Implementing Outdoor Education Curriculum: The Benefits Of, Barriers To, And Materials Required For Successful Outdoor Education

Examining research shows that outdoor education has a number of benefits for students. These benefits range from academic to social emotional to physical (Fagerstam and Blom, 2012; Mygind, 2007; Pretty et al., 2009). Research also shows that many teachers report a variety of barriers to successful outdoor education implementation (Ernst, 2007; Powers, 2004), and that teachers need to understand how to use outdoor spaces to teach effectively (Eick, 2012; House, 2008). As a result, outdoor education is not being implemented widely by teachers and the benefits that come with the outdoor exposure are not being utilized. This project seeks to answer the question: How can outdoor education be used successfully to improve the success and well-being of children? The curriculum designed for this project provides an opportunity for teachers to experiment with outdoor education in a structured manner, while also offering opportunities for teachers to blend in more familiar indoor lessons to ease into the use of outdoor education. The curriculum was also designed with commonly cited barriers to outdoor education in mind. The lessons are short, meet state science standards, and offer low-cost activities to be completed by students. If used properly, the curriculum will offer teachers an opportunity to engage students in outdoor learning to see for themselves the benefits that the outdoor exposure can have on the students, not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and physically. The expected outcome from using this curriculum is that teachers will feel empowered to take learning outside of the classroom more often as a result of seeing the benefits of outdoor education for their students first-hand

Significant role of the truncated Ghrelin Receptor GHS-1Rb in Ghrelin-induced signaling in neurons

The truncated non-signaling ghrelin receptor GHS-R1b has been suggested to simply exert a dominant negative role in the trafficking and signaling of the full and functional ghrelin receptor GHS-R1a. Here we reveal a more complex modulatory role of GHS-R1b. Differential co-expression of GHS-R1a and GHS-R1b, both in HEK-293T cells and in striatal and hippocampal neurons in culture, demonstrates that GHS-R1b acts as a dual modulator of GHS-R1a function: low relative GHS-R1b expression potentiates and high relative GHS-R1b expression inhibits GHS-R1a function by facilitating GHS-R1a trafficking to the plasma membrane and by exerting a negative allosteric effect on GHS-R1a signaling, respectively. We found a preferential Gi/o-coupling of the GHS-R1a-GHS-R1b complex in HEK-293T cells and, unexpectedly, a preferential Gs/olf coupling in both striatal and hippocampal neurons in culture. A dopamine D1 receptor (D1R) antagonist blocked ghrelin-induced cAMP accumulation in striatal but not hippocampal neurons, indicating the involvement of D1R in the striatal GHS-R1a-Gs/olf coupling. Experiments in HEK-293T demonstrated that D1R co-expression promotes a switch in GHS-R1a-G protein coupling, from Gi/o to Gs/olf, but only upon co-expression of GHS-R1b. Furthermore, resonance energy transfer experiments showed that D1R interacts with GHS-R1a, but only in the presence of GHS-R1b. Therefore, GHS-R1b not only determines the efficacy of ghrelin-induced GHS-R1a-mediated signaling, but also determines the ability of GHS-R1a to form oligomeric complexes with other receptors promoting profound qualitative changes in ghrelin-induced signaling

Solution NMR structure of the Ca2+-bound N-terminal domain of CaBP7 : a regulator of golgi trafficking

Calcium-binding protein 7 (CaBP7) is a member of the calmodulin (CaM) superfamily that harbors two high affinity EF-hand motifs and a C-terminal transmembrane domain. CaBP7 has been previously shown to interact with and modulate phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase III-β (PI4KIIIβ) activity in in vitro assays and affects vesicle transport in neurons when overexpressed. Here we show that the N-terminal domain (NTD) of CaBP7 is sufficient to mediate the interaction of CaBP7 with PI4KIIIβ. CaBP7 NTD encompasses the two high affinity Ca(2+) binding sites, and structural characterization through multiangle light scattering, circular dichroism, and NMR reveals unique properties for this domain. CaBP7 NTD binds specifically to Ca(2+) but not Mg(2+) and undergoes significant conformational changes in both secondary and tertiary structure upon Ca(2+) binding. The Ca(2+)-bound form of CaBP7 NTD is monomeric and exhibits an open conformation similar to that of CaM. Ca(2+)-bound CaBP7 NTD has a solvent-exposed hydrophobic surface that is more expansive than observed in CaM or CaBP1. Within this hydrophobic pocket, there is a significant reduction in the number of methionine residues that are conserved in CaM and CaBP1 and shown to be important for target recognition. In CaBP7 NTD, these residues are replaced with isoleucine and leucine residues with branched side chains that are intrinsically more rigid than the flexible methionine side chain. We propose that these differences in surface hydrophobicity, charge, and methionine content may be important in determining highly specific interactions of CaBP7 with target proteins, such as PI4KIIIβ.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

NCS-1 associates with adenosine A2A receptors and modulates receptor function

Modulation of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling by local changes in intracellular calcium concentration is an established function of Calmodulin (CaM) which is known to interact with many GPCRs. Less is known about the functional role of the closely related neuronal EF-hand Ca2+-sensor proteins that frequently associate with CaM targets with different functional outcome. In the present study we aimed to investigate if a target of CaM—the A2A adenosine receptor is able to associate with two other neuronal calcium binding proteins (nCaBPs), namely NCS-1 and caldendrin. Using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) and co-immunoprecipitation experiments we show the existence of A2A—NCS-1 complexes in living cells whereas caldendrin did not associate with A2A receptors under the conditions tested. Interestingly, NCS-1 binding modulated downstream A2A receptor intracellular signaling in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Taken together this study provides further evidence that neuronal Ca2+-sensor proteins play an important role in modulation of GPCR signaling

A burning question: what are the risks and benefits of mammalian torpor during and after fires?

Although wildfires are increasing globally, available information on how mammals respond behaviourally and physiologically to fires is scant. Despite a large number of ecological studies, often examining animal diversity and abundance before and after fires, the reasons as to why some species perform better than others remain obscure. We examine how especially small mammals, which generally have high rates of energy expenditure and food requirements, deal with fires and postfire conditions. We evaluate whether mammalian torpor, characterised by substantial reductions in body temperature, metabolic rate and water loss, plays a functional role in survival of mammals impacted by fires. Importantly, torpor permits small mammals to reduce their activity and foraging, and to survive on limited food. Torpid small mammals (marsupials and bats) can respond to smoke and arouse from torpor, which provides them with the possibility to evade direct exposure to fire, although their response is often slowed when ambient temperature is low. Post-fire conditions increase expression of torpor with a concomitant decrease in activity for free-ranging echidnas and small forest-dwelling marsupials, in response to reduced cover and reduced availability of terrestrial insects. Presence of charcoal and ash increases torpor use by captive small marsupials beyond food restriction alone, likely in anticipation of detrimental post-fire conditions. Interestingly, although volant bats use torpor on every day after fires, they respond by decreasing torpor duration, and increasing activity, perhaps because of the decrease in clutter and increase in foraging opportunities due to an increase in aerial insects. Our summary shows that torpor is an important tool for post-fire survival and, although the physiological and behavioural responses of small mammals to fire are complex, they seem to reflect energetic requirements and mode of foraging. We make recommendations on the conditions during management burns that are least likely to impact heterothermic mammals