Digital Commons Network^™

Lucky Little Things, Karen Abbott

Children's Book and Media Review

Emma is struggling with the death of her mother's best friend, who was a second mother to her and a bringer of magic into her life. This particular morning, however, there is a letter waiting under the door with Emma's name on it. The letter holds a magical promise: ten small wishes that Emma writes down will come true as long as she doesn't tell another living human. The letter starts Emma on a road of adventure as she wonders who it came from and what luck really is. When Emma finds out who sent the first letter and the …

All The Ways The World Can End, Shelby Bunker

Children's Book and Media Review

All the Ways the World Can End by Abby Sher is the emotional story of a girl who has many phobias, including the cancer that is killing her father. As Eleanor battles her fears and fights for her father’s life, she tries to find love, makes mistakes, and ultimately discovers herself. True friends, family, and her own determination keep her afloat in this scary world.

From Ant To Eagle, Taylor Harris

Children's Book and Media Review

After moving to what seems like the middle of nowhere, Cal is stuck with no one to play with except his six-year-old brother, Sammy. He can get Sammy to do almost anything by promising him a level in the system that he made up, promoting his brother from Ant to higher levels, with Sammy hoping to reach the Eagle status that his brother has. When a new girl, Aleta, moves in, Cal starts spending more time with her and less time with Sammy. Meanwhile, Sammy starts getting sick. Once school starts, they find out that Sammy has cancer. After that, …

Cip2a Immunosensor Comprised Of Vertically-Aligned Carbon Nanotube Interdigitated Electrodes Towards Point-Of-Care Oral Cancer Screening, Shaowei Ding, Suprem R. Das, Benjamin J. Brownlee, Kshama Parate, Taylor Davis, Loreen R. Stromberg, Edward K.L. Chan, Joseph Katz, Brian D. Iverson, Jonathan C. Claussen

Faculty Publications

Vertically aligned carbon nanotube array (VANTA) coatings have recently garnered much attention due in part to their unique material properties including light absorption, chemical inertness, and electrical conductivity. Herein we report the first use of VANTAs grown via chemical vapor deposition in a 2D interdigitated electrode (IDE) footprint with a high height-to-width aspect ratio (3:1 or 75:25 µm). The VANTA-IDE is functionalized with an antibody (Ab) specific to the human cancerous inhibitor PP2A (CIP2A)—a alivary oncoprotein that is associated with a variety of malignancies such as oral, breast, and multiple myeloma cancers. The resultant immunosensor is capable of detecting CIP2A …

Trf1 Mutations As A Mechanism For Telomere Length Maintenance In Cancer, Collin Sanderson, Jonathan Alder

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences found on the ends of chromosomes that serve to protect the genes contained within each chromosome. As a cell replicates, its telomeres shorten, eventually triggering cellular senescence or death. This serves as a tumor suppressive mechanism by limiting the proliferation of cells. All cancers must overcome this growth limitation by acquiring mutations that permit telomere elongation. Most cancers achieve this by acquiring activating-mutations in an enzyme known as telomerase. Some cancers do not express telomerase, and maintain their telomeres by other means including a mechanism called “alternative lengthening of telomeres” (ALT). However, there exists a …

Rita, Rita, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Rita Alkhaledy grew up in Sadr City, a poor suburb of Baghdad. Her father is an Iraqi Arab and her mother was Kurdish Iranian. Her mother lived in fear that she would be cast out of Baghdad as being an outsider in Iraq was frowned upon. Her father served in the Iraqi army in the 80s and was gone a great deal, leading to a strained relationship. Their relationship was mended when her mother died from cancer.

After the Iraq war, Rita and her brothers realized that their lives were in danger. They had to move from house to house …

Strength Of Belief: Religious Commitment, Knowledge, And Hpvvaccination Adherence, Wendy C. Birmingham, Janelle L. B. Macintosh, Allison A. Vaughn, Tyler C. Graff

Faculty Publications

Objective:Human papillomavirus (HPV) infects millions of men and women annu-ally and is a substantial contributing factor in many cancers including oral, penile, anal,and cervical. Vaccination can reduce risk but adherence nationwide and, particularlyin highly religious states, is suboptimal. Religious principles of abstinence before mar-riage and total fidelity following marriage may create a belief of protection throughadherence to religious guidelines. However, while one partner may remain monoga-mous, one cannot be assured of their partner's behavior both before and after mar-riage. These misconceptions may create a barrier to religious youth's adherence tovaccine recommendations.Methods:We sampled single young adults, age 18 to 25 years, …