Health and wellness coaching positively impacts individuals with chronic pain and pain-related interference.

Objectives: Health and wellness coaching (HWC) interventions have been reported to improve health outcomes for individuals with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer. However, HWC also holds potential as an effective intervention within a biopsychosocial chronic pain management framework. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of HWC on individuals with chronic pain.

Authentic Inquiry through Modeling in Biology (AIM-Bio): An Introductory Laboratory Curriculum That Increases Undergraduates' Scientific Agency and Skills.

Providing opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics undergraduates to engage in authentic scientific practices is likely to influence their view of science and may impact their decision to persist through graduation. Laboratory courses provide a natural place to introduce students to scientific practices, but existing curricula often miss this opportunity by focusing on confirming science content rather than exploring authentic questions. Integrating authentic science within laboratory courses is particularly challenging at high-enrollment institutions and community colleges, where access to research-active faculty may be limiting.

Multistep mutational transformation of a protein fold through structural intermediates.

New protein folds may evolve from existing folds through metamorphic evolution involving a dramatic switch in structure. To mimic pathways by which amino acid sequence changes could induce a change in fold, we designed two folded hybrids of Xfaso 1 and Pfl 6, a pair of homologous Cro protein sequences with ~40% identity but different folds (all-α vs. α + β, respectively).

Studying protein fold evolution with hybrids of differently folded homologs.

To study the sequence determinants governing protein fold evolution, we generated hybrid sequences from two homologous proteins with 40% identity but different folds: Pfl 6 Cro, which has a mixed α + β structure, and Xfaso 1 Cro, which has an all α-helical structure. First, we first examined eight chimeric hybrids in which the more structurally conserved N-terminal half of one protein was fused to the more structurally divergent C-terminal half of the other. None of these chimeras folded, as judged by circular dichroism spectra and thermal melts, suggesting that both halves have strong intrinsic preferences for the native global fold pattern, and/or that the interfaces between the halves are not readily interchangeable.

NMR elastometry of fluid membranes in the mesoscopic regime.

In solid-state 2H NMR of fluid lipid bilayers, quasielastic deformations at MHz frequencies are detected as a square-law dependence of the nuclear spin-lattice (R(1Z)) relaxation rates and order parameters (S(CD)). The signature square-law slope is found to decrease progressively with the mole fraction of cholesterol and with the acyl chain length, due to a stiffening of the membrane. The correspondence to thermal vesicle fluctuations and molecular dynamics simulations implies that a broad distribution of modes is present, ranging from the membrane size down to the molecular dimensions.