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My Failure With An Ojibwe Artist: Reflections On Initial Intercultural Relationships, Kevin Slivka

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

In this article, I examine a first meeting with Ojibwe artist, Terry Kemper, during which I failed to initiate our meeting with the gift of tobacco. I explore failure in a relational event with Kemper and discuss the intentions of my ethnographic research, my researcher-identity, and my mistake of initially neglecting Ojibwe protocol during my first meeting with the artist, in addition to the role of tobacco in Ojibwe communities. Through aesthetic inquiry I reframe failure in an installation entitled, "Toward Reconciliation” that has potential pedagogical implications, with hope that it avoids a static and impotent result. I intend the …

The Failure Of Whiteness In Art Education: A Personal Narrative Informed By Critical Race Theory, Sunny Spillane

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

This article explores failure from the perspective of a white art educator interested in social justice and educational equity. Interconnected notions of failure are explored, including: the author’s learning from personal failure as a process of professional growth over the course of her career; the specter of “school failure” and its impact on K-12 students’ educational opportunities and experiences; entrenched, systemic inequities in public schools and their failure to serve marginalized students and communities; and the potential complicity of the author’s individual professional failures – if left unaddressed – in perpetuating racialized inequities in art education. Whiteness, or white power, …

Failure To Be A “Real American”? → Challenging Failure: An Impetus To Shape Scholarship And Teaching, Christina Chin

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

The author reflects on personal experiences, highlighting vignettes of her perceived “failure to be a ‘real American,’” and recounts these stories through her own voice. With the hopes that her journey might inspire, inflame empathic frustrations with an inegalitarian status quo, and remind others of how important it is for us to participate in fighting for justice, she shares her experiences and developing understandings as she has learned to embrace more counterhegemonic scholarship and practices. She describes how her childhood experiences and daily life experiences as an adult have shaped her work as a researcher and teacher of art education. …

Failed Paper: Skirting The Call For And About Failure Through Failure., Jorge R. Lucero

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

No abstract provided.

[2015-05-08] Meeting Of The Academic And Health Affairs Policy Committee, Virginia Commonwealth University. Board Of Visitors

VCU Board of Visitors Minutes

Official minutes of the VCU Board of Visitors and its Executive Committee.

Commonwealth Times 2015-04-20

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2015-04-06

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2015-03-30

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2015-03-23

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Integrating Basic Research With Prevention/Intervention To Reduce Risky Substance Use Among College Students, Danielle M. Dick, Linda C. Hancock

Psychiatry Publications

Too often basic research on etiological processes that contribute to substance use outcomes is disconnected from efforts to develop prevention and intervention programming. Substance use on college campuses is an area of concern where translational efforts that bring together basic scientists and prevention/intervention practitioners have potential for high impact. We describe an effort at a large, public, urban university in the United States to bring together researchers across the campus with expertise in college behavioral health with university administration and health/wellness practitioners to address college student substance use and mental health. The project “Spit for Science” examines how genetic and …

Stress Reactivity To An Electronic Version Of The Trier Social Stress Test: A Pilot Study, Sage E. Hawn, Lisa Paul, Suzanne Thomas, Stephanie Miller, Ananda B. Amstadter

Psychiatry Publications

Social stressors that rely on the inclusion of confederates (i.e., Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) are often used in clinical laboratory research paradigms to elicit a measurable stress response in participants. Although effective, the TSST is labor intensive and may introduce error variance as a function of confederate race, gender, and/or response characteristics. The present study aimed to develop and validate an electronic version of the TSST (e-TSST). The primary aim was to compare the e-TSST to an e-neutral control condition; the exploratory aim was to compare the magnitude of stress response elicited by the e-TSST to that elicited by …

Distmix: Direct Imputation Of Summary Statistics For Unmeasured Snps From Mixed Ethnicity Cohorts, Donghyun Lee, T. Bernard Bigdeli, Vernell S. Williamson, Vladimir I. Vladimirov, Brien P. Riley, Ayman H. Fanous, Silviu-Alin Bacanu

Psychiatry Publications

Motivation: To increase the signal resolution for large-scale meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies, genotypes at unmeasured single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are commonly imputed using large multi-ethnic reference panels. However, the ever increasing size and ethnic diversity of both reference panels and cohorts makes genotype imputation computationally challenging for moderately sized computer clusters. Moreover, genotype imputation requires subject-level genetic data, which unlike summary statistics provided by virtually all studies, is not publicly available. While there are much less demanding methods which avoid the genotype imputation step by directly imputing SNP statistics, e.g. Directly Imputing summary STatistics (DIST) proposed …

