bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Regulation of PCSK9 Levels by the Ubiquitin‐Binding Domain of Histone Deacetylase 6
Authors: Pandey Deepesh , Sung Hyun Woo , Romer Lew , Berkowitz Dan 
Published: June 2021

Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 (PCSK9) regulates plasma lipid homeostasis by altering the abundance of low‐density lipoprotein(LDL)‐receptors in the liver. Therefore, this critical role in lipid homeostasis makes PCSK9 an attractive target for the therapeutic management of familial hypercholesterolemia as well as other refractory dyslipidemias. Recently, monoclonal antibodies that bind circulating PCSK9 were approved for therapeutic use to reduce LDL‐C levels to control hypercholesterolemia. However, other strategies to inhibit PCSK9 have not as yet been explored. We have recently demonstrated that HDAC6, a class IIB deacetylase, is a potent regulator of PCSK9 levels. Our data show that co‐expression of PCSK9 with full length HDAC6 in 293A cells results in marked upregulation of PCSK9, while gene silencing of endogenous HDAC6 leads to reduction in PCSK9. Interestingly, this effect was found to be independent of the deacetylase activity of HDAC6 and dependent upon the unique ubiquitin‐binding (BUZ) domain located at the C‐terminal tail of HDAC6. Small molecule inhibition of HDAC6 activity by Tubacin in vivo in hypercholesterolemic ApoE knockout mice had no effect on liver PCSK9 and LDL receptor levels. Further, co‐expression of the catalytic deficient mutant of HDAC6 (H216/611A) with PCSK9 did not modulate the high PCSK9 levels. The effect of HDAC6 on PCSK9 abundance was abolished when PCSK9 was co‐expressed with a BUZ domain deletion mutant of HDAC6. Our co‐immunoprecipitation data further suggest that HDAC6 binds to the polyubiquitin chain of PCSK9, recruits the deubiquitinating enzyme USP7 and protects PCSK9 from degradation. These signaling events lead to augmented PCSK9, followed by reduction of LDLr in liver, and eventually to hyperlipidemia.Our data indicate that the HDAC6 BUZ domain regulates PCSK9 levels via post‐translational modification by deubiquitinase USP7, and this may represent a novel target for hyperlipidemia.Support or Funding InformationAmerican Heart Association Scientist Development Grant (16SDG27340010) Gilead Sciences Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Research Scholar AwardThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Physiology Themed Outreach Event with Multiple Career Level Scientists Generates Student Inquiries about Scientific Content and STEM Careers
Authors: Clarke Martina A , Sharma Neeru M , Schiller Alicia M 
Published: June 2021

Participation in science outreach remains fairly low, largely due to the use of ineffective communication and learning models. The objective of this outreach event was to develop seventh and eighth‐grade students' understanding of basic physiology concepts through experiments and increase their awareness of STEM careers. We hypothesize that interactions with scientists will improve students' understanding of physiology and stimulate interest in science as a career. We collaborated with Lifegate Christian School located in the greater Omaha area in Nebraska. Approximately 60 children participated in three hours of physiology‐based activities instructed by volunteer faculty, postdoctoral research associates, and graduate students. The sessions began with a brief presentation of a physiological system: the eye, brain, heart, or lungs. Students were then able to participate in experiments at four different tables focusing on one of the physiological systems for approximately 25 minutes. The session also included the volunteers introducing their career level and research focus. Each session ended with 15 minutes of question and answer (Q&A) that allowed students to engage the volunteers in inquiries about what they just learned, science as a career, and the volunteers' specific research area. To evaluate the effectiveness of the day of activities, each Q&A session was audio recorded. The students' teachers completed a program evaluation survey to determine the effectiveness of the sessions. Audio files were transcribed, reviewed, and analyzed by two independent coders. Qualitative data analysis was carried out using NVivo 11©, a qualitative analysis software. When prompted, students were able to correctly identify the different parts of the eye, heart and lungs, and the somatosensory cortex of the brain. Career questions accounted for 35% of students' questions, and 65% of the questions were based on the experiments conducted. Regarding experiment‐based questions, 54% of students' questions were about the heart, 35% were about the eyes, and 11% were about the lungs. Students were most interested in the typical day to day activities of a scientist, the various animals used in research how the results are transferable to humans. Overall, 75% of teachers were strongly satisfied with the sessions presented to their students. We conclude that scientist outreach events are effective in generating questions about physiology content and STEM careers.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Teaching Cub Scouts about the Human Body during PhUn Week
Authors: Kumar Vishnu , Zuercher Jennifer L , Gopalan Chaya 
Published: June 2021

