Digital Commons Network^™

Rapamycin Rescues Vascular, Metabolic And Learning Deficits In Apolipoprotein E4 Transgenic Mice With Pre-Symptomatic Alzheimer’S Disease, Ai-Ling Lin, Jordan B. Jahrling, Wei Zhang, Nicholas Derosa, Vikas Bakshi, Peter Romero, Veronica Galvan, Arlan Richardson

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele is a common susceptibility gene for late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Brain vascular and metabolic deficits can occur in cognitively normal apolipoprotein E ɛ4 carriers decades before the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The goal of this study was to determine whether early intervention using rapamycin could restore neurovascular and neurometabolic functions, and thus impede pathological progression of Alzheimer's disease-like symptoms in pre-symptomatic Apolipoprotein E ɛ4 transgenic mice. Using in vivo, multimodal neuroimaging, we found that apolipoprotein E ɛ4 mice treated with rapamycin had restored cerebral blood flow, blood–brain barrier integrity and glucose metabolism, compared …

Mice Deficient In Endothelial Α5 Integrin Are Profoundly Resistant To Experimental Ischemic Stroke, Jill Roberts, Leon De Hoog, Gregory J. Bix

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Stroke is a disease in dire need of better therapies. We have previously shown that a fragment of the extracellular matrix proteoglycan, perlecan, has beneficial effects following cerebral ischemia via the α5β1 integrin receptor. We now report that endothelial cell selective α5 integrin deficient mice (α5 KO) are profoundly resistant to ischemic infarct after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Specifically, α5 KOs had little to no infarct 2–3 days post-stroke, whereas controls had an increase in mean infarct volume over the same time period as expected. Functional outcome is also improved in the α5 KOs compared with controls. Importantly, no …

Early Shifts Of Brain Metabolism By Caloric Restriction Preserve White Matter Integrity And Long-Term Memory In Aging Mice, Janet Guo, Vikas Bakshi, Ai-Ling Lin

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Preservation of brain integrity with age is highly associated with lifespan determination. Caloric restriction (CR) has been shown to increase longevity and healthspan in various species; however, its effects on preserving living brain functions in aging remain largely unexplored. In the study, we used multimodal, non-invasive neuroimaging (PET/MRI/MRS) to determine in vivo brain glucose metabolism, energy metabolites, and white matter structural integrity in young and old mice fed with either control or 40% CR diet. In addition, we determined the animals’ memory and learning ability with behavioral assessments. Blood glucose, blood ketone bodies, and body weight were also measured. We …

The Cracks In Nato's Fault Narrative: Why Nato Enlargement Fails To Explain Russian Aggression, Katherine Miller

Ex-Patt Magazine

What explains Russia’s recent behavior? Some blame the expansion of NATO for Russian aggression, but that isn’t the whole story.

Agriculture Of The Middle Participation In State Branding Campaigns: The Case Of Kentucky, Alicia M. Hullinger, Keiko Tanaka

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

In the past decade, statewide agricultural branding campaigns have blossomed. Examining the case of the Kentucky Proud™ (KyP) program, this paper investigates the potential benefit of a state-level marketing strategy for the declining class of midsize farms, referred to as Agriculture of the Middle (AOTM). First, we discuss why AOTM farms are important to maintaining a viable agriculture structure. Second, we introduce the context of state branding and explain how KyP developed as part of the transition from highly tobacco-dependent agriculture. Using recent agricultural census data and a survey of KyP members, we compare the key characteristics between three sets …

Domestic Violence In The Workplace, Amanda Fallin

Kaleidoscope

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive problem that follows victims from the home into the workplace. Many women who experience violence in their homes are also harassed at work and are abused in the workplace. For the current study, thirty women who reported a history of workplace violence were recruited from a homeless women’s shelter. Of the participants, thirteen experienced domestic violence in the workplace, and this paper focuses on the results obtained from those thirteen respondents. This paper also discusses the link between poverty and homelessness, intimate partner violence, and workplace violence.

