cAMP In Cultures Research Articles

A Pilot Evaluation of Culture Camps to Increase Alaska Native Youth Wellness.

Suicide is a significant health disparity among Alaska Native youth, which is linked to cultural disruptions brought about by colonialism and historical trauma. Many Indigenous suicide prevention efforts center on revitalizing and connecting youth to their culture to promote mental health and resilience. A common cultural approach to improve psychosocial outcomes is youth culture camps, but there has been little evaluation research to test this association. Here, we conduct a pilot evaluation of a 5-day culture camp developed in two remote regions of Alaska. The camps bring together Alaska Native youth from villages in these regions to take part in subsistence activities, develop new relationships, develop life skills, and learn traditional knowledge and values. This pilot evaluation of the culture camps uses a quantitative pre/post design to examine the outcomes of self-esteem, emotional states, belongingness, mattering to others, and coping skills among participants. Results indicate that culture camps can significantly increase positive mood, feelings of belongingness, and perceived coping of participants. Culture camps are a common suicide prevention effort in Indigenous circumpolar communities, and although limited in scope and design, this pilot evaluation offers some evidence to support culture camps as a health promotion intervention that can reduce suicide risk.

“Ehime University” Science & Culture Camp の開発と参加生徒への影響

“Ehime University” Science & Culture Camp の開発と参加生徒への影響

Community-University Engagement: Case Study of a Partnership on Coast Salish Territory in British Columbia

In the context of expanding community engagement efforts by universities and growing awareness of the past and current impacts of settler-colonialism in Canada, this study explores one Indigenous-settler, community-university partnership. Building on a framework of community-university engagement and decolonization, this case study explores a partnership between Fraser Valley Aboriginal Children and Family Services Society (Xyolhemeylh) and the Division of Health Care Communication at the University of British Columbia (UBC-DHCC). This partnership, called the “Community as Teacher” program, began in 2006 and engages groups of UBC health professional students in three-day cultural summer camps. This qualitative case study draws on analysis of program documents and interviews with Xyolhemeylh and UBC-DHCC participants. The findings of the study are framed within “Four Rs”—relevance, risk-taking, respect, and relationship-building—which extend existing frameworks of Indigenous community-university engagement (Butin, 2010; Kirkness & Barnhardt, 1991). Committed to a foundation of mutual relevance to their missions, both community and university partners undertook risk-taking, based on their respective contexts, in establishing and investing in the relationship. Respect, expressed as working “in a good way,” likewise formed the basis for interpersonal relationship-building. By outlining the findings in relation to these four themes, this study provides a potential framework for practitioners and researchers in Indigenous-university partnerships

Geschichte der Pädagogik im Curriculum der Lehrerausbildung für Grund- und Bürgerschulen (tschechisch-deutscher Vergleich: 1918–1939) – eine wissenschaftliche Disziplin im Dienste des Volkes, des Fortschrittes und der Sozialreform)

Abstract: The article focuses on the analysis of course books concerning the history of pedagogy used in the interwar period at the Czech and German Teachers’ Institutions. Based on the analysis, there is pointed out the role of the subject concerning the history of pedagogy in the given period in the framework of the teachers’ training. The analysis is set into the wider context of the development concerning pedagogical thinking and its reflection in the Czech and German pedagogical debate at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Czech lands of the monarchy and the fi rst half of the 20th century in the interwar Czechoslovakia. The analysis not only points to a different grasp of the historical reflection of pedagogical thinking in both national and cultural camps, but also points to common features in the development of the discipline. These are mainly shown in its functional character, when the history of pedagogy was a discipline supporting the national emancipation of both nations, and they were part of a wider debate concerning reform of the society.Keywords: history of education, teachers’ institutes, course books, teachers’ training, Czechoslovakia, Czech Lands and the Habsburg Monarchy.

Artifacts and Allegiances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display. By Peggy Levitt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015. Pp. x+244. $29.95.

