Improving Transition Outcomes: Resource Mapping Workshop: Content Outline

Content outline used during the Improving Transition Outcomes Resource Mapping Workshops

Changes in ubiquitin immunoreactivity in developing rat brain: a putative role for ubiquitin and ubiquitin conjugates in dendrite outgrowth and differentiation.

The role of ubiquitin in development of the mammalian brain has been studied using a monoclonal antibody, RHUb1, specific for ubiquitin. Immunodevelopment of western blots of homogenate samples of the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum prepared from animals of known postnatal age show marked developmental changes in conjugate level. Striking decreases in the level of a prominent conjugate of molecular weight 22,000, which is identified as ubiquitinated histone, are observed during the first postnatal week in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, but not the cerebellum. A marked overall developmental decrease in the level of high-molecular-weight (> 40,000) ubiquitin conjugates which occurs predominantly during the third, but also the fourth, postnatal week is observed in all three regions. Immunocytochemical data obtained with the RHUb1 antibody show intense staining of neuronal perikarya, nuclei and dendrites in early postnatal cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Staining of pyramidal cell perikarya and dendrites is particularly prominent. The intensity of dendritic staining, particularly for the cerebral cortex, shows a striking decrease after postnatal day 14 and only faint dendritic staining is observed in the adult. In early postnatal cerebellum, immunoreactivity is predominantly nuclear, though some staining of the proximal regions of Purkinje cell dendrites is observed between postnatal days 4 and 19. As with the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, most of the ubiquitin reactivity is lost in adult animals. The loss of dendritic staining, particularly in the cerebral cortex, correlates with the decrease in the level of high-molecular-weight ubiquitin conjugates observed on the western blots. Immunodevelopment of western blots of a range of subcellular fractions prepared from developing rat forebrain shows that the developmental decrease in the level of high-molecular-weight ubiquitin conjugates is not uniform for all fractions. The decrease in conjugate level is most marked for the cell-soluble, mitochondrial and detergent-insoluble cytoskeletal fractions. Taken overall, the data suggest a role for ubiquitin in dendrite outgrowth and arborization, loss of dendritic ubiquitin immunoreactivity correlating with completion of these processes.

FY 07 Recycled Content Plastic Bag and Soy Inks Report

As required in Iowa Code section 307.21, this is a summary of purchasing activity for soy-based inks and recycled content trash bags. The figures are for fiscal year 2007.

Analysis of digestive tract content of the larvae of Polybia scutellaris (White) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Polybia scutellaris (White, 1841) is a social wasp of biological interest for its role as pollinator and maybe as biological control agent of sanitary and agricultural pests. This study examines the digestive tract contents of the larvae of P. scutellaris from four nests in Magdalena (Buenos Aires province, Argentina). Contents included both animal (arthropod parts) and plant (pollen, leaf and fruit epidermis) parts. The pollen content analysis showed that the wasps visited 19 different taxa of plants during the last active period of the colony before the nests had been collected. The range of sources used by P. scutellaris allows us characterizing the species as a generalist flower visitor. Wasps visited both native and exotic plants located nearby the nest. Most of the epidermal plant remains found in the larval digestive tract belonged to Malvaceae, a family not exploited by the studied colonies as pollen source.

Intergenerational mobility and the informative content of surnames

We propose an alternative method for measuring intergenerational mobility. Measurements obtained fromtraditional methods (based on panel data) are scarce, difficult to compare across countries and almost impossible to get across time. In particular, this means that we do not know how intergenerational mobility is correlated with growth, income or the degree of inequality.Our proposal is to measure the informative content of surnames in one census. The more information thesurname has on the income of an individual, the more important is her background in determining her outcomes; and thus, the less mobility there is.The reason is that surnames provide information about family relationships because the distribution ofsurnames is necessarily very skewed. A large percentage of the population is bound to have a very unfrequent surname. For them the partition generated by surnames is very informative on family linkages.First, we develop a model whose endogenous variable is the joint distribution of surnames and income.There, we explore the relationship between mobility and the informative content of surnames. We allow for assortative mating to be a determinant of both.Second, we use our methodology to show that in large Spanish region the informative content of surnamesis large and consistent with the model. We also show that it has increased over time, indicating a substantial drop in the degree of mobility. Finally, using the peculiarities of the Spanish surname convention we show that the degree of assortative mating has also increased over time, in such a manner that might explain the decrease in mobility observed.Our method allows us to provide measures of mobility comparable across time. It should also allow us tostudy other issues related to inheritance.

Data-based approach for developing a physical activity frequency questionnaire.

Measurement of total energy expenditure may be crucial to an understanding of the relation between physical activity and disease and in order to frame public health intervention. To devise a self-administered physical activity frequency questionnaire (PAFQ), the following data-based approach was used. A 24-hour recall was administered to a random sample of 919 adult residents of Geneva, Switzerland. The data obtained were used to establish the list of activities (and their median duration) that contributed to 95% of the energy expended, separately for men and women. Activities that were trivial for the whole sample but that contributed to > or = 10% of an individual's energy expenditure were also selected. The final PAFQ lists 70 activities or group of activities with their typical duration. About 20 minutes are required for respondents to indicate the number of days and the number of hours per day that they performed each activity. The PAFQ method was validated against a heart rate monitor, a more objective method. The total energy estimated by the PAFQ in 41 volunteers correlated well (r = 0.76) with estimates using a heart rate monitor. The authors conclude that the design of their self-administered physical activity frequency questionnaire based on data from 24-hour recall appeared to accurately estimate energy expenditure.

