Digital Commons Network^™

Pursuing Cardioprotective Health Through Research, Sterling Giles

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Recent VCU Chemistry graduate Salma Omer and her team of fellow researchers discovered that the supplement Viagra, intended for treating erectile dysfunction, may protect the heart from diabetic damage and damage from excessive alcohol consumption.

Shares Of The Great War Effort: Brazil’S Returns From The Second World War, Jon Tyktor

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

The first half of the twentieth century was a period so fraught with politi-cal, military, and economic tumult that it is easy to see why several of the world’s most powerful (and some not so powerful) nations turned to totalitarian forms of governance. Indeed, nations like the United Kingdom, the United States, and (temporarily) the Republic of France, where democratic rule of law had been maintained after the 1929 Stock Market Crash, were usually the exception and not the rule. Regimes such as Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Estado Novo in Brazil were often established in reaction to the …

Osseointegration Of Wrapped Dental Implants In Rabbits, Alex Whitehead

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Edentulous patients (those lacking teeth) require one of two approaches to augmentation: inserting a vertical bone graft, or subperiosteally anchoring a device on which an implant can be attached. Bone grafts have had unpredictable results and can undergo resorption over time, compromising implant stability and success. As of the subperiosteal approach, current materials have not proven to directly integrate with the bone, in a process termed osseointegration. Therefore, we used additive manufacturing to create a Ti6Al4V alloy surface with a specific roughness to determine if it would be osseoinductive in a challenging rabbit model over six weeks.

Cover, Editors And Editorial Board, Sponsors, Table Of Contents

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

No abstract provided.

Computer Simulation Of Tooth Mobility Using Varying Material Properties, Allison R. Beckmann, Lena Unterberg, Stefan Raith, Horst Fischer

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Tooth mobility is the major cause of stress on a tooth implant or partial denture and often results in the damage of the device. For many prosthetic devices like dental bridges, a partial denture used for a person who is missing a tooth to give the appearance and function of a tooth, mobility can cause up to double the amount of stress in comparison to a fixed model. Creating a computer simulation of tooth mobility using Finite Element Analysis allows one to understand and predict this movement in order to improve future dental prosthetic devices. The main cause of tooth …

Neuronal Migration: How Do You Build A Brain?, Sravya Uppalapati

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Senior biology major Alex Burkard is working in the Walsh Neurodevelopment Laboratory at VCU to help answer the question, ‘How do you build a brain?’ Burkard is researching neuronal migration in Zebrafish and how cellular polarity affects hindbrain development.

Immortal Mortals, Sterling Giles

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Junior Information Systems and Bioinformatics major Michael Kiflezghi focuses his research interests on an organism’s lifespan and gut microbial communities.

Changes In Malaria Prevention And Incidence Due To Political Restructuring Of Mozambique And South Africa, Nirmala K. Shivakumar

UROP Posters

The UN’s current Millennium Development Goal puts pressure on many countries to decrease malaria incidence by 2015, including Mozambique and South Africa. While Mozambique and South Africa have continually worked to decrease malaria incidence for the last five decades, neither country can claim elimination of disease by UN standards. This study analyzes the changes in political structure and the simultaneous changes in the malaria prevention programs of Mozambique and South Africa after the end of their respective civil wars in 1992 and 1994. This study analyzed public health, historical, and social science journal articles. This study examined political power distribution, …

Heterosexism Faced By Adolescents In The Rural United States: A Case For Implementing Student-Made Lgbt Programs, Beau W. Coggsdale

UROP Posters

GSAs, Gay-Straight Alliances, influence the heterosexist environment within a school system, especially rural schools. The data was collected from various journals documenting suicide rates and levels of self-esteem in rural environments. A lot of the data was collected was cross-referenced because of the lack of research into LGBT youth in rural environments. Much of the research that was conducted was focused on ameliorating internalized homophobia of urban LGBT youth instead of rural LGBT youth, so research into LGBT urban youth was applied to those in a rural environment. Heterosexism exists in school systems because of the lack of support for …

The Metabolism Of Alcohol: Risk And Protective Factors, Sydney E. Levan, Amy Adkins, Danielle Dick, Karen G. Chartier

UROP Posters

Purpose: Abstract for poster submission to VCU Poster Symposium for

Undergraduate Research and Creativity

Title: The Metabolism of Alcohol: Risk and Protective Factors

Background: In 2002, it was reported by the National Institutes of Health that

60.3% of college aged students (18-22) drank alcohol in the past month of being

asked, as compared to 51.9% of those not in college. They also found that 20% of

college students met the criteria for at least one alcohol use disorder (AUDs)1.