<i>Artifacts and Allegiances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display</i>. By Peggy Levitt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015. Pp. x+244. $29.95.

Memory-enhancing effects of GEBR-32a, a new PDE4D inhibitor holding promise for the treatment of Alzheimer\u2019s disease

Memory loss characterizes several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Inhibition of type 4 phosphodiesterase (PDE4) and elevation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach to treat cognitive deficits. However, PDE4 exists in several isoforms and pan inhibitors cannot be used in humans due to severe emesis. Here, we present GEBR-32a, a new PDE4D full inhibitor that has been characterized both in vitro and in vivo using biochemical, electrophysiological and behavioural analyses. GEBR-32a efficiently enhances cAMP in neuronal cultures and hippocampal slices. In vivo pharmacokinetic analysis shows that GEBR-32a is rapidly distributed within the central nervous system with a very favourable brain/blood ratio. Specific behavioural tests (object location and Y-maze continuous alternation tasks) demonstrate that this PDE4D inhibitor is able to enhance memory in AD transgenic mice and concomitantly rescues their hippocampal long-term potentiation deficit. Of great relevance, our preliminary toxicological analysis indicates that GEBR-32a is not cytotoxic and genotoxic, and does not seem to possess emetic-like side effects. In conclusion, GEBR-32a could represent a very promising cognitive-enhancing drug with a great potential for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Harmony Korine’s &lt;em&gt;Trash Humpers&lt;/em&gt;: From Alternative to Hipster

Harmony Korine’s &lt;em&gt;Trash Humpers&lt;/em&gt;: From Alternative to Hipster

Discursive Entwinement: How White Transracially Adoptive Parents Navigate Race

Through 47 interviews with 56 White parents who attend culture camps, the authors analyze race discourse and practices in transracially adoptive families. The authors document parents’ use of two discursive frames, colorblindness and race consciousness, and find that small subsamples of parents use either race consciousness or colorblindness exclusively, while the majority (66 percent) entwine the two discursive frames together. Because the sample is drawn from culture camps, which emphasize race and ethnicity, this sample begins with some degree of racial attunement. As such, the continued presence of colorblindness among the sample indicates the deep rootedness of White hegemonic logic. However, the emergence of race consciousness indicates the potential for White transracially adoptive families to engage race critically. Moreover, the analyses draw a clear line between how parents articulate racial understandings in their interviews and the ways parents report talking about race and racism with their children. These findings are directly relevant to ongoing debates about the ethics of transracial adoption and racial identity development among transracial adoptees. More generally, these findings speak to the ways Whites’ racial understandings are constrained, but not determined, by a history and biography of privilege.

Hippocampal 5-HT7 receptors signal phosphorylation of the GluA1 subunit to facilitate AMPA receptor mediated-neurotransmission in vitro and in vivo.

The 5-HT7 receptor is a GPCR that is the target of a broad range of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. Various studies have demonstrated an ability of the 5-HT7 receptor to modulate glutamatergic neurotransmission and cognitive processes although the potential impact upon AMPA receptors has not been investigated directly. The purposes of the present study were to investigate a direct modulation of the GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit and determine how this might influence AMPA receptor function. The influence of pharmacological manipulation of the 5-HT7 receptor system upon phosphorylation of GluA1 subunits was assessed by Western blotting of fractionated proteins from hippocampal neurones in culture (or proteins resident at the neurone surface) and the functional impact assessed by electrophysiological recordings in rat hippocampus in vitro and in vivo. 5-HT7 receptor activation increased cAMP and relative pCREB levels in cultures of rat hippocampal neurones along with an increase in phosphorylation (Ser845) of the GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit evident in whole neurone extracts and within the neurone surface compartment. Electrophysiological recordings in rat hippocampus demonstrated a 5-HT7 receptor-mediated increase in AMPA receptor-mediated neurotransmission in vitro and in vivo. The 5-HT7 receptor-mediated phosphorylation of the GluA1 AMPA receptor provides a molecular mechanism consistent with the 5-HT7 receptor-mediated increase in AMPA receptor-mediated neurotransmission.