FY 08 Recycled Content Plastic Bags and Soy Inks Report

As required in Iowa Code section 307.21, the Iowa Department of Transportation submits the following summary of purchasing activity for soy based inks and recycled trash bags. The figures are for Fiscal Year 2008.

DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Digital libraries (DL) are seen as a hope to developing countries in their struggle for accessing bibliographic resources, especially in a context where the traditional distribution mechanisms failed tragically. Several difficulties are however faced by these countries to build and use digital libraries, due mainly to its high development costs and to the poor existing ICT resources in these countries. This paper discusses the importance of digital libraries for developing countries and introduces the main challenges they face in building and using such libraries. The current alternatives and major initiatives for making digital information accessible to developing countries are also addressed.

Food's visually perceived fat content affects discrimination speed in an orthogonal spatial task.

Choosing what to eat is a complex activity for humans. Determining a food's pleasantness requires us to combine information about what is available at a given time with knowledge of the food's palatability, texture, fat content, and other nutritional information. It has been suggested that humans may have an implicit knowledge of a food's fat content based on its appearance; Toepel et al. (Neuroimage 44:967-974, 2009) reported visual-evoked potential modulations after participants viewed images of high-energy, high-fat food (HF), as compared to viewing low-fat food (LF). In the present study, we investigated whether there are any immediate behavioural consequences of these modulations for human performance. HF, LF, or non-food (NF) images were used to exogenously direct participants' attention to either the left or the right. Next, participants made speeded elevation discrimination responses (up vs. down) to visual targets presented either above or below the midline (and at one of three stimulus onset asynchronies: 150, 300, or 450 ms). Participants responded significantly more rapidly following the presentation of a HF image than following the presentation of either LF or NF images, despite the fact that the identity of the images was entirely task-irrelevant. Similar results were found when comparing response speeds following images of high-carbohydrate (HC) food items to low-carbohydrate (LC) food items. These results support the view that people rapidly process (i.e. within a few hundred milliseconds) the fat/carbohydrate/energy value or, perhaps more generally, the pleasantness of food. Potentially as a result of HF/HC food items being more pleasant and thus having a higher incentive value, it seems as though seeing these foods results in a response readiness, or an overall alerting effect, in the human brain.

Building digital libraries in developing countries

Digital libraries (DL) are seen as the hope for developing countries in their struggle to access scientific and academic publications. However, building such libraries in developing countries is a real challenge. These countries usually face several difficulties, such as low computer and Internet penetration rates, poor ICT infrastructure, lack of qualified human resources, lack of financial resources, etc. Thus, it is imperative finding alternative mechanisms of building DL that best fit the specificities of these countries. This paper presents the process used for building a digital library at the University Jean Piaget of Cape Verde, created in a context of scarce access to printed materials and serious difficulties in accessing ICT resources. This paper also presents the challenges, the solutions and the adopted methodological framework.

Protein content of leaf-cutting ant queens before the nuptial flight and during the post-claustral phase

Protein content of leaf-cutting ant queens before the nuptial flight and during the post-claustral phase. This study evaluated the crude protein content of queens of Atta sexdens before the nuptial flight and after the claustral phase in laboratory and field colonies. The hypothesis was that protein is used for survival of the queen and for early colony growth during the claustral phase. Additionally, the nest morphology, live biomass and adult population of field colonies were evaluated. Crude protein was determined by digestion of the organic material with sulfuric acid at high temperatures. The mean crude protein content was 123.23 ± 11.20 mg for females before the nuptial flight and 70.44 ± 12.21 mg for laboratory-reared queens after the claustral phase. The post-claustral crude protein content of field-collected queen was 55.90 ± 9.18 mg. With respect to the loss of crude protein as a function of duration of the claustral phase, laboratory-reared queens lost 52.79 mg and field-collected queens lost 67.33 mg compared to females before the nuptial flight. A positive linear correlation was observed between the weight of field-collected queens (256.4 ± 36.3 mg) and colony biomass (13.02 ± 9.12 g), but there was no correlation between biomass and nest depth (13.11 ± 3.82 cm). As expected, the present results support the hypothesis that protein is used for survival of the queen and for early colony growth, as demonstrated by the reduction in crude protein content as a function of duration of the claustral phase. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide data of the dynamics of protein reserves in leaf-cutting ant queens during the claustral phase.

Substance P-like-immunoreactive sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia of the chick embryo: ontogenesis and influence of peripheral targets.

The expression of substance P (SP) was studied in sensory neurons of developing chick lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia (DRG) by using a mixture of periodic acid, lysine and paraformaldehyde as fixative and a monoclonal antibody for SP-like immunostaining. The first SP-like-immunoreactive DRG cells appeared first at E5, then rapidly increased in number to reach a peak (88% of ganglion cells) at E8, and finally declined (59% at E12, 51% after hatching). The fall of the SP-like-positive DRG cells resulted from two concomitant events affecting a subset of small B-neurons: a loss of neuronal SP-like immunoreactivity and cell death. After one hindlimb resection at an early (E6) or late (E12) stage of development (that is before or after establishment of peripheral connections), the DRG were examined 6 days later. In both cases, a drastic neuronal death occurred in the ispilateral DRG. However, the resection at E6 did not change the percentage of SP-like-positive neurons, while the resection at E12 severely reduced the proportion of SP-like-immunoreactive DRG cells (25%). In conclusion, connections established between DRG and peripheral target tissues not only promote the survival of sensory neurons, but also control the maintenance of SP-like-expression. Factors issued from innervated targets such as NGF would support the survival of SP-expressing DRG cells and enhance their SP content while other factors present in skeletal muscle or skin would hinder SP expression and therefore lower SP levels in a subset of primary sensory neurons.