Possessing awareness about the human body helps in the maintenance of health. Gaining this knowledge at a young age allows for greater opportunities to make healthy decisions throughout life. In order to teach youth about their bodies, an evening of learning about the human body was developed and put on for a group of cub scouts during PhUn Week in November 2018. PhUn Week is the annual outreach program sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS), bringing physiologists and K‐12 students together, introducing youth to concepts related to physiology. For this project, nine students with ages ranging from 5 to 10 completed a pre‐test, listened to a presentation about the body using an Anatomage Table, spent time with the models of the heart, lungs, the liver, the kidney, the muscle and the ear, and then completed a post‐test to assess how learning had progressed through the experience. The post‐test was the same as the pre‐test so that improvement of prior knowledge could be measured. The average post‐test score increased overall by 8% suggesting that the introduction to selected organs in the form of models and the Anatomage Table was helpful in enhancing Cub Scouts' learning.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Small Changes, Large Rewards: How Individualized Emails Increase Performance in an Upper Division Physiology Course
Authors: Cohen Zoe 
Published: June 2021

“I really do appreciate your concern! Very rare to find a professor like that!” This was a sentence in an email I received from a struggling student in my Cardiovascular Physiology course, an upper division elective course in the Physiology Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson.As teachers, we tend to gravitate towards the students who seem engaged, who are interactive, who are interested in what we're talking about. The ones who struggle are often forgotten, hiding in large classes, rarely adding to the conversation.So, how do we engage these students, who can make up a significant fraction of the student (or classroom) population? Show them we care!Four years ago, I started sending personalized emails (in which the body of each email was the same, but they were addressed to each student individually) to students who received a failing score on the first of three exams, approximately 10% of a class of 200. In the email, I pointed out that the student didn't do as well as expected on the exam, and that, however, it was still early in the semester; that changing habits now could turn their grade around. Then I asked them whether they knew why they hadn't performed well. I gave some suggestions, such as: coming to class, participating in discussions; attending office hours, creating and using study groups. I finished by reiterating the fact that together we could improve their standing in the class.When schools around the country are worried about graduation rates, there is an increased emphasis on retention. Schools are adding programs to help at‐risk students, hiring tutors, working with underserved populations. All of which is slowly increasing the number of graduates.Perhaps, just a short email to a struggling student might help.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Research of Adaptive Processes Development to Psychoemotional Stress in Medical Students
Authors: Vasylieva Oksana , Chernobay Larysa 
Published: June 2021

Psychoemotional stress that develops in dynamics of studying in university is a common factor of development of the vast group of neurogenic diseases.The objective of the research was to study the intersystem relations (integration) which are the base of development of organism's resistance to the effects of stress factors, i.e. the development of adaptive syndrome.The object of the research was a group of 256 medical students of 1–3 years which were examined in conditions of educational process. The peculiarities of intersystem integration of cardiorespiratory system based on coupling index (CI), and integrational brain activity based on intellectual workability in conditions of correction test (2 minutes of test, total percentage of completed work, number of mistakes) were studied.The research of complex of psychophysiological indicators in the dynamics of studying revealed the formation of chronic emotional stress in medical students, the severity of which depends on the individual characteristics of the psychophysiological status of students.Formation of adaptation to the educational stress has the stage character (3stages) – the initial period is accompanied by activation of non‐specific adaptive mechanisms in almost all students (1st stage). From the 2nd year, only in 40% of the students an adequate adaptation to the training load was formed – intellectual performance increases, with the background of rationalization of its vegetative support. Sustainable intersystem relationship that reveals increasing the body's integrity (2nd stage) is formed.In second group of students (43%) non‐specific adaptive mechanisms (1st stage) on the 2nd year of study goes into a stage of specific adaptation (2nd stage), but the severity of changes in psychophysiological indexes is strongly pronounced. On the 3rd year of study it leads to the depletion of adaptive capabilities (3rd stage).In 17% of students it was seen that the stage of activation of non‐specific adaptive mechanisms rapidly changed by their depletion, that is accompanied by decrease of intersystem integration and intellectual workability. This is the evidence of prevalence of disintegrational processes in the organism.Based on results of the research, a conclusion can be made that the formation of adaptive optimum to psychoemotional stress occurs only in 40% of students. The majority (60%) of students show either the initially insufficient adaptive capabilities, or their excessive intensity, that naturally leads to psychological and vegetative disorders in the organism.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Understanding Medical Student Disengagement from Small Group Learning Activities by Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions
Authors: Reji Merin , Harris David M. 
Published: June 2021