Control of βAR- and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) Receptor-Dependent cAMP Dynamics in Hippocampal Neurons.

Norepinephrine, a neuromodulator that activates β-adrenergic receptors (βARs), facilitates learning and memory as well as the induction of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. Several forms of long-term potentiation (LTP) at the Schaffer collateral CA1 synapse require stimulation of both βARs and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). To understand the mechanisms mediating the interactions between βAR and NMDAR signaling pathways, we combined FRET imaging of cAMP in hippocampal neuron cultures with spatial mechanistic modeling of signaling pathways in the CA1 pyramidal neuron. Previous work implied that cAMP is synergistically produced in the presence of the βAR agonist isoproterenol and intracellular calcium. In contrast, we show that when application of isoproterenol precedes application of NMDA by several minutes, as is typical of βAR-facilitated LTP experiments, the average amplitude of the cAMP response to NMDA is attenuated compared with the response to NMDA alone. Models simulations suggest that, although the negative feedback loop formed by cAMP, cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), and type 4 phosphodiesterase may be involved in attenuating the cAMP response to NMDA, it is insufficient to explain the range of experimental observations. Instead, attenuation of the cAMP response requires mechanisms upstream of adenylyl cyclase. Our model demonstrates that Gs-to-Gi switching due to PKA phosphorylation of βARs as well as Gi inhibition of type 1 adenylyl cyclase may underlie the experimental observations. This suggests that signaling by β-adrenergic receptors depends on temporal pattern of stimulation, and that switching may represent a novel mechanism for recruiting kinases involved in synaptic plasticity and memory.

Establishing the reliability and validity of the sources of strength in one American Indian community.

Strength-based approaches that explore resilience and health among Native communities are needed. This report highlights the results from a sources of strength inventory reported over a 2-year period by participants (N = 48) from a Montana tribe who attended cultural camps. The authors found the sources of strength scale to be a reliable and valid measure for the population (N = 11 items, α = .945). The community plans to use the results of this study to inform and promote strength-based measures grounded in the resilience of youth, families, and culture.

Indigenous Intergenerational Teachings: The Transfer of Culture, Language, and Knowledge in an Intergenerational Summer Camp