Many genes have been linked to an increased risk for AUDs and how individuals

with various ethnic backgrounds respond to alcohol. …

The Effects Of Part-Time Work On Sleep Quality In College Students, Katherine A. Beachy, Candace Moore, Magda M. Smith

UROP Posters

Part time work can negatively affect sleeping patterns, resulting in poorer academic performance and a diminished sense of overall well-being. 521 undergraduate students working at least 20 hours per week were surveyed and self-reported post-work experiences and sleep quality. Results of a multiple regression analysis indicated that a block of four post-work experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control over leisure time) were predictive of self-reported sleep quality. Completion of more mastery experiences and greater control over choosing post-work activities were both statistically significant predictors of higher sleep quality (Sonnentag, Binnewies, & Mojza, 2008).

Disproportion Of Women In General Surgery And Obstetrics-Gynecology Professions, Nidhi H. Patel

UROP Posters

An increasingly number of women have been enrolling in U.S. medical schools recently and the field of obstetrics-gynecology has become predominantly female, but the profession of general surgery still remains largely unequal between the two genders. There is an observable pattern of gender inequality in both of these specialties, which is a result of several different factors which affect all women regardless of their profession. I studied how the stark difference in the percentages of female surgeons versus the percentages of female obstetricians-gynecologists compared to men has been created due to the prescribed gender roles of women in society. I …

Use Of Oxytocin As A Preventative Treatment For Ptsd, Laurel V. Kovalchick

UROP Posters

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder triggered by experiencing a traumatic event. PTSD causes recurrent flashbacks of traumatic memories that lead to over-consolidation. Memory over-consolidation prevents extinction of emotional and physiological responses to the memory. Because individuals can respond differently to stress and frightening experiences, no measures are currently practiced to prevent PTSD. By studying the changes in the brain during PTSD and after stress, it can be hypothesized that treatments that regulated HPA axis activity may prevent PTSD symptoms if applied soon after stress. Risk of developing PTSD is associated with abnormal cortisol and norepinephrine levels …

Developing A Neuroplasticity-Based Treatment Program For Psychopathy: Treatment Foci And Options, Mariah Villanueva

UROP Posters

Psychopathy is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is commonly misunderstood as the condition of criminals, and many people believe the best cure is simple confinement for those who ignore society’s laws. Psychopathy, though, is a genuine condition with a genetic basis that manifests itself through neurotransmitter system disruption and hormone imbalances. Psychopathy has a serious neurological impact on an individual, with impairments largely focused in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, as well as overall negatively affecting the limbic system of the brain. Together, the total impact causes issues with that individual’s ability to empathize, to experience emotions normally, to develop a …

Creation Of An Annotated Library On Fda Approved Nanomedicines, Marley R. Hodson, Tanin Izadi, Nastassja Lewinski Ph.D, Bridget T. Mcinnes Ph.D

UROP Posters

Nanomedicine is a type of nanotechnology used in the medical field to limit the dosage amount and target drug delivery to specific cells. Nanomedicines that are approved and used tend to be extremely successful; however despite over a decade of research, only a limited number of nanomedicines have advanced for clinical use. A possible reason for the numerous nanomedicine failures is lack of easily accessible information and research on previous nanomedicines. In this project, we have compiled nanomedicine labeling information from the Drugs@FDA website. We have extracted phrases/sentences from labels relating to keywords on nanomaterial properties and drug profile characteristics. …

Post Traumatic Stress And Externalizing Behaviors In At Risk Urban Adolescents: A Prospective Study, Angela Chung, Lauren Guerra, Jerry L. Mize Ii, Lena Jaggi, Wendy Kliewer

UROP Posters

Adolescents in in urban areas are at a higher risk for experiencing direct victimization as well as witnessing violence directed towards others, which increases the amount of post-traumatic stress (PTS) they face (Joseph, S., Mynard, H., & Mayall, M. 2000). Experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been associated with a number of negative externalizing behaviors, such as increased delinquency, drug use and aggressive behavior in adolescents (Dierkhising, C. B., Ko, S. J., Woods-Jaeger, B., Briggs, E. C., Lee, R., & Pynoos, R. S. 2013). This association is especially relevant, as adolescence is a stage where youth are beginning to …

Differentiating Sleep Problems Most Related To Depression And Anxiety In College Students, Emily C. Rowland, Lizna Khimani, Tess Drazdowski, Wendy Kliewer

