIV, and hepatitis B/C in new migrants in a high prevalence area of London, UK: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Rising rates of infectious diseases in international migrants has reignited the debate around screening. There have been calls to strengthen primary-care-based programmes, focusing on latent TB. We did a cross-sectional study of new migrants to test an innovative one-stop blood test approach to detect multiple infections at one appointment (HIV, latent tuberculosis, and hepatitis B/C) on registration with a General Practitioner (GP) in primary care. METHODS: The study was done across two GP practices attached to hospital Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E) in a high migrant area of London for 6 months. Inclusion criteria were foreign-born individuals from a high TB prevalence country (>40 cases per 100,000) who have lived in the UK ≤ 10 years, and were over 18 years of age. All new migrants who attended a New Patient Health Check were screened for eligibility and offered the blood test. We followed routine care pathways for follow-up. RESULTS: There were 1235 new registrations in 6 months. 453 attended their New Patient Health Check, of which 47 (10.4%) were identified as new migrants (age 32.11 years [range 18-72]; 22 different nationalities; time in UK 2.28 years [0-10]). 36 (76.6%) participated in the study. The intervention only increased the prevalence of diagnosed latent TB (18.18% [95% CI 6.98-35.46]; 181.8 cases per 1000). Ultimately 0 (0%) of 6 patients with latent TB went on to complete treatment (3 did not attend referral). No cases of HIV or hepatitis B/C were found. Foreign-born patients were under-represented at these practices in relation to 2011 Census data (Chi-square test -0.111 [95% CI -0.125 to -0.097]; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The one-stop approach was feasible in this context and acceptability was high. However, the number of presenting migrants was surprisingly low, reflecting the barriers to care that this group face on arrival, and none ultimately received treatment. The ongoing UK debate around immigration checks and charging in primary care for new migrants can only have negative implications for the promotion of screening in this group. Until GP registration is more actively promoted in new migrants, a better place to test this one-stop approach could be in A&E departments where migrants may present in larger numbers