Stress Reactivity To An Electronic Version Of The Trier Social Stress Test: A Pilot Study, Sage E. Hawn, Lisa Paul, Suzanne Thomas, Stephanie Miller, Ananda B. Amstadler

Psychiatry Publications

Social stressors that rely on the inclusion of confederates (i.e., Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) are often used in clinical laboratory research paradigms to elicit a measurable stress response in participants. Although effective, the TSST is labor intensive and may introduce error variance as a function of confederate race, gender, and/or response characteristics. The present study aimed to develop and validate an electronic version of the TSST (e-TSST). The primary aim was to compare the e-TSST to an e-neutral control condition; the exploratory aim was to compare the magnitude of stress response elicited by the e-TSST to that elicited by …

Genetic Network Properties Of The Human Cortex Based On Regional Thickness And Surface Area Measures, Anna R. Docherty, Chelsea K. Sawyers, Matthew S. Panizzon, Michael C. Neale, Lisa T. Eyler, Christine Fennema-Notestine, Carol E. Franz, Chi-Hua Chen, Linda K. Mcevoy, Brad Verhulst, Ming T. Tsuang, William S. Kremen

Psychiatry Publications

We examined network properties of genetic covariance between average cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA) within genetically-identified cortical parcellations that we previously derived from human cortical genetic maps using vertex-wise fuzzy clustering analysis with high spatial resolution. There were 24 hierarchical parcellations based on vertex-wise CT and 24 based on vertex-wise SA expansion/contraction; in both cases the 12 parcellations per hemisphere were largely symmetrical. We utilized three techniques—biometrical genetic modeling, cluster analysis, and graph theory—to examine genetic relationships and network properties within and between the 48 parcellation measures. Biometrical modeling indicated significant shared genetic covariance between size of several …

Skin-Like Electronics For A Persistent Brain-Computer Interface, Woon-Hong Yeo, Yongkuk Lee

Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Publications

There exists a high demand for a continuous, persistent recording of non-invasive electroencephalograms in both clinical and research fields. Head-cap electrodes with metal conductors and conductive gels are widely used and considered as the gold standard for such measurement. This physical interface, however, is poorly suited to uninterrupted, long-term use due to the uncomfortable rigid electrodes, skin irritation due to the gel, and electrical degradation as the gel dries. These issues can be addressed by using a newly developed, dry form of electronics. Here, we briefly review a class of soft electronic technology in the aspects of mechanics, materials, and …

Metabolic Interplay Between Astrocytes And Neurons Regulates Endocannabinoid Action, Andreu Viader, Jacqueline L. Blankman, Peng Zhong, Xiaojie Liu, Joel E. Scholsburg, Christopher M. Joslyn, Qing-Song Liu, Aaron J. Tomarchio, Aron H. Lichtman, Dana E. Selley, Laura J. Sim-Selley, Benjamin F. Cravatt

Pharmacology and Toxicology Publications

The endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) is a retrograde lipid messenger that modulates synaptic function, neurophysiology, and behavior. 2-AG signaling is terminated by enzymatic hydrolysis—a reaction that is principally performed by monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). MAGL is broadly expressed throughout the nervous system, and the contributions of different brain cell types to the regulation of 2-AG activityin vivo remain poorly understood. Here, we genetically dissect the cellular anatomy of MAGL-mediated 2-AG metabolism in the brain and show that neurons and astrocytescoordinately regulate 2-AG content and endocannabinoid-dependent forms of synaptic plasticity and behavior. We also find that astrocytic MAGL is mainly responsible …

Differing Roles Of Autophagy In Hiv-Associated Neurocognitive Impairment And Encephalitis With Implications For Morphine Co-Exposure, Seth M. Dever, Myosotys Rodriguez, Jessica Lapierre, Blair N. Costin, Nazira El-Hage