Time-Dependent Effects Of Cx3cr1 In A Mouse Model Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Heidi Y. Febinger, Hannah E. Thomasy, Maria N. Pavlova, Kristyn M. Ringgold, Paulien R. Barf, Amrita M. George, Jenna N. Grillo, Adam D. Bachstetter, Jenny A. Garcia, Astrid E. Cardona, Mark R. Opp, Carmelina Gemma

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Neuroinflammation is an important secondary mechanism that is a key mediator of the long-term consequences of neuronal injury that occur in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Microglia are highly plastic cells with dual roles in neuronal injury and recovery. Recent studies suggest that the chemokine fractalkine (CX3CL1, FKN) mediates neural/microglial interactions via its sole receptor CX3CR1. CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signaling modulates microglia activation, and depending upon the type and time of injury, either protects or exacerbates neurological diseases.

METHODS: In this study, mice deficient in CX3CR1 were subjected to mild controlled cortical impact injury (CCI), a model of TBI. We evaluated …

Albumin Administration In Acute Ischemic Stroke: Safety Analysis Of The Alias Part 2 Multicenter Trial, Michael D. Hill, Renee H. Martin, Yuko Y. Palesch, Claudias S. Moy, Diego Tamariz, Karla J. Ryckborst, Elizabeth B. Jones, David Weisman, L. Creed Pettigrew, Myron D. Ginsberg

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Albumin treatment of ischemic stroke was associated with cardiopulmonary adverse events in previous studies and a low incidence of intracranial hemorrhage. We sought to describe the neurological and cardiopulmonary adverse events in the ALIAS Part 2 Multicenter Trial.

METHODS: Ischemic stroke patients, aged 18-83 and a baseline NIHSS ≥ 6, were randomized to treatment with ALB or saline control within 5 hours of stroke onset. Neurological adverse events included symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, hemicraniectomy, neurological deterioration and neurological death. Cardiopulmonary adverse events included pulmonary edema/congestive heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation, pneumonia and pulmonary thromboembolism.

RESULTS: …

Ebony And Ivory? Interracial Dating Intentions And Behaviors Of Disadvantaged African American Women In Kentucky, David J. Luke, Carrie B. Oser

Sociology Faculty Publications

Using data from 595 predominantly disadvantaged African American women in Kentucky, this study examines perceptions about racial/ethnic partner availability, cultural mistrust, and racism as correlates of interracial dating intentions and behaviors with both white and Hispanic men. Participants reported levels of dating intentions and behaviors were significantly higher with whites than Hispanics. The multivariate models indicate less cultural mistrust and believing it is easier to find a man of that racial/ethnic category were associated with higher interracial dating intentions. Women were more likely to have dated a white man if they believed it was easier to find a white man …

Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, James P. Ziliak

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

The provision of public assistance to families with children in America faced a watershed moment with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). PRWORA replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which was an entitlement funded via a federal-state matching grant, with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which is no longer an entitlement and is financed with a fixed federal block-grant to the states. The impetus for reform had been building for at least the two decades prior to passage, but took on greater currency with the dramatic growth …

Trouble In The Tails? What We Know About Earnings Nonresponse Thirty Years After Lillard, Smith, And Welch, Christopher R. Bollinger, Barry T. Hirsch, Charles M. Hokayem, James P. Ziliak

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Earnings nonresponse in household surveys is widespread, yet there is limited evidence on whether and how nonresponse bias affects measured earnings. This paper examines the patterns and consequences of nonresponse using internal Current Population Survey individual records linked to administrative Social Security Administrative data on earnings for calendar years 2005-2010. Our findings confirm the conjecture by Lillard, Smith, and Welch (1986) that nonresponse across the earnings distribution is U-shaped. Left-tail “strugglers” and right-tail “stars” are least likely to report earnings. Household surveys understate earnings dispersion, reporting too few low and too few extremely high earners. Throughout much of the earnings …

The Crisis Of Identity In Post-Revolutionary Cuban Film: A Sociological Analysis Of Strawberry And Chocolate, Andrew Zachary Shultz

