Influencers are individuals or entities that meaningfully contribute through a socially constructed process to the formation of educational aspirations and possibly to their attainment. The effect of ...a specific influencer may differ within the context of multiple influencers. The aim of the current mixed methods study was to investigate how various influencers shape the development of educational aspirations and may contribute to goal setting and eventual attainment of an early aspiration. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 participants who attended high school in Ontario, Canada. Most participants identified as Canadian (54.5%) with a mean age of 29 years and median income of $48,504 Canadian Dollars. Participants were asked about the educational aspirations they had in high school. Retrospective accounts provided the opportunity to ask in the interviews not only who the influencers were but also if aspirations were pursued, changed, or attained. Coding and thematic analysis revealed 11 categories of influencers. Further analysis revealed that individuals with a diverse set of influencers attained their educational goals with an important exception. Young adults with 3 – 5 types of influencers were the largest percentage (61.9%) who achieved their goals, whereas among those with 1, 2, or more than 5 influencers only 21.7% achieved their aspirations. Two influencers that have received little empirical attention emerged: Self and Society/Culture. Findings have implications for encouraging young people and influencers to consider not only how parents and teachers affect educational aspirations but also the composition and size of socio-educational networks.
Children of families involved with child welfare services are considered high-risk and are vulnerable to developing problems in a number of domains. In particular, educational achievement among this ...population tends to be lower relative to general population peers. The goal of this qualitative study was to understand the educational aspirations and subsequent pathways of young adults with former child welfare involvement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven young adults (mean age of 31 years) from Ontario, Canada about their educational aspirations in high school and factors that served as facilitators and obstacles to their achievement. The results indicate youth had high hopes and dreams for their future in high school. However, complex challenges impeded the realization of these dreams. Although all seven participants initiated post-secondary programs, only one reached successful completion. None of the young adults achieved the educational and occupational dreams they had in high school. Nevertheless, returning to school remains a prominent future goal for most participants. Despite significant challenges and unrealized educational aspirations, youth with child welfare experiences continue to place high value on education in inspiring hope and optimism for the future. Addressing barriers to educational achievement for youth with child welfare involvement remains an important focus to help educational aspirations become a reality.
Studies of university students’ sense of community (SOC) use various scales, one of which is the widely used Sense of Community Index (SCI), conceptualized as a 4‐factor model: membership, influence, ...needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection. Research has been unable to show a reliable 4‐factor solution. One possible explanation may be that negatively worded items contribute to lack of model fit, which would be consistent with the claim that SOC was conceptualized as a unipolar positive construct. Data were collected using a positively worded SCI (N = 794). Four models were tested with confirmatory factor analysis in structural equation modeling: 1‐factor, theorized four‐factor, revised 3‐factor, and revised 4‐factor. None of the models showed good fit, though the fit of the 1‐factor model was improved over the 4‐factor. More studies are needed to attempt replication with a positively worded SCI.
In its natural habitat, Astragalus bisulcatus can accumulate up to 0.65% (w/w) selenium (Se) in its shoot dry weight. X-ray absorption spectroscopy has been used to examine the selenium biochemistry ...of A. bisulcatus. High concentrations of the nonprotein amino acid Se-methylseleno-cysteine (Cys) are present in young leaves of A. bisulcatus, but in more mature leaves, the Se-methylseleno-Cys concentration is lower, and selenate predominates. Seleno-Cys methyltransferase is the enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of Se-methylseleno-Cys from seleno-Cys and S-methyl-methionine. Seleno-Cys methyltransferase is found to be expressed in A. bisulcatus leaves of all ages, and thus the biosynthesis of Se-methylseleno-Cys in older leaves is limited earlier in the metabolic pathway, probably by an inability to chemically reduce selenate. A comparative study of sulfur (S) and Se in A. bisulcatus using x-ray absorption spectroscopy indicates similar trends for oxidized and reduced Se and S species, but also indicates that the proportions of these differ significantly. These results also indicate that sulfate and selenate reduction are developmentally correlated, and they suggest important differences between S and Se biochemistries.
