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Nicotine is a major alkaloid in tobacco plants and an addictive component of tobacco products. Some bacteria grow on tobacco plants and have evolved the ability to metabolize nicotine. As part of our microbiology teaching lab, we used minimal media with nicotine as the sole carbon source to isolate nicotine-degrading bacteria from tobacco leaves and commercial tobacco products. Students then identified these bacteria using 16S rRNA sequencing and biochemical assays and assessed their ability to catabolize nicotine using UV spectroscopy. Students were able to isolate and identify 14 distinct genera that can metabolize nicotine. This modification of the commonly used unknown project gave students firsthand experience using selective media, and students got the opportunity to work with largely uncharacterized microbes with a real-world connection to public health, which increased student engagement. Students had the opportunity to think critically about why nicotine-degrading microorganisms associate with tobacco plants, why there are different bacteria that use the same specialized metabolism, and how these organisms are isolated from other bacteria using selective media.

Research is essential for identifying behavior management procedures as evidence-based and employing these procedures in a classroom is vital to create the optimal environment for students. Group contingencies can be easily implemented across classroom settings as they aim to manage the behavior of a group via operant behavior change procedures. While systematic literature reviews have been conducted on group contingencies, one has not been completed with a focus on elementary through high school general education classrooms. Therefore, this paper extends previous systematic literature reviews focused on preschools (Pokorski et al. "Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 36"(4), 230-241, 2017), problematic behavior (Maggin et al. "Remedial and Special Education, 38"(6), 353-370, 2017), the good behavior game (Bowman-Perrott et al. "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 18"(3), 180-190, 2016), and school aged children across all academic settings (Little et al. "Behavior Modification, 39"(2), 322-341, 2015) to concentrate on the use of group contingencies in the general education setting. Because (Little et al. "Behavior Modification, 39"(2), 322-341, 2015) conducted a comprehensive review through the year 2010, this paper will focus on the literature base between 2011 and 2021. Articles were obtained via electronic databases and included studies with an independent variable of a group contingency, students in kindergarten through 12th grade general education classrooms, and studies set in any school location. Results yielded 53 articles, which were coded across participant demographics, independent variables, dependent variables, limitations, and future research with IOA collected by a graduate student on 35% of the articles. Results indicate the majority of studies included participants in elementary school, implemented an interdependent group contingency, measured disruptive behavior, and assessed the intervention in the classroom. Findings suggest common limitations within the current literature include generalizability, maintenance, applicability of rewards, and assessment of academic performance. Future research should focus on assessing feasibility of implementation, evaluating long-term effects, and obtaining social validity.

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei evades clearance by the host immune system through antigenic variation of its dense variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat, periodically switching expression of the VSG using a large genomic repertoire of VSG-encoding genes1-6. Recent studies of antigenic variation in vivo have focused near exclusively on parasites in the bloodstream6-8, but research has shown that many, if not most, parasites reside in the interstitial spaces of tissues9-13. We sought to explore the dynamics of antigenic variation in extravascular parasite populations using VSG-seq7, a high-throughput sequencing approach for profiling VSGs expressed in populations of T. brucei. Here we show that tissues, not the blood, are the primary reservoir of antigenic diversity during both needle- and tsetse bite-initiated T. brucei infections, with more than 75% of VSGs found exclusively within extravascular spaces. We found that this increased diversity is correlated with slower parasite clearance in tissue spaces. Together, these data support a model in which the slower immune response in extravascular spaces provides more time to generate the antigenic diversity needed to maintain a chronic infection. Our findings reveal the important role that extravascular spaces can have in pathogen diversification.

Climate change is an urgent global issue that requires concern and action among a climate literate citizenry. Early childhood climate change education (CCE) affords strong potential for developing this climate literate citizenry. Early childhood educators are critical for this endeavor, and their climate change perspectives, teaching practices, and resource needs must inform future curriculum and professional development. Thus, the purpose of this study is to better understand early childhood educators' perspectives on climate change instruction and use of CCE resources. An explanatory mixed-methods design was selected for this study. In the first phase, a quantitative survey was used to determine important types of CCE resources for early childhood. In the second phase, selected participants were interviewed to explain and elaborate on their quantitative results. In terms of findings, early childhood teachers particularly valued nature-based material resources, human resources that could improve their own climate change response knowledge, and social resources that included trustworthy sources of climate change information. Interviewed teachers elaborated on qualities that make CCE resources particularly useful: age-appropriateness, curriculum alignment, ease of use, engagement, place-based, and trustworthiness. In addition, we present a placebased example of a kindergarten climate change teacher who exemplifies the use and valuation of these CCE resources. Implications for curriculum development and teacher professional learning are provided.