Kaleidoscope

This paper analyzes Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío´s Strawberry and Chocolate (1993) from the sociological perspective of film as a cultural text informed by the political, historical, and social world in which it is produced. A symbolic interactionist/cultural studies model is used as a guide for the interpretive and qualitative methods utilized in approaching the film. Of particular interest to the sociological analysis of the film is the changing political context of the Cuban Revolution during the “special period” of the early 1990s, the use of stereotypes in the characterization of the actors, and finally its representation of …

Altered Lysosomal Proteins In Neural-Derived Plasma Exosomes In Preclinical Alzheimer Disease, Edward J. Goetzl, Adam Boxer, Janice B. Schwartz, Erin L. Abner, Ronald C. Petersen, Bruce L. Miller, Dimitrios Kapogiannis

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Diverse autolysosomal proteins were quantified in neurally derived blood exosomes from patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and controls to investigate disordered neuronal autophagy.

METHODS: Blood exosomes obtained once from patients with AD (n = 26) or frontotemporal dementia (n = 16), other patients with AD (n = 20) both when cognitively normal and 1 to 10 years later when diagnosed, and case controls were enriched for neural sources by anti-human L1CAM antibody immunoabsorption. Extracted exosomal proteins were quantified by ELISAs and normalized with the CD81 exosomal marker.

RESULTS: Mean exosomal levels of cathepsin D, lysosome-associated membrane …

The Streets As Examples Of “True” Democracy? The South-American Experience, Carlos De La Torre

Sociology Faculty Publications

Building on the existing literature this paper analyzes how – at the turn of the century and into the 21st century – activists in Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia constructed narratives that focused on “the people in action”. Advocates of the insurrections framed myths of the pure and oppressed people revolting against the tyranny of economic and political elites. Elites responded by differentiating the authentic people from the mob. Indigenous and other poor and non-white protestors were portrayed by elites as the rabble, as uncivilized, and in general, as a danger to democracy.

Low Neural Exosomal Levels Of Cellular Survival Factors In Alzheimer's Disease, Edward J. Goetzl, Adam Boxer, Janice B. Schwartz, Erin Abner, Ronald C. Petersen, Bruce L. Miller, Olga D. Carlson, Maja Mustapic, Dimitrios Kapogiannis

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Transcription factors that mediate neuronal defenses against diverse stresses were quantified in plasma neural-derived exosomes of Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia patients and matched controls. Exosomal levels of low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6, heat-shock factor-1, and repressor element 1-silencing transcription factor all were significantly lower in Alzheimer's disease patients than controls (P < 0.0001). In frontotemporal dementia, the only significant difference was higher levels of repressor element 1-silencing transcription factor than in controls. Exosomal transcription factors were diminished 2-10 years before clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Low exosomal levels of survival proteins may explain decreased neuronal resistance to Alzheimer's disease neurotoxic proteins.

Apoε2 And Education In Cognitively Normal Older Subjects With High Levels Of Ad Pathology At Autopsy: Findings From The Nun Study, Diego Iacono, Peter Zandi, Myron Gross, William R. Markesbery, Olga Pletnikova, Gay Rudow, Juan C. Troncoso

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease (ASYMAD) subjects are individuals characterized by preserved cognition before death despite substantial AD pathology at autopsy. ASYMAD subjects show comparable levels of AD pathology, i.e. β-amyloid neuritic plaques (Aβ-NP) and tau-neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), to those observed in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and some definite AD cases. Previous clinicopathologic studies on ASYMAD subjects have shown specific phenomena of hypertrophy in the cell bodies, nuclei, and nucleoli of hippocampal pyramidal neurons and other cerebral areas. Since it is well established that the allele APOε4 is a major genetic risk factor for AD, we examined whether specific alleles of APOE …

Calcium Channel Blockers, Progression To Dementia, And Effects On Amyloid Beta Peptide Production, Mark A. Lovell, Erin Abner, Richard Kryscio, Liou Xu, Shuling X. Fister, Bert C. Lynn

