Apoptosis Activation and Autophagy Inhibition of Chondrocytes by Leptin by the Upregulation of LOXL3 in Osteoarthritis Pathogenesis

Background. Osteoarthritis is one of the usual chronic musculoskeletal dysfunctions. It is one of the primary leading causes which leads to limitation of movement and absenteeism in the working adult population. Chondrocytes are the singlecellular-based component found in the cartilage which has an important role in the degradation of the cartilage. In recent studies, autophagy is observed to protect the human chondrocytes from stress.Leptin an adipokine managing food consumption and energy outlay. Chondrocytes indicate prolonged isoform of the leptin receptor where inside these cells theleptin signals individually or combine with the remaining molecules and promptthe indication of the pro-inflammatory molecules and cartilage disintegration enzymes. Materials and Methods. mRNA expressions of Lysyl oxidase-like 3 in tissues of cartilage and concentration of leptin from synovial fluidwere measured from all samples from disease-induced groups, sham group, and RAPA-treated groups via RT-PCR and immunoassays. Histopathological analysis was also performed post-induction of the rat osteoarthritis model by the anterior cruciate ligament transection method. Western blot analysis was done, and expressions were analyzed by autophagy and apoptosis regulatory markers. Cell apoptosis and cell survival were evaluated with the help of flow cytometry, respectively, in all groups. Result. mRNA of LOXL3 was increased in osteoarthritis models which were directly related to leptin concentration in SF. ACLT surgery caused an increase in cleaved caspase 3 protein levels, while a significant reduction in Bcl-2, Beclin1, and LC3 I was noted (figure 4,5). When LOXL3 was silenced in the ACLT group and leptin-treated group apoptosis was inhibited and autophagy, cell proliferation was promoted in primary chondrocytes. A significant increase in LOXL3 caused inhibition of autophagy in chondrocytes. Conclusion. LOXL3 has stimulated apoptosis while inhibited autophagy in chondrocytes; hence LOXL3 is a prominent target for treating osteoarthritis. Keywords:chondrocytes, LOXL3, Leptin, osteoarthritis, qRT-PCR, ACLT, mRNA.

Advancing Age Inclusivity in a Pandemic: Age-Friendly University (AFU) Campuses Take Action

The COVID-19 pandemic presented extraordinary challenges for professionals in the aging field across campuses and communities, calling for rethinking and redesigning how their work was structured, their programs were delivered, and their connections were sustained. The pandemic also made clear the value of being an age-friendly institution of higher education, especially as we experience historic changes in age demographics. This symposium features campus leaders representing institutional partners of the Age-Friendly University (AFU) global initiative (endorsed by GSA’s Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education) who will discuss how their age-friendly programs were adapted during the pandemic to continue to advance age inclusivity. These diverse responses exemplify the vast potential of age-friendly opportunities. June and Andreoletti (Central Connecticut State University) will discuss how the Scholars for Life! program supported the engagement of older learners in the neighboring community through the engagement of faculty. Elfenbein (University of North Georgia) will describe how learning experiences for older learners and intergenerational exchange were created beyond the classroom through the Personal Enrichment, Action and Knowledge (PEAK) program. Terhune (Northern Kentucky University) will describe how student support practices and services were adapted to provide working adult students with guidance for navigating their educational needs during the pandemic. Kheirbek (University of Maryland, Baltimore) will describe how age-friendly collaborations with the institution’s medical school leveraged intergenerational connections and technology to foster social connection for hospitalized older adults. Gautam and Melillo (UMass Lowell) discuss how a campus partnership with the Learning in Retirement Association (LIRA) adapted efforts around healthy aging.

Converging Andragogy With Working Adult Professionalism in Initial Teacher Preparation

Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) are tasked with providing preservice teachers with pedagogical theory, practical field experiences, mentorship, and scaffolded professional dispositions during critical phases of their preparation. In addition, EPPs collaborate with school districts and state departments of education to address critical issues in the field, including teacher retention and shortages. Our research explores how one EPP pilot, designed to build upon experience, supported working adult education students (e.g., parapros) seeking initial teacher certification. We sought to understand how adult teacher candidates engaged in professional learning and emergent professional relationships. Our qualitative study examined the experience of the first cohort of a 3-year pilot program. Using andragogy as a conceptual framework and paired with Danielson Evaluation Dispositions to expand on this professionalism, the data expanded on these professional dispositions through a thematic network analysis. Emerging from this analysis and through an andragogical lens, cohort members exhibited key traits associated with adult learners, including application of skills, flexibility, identification of growth, and relationship building. Our research concluded with implications for EPPs and suggestions for further research for programs at the intersections of andragogy and initial teacher certification.

Evaluation of Open and Distance Learners' Views on Employment

The rise in youth unemployment rates across the world is considered as an important problem. Higher education institutions tasked with raising the human profile needed for various business sectors are undergoing a digital transformation, supported by digital technology. The focus of this digital transformation is open and distance learning. Open and distance learning is becoming increasingly important, and is becoming an effective way to access the most up-to-date information, especially for working adult individuals. Open and distance learning, which covers mass education activities, reach more people than face-to-face education by its nature and so it produces more graduates. This important feature of open and distance learning necessitates studies to reveal the employment status of graduates in different countries. Using the basic qualitative model, this study aims to examine open and distance learners' views on employment. Thus, the employment-related views of 92 open and distance learning graduates from Anadolu University in Turkey, Open University in UK, and Indira Gandhi National Open University in India were analyzed. The themes obtained through content analysis were peer views, expectations for employment, gaining prestige after graduation, career planning, increasing diversity in the business sectors of open education, and the need for experience for employment. The study is concluded with suggestions for both application and research.