It is becoming a consensus that white matter integrity is compromised in schizophrenia (SZ), however the underlying genetics remains elusive. Evidence suggests a polygenic basis of the disorder, ...which involves various genetic variants with modest individual effect sizes. In this work, we used a multivariate approach, parallel independent component analysis (P-ICA), to explore the genetic underpinnings of white matter abnormalities in SZ. A pre-filtering step was first applied to locate 6527 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) discriminating patients from controls with a nominal uncorrected p-value of 0.01. These potential susceptibility loci were then investigated for associations with fractional anisotropy (FA) images in a cohort consisting of 73 SZ patients and 87 healthy controls (HC). A significant correlation (r = -0.37, p = 1.25 × 10(-6)) was identified between one genetic factor and one FA component after controlling for scanning site, ethnicity, age, and sex. The identified FA-SNP association remained stable in a 10-fold validation. A 5000-run permutation test yielded a p-value of 2.00 × 10(-4). The FA component reflected decreased white matter integrity in the forceps major for SZ patients. The SNP component was overrepresented in genes whose products are involved in corpus callosum morphology (e.g., CNTNAP2, NPAS3, and NFIB) as well as canonical pathways of synaptic long term depression and protein kinase A signaling. Taken together, our finding delineates a part of genetic architecture underlying SZ-related FA reduction, emphasizing the important role of genetic variants involved in neural development.
Over the past few decades our understanding of the complexity of both psychiatric genetics and gene expression has expanded exponentially. It is now understood that multiple genes and various genetic ...factors contribute to the risk for psychiatric disorders. It is also now understood that a variety of non-coding RNA species and RNA-modifying proteins work in concert to modulate gene expression with unexpectedly high levels of nuance. Challenging how we think about gene expression, our awareness of the influence of RNA continues to evolve and build as new non-coding RNA species are discovered, novel functions are attributed to the more characterized non-coding RNAs, and additional interactions between non-coding and coding RNAs are elucidated. The involvement of such RNA based mechanisms in regulating pathways contributing to brain function and disease continues to be uncovered and may provide avenues for critical breakthroughs in our understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
This symposium will explore the implications of a variety of novel RNA contributions to psychiatric illnesses. Each presentation will describe the potential influence of a different RNA mechanism of gene regulation in brain function and disease. Dr. Wright will discuss recent findings for isomiRNA, isoforms of canonical microRNAs, in schizophrenia. Dr. Mellios will present his recent work on circRNA in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Dr. Perrone-Bizzozero will explore the influence of RNA-binding proteins KSRP and HuD on gene expression in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Huntington’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Finally, Dr. Cairns will describe his work on understanding the influence of coding and non-coding RNA-interaction networks in a variety of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, and how they are modulated and perturbed by genomic and epigenetic variation associated with these syndromes. His work suggests that while small non-coding RNA, particularly miRNA, are important, long non-coding RNA may also play a significant role in complex regulatory networks.
The topics in this symposium shine light on the additional layers of complexity that RNA biology lends to neurodevelopment and function. The symposium will close with a discussion about how current research in this sphere may influence the trajectory of furthering our understanding of psychiatric disease and our ability to treat and prevent such disorders.
Abstract The surfaces of annulus fibrosus tears are known harbingers of inflammatory constituents within intervertebral discs, stimulating sensitized nocioceptors within those tears. Other current ...treatment options of internal disc disruption neglect to specifically address the surface of these tears. Therefore, this investigation answers the question: does nonautologous fibrin sealant applied to the surface of annulus fibrosus tears mechanically glue and seal annular tears? Regarding this query, results suggest nonautologous concentrated fibrin successfully seals annulus fibrosus tears with a “suture-like mechanical sealant,” serving as a safe option for treating symptomatic or nonsymptomatic intervertebral disc tears. Sealing tears prevents pain-generating chemicals of the nucleus pulposus from leaking through annular tears. More specifically, fibrin sealant minimizes or eliminates extravasation of nucleus pulposus through tears and voids within the annulus fibrosus. Moreover, an investigation subjecting discs to an “internal pressure challenge” objectively affirms fibrin׳s ability to seal torn and degenerated discs against a pressure challenge. (1 psi = 6.89476 kPs (disc mean pressure pretreatment = 75.84 kPs; post-treatment = 179.3 kPs: ( n = 347, P < 0.001). Therefore, sealing annular tears serves to minimize extravasation of nucleus pulposus through annular tears, thus potentially treating symptoms caused by internal disc disruption, “Leaky Disc Syndrome,” and chemical radiculopathy. Additionally, sealing annular tears potentially allows adjunctive regenerative biologics such as mesenchymal precursor cells, platelet rich plasma, and growth factors to remain within discs, thus, potentially optimizing their efficacy. A prior in vivo investigation demonstrated the vast majority of mesenchymal stem cells leaked from animal intravertebral discs, and another demonstrated radiolabeled mesenchymal stem cells leaked from degenerated discs and were subsequently found within new exuberant osteophytes adjacent to the degenerated disc. Intra-annular nonautologous concentrated fibrin shares a benefit of other intradiscal biologics in that fibrin does not cause aberrant detrimental mechanical forces on adjacent discs, compared with surgical fusion and disc arthrodesis, which both cause aberrant, potentially damaging mechanical forces on adjacent segments. The mean number of morphologically abnormal lumbar intervertebral discs in this population with chronic low back pain was 3.21 discs.