Objective: To compare outcomes of aortic valve replacement (AVR) in patients with pure aortic stenosis (Pure AS) and those with pure aortic regurgitation (Pure AR) or mixed AS and AR (MAVD) in the COMMENCE trial. Methods: Of 689 patients who underwent AVR in the COMMENCE trial, patients with moderate or severe AR with or without AS (Pure AR + MAVD; n = 135) or Pure AS (n = 323) were included. Inverse probability of treatment weighting Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used for time-to-event endpoints, and longitudinal changes in hemodynamics were evaluated using mixed-effects models. Echocardiographic outcomes were assessed by an echo core laboratory and clinical outcomes adjudicated by a clinical events committee. The mean duration of follow-up was 5.3 ± 2.2 years. Results: At 5 years, adjusted safety endpoints were not statistically different between groups; no structural valve deterioration (SVD) event occurred in either group. After adjustment, the Pure AR + MAVD group had a greater change in body surface area–corrected left ventricular (LV) mass reduction (P = .03) compared to the Pure AS patients. Those patients with a baseline LV ejection fraction (LVEF) >55% continued to demonstrate preserved contractility compared to patients with an LVEF ≤55% at baseline (P

Abstract Wastewater is a geospatially- and temporally-linked microbial fingerprint of a given population, making it a potentially valuable tool for tracking public health across locales and time. Here, we integrate targeted and bulk RNA sequencing (N = 2238 samples) to track the viral, bacterial, and functional content over geospatially distinct areas within Miami Dade County, USA, from 2020-2022. We used targeted amplicon sequencing to track diverse SARS-CoV-2 variants across space and time, and we found a tight correspondence with positive PCR tests from University students and Miami-Dade hospital patients. Additionally, in bulk metatranscriptomic data, we demonstrate that the bacterial content of different wastewater sampling locations serving small population sizes can be used to detect putative, host-derived microorganisms that themselves have known associations with human health and diet. We also detect multiple enteric pathogens (e.g., Norovirus) and characterize viral diversity across sites. Moreover, we observed an enrichment of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in hospital wastewater; antibiotic-specific ARGs correlated to total prescriptions of those same antibiotics (e.g Ampicillin, Gentamicin). Overall, this effort lays the groundwork for systematic characterization of wastewater that can potentially influence public health decision-making.

As science educators, we have an important opportunity to influence perceptions of who does science, and we can work to empower students to make our disciplines more accessible to people of all backgrounds. This goal was explicitly built into an introductory college astronomy course through the theme of "Who Speaks for Earth?" Interventions included daily inclusive practices, features of diverse scientists, as well as a mid-semester hour-long Anti-Racist and Gender-Inclusive Training. Pre and post assessment shows positive impacts on students' interest in learning more about diversity, and racism in particular, as well as comfort in intervening in situations of discrimination. Additional qualitative artifacts provide themes of students' thinking about diversity and inclusivity in astronomy, as well as their emotional reactions to receiving a targeted training. While some students reacted negatively and criticized these interventions, the vast majority of students expressed gratitude and commitment to making science more inclusive as they move forward as Earthlings. This work can empower other science educators to engage their students in such conversations. Most importantly, it provides the tools to advance an inclusive and intersectional framework in their teaching pedagogy.

In this paper, several research topics are presented that provide productive avenues of exploration for students in an undergraduate cryptography course. The topics are intended for a variety of skill levels and interests. In some cases, a student might be inspired to try to solve the proposed problem or write computer code. Other topics might motivate them to learn new mathematics or algorithms, or research a historical event or person. In all cases, a short description of the topic is given along with several references that can be used as a starting point for student research. The author also describes some challenges and recommendations when teaching a course where a project is a main component.