UROP Posters

Sleep problems, anxiety and depression are common amongst college students. Researchers examined the specific sleep problems correlated with anxiety and depression. These sleep problems included sleep duration, sleep disturbances, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction, habitual sleep efficiency, overall sleep quality, and use of sleep medication. Researchers predicted that daytime dysfunction was the most important sleep problem related to greater anxiety symptoms, followed by overall quality of sleep, and sleep duration. Meanwhile, it was also predicted that daytime dysfunction would be the most important sleep problem and sleep latency the second most important sleep problem related to greater depressive symptoms. The study …

Exploring The Relationships Between Mindfulness And Biobehavioral Factors Associated With Cvd In Women, Susan Ghodrat, Jo Lynne W. Robins

UROP Posters

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between mindfulness and specific biobehavioral factors associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk in women. Design: A secondary data analysis was conducted on baseline data collected in a larger study examining the effects of tai chi on cardiovascular disease risk in women. Subjects: 96 women aged 35-50 years with increased waist circumference and a family history of cardiovascular disease. Measures: Biological measures included: fasting glucose, insulin and lipids, as well as C-reactive protein and cytokines. Behavioral measures included: mindfulness, fatigue, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, social support, self-compassion and spiritual thoughts and behaviors. Results: Mindfulness was …

Reducing Childhood Obesity In America Through National Legislation, Sailee A. Joshi

UROP Posters

According to the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, the American childhood obesity rate has increased threefold within the past 25 years, a trend accompanied by increasing rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and even mortality. Obesity has grown so prevalent, in fact, that Centers for Disease Control estimate that one in three American children is obese. According to the Chan School of Public Health, unless legislation directly targeting America’s spiraling obesity rate is passed, the trend shows no signs of slowing or reversing.

Passing effective legislation requires a both an understanding …

Endogenous Bdnf Augments Nmda Receptor Phosphorylation In The Spinal Cord Via Plcγ, Pkc, And Pi3k/Akt Pathways During Colitis, Miao Liu, Jarren C. Kay, Shanwei Shen, Li-Ya Qiao

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Background

Spinal central sensitization is an important process in the generation and maintenance of visceral hypersensitivity. The release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) from the primary afferent neurons to the spinal cord contributes to spinal neuronal plasticity and increases neuronal activity and synaptic efficacy. The N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor possesses ion channel properties, and its activity is modulated by phosphorylation of its subunits including the NMDA receptor 1 (NR1).

Methods

Colonic inflammation was induced by a single dose of intracolonic instillation of tri-nitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). NR1 phosphorylation by BDNF in vivo and in culture was examined by western …

Molecular Overlap In The Regulation Of Sk Channels By Small Molecules And Phosphoinositides, Miao Zhang, Xuan-Yu Meng, Ji-Fang Zhang, Meng Cui, Diomedes E. Logothetis

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) directly interacts with the small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+2-a (SK2-a) channel/calmodulin complex, serving as a critical element in the regulation of channel activity. We report that changes of protein conformation in close proximity to the PIP2 binding site induced by a small-molecule SK channel modulator, NS309, can effectively enhance the interaction between the protein and PIP2 to potentiate channel activity. This novel modulation of PIP2 sensitivity by small-molecule drugs is likely not to be limited in its application to SK channels, representing an intriguing strategy to develop drugs controlling the activity of the large number of PIP2-dependent proteins.

Impact Of V-Ets Erythroblastosis Virus E26 Oncogene Homolog 1 Gene Polymorphisms Upon Susceptibility To Autoimmune Diseases, Ye Zhou, Miao Liu, Jun Li, Fiza Hashmi, Zhi Mao, Ning Zhang, Liang Zhou, Weiran Lv, Jingwei Zheng, Xiaoli Nie, Changzheng Li

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

V-ets erythroblastosis virus E26 oncogene homolog 1 (ETS1) is recognized as a gene of risk to autoimmune diseases (ADs). Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ETS1 (rs1128334 G>A and rs10893872 T>C) were considered associated with ADs risk. However, the results remain conflicting.