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Previous epidemiologic studies suggest that antihypertensive drugs may be protective against cognitive decline. To determine if subjects enrolled in the University of Kentucky longitudinal aging study who used antihypertensive drugs showed diminished progression to dementia, we used a 3-parameter logistic regression model to compare the rate of progression to dementia for subjects who used any of the five common categories of antihypertensive drugs to those with similar demographic characteristics but who did not use antihypertensives. Regression modeling showed that subjects who used calcium channel blockers (CCBs) but not the other classes of antihypertensives showed a significant decrease in the rate …

Encouraging Victims: Responding To A Recent Study Of Battered Women Who Commit Crimes, Andrea L. Dennis, Carol E. Jordan

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

No abstract provided.

Building The Capacity For Community Food Work: The Geographic Distribution Of Usda Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program Grantees, Keiko Tanaka, Erica Indiano, Graham T. Soley, Patrick H. Mooney

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

Projects Competitive Grants Program, or USDA CFPCGP, supports community efforts to address food system issues. Over the last 15 years the program has funded diverse community-based projects across the nation, including youth education programs on healthy eating, farm-to-table initiatives, and community food assessments. In this initial study, we endeavor to understand the contribution of the CFPCGP in building a community's capacity to address its own challenges for food security. To analyze funding patterns of the CFPCGP program between 1996 and 2012, we used the websites of the CFPCGP and the WhyHunger Network to identify 420 competitive grant applications successfully funded …

Gold Mining And Unequal Exchange In Western Amazonia: A Theoretical Photo Essay, Gordon L. Ulmer

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

I combine fieldwork photography and ethnographic documentation of gold mining in Madre de Dios, Peru, to examine the localized material, social, environmental, and health outcomes of the global gold boom. This 'theoretical photo essay’ examines how local and global forces coalesce around gold mining and influence peoples and environments in Western Amazonia. I use embodiment theory in anthropology, ecological economics, and theories of underdevelopment to understand local consequences of the global gold trade and to elucidate how opulence and the machinations of capital accumulation in economic centers of the world occur at the expense of human lives and environments in …

Race Vs. Class: Is The Market Colorblind?, David Luke

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

For decades, social scientists have debated the nature of inequality in the United States. A false dichotomy of race versus class is a common way of interpreting this. This brief article provides a detailed review of some of the important literature on racial and social class equality, as well as a view of current levels of inequality and the trends exacerbated in the market failure and Great Recession of 2008. Ultimately, this review results in policy recommendations to address the gap, and challenges the claims that the various "markets" in the United States are colorblind.

Closed Head Injury In An Age-Related Alzheimer Mouse Model Leads To An Altered Neuroinflammatory Response And Persistent Cognitive Impairment, Scott J. Webster, Linda J. Van Eldik, D. Martin Watterson, Adam D. Bachstetter

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Epidemiological studies have associated increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related clinical symptoms with a medical history of head injury. Currently, little is known about pathophysiology mechanisms linked to this association. Persistent neuroinflammation is one outcome observed in patients after a single head injury. Neuroinflammation is also present early in relevant brain regions during AD pathology progression. In addition, previous mechanistic studies in animal models link neuroinflammation as a contributor to neuropathology and cognitive impairment in traumatic brain injury (TBI) or AD-related models. Therefore, we explored the potential interplay of neuroinflammatory responses in TBI and AD by analysis of the temporal …

Attenuation Of Traumatic Brain Injury-Induced Cognitive Impairment In Mice By Targeting Increased Cytokine Levels With A Small Molecule Experimental Therapeutic, Adam D. Bachstetter, Scott J. Webster, Danielle S. Goulding, Jonathan E. Morton, D. Martin Watterson, Linda J. Van Eldik

