Microorganisms are the dominant life forms on earth, are found in almost every conceivable environment, and are essential to sustaining life on this planet.
Analyze the effect of a 1996 controlled flood on a sandbar in Grand Canyon. This exercise uses Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst.
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This course is an in-depth adventure through the molecular mechanisms that control the maintenance, expression, and evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. Through lectures and readings of relevant literature, students will explore gene regulation, DNA replication, genetic recombination, transcription, and mRNA translation. The quizzes are designed to build students' experimental design and data analysis skills.
This course, based on the MIT course 7.28/7.58 Molecular Biology taken by enrolled MIT students, was organized as a three-part series on edX by MIT’s Department of Biology. It is self-paced and free as long as you enroll in the Audit Track option, which you can select after creating a free account on edX.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Traumatic brain injury (TBI), or brain damage caused by a sudden blow or jolt to the head, is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The mechanisms are complex and differ among patients, making TBI difficult to treat, and anti-inflammatory agents that are effective in animal models have been less promising in human trials, indicating that better treatments are needed. To explore new strategies, a recent study investigated the effect of the anti-inflammatory compound ACT001 on TBI. In mice, ACT001 reduced brain damage and improved motor function after TBI by reducing trauma-induced activation of microglia, which are immune cells of the central nervous system. In vitro, ACT001 also reduced activation of mouse and rat microglia induced by the bacterial toxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and downregulated LPS-induced secretion of proinflammatory molecules in a mouse microglial cell line..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Myocardial infarction (MI), or heart attack, can cause long-term damage that leads to heart failure. To treat this type of heart failure, it’s critical to heal the pathological structural changes in the heart and preserve cardiac function. A recent study investigated potential treatment targets by exploring the role of the enzyme ADAM17, whose levels are increased during MI. In a group of 152 patients with MI, high ADAM17 levels were associated with a greater incidence of subsequent heart failure, as well as poorer heart function and higher mortality, suggesting a negative role of ADAM17. In mice with MI, elevated ADAM17 levels were linked to heart damage, but blocking ADAM17 activity limited the cardiac damage and remodeling after MI. Experiments in cultured heart cells revealed that ADAM17 exerted its harmful effects by promoting loss of the cardioprotective enzyme ACE2 and that the activation of ADAM17 depended on modification of a specific site in the protein p38 MAPK..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
In this video, an entrepreneur is finding new ways to manage the invasive Asian carp problem in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Once introduced to help mitigate an algae problem, the carp became invasive. This video highlights how the local community has adapted to the issue, including how they have gained ideas about how to utilize the carp from other cultures to help mitigate the issue.
This exercise should be used after you think students know what AFM diagrams are and how they work. This is sort of a quiz -- to see if they can properly interpret the diagrams. There is no point moving on to real projects that involve AFM diagrams if the students don't understand the basics.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Healthy corneas are clear and lack blood vessels, but injuries like alkali burns can trigger neovascularization. This serious complication reduces the patient’s vision and is the leading cause of failure in corneal transplants. Previous studies have suggested that AIP1 (Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1-interacting protein) is involved in inflammatory neovascularization induction and that NOX4 (NADPH oxidase 4) is activated by alkali burns. NOX4 can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) which unbalance the expression of the inflammation-related proteins NLRP3 and NLRP6 (NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 and 6). Researchers recently used a mouse model to examine how AIP1 and NOX4 are related to NLRP3/NLRP6 after corneal alkali burns. Corneal alkali burns decreased AIP1 expression and increased the expression of two pro-angiogenic proteins, clv-IL-1β (cleaved interleukin-1β) and VEGFa (vascular endothelial growth factor A)..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Some proteins are central to many cell signaling processes. One of these key molecules is AKT2. An important kinase involved in cell survival, growth, and metabolism, it has ties to insulin-induced signaling and cancer. AKT2 has a critical role in immune cells such as neutrophils and macrophages; however, although AKT2 is expressed in antibody-producing immune cells called B cells, its function in B cells isn’t clear. In a recent study, researchers sought to understand the role of AKT2 in B cells using AKT2-deficient mice. They found that mice lacking AKT2 had impaired B-cell differentiation. B cells from these mice were not able to form a cluster of molecules called a signalosome in response to B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling, resulting in poor BCR signaling and impaired B cell activation and spreading. These results suggest that as a central orchestrator of signaling, AKT2 function is critical for proper BCR signaling and B cell development, ensuring a functional antibody-mediated immune response..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Gq protein-coupled receptors (GqPCRs) are membrane bound proteins that transmit signals from outside the cell to internal signaling pathways. One of these pathways is the PI3K/AKT pathway, which plays roles in cellular proliferation, survival, metabolism, and differentiation. PI3K/AKT dysregulation is also often implicated in cancers. A previous study determined that activating GqPCRs in certain cells inactivated AKT, which led to a specific type of cell death, JNK-dependent apoptosis. This unique signal seems to play an important role in physiological and pathological events like pituitary development and cardiac hypertrophy. Now, a new study determined that the mechanism of this AKT inactivation relies on another signaling-related protein, PP2A. When the GqPCRs are not activated, a fraction of PP2A "c" subunit is in a dimer complex with another protein, IGBP1 and they are bound to the p85 subunit of PI3K, causing its activation..