Climate change is a growing global crisis with short and long-term physical and human impacts. Although climate change is a global occurrence, the impacts of climate change are not felt equally among all locations and all groups of people. Climate justice education is a form of social justice education that invites students to consider how the contributions toward and impacts of climate change differ across racial, socioeconomic, geographic, and intergenerational lines. Climate justice education can be impactful and may motivate climate actions and activism. To learn more about how climate justice education can be enacted, this mixed methods study sought to investigate Ohio secondary science teachers' climate justice and climate action teaching practices and their reasons for their instructional choices. Eighty-six Ohio secondary science teachers completed an electronic survey about their climate change teaching practices, and 26 of these teachers were interviewed to explain their practices. Research participants most often framed their climate change teaching as a global social issue and as a current problem with primarily physical impacts on the Earth. Most participants who taught about climate change address multiple climate actions and at least one climate justice issue. When participants address climate justice, they most commonly address geographic injustices and least often address racial injustices. Teachers most often teach individual, apolitical climate mitigation actions and seldom teach collective and/or adaptation actions. Implications for science teacher professional learning and curriculum development are discussed.

Background: Schools are increasingly measuring school climate and social emotional learning, yet few measures conduct invariance testing by race, gender, or language despite known differences in perceptions of these constructs based on these identities. Objective: This study reports on the validation process of a school climate and social emotional learning (SEL) student survey in the context of a research practice partnership (RPP), including ways the research process was shaped by the partnership. Guided by the principles of practical measurement and the goal of creating a measure used for continuous improvement, we examined item quality, construct validity, internal consistency, and measurement invariance. Methods: Data are from a district-wide survey of 29,415 students enrolled in 3rd through 12th grade. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to establish a measurement model. Multiple group CFA was used to assess configural, metric, and scalar invariance by race, gender, home language and grade band. Results: The measurement model had adequate fit after minor post hoc modification, albeit with high correlations among factors, showing evidence of construct validity. Scales were sufficiently reliable. Evidence was found for configural and metric invariance but not scalar invariance for race or grade band. Conclusion: Findings suggest that districts measuring SEL and school climate should take additional care to attend to differences in how students perceive these constructs. Ongoing consultation with the RPP was crucial to designing a measure that was practical and useful for continuous improvement.

Beyond visual perception, light has non-image-forming effects mediated by melanopsin-expressing, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). The present study first used multielectrode array recordings to show that in a diurnal rodent, Nile grass rats (Arvicanthis niloticus), ipRGCs generate rod/cone-driven and melanopsin-based photoresponses that stably encode irradiance. Subsequently, two ipRGC-mediated non-image-forming effects, namely entrainment of daily rhythms and light-induced arousal, were examined. Animals were first housed under a 12:12 h light/dark cycle (lights-on at 0600 h) with the light phase generated by a low-irradiance fluorescent light (F12), a daylight spectrum (D65) stimulating all photoreceptors, or a narrowband 480 nm spectrum (480) that maximized melanopsin stimulation and minimized S-cone stimulation (λmax 360 nm) compared to D65. Daily rhythms of locomotor activities showed onset and offset closer to lights-on and lights-off, respectively, in D65 and 480 than in F12, and higher day/night activity ratio under D65 versus 480 and F12, suggesting the importance of S-cone stimulation. To assess light-induced arousal, 3-h light exposures using 4 spectra that stimulated melanopsin equally but S-cones differentially were superimposed on F12 background lighting: D65, 480, 480 + 365 (narrowband 365 nm), and D65 - 365. Compared to the F12-only condition, all four pulses increased in-cage activity and promoted wakefulness, with 480 + 365 having the greatest and longest-lasting wakefulness-promoting effects, again indicating the importance of stimulating S-cones as well as melanopsin. These findings provide insights into the temporal dynamics of photoreceptor contributions to non-image-forming photoresponses in a diurnal rodent that may help guide future studies of lighting environments and phototherapy protocols that promote human health and productivity.

