Are "Extracurricular" Activities Really Extracurricular? The Activities That Matter Least in School Are the Ones That Best Teach Real-World Critical and Creative Thinking.

Curricula in school often do not prepare students adequately for the kinds of critical and creative thinking that they will need in their careers and lives. Part of the problem is that the characteristics of real-world problems differ greatly from the characteristics of many curricular activities, and so what the students learn in school about critical and creative thinking may fail when generalized to everyday problems. We suggest that extracurricular activities, such as in aspects of musical and athletic training, often prepare students better for real-world challenges.

Thyroid hormone remodels cortex to coordinate body-wide metabolism and exploration.

Animals adapt to environmental conditions by modifying the function of their internal organs, including the brain. To be adaptive, alterations in behavior must be coordinated with the functional state of organs throughout the body. Here, we find that thyroid hormone-a regulator of metabolism in many peripheral organs-directly activates cell-type-specific transcriptional programs in the frontal cortex of adult male mice.

Keypoint-MoSeq: parsing behavior by linking point tracking to pose dynamics.

Keypoint tracking algorithms can flexibly quantify animal movement from videos obtained in a wide variety of settings. However, it remains unclear how to parse continuous keypoint data into discrete actions. This challenge is particularly acute because keypoint data are susceptible to high-frequency jitter that clustering algorithms can mistake for transitions between actions.

Characterizing the structure of mouse behavior using Motion Sequencing.

Spontaneous mouse behavior is composed from repeatedly used modules of movement (e.g., rearing, running or grooming) that are flexibly placed into sequences whose content evolves over time.

Metabotropic signaling within somatostatin interneurons controls transient thalamocortical inputs during development.

During brain development, neural circuits undergo major activity-dependent restructuring. Circuit wiring mainly occurs through synaptic strengthening following the Hebbian "fire together, wire together" precept. However, select connections, essential for circuit development, are transient.

Metabotropic signaling within somatostatin interneurons controls transient thalamocortical inputs during development.

During brain development, neural circuits undergo major activity-dependent restructuring. Circuit wiring mainly occurs through synaptic strengthening following the Hebbian "fire together, wire together" precept. However, select connections, essential for circuit development, are transient.

Contribution of the IGCR1 regulatory element and the 3' CTCF-binding elements to regulation of V(D)J recombination.

Immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region exons are assembled in progenitor-B cells, from V, D, and J gene segments located in separate clusters across the locus. RAG endonuclease initiates V(D)J recombination from a J-based recombination center (RC). Cohesin-mediated extrusion of upstream chromatin past RC-bound RAG presents Ds for joining to Js to form a DJ-RC.

Contribution of the IGCR1 regulatory element and the 3 CBEs to Regulation of V(D)J Recombination.

Unlabelled: Immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region exons are assembled in progenitor-B cells, from V , D, and J gene segments located in separate clusters across the locus. RAG endonuclease initiates V(D)J recombination from a J -based recombination center (RC). Cohesin-mediated extrusion of upstream chromatin past RC-bound RAG presents Ds for joining to J s to form a DJ -RC.

Keypoint-MoSeq: parsing behavior by linking point tracking to pose dynamics.

Keypoint tracking algorithms have revolutionized the analysis of animal behavior, enabling investigators to flexibly quantify behavioral dynamics from conventional video recordings obtained in a wide variety of settings. However, it remains unclear how to parse continuous keypoint data into the modules out of which behavior is organized. This challenge is particularly acute because keypoint data is susceptible to high frequency jitter that clustering algorithms can mistake for transitions between behavioral modules.

Mouse spontaneous behavior reflects individual variation rather than estrous state.

Behavior is shaped by both the internal state of an animal and its individual behavioral biases. Rhythmic variation in gonadal hormones during the estrous cycle is a defining feature of the female internal state, one that regulates many aspects of sociosexual behavior. However, it remains unclear whether estrous state influences spontaneous behavior and, if so, how these effects might relate to individual behavioral variation.

An Effective Deep Learning Framework for Cell Segmentation in Microscopy Images.

Cell segmentation is a common step in cell behavior analysis. Reliably and automatically segmenting cells in microscopy images remains challenging, especially in differential inference contrast microscopy images and phase-contrast microscopy images. In this paper, we propose a deep learning solution combining a Mask RCNN architecture with Shape-Aware Loss to produce cell instance segmentation.

Increased ACTL6A occupancy within mSWI/SNF chromatin remodelers drives human squamous cell carcinoma.

Mammalian SWI/SNF (BAF) chromatin remodelers play dosage-sensitive roles in many human malignancies and neurologic disorders. The gene encoding the BAF subunit actin-like 6a (ACTL6A) is amplified early in the development of many squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), but its oncogenic role remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that ACTL6A overexpression leads to its stoichiometric assembly into BAF complexes and drives their interaction and engagement with specific regulatory regions in the genome.