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Evidence from clinical studies and preclinical animal models suggests that proinflammatory cytokine overproduction is a potential driving force for pathology progression in traumatic brain injury (TBI). This raises the possibility that selective targeting of the overactive cytokine response, a component of the neuroinflammation that contributes to neuronal dysfunction, may be a useful therapeutic approach. MW151 is a CNS-penetrant, small molecule experimental therapeutic that selectively restores injury- or disease-induced overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines towards homeostasis. We previously reported that MW151 administered post-injury (p.i.) is efficacious in a closed head injury (CHI) model of diffuse TBI in mice. Here we test …

Better Engaging Communities: Moving Beyond Cardinal Rules, Anna G. Hoover

Anna G. Hoover

“Cardinal rules” and best practice approaches have guided governmental risk communication efforts at chronic risk sites for more than two decades, playing an important role in how those most affected by contamination make sense of risk. In addition to providing information, however, communication approaches themselves can affect community perceptions indirectly, through stakeholder interpretations of the processes by which risk information is shared. It is increasingly necessary to evaluate not only whether risk communication approaches have been effective for increasing knowledge but if, in fact, the ways in which information is shared has had unintended consequences that change how stakeholders perceive …

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Tdp-43, Keith A. Josephs, Peter T. Nelson

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Practical Algorithm For Managing Alzheimer's Disease: What, When, And Why?, Jeffrey L. Cummings, Richard S. Isaacson, Frederick A. Schmitt, Drew M. Velting

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and its prevalence is increasing. Recent developments in AD management provide improved ways of supporting patients and their caregivers throughout the disease continuum. Managing cardiovascular risk factors, maintaining an active lifestyle (with regular physical, mental and social activity) and following a Mediterranean diet appear to reduce AD risk and may slow cognitive decline. Pharmacologic therapy for AD should be initiated upon diagnosis. All of the currently available cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs; donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine) are indicated for mild-to-moderate AD. Donepezil (10 and 23 mg/day) and rivastigmine transdermal patch (13.3 mg/24 …

Divorces Of Marriage Immigrants In South Korea: An Examination Of Factors Affecting Divorce, Sanghee Kim

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In South Korea, as of 2013, ten out of a hundred newlywed couples included a marriage immigrant, i.e. someone who came to the country for the purpose of getting married to a native (Statistics Korea). South Korea, a traditionally homogeneous society, has seen an increase in marriage immigrants, primarily women, in recent years. Multicultural families face a variety of challenges. Marriage immigrants experience cultural and lifestyle differences, language problems, poverty, and domestic violence. In 2011, the divorce rate in multicultural families reached 10 percent and the average length of a marriage that ended in divorce was 4.9 years (Statistics Korea). …

Syphilis: The Forgotten Sexually Transmitted Disease. A Brief Case Report, Amy Burnett, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Syphilis has declined significantly over the last 30 years. Due to that success, many physicians no longer have the skills to recognize its symptoms. We present a case of syphilis as a demonstration of this fact.

The Structuration Of Chinese Migrant Workers: Institutional Transitions, Life Experiences And Subjective Experiences, Fayin Xu

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Chinese migrant workers are workers who (1) migrate from the countryside, where they have the rights to contract farm land, work in agricultural production, and build houses on allotted residential site, and (2) work in non-agricultural sectors of cities and towns, where they don’t receive the same urban welfare benefits as local urban residents. Chinese migrant workers are characterized by their dagong lifestyle, which means “leaving their home in rural villages, going into cities, and working for others, in order to make money.” Though this group of people emerges in the rural-urban migration process associated with the rapid industrialization and …

Tactical Police Officers, Romantic Attachment And Job-Related Stress: A Mixed-Methods Study, Natalie Fagan

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Stressors stemming from tactical policing such as social isolation and increased work responsibilities often spill over into the home and affect personal relationships. Using attachment theory as the guiding framework, this mixed methods study aimed to obtain a better understanding of the factors involved in maintaining long-term relationships between tactical officers and their romantic partners. Phase I consisted of surveys administered to tactical officers in Kentucky and measured romantic partner attachment, organizational and operational police stressors. Research questions examined how operational and organizational stress correlated with attachment while controlling for demographics. Analysis indicated that holding a rank above an officer …