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Immune checkpoints are an effective way that cancers evade the immune system, but they're not the only one. In the case of pancreatic ductal carcinoma, or PDAC, tumor fibrosis also plays an important role. To understand how fibrosis might translate to poor outcomes among patients with PDAC, researchers examined the ARF6-AMAP1 molecular pathway, which research suggests is activated during fibrosis. Findings revealed that AMAP1 correlated with elevated expression of PD-L1, a molecule that tumor cells present on their surface to elude attack by the immune system. AMAP1 was also linked to elevated fibrosis. Consistently, silencing AMAP1 in a mouse model of human PDAC reduced PD-L1 and fibrosis in their tumors. Suppressing the ARF6-AMAP1, therefore, could be one way to ensure that PDAC tumors can’t hide from immune defenses, offering the prospect of more effective immunotherapies for patients with pancreatic ductal carcinoma..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"The transcription factor ATF5 plays a vital role in the formation of several cancers, including breast, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, and liver cancer. But ATF5’s function in esophageal cancer—one of the most common forms of cancer worldwide—remains unclear. To find out, researchers monitored the activity of ATF5 in esophageal cancer tissues. Much like in other cancers, ATF5 was upregulated in esophageal cancer tissues cultured in the lab, and ATF5 overexpression promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasiveness of esophageal cancer cells. Silencing ATF5, however, inhibited these abilities. In fact, in mice, silencing ATF5 hampered tumor growth. ATF5’s role as a lever that triggers tumor growth is believed to occur through an interaction with HIF1, a protein complex also known to promote the growth and spread of tumors. These findings suggest that the known anti-cancer effects of silencing ATF5 might also be powerful against esophageal cancer..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
ATP synthase and its role in mitochondria during respiration and chloroplasts during photosynthesis.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"The non-receptor tyrosine kinase Abelson (Abl) is a key player in oncogenesis, causing diseases including chronic myelogenous and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Drugs targeting Abl kinase activity serve as paradigms of targeted therapy. Drosophila is an ideal model for studying Abl’s function because there is only a single fly Abl family member. In flies, Abl is essential for embryonic morphogenesis, playing diverse roles in embryonic and adult viability. To examine the role of the intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of Abl, researchers deleted the IDR in Drosophila. They found that Abl lacking the IDR was not able to rescue the roles of Abl in viability and embryonic morphogenesis. The IDR was also essential for cell shape changes and cytoskeletal regulation during embryonic morphogenesis and, surprisingly, for modulating protein stability..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
Intended Audience: This activity was used for an introductory Geochemistry class, which contained students from sophomore level to master's students. We took the trip in mid-October, about as late as possible in Vermont, after they had gained some previous field experience and lab work in addition to an in introduction to these principles in class.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
Produto educacional destinado, principalmente a pescadores artesanais e comunidades ligadas a pesca artesanal, contendo informações sobre espécies relacionadas a acidentes que envolvem animais aquáticos e pescadores artesanais, o perigo de determinados procedimentos inadequados e procedimentos recomendados como medidas de primeiros socorros.
It's no secret that greenhouse gases warm the planet and that this has dire consequences for the environment whole islands swallowed up by rising seas, animal and plant species stressed by higher temperatures, and upsets in ecological interactions as populations move to cooler areas. However, carbon dioxide has another, less familiar environmental repercussion: making the Earth's oceans more acidic. Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere mean that more carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean. This dissolved carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid the same substance that helps give carbonated beverages their acidic kick. While this process isn't going to make the ocean fizzy anytime soon, it is introducing its own set of challenges for marine organisms like plankton and coral.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Actinobacteria are some of the most widely distributed bacteria in soils and are well known for their ability to degrade plant residues in pure culture in the laboratory. Yet, despite the importance of microbe-driven decomposition to carbon sequestration in terrestrial systems, their importance and specific activity across diverse environments in the field are unknown. Researchers recently evaluated the ecophysiological roles of Actinobacteria in rice straw residue decomposition in a series of field and microcosm experiments. They found that although Actinobacteria represented only 4.6% of the total bacterial abundance, they encoded 16% of the total carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) involved in the breakdown of carbohydrates. The researchers also found that Actinobacteria taxonomic and functional compositions were relatively stable during straw decomposition and that the importance of Actinobacteria in decomposition increased as soil fertility decreased..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Humans rely on microbial communities in both natural and applied settings. One such applied setting is wastewater treatment plants, which use microbial communities to remove pollutants. However, the stability of the taxonomic diversity in these settings is not well understood. To close this gap, researchers examined how the microbial community in activated sludge changed over time in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant. For the first 3 years of a 9-year series, the microbial community fluctuated around a stable average. Then a bleaching event, marked in red under the timeline, abruptly pushed the community to an alternative stable state, where the originally dominant Actinobacteriota were disproportionally depleted and replaced with Proteobacteria, but these taxonomic changes led to little change in either the metabolic profile of the community or system performance. In a fine-scale analysis of dynamics, the researchers identified cohorts that dominated at different periods..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of blood and bone marrow cancer with a low survival rate. One reason AML is so deadly is because it can evade the immune system, in part by downregulating proteins like MICA, which normally marks damaged or cancerous cells in the body for immune destruction. To improve treatment prospects, researchers recently searched for molecules that can restore MICA levels in AML cells. They found that the transcription factor KFL4 is involved in MICA expression. In addition, treating cultured AML cells with the KLF4-activating compound APTO253 successfully induced MICA expression, while inhibiting the expression of the cancer gene MYC. These changes made the AML cells more susceptible to being killed by immune cells. Although studies in animals and humans are still needed, these findings reveal that APTO253 can improve immune cells’ ability to detect and kill AML cells and suggest that targeting KFL4/MICA is a promising option for AML treatment..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.