Using research to set priorities for character education in schools: A global perspective

Marvin W. Berkowitz,Andrea Bustamante 한국교육개발원 2013 KEDI Journal of Educational Policy Vol.10 No.-

A priority, perhaps the priority, for all schools should be the intentional and effective promotion of student flourishing, or as noted author and educator Hal Urban (2008) calls it, “bringing out the best in students.” For this priority to be authentic, ideally it should be supported and promoted by conceptually and empirically justifiable educational policy. For that to happen, educators and policy-makers need to access and understand theory and research about student development and learning. This paper will summarize that argument and summarize the relevant theory and research that should undergird educational policy, relying upon and presenting a five-element model of effective character education. It will then provide an example of how research has been used to guide policy in Colombia and demonstrate the ways this national educational policy initiative incorporates some of the key elements of research-based practice.

Increased arginase II activity contributes to endothelial dysfunction through endothelial nitric oxide synthase uncoupling in aged mice

Woosung Shin,Dan E. Berkowitz,유승우 생화학분자생물학회 2012 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.44 No.10

The incidence of cardiovascular disease is predicted to increase as the population ages. There is accumulating evidence that arginase upregulation is associated with impaired endothelial function. Here, we demonstrate that arginase II (ArgII) is upregulated in aortic vessels of aged mice and ontributes to decreased nitric oxide (NO) generation and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production via endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) uncoupling. Inhibiting ArgII with small interfering RNA technique restored eNOS coupling to that observed in young mice and increased NO generation and decreased ROS production. Furthermore, enhanced vasoconstrictor responses to U46619 and attenuated vasorelaxation responses to acetylcholine in aged vasculature were markedly improved following siRNA treatment against ArgII. These results might be associated with increased L-arginine bioavailability. Collectively, these results suggest that ArgII may be a valuable target in age-dependent vascular diseases.

Endothelial arginase II and atherosclerosis

유승우,Dan E. Berkowitz,임현교 대한마취통증의학회 2011 Korean Journal of Anesthesiology Vol.61 No.1

Atherosclerotic vascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. While it is a complex condition resulting from numerous genetic and environmental factors, it is well recognized that oxidized low-density lipoprotein produces pro-atherogenic effects in endothelial cells (ECs) by inducing the expression of adhesion molecules, stimulating EC apoptosis, inducing superoxide anion formation and impairing protective endothelial nitric oxide (NO) formation. Emerging evidence suggests that the enzyme arginase reciprocally regulates NO synthase and NO production by competing for the common substrate L-arginine. As oxidized LDL (OxLDL)results in arginase activation/upregulation, it appears to be an important contributor to endothelial dysfunction by a mechanism that involves substrate limitation for endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and NO synthesis. Additionally,arginase enhances production of reactive oxygen species by eNOS. Arginase inhibition in hypercholesterolemic (ApoE^(-/-) mice or arginase II deletion (ArgII^(-/-) mice restores endothelial vasorelaxant function, reduces vascular stiffness and markedly reduces atherosclerotic plaque burden. Furthermore, arginase activation contributes to vascular changes including polyamine-dependent vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and collagen synthesis. Collectively, arginase may play a key role in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Outcomes of Gamma Knife surgery for trigeminal neuralgia secondary to vertebrobasilar ectasia

Park, Kyung-Jae,Kondziolka, Douglas,Kano, Hideyuki,Berkowitz, Oren,Ahmed, Safee Faraz,Liu, Xiaomin,Niranjan, Ajay,Flickinger, John C.,Lunsford, L. Dade American Association of Neurological Surgeons 2012 Journal of Neurosurgery Vol.116 No.1

<B>Object</B><P>Vertebrobasilar ectasia (VBE) is an unusual cause of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). The surgical options for patients with medically refractory pain include percutaneous or microsurgical rhizotomy and microvascular decompression (MVD). All such procedures can be technically challenging. This report evaluates the response to a minimally invasive procedure, Gamma Knife surgery (GKS), in patients with TN associated with severe vascular compression caused by VBE.</P><B>Methods</B><P>Twenty patients underwent GKS for medically refractory TN associated with VBE. The median patient age was 74 years (range 48-95 years). Prior surgical procedures had failed in 11 patients (55%). In 9 patients (45%), GKS was the first procedure they had undergone. The median target dose for GKS was 80 Gy (range 75-85 Gy). The median follow-up was 29 months (range 8-123 months) after GKS. The treatment outcomes were compared with 80 case-matched controls who underwent GKS for TN not associated with VBE.</P><B>Results</B><P>Intraoperative MR imaging or CT scanning revealed VBE that deformed the brainstem in 50% of patients. The trigeminal nerve was displaced in cephalad or lateral planes in 60%. In 4 patients (20%), the authors could identify only the distal cisternal component of the trigeminal nerve as it entered into the Meckel cave.</P><P>After GKS, 15 patients (75%) achieved initial pain relief that was adequate or better, with or without medication (Barrow Neurological Institute [BNI] pain scale, Grades I-IIIb). The median time until pain relief was 5 weeks (range 1 day-6 months). Twelve patients (60%) with initial pain relief reported recurrent pain between 3 and 43 months after GKS (median 12 months). Pain relief was maintained in 53% at 1 year, 38% at 2 years, and 10% at 5 years. Some degree of facial sensory dysfunction occurred in 10% of patients. Eventually, 14 (70%) of the 20 patients underwent an additional surgical procedure including repeat GKS, percutaneous procedure, or MVD at a median of 14 months (range 5-50 months) after the initial GKS. At the last follow-up, 15 patients (75%) had satisfactory pain control (BNI Grades I-IIIb), but 5 patients (25%) continued to have unsatisfactory pain control (BNI Grade IV or V). Compared with patients without VBE, patients with VBE were much less likely to have initial (p = 0.025) or lasting (p = 0.006) pain relief.</P><B>Conclusions</B><P>Pain control rates of GKS in patients with TN associated with VBE were inferior to those of patients without VBE. Multimodality surgical or medical management strategies were required in most patients with VBE.</P>