A Provider-Facing eHealth Tool for Transitioning Youth With Special Health Care Needs From Pediatric to Adult Care: Mixed Methods, User-Engaged Usability Study.

Background: There is a need for medical education on health care transitions for youth with special health care needs. The Texas Transition Toolkit (the tool) supports providers through a one-stop shop for researching literature on care transitions, a catalog of care transition tools, and guides for developing care transition programs.

Objective: This study aims to assess the functionality and usability of the tool with providers working with transition-aged children and youth with special health care needs (representative users).

Ku70 suppresses alternative end joining in G1-arrested progenitor B cells.

Classical nonhomologous end joining (C-NHEJ) repairs DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) throughout interphase but predominates in G1 phase when homologous recombination is unavailable. Complexes containing the Ku70/80 ("Ku") and XRCC4/ligase IV (Lig4) core C-NHEJ factors are required, respectively, for sensing and joining DSBs. While XRCC4/Lig4 are absolutely required for joining RAG1/2 endonuclease ("RAG")-initiated DSBs during V(D)J recombination in G1-phase progenitor lymphocytes, cycling cells deficient for XRCC4/Lig4 also can join chromosomal DSBs by alternative end-joining (A-EJ) pathways.

Factors Affecting Adoption of a Technology-Based Tool for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support Among Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in South Texas.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe a novel computerized diabetes education tool and explore factors influencing self-selection and use among primarily Hispanic patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in south Texas.

Methods: Study participants included 953 adult patients with type 2 diabetes enrolled in a diabetes education program between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017. Participants were asked to choose either a new technology-based diabetes education tool with a touch-screen device or a traditional face-to-face education method.

Loop extrusion mediates physiological Igh locus contraction for RAG scanning.

RAG endonuclease initiates Igh V(D)J recombination in progenitor B cells by binding a J-recombination signal sequence (RSS) within a recombination centre (RC) and then linearly scanning upstream chromatin, presented by loop extrusion mediated by cohesin, for convergent D-RSSs. The utilization of convergently oriented RSSs and cryptic RSSs is intrinsic to long-range RAG scanning. Scanning of RAG from the DJ-RC-RSS to upstream convergent V-RSSs is impeded by D-proximal CTCF-binding elements (CBEs).

Patient Education on Opioid Storage, Security, and Disposal of Opioids: Should the Approach Differ in Rural and Urban Settings?

Purpose: The opioid crisis is devastating rural America, but findings of opioid utilization vary among previous studies. Previous studies were focused on misuse behaviors or overdose issues. This study will focus on the number of pills and prescriptions that rural and urban adults received.

CTCF orchestrates long-range cohesin-driven V(D)J recombinational scanning.

The RAG endonuclease initiates Igh locus V(D)J recombination in progenitor (pro)-B cells. Upon binding a recombination centre-based J, RAG scans upstream chromatin via loop extrusion, potentially mediated by cohesin, to locate Ds and assemble a DJ-based recombination centre. CTCF looping factor-bound elements (CBEs) within IGCR1 upstream of Ds impede RAG scanning; however, their inactivation allows scanning to proximal Vs, where additional CBEs activate rearrangement and impede scanning any further upstream.

RAG Chromatin Scanning During V(D)J Recombination and Chromatin Loop Extrusion are Related Processes.

An effective adaptive immune system depends on the ability of developing B and T cells to generate diverse immunoglobulin (Ig) and T cell receptor repertoires, respectively. Such diversity is achieved through a programmed somatic recombination process whereby germline V, D, and J segments of antigen receptor loci are assembled to form the variable region V(D)J exons of Ig and TCRs. Studies of this process, termed V(D)J recombination, have provided key insights into our understanding of a variety of general gene regulatory and DNA repair processes over the last several decades.

An Integrated Quantitative Index for Measuring Chronic Multisite Pain: The Multiple Areas of Pain (MAP) Study.

Objective: Despite the high prevalence of chronic multisite pain, there is little consensus on methods to characterize it. Commonly used assessments report only one dimension of pain, that is, intensity, thus ignoring the spatial aspect of pain. We developed a novel pain quantification index, the Integrated Pain Quantification Index (IPQI), on a scale of 0 to 1 that integrates multiple distinct pain measures into a single value, thus representing multidimensional pain information with a single value.

Pulse duration settings in subthalamic stimulation for Parkinson's disease.

Background: Stimulation parameters in deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus for Parkinson's disease (PD) are rarely tested in double-blind conditions. Evidence-based recommendations on optimal stimulator settings are needed. Results from the CUSTOM-DBS study are reported, comparing 2 pulse durations.