A Study On Assessment Of Stress And Its Management In Hospital Employess

Stress refers to the strain from the conflict between our external environment and us, leading to emotional and physical pressure. In our fast paced world, it is impossible to live without stress, whether you are a student or a working adult. There is both positive and negative stress, depending on each individual’s unique perception of the tension between the two forces. Stress bears deliberating effects on both the employees and the employer. As per Dr H seyles, Stress is defined as “a state of psychological and physiological imbalance resulting from the disparity between situational demand and the individual’s ability and motivation to meet those needs”. The word stress has its origin in the Latin word string ere to draw tight. In the 17thcentury the word was used to describe affliction and hardship. The meaning of the word later included the concepts of pressure, strain or force. Today the description of stress includes an outside stimulus and the person’s response to it. Several studies have focused on the possible relation between stress, illness and different ways people respond to it. These studies distinguish the various aspects of stress which a person may face in life, e.g. stress at home, in personal life or at work. This review focuses on stress at work, with particular emphasis to the nursing profession, in an attempt to explore possible management strategies that may decrease it (Golubic etal., 2009, Lu et al. 2009).

The Need for Equitable Scholarship Criteria for Part-Time Students

Current policies and interventions to enhance student success and retention are often tied to full-time enrollment, which are substantiated by studies associating part-time enrollment with lower retention and poorer academic outcomes. However, these findings are limited to studies of first-time college students and do not represent today’s nontraditional undergraduate who may be transfer, online, and working adult students. To enhance retention of on-campus and hybrid online 2 + 2 transfer students in a STEM undergraduate program, need-based scholarships are awarded to students enrolled full-time as stipulated by the federal granting agency. Although the scholarship has helped >80 students to date, over 40% of eligible transfer students are excluded only because they are enrolled part-time, disproportionately affecting students in the hybrid online track who are more likely to be women and underrepresented minorities. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study explores enrollment behavior of transfer students (online and on-campus), its relationship with student characteristics and academic outcomes, and implications for scholarship eligibility. Full-time enrollment is a significant challenge for transfer students. While scholarship requirements are a key factor influencing full-time enrollment, online transfer students additionally cite work and family obligations as drivers of enrollment behavior. Thus, online 2 + 2 transfer students face different challenges than on-campus peers and are more likely to enroll part-time out of necessity, yet still have comparable GPA and graduation rates. These findings support a growing awareness of barriers nontraditional students face questioning the relevance of policies driven by “traditional” student outcomes, which perpetuate inequity in higher education.

Persistence in Doctoral Education: A Part-Time Research Student Perspective in a Developing Context

Ample literature on the retention of undergraduate students is available. However, information on the retention of postgraduate students in doctoral research is not abundant, especially when the population comprises working adult students studying on a part-time basis. This article aims to explore factors that influence retention in this group of students. The literature identified various factors that could affect the retention of these students. Besides the academic and social integration identified by Tinto, environmental factors (finances, family and employment) and time constraints also play a role in their persistence. The data was collected from PhD students at a Business School in South Africa. The results from the survey confirm the influence of these factors on retention. The inclusion of qualitative responses as part of the survey led to recommendations that consider the finer nuances of the support needed by this group of heterogeneous students.

Task and Relationship Orientation of Professionals in Afghanistan and Thailand

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the leadership styles and approaches that are linked to Afghan and Thai respondents by exploring their task and relationship orientations to glean best practices for application in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan. To continue gathering more data, we have consistently been using Northouse’s Style Questionnaire to collect responses from different cultures over the past two decades. More specifically, for this latest study, we compared the leadership orientations of working adult respondents from Thailand and Afghanistan based on their nationality and socialization in each culture on the task and relationship-orientation continuum of leadership. To gain practical insights across these two Asian cultures, we reflect and explore the Afghan orientation and compare it with the cultural practices of people in Thailand, where politicians have managed their political affairs more peacefully with their neighbors. Both Afghanistan and Thailand’s cultures are rooted in thousands of years of Asian philosophies, and both are high-context and collective; therefore, people are presumed to be more relationship-oriented, and this study found statistically significant support for this presumption. While respondents from both countries do have a stronger focus on their relationships, data shows that their task orientation is significantly lower. Analysis, recommendations for inclusion training, dealing with societal / workplace mobbing, and the study’s limitations are presented toward the end of the paper. The findings are useful for training purposes with managers, political leaders, and expatriates working in these two South and East Asian countries. For example, currently the political leaders in Afghanistan are working with the international community to unite all Afghans so they can become less dependent on foreign forces to keep the country peaceful. As such, they can capitalize on their task and relationship orientation skills to work on this gigantic task. Similarly, as of May 2021, Thailand has been experiencing another wave of the Covid-19 coronavirus, with about 10,000 infection cases on some days; as such, Thai leaders have to build strong relationships with everyone in the country to effectively manage this task of limiting the spread of this deadly infection through strict quarantine rules and quick vaccination of their large population.

Discourse (Re)-framing

Focusing on the move from gakusei ‘student’ to shakaijin ‘working adult, lit. fully socialized adult’ during a period of continuing economic stagnation and social dislocation, the current study analyzes contemporary Japanese university students’ alignments with respect to ideologies surrounding adulthood including entering the job market and marriage. Data includes naturally occurring conversations with male and female students at a mid-high ranked city university on the outskirts of Yokohama as well as media materials associated with job-hunting practices. Analyzing individuals’ discursive (re)-framing of economic practice, this study demonstrates how individuals convey complex alignments towards future economic and social practices and their attendant ideologies. These complex alignments are analyzed as instances of ‘making do’ (de Certeau, 1984). Attending to subtle shifts in discursive (re)-framing, this paper demonstrates how micropolitical alignments are enacted in language at the level of everyday, ordinary practice.