BUILDing BLaST: promoting rural students' biomedical research careers using a culturally responsive, one health approach.

Background And Purpose: Most postsecondary institutions in the state of Alaska (USA) have a broad mission to serve diverse students, many of whom come from schools in rural villages that are accessible only by plane, boat, or snowmobile. The major research university, the University of Alaska in Fairbanks (UAF), serves a population whereby 40% are from groups recognized as underrepresented in the biomedical workforce. The purpose of this article is to describe the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD)-supported program in the state of Alaska that seeks to engage students from rural areas with a culturally relevant approach that is centered on the One Health paradigm, integrating human, animal, and environmental health.

Designing fish for improved human health status.

The time-course of accumulation of dietary organic and inorganic selenium (Se; 1.5 mg Se kg(-1) dry weight feed) was examined for muscle and hepatic tissues of hybrid striped bass (HSB) over 6 weeks. Animals, which had been fed a Se deficient diet for 2 months prior to study, were maintained in a recirculating life support system at 28 +/- 1 degrees C.

Cardiac hemodynamics of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) using simultaneous Doppler echocardiography and electrocardiography.

Using Doppler echocardiography and electrocardiography, we characterized cardiac hemodynamics, timing, and electromechanical function, and examined the effects of ventricular hypertrophy on systolic function in anesthetized rainbow trout. Atrial filling (D(SA)), ventricular filling (D(AV)), and ventricular ejection (D(VB)) accounted for 40-77, 13-27, and 22-41% of the cardiac cycle, respectively. Ventricular ejection occurred entirely during atrial filling and ended by the time the QT interval was 80% (SD=9%) completed.

Fishing for an ECG: a student-directed electrocardiographic laboratory using rainbow trout.

Cardiac physiology is emphasized in many undergraduate physiology courses, but few nonmammalian vertebrate model systems exist that 1) can be studied fairly noninvasively, 2) are well suited for controlled experimentation, and 3) emphasize principles characteristic of the vertebrate heart. We have developed an inquiry-based undergraduate/graduate-level laboratory in cardiac physiology and electrocardiography using rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum) and the BioPac MP30 data-acquisition system (other fish species and/or electrocardiographic recording devices can be substituted). This laboratory facilitates intensive study of vertebrate electrocardiograms (ECGs) under a variety of environmental and physiological perturbations and is ideal for use in multi-session, inquiry-based laboratory projects in animal physiology.

Vasoconstrictor response to topical beclomethasone in major depression.

Overactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been frequently described in depression. Due to the closed-loop nature of the HPA axis, one possible cause of this overactivity may be a defect in negative feedback regulation, in particular an abnormality of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). In the present study, the vasoconstrictor response to the topical glucocorticoid, beclomethasone, was used to examine GR function in depression.