The significant impact of microRNAs (miRNAs) on disease pathology is becoming increasingly evident. These small non-coding RNAs have the ability to post-transcriptionally silence the expression of ...thousands of genes. Therefore, dysregulation of even a single miRNA could confer a large polygenic effect. Schizophrenia is a genetically complex illness thought to involve multiple genes each contributing a small risk. Large genome-wide association studies identified miR-137, a miRNA shown to be involved in neuronal maturation, as one of the top risk genes. To assess the potential mechanism of impact of miR-137 in this disorder and identify its targets, we used a combination of literature searches, ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA), and freely accessible bioinformatics resources. Using TargetScan and the schizophrenia gene resource (SZGR) database, we found that in addition to CSMD1, C10orf26, CACNA1C, TCF4, and ZNF804A, five schizophrenia risk genes whose transcripts are also validated miR-137 targets, there are other schizophrenia-associated genes that may be targets of miR-137, including ERBB4, GABRA1, GRIN2A, GRM5, GSK3B, NRG2, and HTR2C. IPA analyses of all the potential targets identified several nervous system (NS) functions as the top canonical pathways including synaptic long-term potentiation, a process implicated in learning and memory mechanisms and recently shown to be altered in patients with schizophrenia. Among the subset of targets involved in NS development and function, the top scoring pathways were ephrin receptor signaling and axonal guidance, processes that are critical for proper circuitry formation and were shown to be disrupted in schizophrenia. These results suggest that miR-137 may indeed play a substantial role in the genetic etiology of schizophrenia by regulating networks involved in neural development and brain function.
Abstract
Background
Over the past 50 years, there has been a decline in the number of physicians pursuing careers in clinical research. In ophthalmology, the need for clinician-investigators ...continues to grow with the increasing eye-care demands of the aging population. Expert panels have recommended exposing medical students early in their training to structured, didactic curricula with clinical research experience and mentoring opportunities.
Methods
To address this need, the Department of Research, Wills Eye Hospital, developed an 8-week Clinical Vision Research Training and Mentoring Program for undergraduate and medical students. The curriculum included an 11-hour lecture series on topics in research methods in ophthalmology and a 10-hour scientific writing workshop series. The program also involved hands-on participation in vision research projects and shadowing in one of Wills' subspecialty services. Students completed 40-question pre- and posttests on ophthalmology and research methodology. Scores were analyzed using a paired-sample
t
-test. The program also utilized a satisfaction survey.
Results
During 2014 and 2015, a total of 34 students out of 56 applicants were accepted to the Clinical Vision Research Training and Mentoring Program. Students scored significantly higher on the posttest (mean M = 79.78%, standard deviation SD = 6.25) than on the pretest (M = 71.43%, SD = 8.43);
p
< 0.001. Using a satisfaction survey, students strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the program and that the lecture series and manuscript writing workshops enhanced their learning.
Conclusions
The Wills Eye Clinical Vision Research Training and Mentoring Program provided an evidence-based foundation in research methods and manuscript development for students interested in careers in ophthalmology. Students emerged with clinical research skills and an increased understanding and appreciation of vision research. Results of the pre- and posttest analysis indicate that lecture material supplemented with hands-on experience can lead to better understanding of ophthalmology. This pilot program can serve as a research training and mentoring model for ophthalmology and other medical and surgical specialties.
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