We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate more precise estimations of any relationship. We searched PubMed, OvidSP, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases (papers published prior to September 12, 2014) and extracted data from eligible studies. Meta-analysis was performed using the STATA 12.0 software. Random effect model or fixed effect model were chosen according to …

Editorial: Phosphoinositides And Their Phosphatases: Linking Electrical And Chemical Signals In Biological Processes, Susy C. Kohout, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

The voltage-sensing phosphatase (VSP) has changed the way we think about both cellular electrical activity and PIPs (phosphatidylinositol phosphates). Originally discovered in 1999 (Chen et al., 1999), these proteins were not recognized as electrically-controlled enzymes until 2005 (Murata et al., 2005). They constitute the first, and so far the only, example of an enzyme linking electrical signals at the plasma membrane to the catalysis of PIPs (Murata et al., 2005), a ubiquitous family of intracellular signaling molecules (Di Paolo and De Camilli, 2006; Balla, 2013). Before the discovery of VSP, there were no known direct links between the two. Textbook …

A Rapid In Vivo Screen For Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Therapeutics, Ozhan Ocal, Victor Pashkov, Rahul K. Kollipara, Yalda Zolghadri, Victoria H. Cruz, Michael A. Hale, Blake R. Heath, Alex B. Artyukhin, Alana L. Christie, Pantelis Tsoulfas, James B. Lorens, Galvin H. Swift, Rolf A. Brekken, Thomas M. Wilkie

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, and is projected to be second by 2025. It has the worst survival rate among all major cancers. Two pressing needs for extending life expectancy of affected individuals are the development of new approaches to identify improved therapeutics, addressed herein, and the identification of early markers. PDA advances through a complex series of intercellular and physiological interactions that drive cancer progression in response to organ stress, organ failure, malnutrition, and infiltrating immune and stromal cells. Candidate drugs identified in organ culture or cell-based screens …

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (Nachr) Dependent Chorda Tympani Taste Nerve Responses To Nicotine, Ethanol And Acetylcholine, Zuo Jun Ren, Shobha Mummalaneni, Jie Qian, Clive M. Baumgarten, John A. Desimone, Vijay Lyall

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Nicotine elicits bitter taste by activating TRPM5-dependent and TRPM5-independent but neuronal nAChR-dependent pathways. The nAChRs represent common targets at which acetylcholine, nicotine and ethanol functionally interact in the central nervous system. Here, we investigated if the nAChRs also represent a common pathway through which the bitter taste of nicotine, ethanol and acetylcholine is transduced. To this end, chorda tympani (CT) taste nerve responses were monitored in rats, wild-type mice and TRPM5 knockout (KO) mice following lingual stimulation with nicotine free base, ethanol, and acetylcholine, in the absence and presence of nAChR agonists and antagonists. The nAChR modulators: mecamylamine, dihydro-β-erythroidine, and …

Starvation-Induced Collective Behavior In C. Elegans, Alexander B. Artyukhin, Virginia Commonwealth University J. Yim, Mi Cheong Cheong, Leon Avery

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

We describe a new type of collective behavior in C. elegans nematodes, aggregation of starved L1 larvae. Shortly after hatching in the absence of food, L1 larvae arrest their development and disperse in search for food. In contrast, after two or more days without food, the worms change their behavior—they start to aggregate. The aggregation requires a small amount of ethanol or acetate in the environment. In the case of ethanol, it has to be metabolized, which requires functional alcohol dehydrogenase sodh-1. The resulting acetate is used in de novo fatty acid synthesis, and some of the newly made fatty …

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (Nachr) Dependent Chorda Tympani Taste Nerve Responses To Nicotine, Ethanol And Acetylcholine, Zuo Jun Ren, Shobha Mummalaneni, Jie Qian, Clive M. Baumgarten, John A. Desimone, Vijay Lyall

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Nicotine elicits bitter taste by activating TRPM5-dependent and TRPM5-independent but neuronal nAChR-dependent pathways. The nAChRs represent common targets at which acetylcholine, nicotine and ethanol functionally interact in the central nervous system. Here, we investigated if the nAChRs also represent a common pathway through which the bitter taste of nicotine, ethanol and acetylcholine is transduced. To this end, chorda tympani (CT) taste nerve responses were monitored in rats, wild-type mice and TRPM5 knockout (KO) mice following lingual stimulation with nicotine free base, ethanol, and acetylcholine, in the absence and presence of nAChR agonists and antagonists. The nAChR modulators: mecamylamine, dihydro-β-erythroidine, and …

