17 research outputs found
Lung Mucosal Response to Repeated Inhalational Insults with Immunomodulatory Agents in a Murine Model of Fungal Asthma: Airway Epithelium Takes the Center Stage
No full textAsthma is a debilitating disease of the lungs affecting 235 million people worldwide. Fungus-associated asthma leads to a particularly severe type of disease, and exposure to environmental fungi and their products is unavoidable due to the ubiquitous nature of fungal species. Besides being allergenic, fungi are opportunistic pathogens, and anti-fungal and/or allergic pathways may be modified through repeated inhalation of immunomodulatory agents, affecting the outcome of fungus-induced asthma. Our aim in this project was to investigate the extent to which repeated inhalation of immunomodulatory agents influence the lung mucosal responses in a na?ve murine host or in one that had been sensitized to fungal proteins (allergic). The immunomodulatory substances chosen hold relevance to human inhalational exposure, and included live or irradiation-killed Aspergillus fumigatus (a fungi) spores, deoxyxnivalenol (a mycotoxin), and fluticasone propionate (an inhalationally administered corticosteroid, commonly prescribed for allergic asthma). In a na?ve host, inhalation of live A. fumigatus spores showed pathological features of fungal asthma. However, in an allergen-sensitized lung, both dead and live A. fumigatus spores established fungal airway disease, albeit to different extents. Next, we tested the effect of deoxynivalenol in an allergic host and found that its repeated inhalation did not affect pulmonary disease pathology, but did lead to a dose- and time- dependent increase in mucosal and systemic total IgA. Finally, we tested the effect of fluticasone propionate, and found that it did not influence the development of fungal airway disease, but did induce dynamic changes in lung physiology and antibody titers. Besides mimicking human inhalational exposures, inhalation ensures direct interaction of the inhaled substances with airway epithelium, which plays an important role in defense against inhaled substances and in asthma pathophysiology. By analyzing various mechanisms involved in murine lung-mucosal response to the inhaled substances, a critical involvement of airway epithelium as an orchestrator of immune responses is highlighted, and this would inform mechanism-based future studies. In conclusion, this project is likely to aid in establishing evidence based standards for fungus-related exposures and in making informed therapeutic decisions for fungus-associated diseases.North Dakota State University. Microbiological Sciences DepartmentConcordia College (Moorhead, MN). Biology Departmen
Integrating neuroscience and immunology core concepts to develop a neuroimmunology curriculum
No full textTraining students in interdisciplinary thinking is critical for the future of scientific discovery and problem-solving more generally. Therefore, students must have early opportunities to grapple with knowns and unknowns at the frontiers of interdisciplinary inquiry. Neuroimmunology challenges students to think at the intersection of two rapidly evolving fields, neuroscience and immunology. As these disciplines focus on complex systems, their intersection represents a unique opportunity for students to witness the nature and process of interdisciplinary collaboration and synthesis. However, the fast pace of research and specialized knowledge in both disciplines present challenges for instructors interested in teaching the subject to undergraduate students. In this article, we share and describe a curriculum developed using a backward-design approach to analyze core concepts in both neuroscience and immunology, which were articulated by disciplinary experts in collaboration with their respective education communities. We determine overlaps between these conceptual frameworks, identify key prerequisite knowledge, and suggest example activities to introduce neuroimmunology to undergraduate students. This curriculum may be used for an entire course, or modified into shorter units that instructors can use within diverse educational contexts. We hope that this effort will encourage instructors to adopt neuroimmunology into their curricula, provide a roadmap to forge other such interdisciplinary educational collaborations, and prepare students to develop creative solutions to current and future societal problems
Cellular And Humoral Immune Responses Differ With Inhalation Of Viable And Non-Viable Aspergillus Fumigatus Spores
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A group-forming course content-focused icebreaker for life science classrooms
No full textCollaboration and communication are important competencies for undergraduate life science education, as noted in the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education report. However, initiating collaboration and communication in the classroom can be an anxiety-inducing experience for many students. In contrast to traditional-style icebreakers, we introduce a course content-focused icebreaker activity that served as a group-forming undertaking on the first day of class. We developed four sets of handouts (icebreaker tickets), each having a common course theme (e.g., microbiology, cell biology, physiological system infections/disorders, virology). Students were randomly provided with a ticket at the beginning of the course, and they worked to establish groups with their peers, based on their own interpretation of the ticket’s content and rationalization of a grouping scheme. Student feedback and engagement data collected from implementation at three independent institutions were largely positive, where students reported the activity to be an effective tool for building a course content-focused community of learners. The icebreaker tickets and instructor’s notes disseminated in this manuscript can be adapted to fit educators’ course goals and help set the tone for the first day of the class and beyond that fosters communication and collaboration among student
Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids therapy for stroke (Review-Intervention)
No full textAcknowledgements: Prof Malcolm R Macleod was a co-author for the protocol of this review and he also assisted with the retrieval of some reports. We thank Cochrane Stroke, and in particular Hazel Fraser(Managing Editor) for her guidance, and Joshua Cheyne(Information Specialist) for his support in the development of the search strategies and performing some of the searches, and for his advice throughout the review process. We are grateful to Jenny Bellorini for copy editing this update of the review. We also thank all the authors of the original trials that replied to our information requests. In particular, Prof Marianne Geleijnse (ALPHAOMEGA), Dr Aldo P Maggioni (GISSI HF), Prof Alan Dangour and Prof Elizabeth Allen (OPAL), Dr Irene Marzona and Dr Maria Carla Roncaglioni (Risk & Prevention Study), and Dr Rodrigo Zapata (Saito2017), for providing additional data from their studies. Dr He Ni, Dr Teresa Grohmann, and Khairun N Sumali provided support with translation of study reports. CG Alvarez Campano was funded by the Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) and the Institute of Innovation andTechnology Transfer (IWTW) (grant number 457349).Peer reviewe
Body image dissatisfaction among the adolescents: What can psychologist do?