Indigenous Intergenerational TeachingsThe Transfer of Culture, Language, and Knowledge in an Intergenerational Summer Camp Julie Burns Ross (bio) This article is a result of my PhD dissertation research, which studied intergenerational teachings in an Ojibwe summer camp. The elders of one community wanted to transfer culture, language, and knowledge to the local youths on the topic of the Ojibwe clan system. The study focused on the elders’ teaching strategies and goals. The study also highlighted the youths’ knowledge gained from their elders and their interpretations of the elders’ lessons on the topic of the clan system. Many topics were exchanged within the camp pertaining to the local culture. Research topics within this study included (1) the role of elders, (2) oral storytelling, (3) talking circles, and (4) place-based education within communities. However, the focus of this publication is on Indigenous intergenerational teachings. The camp was located in St. Ignace, Michigan, a small town located on the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michigan. The setting was the Museum of Ojibwa Culture and the Marquette Mission Park, which play a vital role in safeguarding the local Ojibwe culture. This area of northern Michigan is rich in Anishinaabe and French history. These two cultures have lived together for generations, as the early French explorers settled and lived on the shores of the Great Lakes side by side with the local Anishinaabe. My family’s heritage is French. I am not Ojibwe. My knowledge of the Ojibwe culture comes from the time I have spent with the local Anishinaabe people and from researching the topics of cultural preservation and safeguarding Indigenous knowledge. This research study was important because there is a great need for culturally responsive programming in communities where Native American students live and attend school.1 The safeguarding of Native American culture is a [End Page 216] pressing topic in Indigenous communities.2 Therefore, this article details a dissertation study of one Ojibwe community’s efforts to transfer culture from generation to generation through community programming. This study is unique to one community, yet the implications are important for Native American communities that wish to preserve and protect Indigenous knowledge through intergenerational teachings. The following questions were the major focus of the dissertation study: 1. How did the elders of one Ojibwe community, participating in a museum setting, transfer Ojibwe culture, language, and knowledge to the youths? More specifically, what strategies did the elders use to teach the youths? 2. What were the Ojibwe elders’ cultural and language goals for the youths within the cultural camp lessons? Specifically, what did they want the youths to learn from their lessons about the Ojibwe clan system? 3. What cultural and language knowledge were the Ojibwe youths learning from their lessons with the elders within the cultural camp lessons about the clan system? 4. What were the Ojibwe youths’ interpretations of the elders’ lessons about the clan system? These questions, which guided this ethnographic study, lead to understanding the culture, language, and knowledge that the elders wanted the youths to learn about the clan system during the summer camp experience. definition of terms The first term to clarify is the spelling of Ojibwe. There are several spellings of the Ojibwe Nation name, including Odjibwa, Ojibwe, Ojibwa, and Ojibway. Historically, the Native Americans of this area called themselves Anishinabek, or “First Peoples.” They migrated to the Michigan Great Lakes region from the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway, where they belonged to the Algonquian-speaking people. Later, non-Native people referred to these local Native Americans as the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, which referred to the division of the Algonquian people into the Michigan Three Fires Confederacy. However, it is important to [End Page 217] note that the name Chippewa is considered to be a “corruption” to the Ojibwe name by the English-speaking people because it referred to the construction of the moccasin, which was “puckered up.”3 One St. Ignace elder explained that the preferred term by this community is the word Anishinaabe (singular) or Anishinaabeg (plural). Depending on the culture, people, or language, different spellings are used. For the purposes of this article, the spelling Ojibwe and Anishinaabe will be used interchangeably to...

Culture Camp, Ethnic Identity, and Adoption Socialization for Korean Adoptees: A Pretest and Posttest Study.

This study explores the impact of racial-ethnic socialization on adopted South Korean children and adolescents who attended a sleepaway Korean culture camp for one week. This camp provided racial-ethnic socialization experiences via exposure to camp counselors, staff, and teachers who were Korean Americans, Korean nationals, and Korean adult adoptees, and exposure to cultural activities and discussions. Using a pretest-posttest design to control for the lack of a comparison group (McCall & Green, ), 75 Korean adoptee children and adolescents (mean age = 12.96) completed both the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) surveys at pretest and posttest, and completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) at posttest. Results indicated that adoptees reported lower levels of depression at the end of camp than at the beginning of camp, but little variance could be attributed to ethnic identity at posttest. The results of this study suggest that scholars investigate the possibility that adoptee culture camps may provide an adoption socialization experience that may be more salient for adoptees than the racial-ethnic socialization that was intended. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Intracellular mechanisms involved in copper-gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Cu-GnRH) complex-induced cAMP/PKA signaling in female rat anterior pituitary cells in vitro.