Pharmacology and Toxicology Publications

We investigated the role of autophagy in HIV-infected subjects with neurocognitive impairment (NCI) ± HIV encephalitis (HIVE), many of which had a history of polysubstance abuse/dependence, using post-mortem brain tissues to determine whether differences in autophagy related factors may be more associated with NCI or NCI-encephalitis. Using qRT-PCR, we detected significant differences in gene expression levels with SQSTM1, LAMP1 higher in HIV-infected subjects without NCI while ATG5, SQSTM1 were then lower in HIV infection/NCI and ATG7, SQSTM1 being higher in NCI-HIVE. Immunohistochemical labeling of these autophagy associated proteins (also including Beclin 1 and LC3B) in Iba1-positive microglial cells showed generally …

Anticancer Activity Of A Thymidine Quinoxaline Conjugate Is Modulated By Cytosolic Thymidine Pathways, Qiong Wei, Haijuan Liu, Honghao Zhou, Dejun Zhang, Zhiwei Zhang, Qibing Zhou

Medicinal Chemistry Publications

Background

High levels of thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) and thymidine phosphorylase (TYMP) are key molecular targets by thymidine therapeutics in cancer treatment. The dual roles of TYMP as a tumor growth factor and a key activation enzyme of anticancer metabolites resulted in a mixed outcome in cancer patients. In this study, we investigated the roles of TK1 and TYMP on a thymidine quinoxaline conjugate to evaluate an alternative to circumvent the contradictive role of TYMP.

Methods

TK1 and TYMP levels in multiple liver cell lines were assessed along with the cytotoxicity of the thymidine conjugate. Cellular accumulation of the thymidine …

6-Hydroxyflavone And Derivatives Exhibit Potent Anti-Inflammatory Activity Among Mono-, Di- And Polyhydroxylated Flavones In Kidney Mesangial Cells, Xing Wang, Zhiwei Wang, Preetpal Singh Sidhu, Umesh R. Desai, Qibing Zhou

Medicinal Chemistry Publications

Inflammatory responses by kidney mesangial cells play a critical role in the glomerulonephritis. The anti-inflammatory potential of nineteen mono-, di- and polyhydroxylated flavones including fisetin, quercetin, morin, tricetin, gossypetin, apigenin and myricetin were investigated on rat mesangial cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as the inflammatory stimuli. 6-Hydroxyflavone and 4′,6-dihydroxyflavone exhibited high activity with IC50 in the range of 2.0 μM, a much better inhibition potential in comparison to the well-studied polyhydroxylated flavones. Interestingly, the anti-inflammatory activity was not due to direct quenching of NO radicals. Investigation on derivatives with methylation, acetylation or sulfation of 6-hydroxyl group revealed that 6-methoxyflavone was the …

Grunt Variation In The Oyster Toadfish Opsanus Tau: Effect Of Size And Sex, Michael L. Fine, Tyler D. Waybright

Biology Publications

As in insects, frogs and birds, vocal activity in fishes tends to be more developed in males than in females, and sonic swimbladder muscles may be sexually dimorphic, i.e., either larger in males or present only in males. Male oyster toadfish Opsanus tau L produce a long duration, tonal boatwhistle advertisement call, and both sexes grunt, a short duration more pulsatile agonistic call. Sonic muscles are present in both sexes but larger in males. We tested the hypothesis that males would call more than females by inducing grunts in toadfish of various sizes held in a net and determined incidence …

Consequences Of Life History Switch Point Plasticity For Juvenile Morphology And Locomotion In The Túngara Frog, Julie Charbonnier, James R. Vonesh

Biology Publications

Many animals with complex life cycles can cope with environmental uncertainty by altering the timing of life history switch points through plasticity. Pond hydroperiod has important consequences for the fitness of aquatic organisms and many taxa alter the timing of life history switch points in response to habitat desiccation. For example, larval amphibians can metamorphose early to escape drying ponds. Such plasticity may induce variation in size and morphology of juveniles which can result in carry-over effects on jumping performance. To investigate the carry-over effects of metamorphic plasticity to pond drying, we studied the Túngara frog, Physalaemus pustulosus, a …

Identification Of Eastern United States Reticulitermes Termite Species Via Pcr-Rflp, Assessed Using Training And Test Data, Ryan C. Garrick, Benjamin D. Collins, Rachel N. Yi, Rodney J. Dyer, Chaz Hyseni