Overlap Integrals and Recoursion Formulas for Morse Wavefunction

Lee, Mu-Sang,Carreira, L.A.,Berkowitz, D.A. Korean Chemical Society 1986 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.7 No.1

Overlap integrals for the case in which the ground and excited states are represented by Morse potential functions were derived. In order to calculate the spectral intensities in Morse wavefunctions, a method of expanding the wavefunctions of one state in terms of the other was developed to allow the ground and the excited state frequencies to be different. From the expansion of Morse wavefunctions, recursion formulas were developed for variational matrix elements of Morse wavefunctions. The matrix elements can be calculated using these recursion formulas and the diagonalized results which eigenvalues (allowed energies) were all successfully satisfied to Morse energy formulas.

Arginase II activity regulates cytosolic Ca2+ level in a p32-dependent manner that contributes to Ca2+-dependent vasoconstriction in native low-density lipoprotein-stimulated vascular smooth muscle cells

구본혁,홍동의,홍현돈,임현교,허광래,원무호,김영명,Dan E. Berkowitz,유승우 생화학분자생물학회 2019 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.51 No.-

Although arginase II (ArgII) is abundant in mitochondria, Ca2+-accumulating organelles, the relationship between ArgII activity and Ca2+ translocation into mitochondria and the regulation of cytosolic Ca2+ signaling are completely unknown. We investigated the effects of ArgII activity on mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake through mitochondrial p32 protein (p32m) and on CaMKII-dependent vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contraction. Native low-density lipoprotein stimulation induced an increase in [Ca2+]m as measured by CoCl2-quenched calcein-AM fluorescence, which was prevented by Arg inhibition in hAoSMCs and reduced in mAoSMCs from ArgII−/− mice. Conversely, [Ca2+]c analyzed with Fluo-4 AM was increased by Arg inhibition and ArgII gene knockout. The increased [Ca2+]c resulted in CaMKII and MLC 20 phosphorylation, which was associated with enhanced vasoconstriction activity to phenylephrine (PE) in the vascular tension assay. Cy5-tagged siRNA against mitochondrial p32 mRNA (sip32m) abolished mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and induced activation of CaMKII. Spermine, a polyamine, induced mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and dephosphorylation of CaMKII and was completely inhibited by sip32m incubation. In mAoSMCs from ApoE-null mice fed a high-cholesterol diet (ApoE−/− +HCD), Arg activity was increased, and spermine concentration was higher than that of wild-type mice. Furthermore, [Ca2+]m and p32m levels were elevated, and CaMKII phosphorylation was reduced in mAoSMCs from ApoE−/− +HCD. In vascular tension experiments, an attenuated response to vasoconstrictors in de-endothelialized aorta from ApoE−/− +HCD was recovered by incubation of sip32m. ArgII activity-dependent production of spermine augments Ca2+ transition from the cytosol to the mitochondria in a p32m-dependent manner and regulates CaMKII-dependent constriction in VSMCs.

Clusterin confers paclitaxel resistance in ovarian cancer

박동춘 ( Dong Choon Park ),( Kwong Kwok Wong ),( Mark R. Wilson ),( William R. Welch ),( Michael J. Birrer ),( Ross S. Berkowitz ),( Samuel C. Mok ) 대한산부인과학회 2004 대한산부인과학회 학술대회 Vol.90 No.-

Effect of Varenicline on Tardive Dyskinesia: A Pilot Study

Stanley N. Caroff,Alisa R. Gutman,John Northrop,Shirley H. Leong,Rosalind M. Berkowitz,E. Cabrina Campbell 대한정신약물학회 2021 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.19 No.2

Objective: Although evidence implicates striatal cholinergic impairment as a mechanism underlying tardive dyskinesia, trials of nonspecific cholinergic agents have been inconclusive. As a partial agonist at specific nicotinic receptor sub-types, varenicline reduces drug-induced dyskinesias in animal models suggesting promise as a treatment for tardive dyskinesia. Methods: Three schizophrenia patients with tardive dyskinesia who were smokers underwent an open trial of varenicline. After a 2-week baseline, subjects received varenicline 1 mg twice daily. Changes from baseline on the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale were measured after a 4-week varenicline stabilization period, and 6 weeks after the smoking quit date in one patient. Results: Varenicline had no effect on mean Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale scores after 4 weeks. Although smok-ing decreased after 4 weeks on varenicline and diminished further in one patient after 10 weeks, this also appeared to have no effect on ratings of tardive dyskinesia. Conclusion: In contrast to animal models, no significant change in tardive dyskinesia occurred in response to varenicline replacement in three schizophrenia patients. Further investigations of cholinergic mechanisms in tardive dyskinesia are worthwhile as agents for specific cholinergic targets become available for treatment. In addition, treatment trials of tardive dyskinesia should control for smoking status, while patients on antipsychotics receiving nicotine replacement therapies for smoking should be studied further for changes in movement.