Data Catalog

The primary goal of the National Politics Study (NPS) was to gather comparative data about individuals' political attitudes, beliefs, aspirations, and behaviors at the beginning of the 21st century. Exploring the nature of political involvement and participation among individuals from different racial and ethnic groups, the survey included questions about voting preferences, party affiliation, organizational membership, immigration, racial consciousness, acculturation, and views of government policies.

The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of female parents on the sexual and contraceptive behavior of teenage daughters. The strategy for doing so was to examine patterns of communication about sex roles and sexual behavior between mothers and daughters in different types of families and to measure the impact of varying communication patterns on the sexual and contraceptive knowledge and behavior of daughters. Demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral data were collected from both mothers and daughters in Detroit, Michigan, in separate but simultaneous face-to-face interviews.

Trophoblast stem (TS) cells derived from the trophectoderm (TE) of mammalian embryos have the ability to self-renew indefinitely or differentiate into fetal lineages of the placenta. Epigenetic control of gene expression plays an instrumental role in dictating the fate of TS cell self-renewal and differentiation. However, the roles of histone demethylases and activating histone modifications such as methylation of histone 3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3/me2) in regulating TS cell expression programs, and in priming the epigenetic landscape for trophoblast differentiation, are largely unknown. This study demonstrates that the H3K4 demethylase, KDM5B, regulates the H3K4 methylome and expression landscapes of TS cells. Depletion of KDM5B resulted in downregulation of TS cell self-renewal genes and upregulation of trophoblast-lineage genes, which was accompanied by altered H3K4 methylation. Moreover, it is found that KDM5B resets the H3K4 methylation landscape during differentiation in the absence of the external self-renewal signal, FGF4, by removing H3K4 methylation from promoters of self-renewal genes, and of genes whose expression is enriched in TS cells. Altogether, these data indicate an epigenetic role for KDM5B in regulating H3K4 methylation in TS cells and during trophoblast differentiation.

Glial cells play structural and functional roles central to the formation, activity and integrity of neurons throughout the nervous system. Here, using the genetic model Drosophila melanogaster, reseearchers identify a new glial cell type in one of the most active tissues in the nervous system—the retina. These cells, called ommatidial cone cells (or Semper cells), were previously recognized for their role in lens formation. Using cell-specific molecular genetic approaches, this study demonstrates that cone cells (CCs) also share molecular, functional, and genetic features with both vertebrate and invertebrate glia to prevent light-induced retinal degeneration and provide structural and physiological support for photoreceptors.