IntroductionDozens of vaccines have been approved or authorized internationally in response to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, covering a range of modalities and routes of delivery. For example, mucosal delivery of vaccines via the intranasal (i.n.) route has been shown to improve protective mucosal responses in comparison to intramuscular (i.m.) delivery. As we gain knowledge of the limitations of existing vaccines, it is of interest to understand if changes in product presentation or combinations of multiple vaccine modalities can further improve immunological outcomes.MethodsWe investigated a commercial-stage SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) antigen adjuvanted with a clinical-stage TLR-7/8 agonist (3M-052) formulated on aluminum oxyhydroxide (Alum). In a murine immunogenicity model, we compared i.n. and i.m. dosing of the RBD-3M-052-Alum vaccine. We measured the magnitude of antibody responses in serum and lungs, the antibody-secreting cell populations in bone marrow, and antigen-specific cytokine-secreting splenocyte populations. Similarly, we compared different heterologous and homologous prime-boost regimens using the RBD-3M-052-Alum vaccine and a clinical-stage self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccine formulated on a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) using the i.m. route alone. Finally, we developed a lyophilized presentation of the RBD-3M-052-Alum vaccine and compared it to the liquid presentation and a heterologous regimen including a previously characterized lyophilized form of the saRNA-NLC vaccine.Results and discussionWe demonstrate that i.n. dosing of the RBD-3M-052-Alum vaccine increased IgA titers in the lung by more than 1.5 logs, but induced serum IgG titers 0.8 logs lower, in comparison to i.m. dosing of the same vaccine. We also show that the homologous prime-boost RBD-3M-052-Alum regimen led to the highest serum IgG and bronchial IgA titers, whereas the homologous saRNA-NLC regimen led to the highest splenocyte interferon-γ response. We found that priming with the saRNA-NLC vaccine and boosting with the RBD-3M-052-Alum vaccine led to the most desirable immune outcome of all regimens tested. Finally, we show that the lyophilized RBD-3M-052-Alum vaccine retained its immunological characteristics. Our results demonstrate that the route of delivery and the use of heterologous regimens each separately impacts the resulting immune profile, and confirm that multi-product vaccine regimens can be developed with stabilized presentations in mind.

Peatlands are a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Within Canada, the Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL) has accumulated an estimated 33 Gt of carbon as peat because of a small but persistent difference between gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration over millennia. However, the impacts of disturbance and climate change on GPP are difficult to monitor across the HBL due to its vast size and remote location. This study evaluates the potential for random forest regression models to estimate GPP at five HBL eddy covariance flux monitoring sites using only optical data from MODIS (500 m, 8 day) or harmonized Landsat/Sentinel (HLS; 30 m, 16 day or more frequent). The results show that spatial resolution has less impact on modeled daily GPP compared to temporal resolution across model configurations. Using MODIS data, individual sites’ daily GPP could be simulated with minimal bias, R2 up to 0.89 and mean absolute error as low as 0.37 g C m−2 day−1. For annual GPP, MODIS (R2 = 0.84; mean absolute error 40.5 g C m−2 year−1) also outperformed the HLS models (R2 = 0.46; mean absolute error 86.4 g C m−2 year−1).

Background: Educators report needing relevant and authentic climate change educational resources (CCER). National parks are informal education centers that can provide CCER for educators. However, little is known about the CCER that exist across the national parks in the United States. Purpose: To increase the knowledge in this area, this study uncovered which CCER are offered by national parks in the US, what content is covered in these resources, and their perceived affordances and constraints. Methodology/Approach: Park employees completed an online survey regarding the CCER available within their national park. The survey included closed-ended and open-ended questions. Closed-ended responses were analyzed for descriptive statistics regarding the types of CCER. Open-ended responses were analyzed for content in the CCER, perceived affordances and constraints, and future directions. Findings/Conclusions: Results show that the national parks in this study collectively offer a variety of CCER that cover a range of climate change topics. In addition to the material resources provided, national parks also provide social resources for educators. Collectively, these resources offer many educational affordances. Implications: This study suggests that science educators should consider leveraging the CCER available from national parks. In addition, national parks should consider collaborating in the development of CCER.

Introduction: Combined nutritional deficiency is an uncommon cause of vision loss in the USA. Notably, vitamin A deficiency can produce nyctalopia but rarely causes bilateral central vision loss. The combination of these symptoms is unusual, although likely underreported. Case Presentation: We report an exceptionally rare case of bilateral central vision loss and nyctalopia caused by combined vitamin A, zinc, and copper deficiency, likely following bariatric surgery and alcohol use. Following mineral and vitamin supplementation, the patient’s vision improved significantly and returned to baseline within 1 month. Vision loss resulting from this specific multicombination of vitamin and mineral deficiency has never been reported previously in the English-language ophthalmic literature. Conclusion: Given rising rates of bariatric surgery and alcohol use in the USA and abroad, clinicians should be aware that the combination of progressive nyctalopia and bilateral central vision loss may be produced by combined nutritional deficiency. Screening and supplementation of both vitamin and mineral deficiency may result in dramatic reversal of visual loss in such cases.