Small group case‐based learning (SGCBL) makes up a significant amount of curricular time in the medical education at the University of Central Florida. Recently, learner engagement in SGCBL activities within our curriculum has been waning. The purpose of this study was to explore reasons for disengagement and faculty efforts towards SGCBL with the aim to improve design of these small group sessions.METHODSSemi‐structured qualitative interviews were done with 15 first‐year medical students (M1) and 14 faculty members that teach to the M1s. Interviews were transcribed. The thematic analysis approach in this study followed a systematic process of review which began with investigators reading the transcripts of interviews multiple times in order to be familiarized with data. Following this, early themes were identified by each investigator and discussed. The preliminary themes found by MR and DH were compared to arrive at larger themes and come up with coding terms. The transcripts were then loaded into the NVivo system and words were keyed in as clusters to identify themes.RESULTSThe four main themes from this analysis were perception (value) of time, case design, group dynamics, and utility of feedback. For perception of time, M1s expressed concern over educational value of time spent on cases. Faculty perceived this as well as they feel students rush through the cases. As for case design, M1s and faculty felt that cases should be clinically relevant, however M1s and faculty were conflicted over the length of the cases. Faculty felt that case design should focus on improving clinical reasoning, whereas M1s focused on how case design aligns with the course examinations. Most M1s felt that SGCBL activities provided opportunities for learning team dynamics and accountability. Students also felt that group dynamics shaped learning more than the actual content. Faculty perceived the students lacked group dynamics as they felt students adopted a divide and conquer approach to the problems. For feedback, students valued faculty versions of feedback/answers and did not refer to their own efforts. Faculty were variable on how to provide ideal feedback.DISCUSSIONThese data suggest that how students approach SGCBL is complex and has many factors. These include pressure for USMLE Step 1 performance for residency applications. Additionally, students in this generation have grown with sophisticated games, cell phones and computer programs that were not available for most of the faculty teaching. Other things includes excellent external resources outside of curricula that are available for content. In order to maintain learner engagement, many faculty will need to re‐tool themselves to address higher order thinking and communication skills in students as opposed to content delivery.Support or Funding InformationN/AThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Longitudinal Interprofessional Education in a Graduate Physiology Course
Authors: HARRISON‐BERNARD LISA M , NALJAYAN MIHRAN V , MERCANTE DONALD E , GUNALDO TINA PATEL , EDWARDS SCOTT 
Published: June 2021

The primary purpose of conducting two interprofessional education (IPE) experiences during the physiology graduate‐level course was to provide basic science (n=9), physical therapy (35), and physician assistant (30) graduate students with an opportunity to work as a team in the diagnosis, treatment, and collaborative care of a patient with acute kidney injury and a patient with female athlete triad. The secondary purpose was to enhance the understanding of basic physiology principles with patient case presentations of pathophysiology. The overall purpose was to assess the longitudinal effects and the value of IPE integration within a basic science course by examining student perceptions and program evaluation. The following Interprofessional Education Collaborative sub‐competencies were targeted: Values/Ethics (VE1), Roles/Responsibilities (RR1, RR4), Interprofessional Communication (CC4), and Teams and Teamwork (TT3). First the students engaged in the renal IPE learning experience, followed one month later by the endocrine IPE learning experience. Clinical and IPE stimulus questions were discussed both within and between teams with assistance provided by faculty facilitators. Students were given a pre‐ and post‐survey to determine their IPE perceptions and knowledge. The research portion was anonymous and was approved by the institutional review board at our institution (#9260). A Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree (1 to 5) was used to measure the responses from the IPE sub‐competencies and activity evaluation questions. Themes were determined and quantified for the open‐ended questions by LMHB or SE, and the number of correct responses for the roles of the healthcare students was quantified in a blinded fashion. There were statistically significant increases from pre‐survey renal IPE to pre‐survey endocrine IPE for two IPE questions regarding the ability to explain the roles and responsibilities of a physical therapist and physician assistant (p<0.05). The knowledge of the role of the physical therapist increased significantly when comparing the renal IPE pre‐survey to the endocrine IPE pre‐survey results (p<0.05). There was a significant increase in the mean Likert scores for the renal compared to the endocrine IPE post‐surveys for one of the questions, indicating that there was an increased participation by the team members on the second IPE experience. Therefore, the students carried knowledge learned during the first IPE to the second exposure of IPE. Incorporating multiple planned IPE experiences into multidisciplinary health science courses represents an appropriate venue to have students learn and apply interprofessional competencies.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
A Video on the Pathophysiology of Heart Failure for Reinforcing First Year Medical Student Learning: Do Video Techniques that Break from Medical Education Tradition Undermine the Video
Authors: Witchel Harry J 
Published: June 2021