The copper-gonadotropin-releasing hormone molecule (Cu-GnRH) is a GnRH analog, which preserves its amino acid sequence, but which contains a Cu(2+) ion stably bound to the nitrogen atoms including that of the imidazole ring of Histidine(2). A previous report indicated that Cu-GnRH was able to activate cAMP/PKA signaling in anterior pituitary cells in vitro, but raised the question of which intracellular mechanism(s) mediated the Cu-GnRH-induced cAMP synthesis in gonadotropes. To investigate this mechanism, in the present study, female rat anterior pituitary cells in vitro were pretreated with 0.1 μM antide, a GnRH antagonist; 0.1 μM cetrorelix, a GnRH receptor antagonist; 0.1 μM PACAP6-38, a PAC-1 receptor antagonist; 2 μM GF109203X, a protein kinase C inhibitor; 50 mM PMA, a protein kinase C activator; the protein kinase A inhibitors H89 (30 μM) and KT5720 (60 nM); factors affecting intracellular calcium activity: 2.5 mM EGTA; 2 μM thapsigargin; 5 μM A23187, a Ca(2+) ionophore; or 10 μg/ml cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor. After one of the above pretreatments, cells were incubated in the presence of 0.1 μM Cu-GnRH for 0.5, 1, and 3 h. Radioimmunoassay analysis of cAMP confirmed the functional link between Cu-GnRH stimulation and cAMP/PKA signal transduction in rat anterior pituitary cells, demonstrating increased intracellular cAMP, which was reduced in the presence of specific PKA inhibitors. The stimulatory effect of Cu-GnRH on cAMP production was partly dependent on GnRH receptor activation. In addition, an indirect and Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism might be involved in intracellular adenylate cyclase stimulation. Neither activation of protein kinase C nor new protein synthesis was involved in the Cu-GnRH-induced increase of cAMP in the rat anterior pituitary primary cultures. Presented data indicate that conformational changes of GnRH molecule resulting from cooper ion coordination affect specific pharmacological properties of Cu-GnRH molecule including specific pattern of intracellular activity induced by complex in anterior pituitary cells in vitro.

Persistent cAMP Signaling via Vasopressin V2 Receptors Imaged in 3D Cultures Using Lightsheet Microscopy

Elevated intracellular cAMP is a key factor in cyst enlargement in the inherited disorder known as polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Therapeutic strategies are actively being sought to reduce cAMP production in cells lining the cyst. Antagonists of the cAMP‐linked V2R vasopressin receptor such as the competitive inhibitor tolvaptan have been assessed in clinical trials for the treatment of PKD, albeit with inconsistent results. Here we used a sensitive, new‐generation circularly permuted ratiometric cAMP sensor to monitor cAMP signals in response to arginine vasopressin (AVP) in LLC‐PK1 cells. This probe proved valuable both in epifluorescence measurements of cAMP in 2D cultures, as well as in Lightsheet microscopy of polarized 3D spheroids. We observed that brief (5 min.) treatment with AVP induced a long‐lasting cAMP increase (more than 1 hr), which was not reversed by washing or by acute addition of tolvaptan, as measured in both 2D and 3D cultures. In contrast, pretreatment with tolvaptan completely prevented the AVP response. The persistent intracellular cAMP increase triggered by AVP also led to primary cilia elongation and phosphorylation of downstream PKA targets such as CREB. Our results are consistent with a model in which endogenous V2R receptors continue to signal from endosomal compartments (as described previously for overexpressed V2R). Our results may have implications for optimizing dosing regimens for V2R antagonists, with increased efficacy predicted in hydrated (i.e. low circulating AVP) patients.

The Blackfeet Indian culture camp: Auditioning an alternative indigenous treatment for substance use disorders.

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities experience alarming health disparities, including high rates of substance use disorders (SUDs). Psychological services for AIANs, including SUDs treatment, are primarily funded by the federal Indian Health Service and typically administered by tribal governments. Tribal administration of SUDs treatment programs has routinely involved either inclusion of traditional cultural practices into program activities or adaptation of conventional treatment approaches to distinctive community sensibilities. In this article, we investigate a third possibility: the collaborative, community-based development of an alternative indigenous intervention that was implemented as a form of SUDs treatment in its own right and on its own terms. Specifically, in July of 2012, we undertook a trial implementation of a seasonal cultural immersion camp based on traditional Pikuni Blackfeet Indian cultural practices for 4 male clients from the reservation's federally funded SUDs treatment program. Given a variety of logistical and methodological constraints, the pilot offering of the culture camp primarily served as a demonstration of "proof of concept" for this alternative indigenous intervention. In presenting and reflecting on this effort, we consider many challenges associated with alternative indigenous treatment models, especially those associated with formal outcome evaluation. Indeed, we suggest that the motivation for developing local indigenous alternatives for AIAN SUDs treatment may work at cross-purposes to the rigorous assessment of therapeutic efficacy for such interventions. Nevertheless, we conclude that these efforts afford ample opportunities for expanding the existing knowledge base concerning the delivery of community-based psychological services for AIANs.

Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers’ Group of Lax kw’alaams

We would like to express our thanks to our invaluable team members: Natalie Bryant, who is our Youth Representative, as well as our cultural camp workers: Russell Mather, Sophia Beaton-Mather, Patricia Mather, Lonnie Mather and Wilfred Campbell.

Estradiol increases cAMP in the oviductal secretory cells through a nongenomic mechanism.

In the rat oviduct, estradiol (E2) accelerates egg transport by a nongenomic action that requires previous conversion of E2 to methoxyestrogens via catechol-O-methyltranferase (COMT) and activation of estrogen receptor (ER) with subsequent production of cAMP and inositol triphosphate (IP3). However, the role of the different oviductal cellular phenotypes on this E2 nongenomic pathway remains undetermined. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of E2 on the levels of cAMP and IP3 in primary cultures of secretory and smooth muscle cells from rat oviducts and determine the mechanism by which E2 increases cAMP in the secretory cells. In the secretory cells, E2 increased cAMP but not IP3, while in the smooth muscle cells E2 decreased cAMP and increased IP3. Suppression of protein synthesis by actinomycin D did not prevent the E2-induced cAMP increase, but this was blocked by the ER antagonist ICI 182 780 and the inhibitors of COMT OR 486, G protein-α inhibitory (Gαi) protein pertussis toxin and adenylyl cyclase (AC) SQ 22536. Expression of the mRNA for the enzymes that metabolizes estrogens, Comt, Cyp1a1, and Cyp1b1 was found in the secretory cells, but this was not affected by E2. Finally, confocal immunofluorescence analysis showed that E2 induced colocalization between ESR1 (ERα) and Gαi in extranuclear regions of the secretory cells. We conclude that E2 differentially regulates cAMP and IP3 in the secretory and smooth muscle cells of the rat oviduct. In the secretory cells, E2 increases cAMP via a nongenomic action that requires activation of COMT and ER, coupling between ESR1 and Gαi, and stimulation of AC.

Kookie Thoughts: Imagining the United States Pavilion at Expo 67 (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bubble)

In 1967, at the International and Universal Exposition (Expo 67 in Montreal), American government planners and their collaborators in the private sector revolutionized how the United States participated at world's fairs. They transformed the ways in which architecture, design, and exhibits could come together in a stunning visual endpoint. The choice of 1960s social visionary and design guru F. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome (“Bucky’s Bubble”) for the US Pavilion structure proved a coup, as did the Marshall McLuhan-inspired Cambridge Seven design team that created the Pavilion interior of platforms joined by criss-crossing bridges and escalators. This article incorporates an analysis of four linked elements of the US Expo 67 design project. First, it conceives of the US Pavilion at the edge of US empire. Second, it suggests that, improbably, planners found success in the mix of earlier world’s fair grand designs with a new minimalist modernity. Third, Pavilion design and content reflected the influence of Andy Warhol and other artists whose work was transforming gay camp into mass camp in American popular culture. Finally, the project drew on a secret World War II US army collaboration between three key Expo 67 planners, whose wartime specialty had been in military deception, to complete the visual revolution at the US Pavilion.

Culture Goes to Camp

Many “culture camps” seek to enhance transnational adoptees' sense of ethnic identify. While camps may not achieve this goal, they do provide a space for adoptees and their parents to feel supported, create networks, and explore an “adoptive” identity.