The Professional Identity of STEM Faculty as Instructors of Course-based Research Experiences.

The professional identity of scientists has historically been cultivated to value research over teaching, which can undermine initiatives that aim to reform science education. Course-Based Research Experiences (CRE) and the inclusive Research and Education Communities (iREC) are two successful and impactful reform efforts that integrate research and teaching. The aim of this study is to explicate the professional identity of instructors who implement a CRE within an established iREC and to explore how this identity contributes to the success of these programs.

Models of Classroom Assessment for Course-Based Research Experiences.

Course-based research pedagogy involves positioning students as contributors to authentic research projects as part of an engaging educational experience that promotes their learning and persistence in science. To develop a model for assessing and grading students engaged in this type of learning experience, the assessment aims and practices of a community of experienced course-based research instructors were collected and analyzed. This approach defines four aims of course-based research assessment - 1) Assessing Laboratory Work and Scientific Thinking; 2) Evaluating Mastery of Concepts, Quantitative Thinking and Skills; 3) Appraising Forms of Scientific Communication; and 4) Metacognition of Learning - along with a set of practices for each aim.

Reciprocal regulation of hnRNP C and CELF2 through translation and transcription tunes splicing activity in T cells.

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) frequently regulate the expression of other RBPs in mammalian cells. Such cross-regulation has been proposed to be important to control networks of coordinated gene expression; however, much remains to be understood about how such networks of cross-regulation are established and what the functional consequence is of coordinated or reciprocal expression of RBPs. Here we demonstrate that the RBPs CELF2 and hnRNP C regulate the expression of each other, such that depletion of one results in reduced expression of the other.

HnRNP L represses cryptic exons.

The fidelity of RNA splicing is regulated by a network of splicing enhancers and repressors, although the rules that govern this process are not yet fully understood. One mechanism that contributes to splicing fidelity is the repression of nonconserved cryptic exons by splicing factors that recognize dinucleotide repeats. We previously identified that TDP-43 and PTBP1/PTBP2 are capable of repressing cryptic exons utilizing UG and CU repeats, respectively.

The human PMR1 endonuclease stimulates cell motility by down regulating miR-200 family microRNAs.

The motility of MCF-7 cells increases following expression of a human PMR1 transgene and the current study sought to identify the molecular basis for this phenotypic change. Ensemble and single cell analyses show increased motility is dependent on the endonuclease activity of hPMR1, and cells expressing active but not inactive hPMR1 invade extracellular matrix. Nanostring profiling identified 14 microRNAs that are downregulated by hPMR1, including all five members of the miR-200 family and others that also regulate invasive growth.

In-cell SHAPE reveals that free 30S ribosome subunits are in the inactive state.

It was shown decades ago that purified 30S ribosome subunits readily interconvert between "active" and "inactive" conformations in a switch that involves changes in the functionally important neck and decoding regions. However, the physiological significance of this conformational change had remained unknown. In exponentially growing Escherichia coli cells, RNA SHAPE probing revealed that 16S rRNA largely adopts the inactive conformation in stably assembled, mature 30S subunits and the active conformation in translating (70S) ribosomes.

Distinct functional classes of ram mutations in 16S rRNA.

During decoding, the ribosome selects the correct (cognate) aminoacyl-tRNA (aa-tRNA) from a large pool of incorrect aa-tRNAs through a two-stage mechanism. In the initial selection stage, aa-tRNA is delivered to the ribosome as part of a ternary complex with elongation factor EF-Tu and GTP. Interactions between codon and anticodon lead to activation of the GTPase domain of EF-Tu and GTP hydrolysis.

Missense suppressor mutations in 16S rRNA reveal the importance of helices h8 and h14 in aminoacyl-tRNA selection.

The molecular basis of the induced-fit mechanism that determines the fidelity of protein synthesis remains unclear. Here, we isolated mutations in 16S rRNA that increase the rate of miscoding and stop codon read-through. Many of the mutations clustered along interfaces between the 30S shoulder domain and other parts of the ribosome, strongly implicating shoulder movement in the induced-fit mechanism of decoding.

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index as a predictor of cardiovascular mortality in the Dublin Outcome Study.

We hypothesized that the dynamic relation between diastolic and systolic blood pressure over 24 hours provides a measure of arterial stiffness and might, therefore, predict cardiovascular mortality over and above pulse pressure. At baseline, while not on antihypertensive medication, 11 291 patients (mean age, 54.6 years; 5965 women) underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Superiority of ambulatory over clinic blood pressure measurement in predicting mortality: the Dublin outcome study.

The purpose of this study was to determine if ambulatory blood pressure measurement predicted total and cardiovascular mortality over and beyond clinic blood pressure measurement and other cardiovascular risk factors; 5292 untreated hypertensive patients referred to a single blood pressure clinic who had clinic and ambulatory blood pressure measurement at baseline were followed up in a prospective study of mortality outcome. Multiple Cox regression was used to model time to total and cause-specific mortality for ambulatory blood pressure measurement while adjusting for clinic blood pressure measurement and other risk factors at baseline. There were 646 deaths (of which 389 were cardiovascular) during a median follow-up period of 8.

Ambulatory blood pressure measurement as a predictor of outcome in an Irish population: methodology for ascertaining mortality outcome.

Background: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has proven to be a superior predictor of morbid events when compared to clinic or office blood pressure measurement (CBPM). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of ABPM in a sample of 14 414 people referred for management of cardiovascular risk.

Methods: In this paper we describe the methodology required to examine mortality outcome in the absence of a national unique identifier.