Heart failure is conceptually more difficult to learn than myocardial infarction, and many students who are taught about both at the same time will later remember and understand MI while retaining misconceptions and uncertainties about heart failure. The fact that heart failure is a physiological and functional description, rather than an anatomical/structural description of a specific injury that can be pinpointed, and that heart failure has many diverse causes (including thyrotoxicosis) underscore the potentials for confusion that bedevil first year undergraduate students. While there are a growing number of educational videos on heart failure, most of them take the form of a talking head or an animated whiteboard. In our partially‐animated video we take three approaches that violate traditional medical educational video‐making to determine whether any or all of them are truly sacred: 1) to have a dialogue (physiologist to actress/patient) rather than a monologue voice‐over, 2) to include upbeat music to lighten the atmosphere, and 3) to use humorous metaphors to explain and reinforce difficult concepts (Figure 1). In addition the video ends with an in‐video quiz, to take advantage of the known effects of intercalated formative testing on computer‐based learning [Szpunar et al. 2013]. Before the video is generally released, it is being laboratory‐tested on students in its current form. Meanwhile, we seek feedback from our teaching colleagues at Experimental Biology on ways to improve or reformulate this kind of video. This video results from the David Jordan Teaching Award from the Physiological Society (2017).Support or Funding InformationThe Physiological Society: The David Jordan Teaching Award 2017This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Nutrition as Medicine, Food Sensitivities, and Chronic Disease: A Mini Curriculum Shaped by Transformative Learning Theory
Authors: Yanik Andrew James , McHugh Douglas 
Published: June 2021

Nutrition‐related diseases are common, costly, and preventable 21st Century health problems, yet physicians lack skills to provide effective dietary counseling and students report being underprepared. Metabolomics, proteomics, and nutrigenomics are ushering in an era of nutrition therapeutics that requires a paradigm shift in cognition, attitudes, and skills to prepare physicians‐in‐training for mid‐21st Century healthcare. Medical students' learning needs to be increasingly self‐directed and amenable to addressing their own education gaps. We used transformative learning theory (TLT) as a conceptual framework to develop a mini, spiral curriculum to kick‐start interest and attention to nutrition as medicine. Our objective was to pilot the impact on cognition, attitudes, and skills of this three‐week curriculum on M1 students. We used a demographically‐representative sample of n = 7 M1 students. Participants met in‐person with a facilitator for 1 hour on Mondays and Wednesdays. De‐identified visual (concept map), textual (reflective writing), and verbal (audio‐recorded group discussion) data were analyzed and permitted qualitative triangulation. Baseline and 6‐month data were also collected. The curriculum evoked paradigm transformation in knowledge, beliefs, and skills that persisted 6 months later and facilitated opportunities for our cohort to self‐identify learning gaps and consider how they related to their goals for patient care. Learners' baseline knowledge focused on food items, diet, health impact, and nutrients; beliefs on food sources and diet change; and performance on cooking and food preparation. Six main themes emerged from curriculum exposure: food sensitivities and gut health, nutrition and chronic disease, food is not inert, self‐awareness of learning gaps, nutrition is personalized, and nutrition history‐taking. Independent, self‐directed learner activities related to these were readily discernible 6 months later. A TLT‐informed model can feasibly be implemented in small groups and kick‐start in other learners similar paradigm shifts aligned with preventative health nutrition and nutritional therapeutics.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Anomalous Origin of the Obturator Artery from the Femoral Artery
Authors: Connell Rachel , Harley Jackson , Kruse Amelia , Rehman Rafey , Barremkala Malli 
Published: June 2021

The obturator artery (OBA) most often arises from the anterior division of the internal iliac artery. The typical path of the OBA travels from its origin in the pelvis towards the obturator canal, through which it exits the pelvis and splits into its terminal anterior and posterior branches. In a review of 24 human specimens (average age of 82 years) during routine cadaver dissection performed by undergraduate medical students, one adult male (71 year old) was observed to have an anomalous unilateral branching pattern. An artery branch can be seen arising from the right femoral artery 6 mm inferior to the inguinal ligament, then coursing superiorly deep to the inguinal ligament, into the retroinguinal space (or Bogros' space), where it bifurcates into the inferior epigastric artery (IEA) and OBA. OBA is seen to wrap around the anterior aspect of the pubis to exit through the obturator canal to divide into the terminal branches. This variation of OBA sharing a common trunk with IEA is reported in 4% of cadavers (n=75) in Jakubowicz et al. study and in 2% of the cadavers (n=50) in Mahato's study. The case presented here is an especially remarkable branching pattern due to the complications it could present in endoscopic total extraperitoneal inguinal hernioplasty, laparoscopic herniorrhaphy in the region and during dissection of the retroinguinal space and mesh stapling onto Cooper's ligament.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.