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Objective: To evaluate implementation of nutrition/physical activity-related policies/practices at colleges participating in a healthy campus initiative and campus health leaders' perceptions of policies/practices' support for student health and ease of/barriers to implementation. Participants: Health leaders at colleges participating in the Healthier Campus Initiative (HCI), with completed or ongoing three-year HCI commitments. Methods: Surveys asked which of 41 guidelines were implemented and perceptions around support for student health and ease of/barriers to implementation. Qualitative interviews explored similar domains. Results: Campuses with completed HCI commitments (n = 17) averaged 27.6 guidelines implemented, versus 21.1 on campuses with commitments ongoing (n = 13; p = 0.003). Perceived support for student health and implementation ease varied by guideline. Common implementation barriers included financial costs and time. Interviews largely reinforced these findings. Conclusions: Completion of a campus environmental change initiative may be associated with more health-supporting practices. Campuses may benefit from implementing coordinated policy/practice changes supporting healthy eating and physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Vacuolar H+-ATPases are large protein complexes of more than 700 kDa that acidify endomembrane compartments and are part of the secretory system of eukaryotic cells. They are built from 14 different (VHA)-subunits. The paper addresses the question of sub-cellular localisation and subunit composition of plant V-ATPase in vivo and in vitro mainly by using colocalization and fluorescence resonance energy transfer techniques (FRET). Focus is placed on the examination and function of the 95 kDa membrane spanning subunit VHA-a. Showing similarities to the already described Vph1 and Stv1 vacuolar ATPase subunits from yeast, VHA-a revealed a bipartite structure with (i) a less conserved cytoplasmically orientated N-terminus and (ii) a membrane-spanning C-terminus with a higher extent of conservation including all amino acids shown to be essential for proton translocation in the yeast. On the basis of sequence data VHA-a appears to be an essential structural and functional element of V-ATPase, although previously a sole function in assembly has been proposed. Results To elucidate the presence and function of VHA-a in the plant complex, three approaches were undertaken: (i) co-immunoprecipitation with antibodies directed to epitopes in the N- and C-terminal part of VHA-a, respectively, (ii) immunocytochemistry approach including co-localisation studies with known plant endomembrane markers, and (iii) in vivo-FRET between subunits fused to variants of green fluorescence protein (CFP, YFP) in transfected cells. Conclusions All three sets of results show that V-ATPase contains VHA-a protein that interacts in a specific manner with other subunits. The genomes of plants encode three genes of the 95 kDa subunit (VHA-a) of the vacuolar type H+-ATPase. Immuno-localisation of VHA-a shows that the recognized subunit is exclusively located on the endoplasmic reticulum. This result is in agreement with the hypothesis that the different isoforms of VHA-a may localize on distinct endomembrane compartments, as it was shown for its yeast counterpart Vph1.

Plants often face combinatorial stresses in their natural environment. Here, arsenic (As) toxicity was combined with hypoxia (Hpx) in the roots of Arabidopsis thaliana as it often occurs in nature. Arsenic inhibited growth of both roots and leaves, whereas root growth almost entirely ceased in Hpx. Growth efficiently resumed, and Hpx marker transcripts decreased upon reaeration. Compromised recovery from HpxAs treatment following reaeration indicated some persistent effects of combined stresses despite lower As accumulation. Root glutathione redox potential turned more oxidized in Hpx and most strongly in HpxAs. The more oxidizing root cell redox potential and the lowered glutathione amounts may be conducive to the growth arrest of plants exposed to HpxAs. The stresses elicited changes in elemental and transcriptomic composition. Thus, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous amounts decreased in rosettes, but the strongest decline was seen for potassium. The reorganized potassium‐related transcriptome supports the conclusion that disturbed potassium homeostasis contributes to the growth phenotype. In a converse manner, photosynthesis‐related parameters were hardly affected, whereas accumulated carbohydrates under all stresses and anthocyanins under Hpx exclude carbohydrate limitation. The study demonstrates the existence of both synergistic since mutually aggravating effects and antagonistic effects of single and combined stresses. The present study evaluates the physiological, biochemical, and transcriptomic changes induced by co‐occurrence of arsenic toxicity and hypoxia. The severe decline in nutrient contents especially K and S along with the perturbations in redox homeostasis leads to growth arrest as well as compromised recovery in combined stressed plants. The functional characterization of transcripts, which showed stress combination‐specific alterations, provides information on differences in signalling patterns between individual stresses and stress combination. The existence of both synergistic since aggravating effects and antagonistic changes of single and combined stresses is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]