A Multilaboratory Comparison Of Calibration Accuracy And The Performance Of External References In Analytical Ultracentrifugation, Huaying Zhao, Rodolfo Ghirlando, Carlos Alfonso, Fumio Arisaka, Ilan Attali, David L. Bain, Marina M. Bakhtina, Donald F. Becker, Gregory J. Bedwell, Ahmet Bekdemir, Tabot M. D. Besong, Catherine Birck, Chad A. Brautigam, William Brennerman, Olwyn Byron, Agnieszka Bzowska, Jonathan B. Chaires, Catherine T. Chaton, Helmut Cölfen, Keith D. Connaghan, Kimberly A. Crowley, Ute Curth, Tina Daviter, William L. Dean, Ana I. Díez, Christine Ebel, Debra M. Eckert, Leslie E. Eisele, Edward Eisenstein, Patrick England, Carlos Escalante, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Robert Fairman, Ron M. Finn, Wolfgang Fischle, José García De La Torre, Jayesh Gor, Henning Gustafsson, Damien Hall, Stephen E. Harding, José G. Hernández Cifre, Andrew B. Herr, Elizabeth E. Howell, Richard S. Isaac, Shu-Chuan Jao, Davis Jose, Soon-Jong Kim, Bashkim Kokona, Jack A. Kornblatt, Dalibor Kosek, Elena Krayukhina, Daniel Krzizike, Eric A. Kusznir, Hyewon Kwon, Adam Larson, Thomas M. Laue, Aline Le Roy, Andrew P. Leech, Hauke Lilie, Karolin Lugar, Juan R. Luque-Ortega, Jia Ma, Carrie A. May, Ernest L. Maynard, Anna Modrak-Wojcik, Yee-Foong Mok, Norbert Mücke, Luitgard Nagel-Steger, Geeta J. Narlikar, Masanori Noda, Amanda Nourse, Tomas Obsil, Chad K. Park, Jin-Ku Park, Peter D. Pawelek, Erby E. Perdue, Stephen J. Perkins, Matthew A. Perugini, Craig L. Peterson, Martin G. Peverelli, Grzegorz Piszczek, Gali Prag, Peter E. Prevelige, Bertrand D. E. Raynal, Lenka Rezabkova, Klaus Richter, Alison E. Ringel, Rose Rosenberg, Arthur J. Rowe, Arne C. Rufer, David J. Scott, Javier G. Seravalli, Alexandra S. Solovyova, Renjie Song, David Staunton, Catlin Stoddard, Katherine Stott, Holger M. Strauss, Werner W. Streicher, John P. Sumida, Sarah G. Swygert, Roman H. Szczepanowski, Ingrid Tessmer, Ronald T. Toth Iv., Ashutosh Tripathy, Susumu Uchiyama, Stephen F. W. Uebel, Satoru Unzai, Anna Vitlin Gruber, Peter H. Von Hippel, Christine Wandrey, Szu-Huan Wang, Steven E. Weitzel, Beata Wielgus-Kutrowska, Cynthia Wolberger, Martin Wolff, Edward Wright, Yu-Sung Wu, Jacinta M. Wubben, Peter Schuck

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) is a first principles based method to determine absolute sedimentation coefficients and buoyant molar masses of macromolecules and their complexes, reporting on their size and shape in free solution. The purpose of this multi-laboratory study was to establish the precision and accuracy of basic data dimensions in AUC and validate previously proposed calibration techniques. Three kits of AUC cell assemblies containing radial and temperature calibration tools and a bovine serum albumin (BSA) reference sample were shared among 67 laboratories, generating 129 comprehensive data sets. These allowed for an assessment of many parameters of instrument performance, including accuracy …

An Opioid-Like System Regulating Feeding Behavior In C. Elegans, Mi Cheong Cheong, Alexander B. Artyukhin, Yong-Jai You, Leon Avery

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

Neuropeptides are essential for the regulation of appetite. Here we show that neuropeptides could regulate feeding in mutants that lack neurotransmission from the motor neurons that stimulate feeding muscles. We identified nlp-24 by an RNAi screen of 115 neuropeptide genes, testing whether they affected growth. NLP-24 peptides have a conserved YGGXX sequence, similar to mammalian opioid neuropeptides. In addition, morphine and naloxone respectively stimulated and inhibited feeding in starved worms, but not in worms lacking NPR-17, which encodes a protein with sequence similarity to opioid receptors. Opioid agonists activated heterologously expressed NPR-17, as did at least one NLP-24 peptide. Worms …

Let's Talk Tobacco: African American Parent-Adolescent Communication About Tobacco Use Within The Context Of Parental Smoking, Michell Pope

Theses and Dissertations

Tobacco use and the associated health risks are a major public health concern. Research suggests that parents’ own tobacco use, caregiver-adolescent antismoking communication, and parenting practices (e.g., prompting, parental monitoring) may work to influence adolescents’ tobacco-related attitudes and behavioral outcomes (e.g., refusal efficacy, intentions to use and actual use). Although historically African American adolescents have exhibited lower rates of tobacco use than their racial/ethnic counterparts, there is growing evidence to suggest that this may be changing because of increased use of tobacco products and/or underreporting of the use of alternative tobacco products or ATPs (e.g., cigars, cigarillos), among this population. …