No full textMost adolescents become greatly concerned about body image. Two factors that may influence the adolescents' concern about their bodies are the media and the persuasion from significant persons, such as family members and peer groups. A number of researchers had found that females were more likely to judge themselves overweight than males and this tendency was strongest in adolescent and young adult women (Prevos, 2005). The most common body image problem is body image dissatisfaction. Some studies indicate that body image dissatisfaction can lead to some serious problems, such as eating disorders, smoking behaviour, low self-esteem, and depression; therefore, psychologists need to find some solutions to cope with this problem. The studies of body image dissatisfaction and its intervention in Indonesia, especially in Surabaya, are increasing lately. Some researchers tried to apply alternatives of therapies to deal with adolescence body image dissatisfaction, such as bibliotherapy (Sukamto, 2005; Hidayat, 2008), hypnotherapy (Sumali, 2007), and cognitive therapy (Indria, 2007). The purpose of this article is to discuss the results of those studies integrated with theoretical reviews. Furthermore, the author hopes this article will inspire other psychologists to think of other solutions to cope with body image problems
Epidermal Club Cells in Fishes: A Case for Ecoimmunological Analysis
No full textEpidermal club cells (ECCs), along with mucus cells, are present in the skin of many fishes, particularly in the well-studied Ostariophysan family Cyprinidae. Most ECC-associated literature has focused on the potential role of ECCs as a component of chemical alarm cues released passively when a predator damages the skin of its prey, alerting nearby prey to the presence of an active predator. Because this warning system is maintained by receiver-side selection (senders are eaten), there is want of a mechanism to confer fitness benefits to the individual that invests in ECCs to explain their evolutionary origin and maintenance in this speciose group of fishes. In an attempt to understand the fitness benefits that accrue from investment in ECCs, we reviewed the phylogenetic distribution of ECCs and their histochemical properties. ECCs are found in various forms in all teleost superorders and in the chondrostei inferring either early or multiple independent origins over evolutionary time. We noted that ECCs respond to several environmental stressors/immunomodulators including parasites and pathogens, are suppressed by immunomodulators such as testosterone and cortisol, and their density covaries with food ration, demonstrating a dynamic metabolic cost to maintaining these cells. ECC density varies widely among and within fish populations, suggesting that ECCs may be a convenient tool with which to assay ecoimmunological tradeoffs between immune stress and foraging activity, reproductive state, and predator–prey interactions. Here, we review the case for ECC immune function, immune functions in fishes generally, and encourage future work describing the precise role of ECCs in the immune system and life history evolution in fishes
Twitter: More than Tweets for Undergraduate Student Researchers
No full textDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, biology educators were forced to think of ways to communicate with their students, engaging them in science and with the scientific community. For educators using course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), the challenge to have students perform real science, analyze their work, and present their results to a larger scientific audience was difficult as the world moved online. Many instructors were able to adapt CUREs utilizing online data analysis and virtual meeting software for class discussions and synchronous learning. However, interaction with the larger scientific community, an integral component of making science relevant for students and allowing them to network with other young scientists and experts in their fields, was still missing. Even before COVID-19, a subset of students would travel to regional or national meetings to present their work, but most did not have these opportunities. With over 300 million active users, Twitter provided a unique platform for students to present their work to a large and varied audience. The Cell Biology Education Consortium hosted an innovative scientific poster session entirely on Twitter to engage undergraduate researchers with one another and with the much broader community. The format for posting on this popular social media platform challenged students to simplify their science and make their points using only a few words and slides. Nineteen institutions and over one hundred students participated in this event. Even though these practices emerged as a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Twitter presentation strategy shared in this paper can be used widely
Twitter: More than Tweets for Undergraduate Student Researchers
No full textA vital component of a CURE is feeling a sense of community. While our students often present to each other at the end of the semester, we have struggled with having them interact with a wider audience. A few students may present class results at a regional or national meeting; however, feasibility limits this opportunity to only a handful of students. Twitter has been used as a tool to disseminate scientific findings (1, 2). As a result of COVID-19, scientific societies have used Twitter to provide snapshots of research to be presented at their virtual meetings using “Twitter Posters” (Michael Morrison, https://osf.io/csxad/; https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQDL8r3r_d4). We modified this idea so that each student was given the opportunity to present their CURE findings to a broad audience using Twitter. The result was a flexible environment in which students learning both remotely and in-person could interact with each other. The Cell Biology Education Consortium (CBEC, www. cellbioed.com) hosted a virtual poster session on Twitter and opened the event to faculty and undergraduate research groups. Our goal was to encourage our students to use Twitter positively, promote undergraduate research, and share their findings with the public to increase science literacy. In addition, students were reminded to share their work respectfully. For many students, this was their first time telling someone outside their campus about their research. In total, 19 institutions and over 100 students participated. This broad range of participants allowed us to create a list of best practices and ideas for helping others utilize this resource (see Appendix 1). While Twitter was used exclusively in this case, our approach can span across other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Interestingly, the class Twitter poster format was used as a way to provide online and remote students a platform to present their research. However, as a result of having an organized poster symposium, this format was quickly integrated into in-person classes. Although these practices emerged as a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategy shared in this paper is likely to remain and become widespread in the post-pandemic world due to the inherent challenges associated with in-person conference presentations