Biology Publications

Reticulitermes termites play key roles in dead wood decomposition and nutrient cycling in forests. They also damage man-made structures, resulting in considerable economic loss. In the eastern United States, five species (R. flavipes, R. virginicus, R. nelsonae, R. hageni and R. malletei) have overlapping ranges and are difficult to distinguish morphologically. Here we present a molecular tool for species identification. It is based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a section of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene, followed by a three-enzyme restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay, with banding patterns resolved via agarose gel electrophoresis. The assay …

Hispanic Subgroups, Acculturation, And Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes, Karen G. Chartier, Tom Carmody, Maleeha Akhtar, Mary B. Stebbins, Scott T. Walters, Diane Warden

Social Work Publications

This study explored Hispanic subgroup differences in substance use treatment outcomes, and the relationship of acculturation characteristics to these outcomes. Data were from a multisite randomized clinical trial of motivational enhancement therapy versus treatment as usual in a sample of Spanish-speaking substance abusers. Participants were Cuban American (n = 34), Mexican American (n = 209), Puerto Rican (n = 78), and other Hispanic American (n = 54). Results suggested that Cuban Americans and individuals with more connection to Hispanic culture had lower treatment retention. Hispanics born in the U.S and those who spoke English at home …

Comorbidities And Race/Ethnicity Among Adults With Stimulant Use Disorders In Residential Treatment, Katherine Sanchez, Karen G. Chartier, Tracy L. Greer, Robrina Walker, Thomas Carmody, Chad D. Rethorst

Social Work Publications

Comorbid physical and mental health problems are associated with poorer substance abuse treatment outcomes; however, little is known about these conditions among stimulant abusers at treatment entry. This study compared racial and ethnic groups on baseline measures of drug use patterns, comorbid physical and mental health disorders, quality of life, and daily functioning among cocaine and stimulant abusing/dependent patients. Baseline data from a multi-site randomized clinical trial of vigorous exercise as a treatment strategy for a diverse population of stimulant abusers (N = 290) were analyzed. Significant differences between groups were found on drug use characteristics, stimulant use disorders, …

Principal Component Analysis And Optimization: A Tutorial, Robert Reris, J. Paul Brooks

Statistical Sciences and Operations Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Protein Complexes In Bacteria, J. Harry Caufield, Marco Abreu, Christopher Wimble, Peter Uetz

Study of Biological Complexity Publications

Large-scale analyses of protein complexes have recently become available for Escherichia coli and Mycoplasma pneumoniae, yielding 443 and 116 heteromultimeric soluble protein complexes, respectively. We have coupled the results of these mass spectrometrycharacterized protein complexes with the 285 “gold standard” protein complexes identified by EcoCyc. A comparison with databases of gene orthology, conservation, and essentiality identified proteins conserved or lost in complexes of other species. For instance, of 285 “gold standard” protein complexes in E. coli, less than 10% are fully conserved among a set of 7 distantly-related bacterial “model” species. Complex conservation follows one of three models: well-conserved complexes, …

Pectoral Sound Generation In The Blue Catfish Ictalurus Furcatus, Yasha Mohajer, Zachary Ghahramani, Michael L. Fine

Forensic Science Publications

Catfishes produce pectoral stridulatory sounds by “jerk” movements that rub ridges on the dorsal process against the cleithrum. We recorded sound synchronized with high-speed video to investigate the hypothesis that blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus produce sounds by a slip–stick mechanism, previously described only in invertebrates. Blue catfish produce a variably paced series of sound pulses during abduction sweeps (pulsers) although some individuals (sliders) form longer duration sound units (slides) interspersed with pulses. Typical pulser sounds are evoked by short 1–2 ms movements with a rotation of 2°–3°. Jerks excite sounds that increase in amplitude after motion stops, suggesting constructive interference, …

Proteomics: In Pursuit Of Effective Traumatic Brain Injury Therapeutics, Pavel N. Lizhnyak, Andrew K. Ottens

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Effective traumatic brain injury (TBI) therapeutics remain stubbornly elusive. Efforts in the field have been challenged by the heterogeneity of clinical TBI, with greater complexity among underlying molecular phenotypes than initially conceived. Future research must confront the multitude of factors comprising this heterogeneity, representing a big data challenge befitting the coming informatics age. Proteomics is poised to serve a central role in prescriptive therapeutic development, as it offers an efficient endpoint within which to assess post-TBI biochemistry. We examine rationale for multifactor TBI proteomic studies and the particular importance of temporal profiling in defining biochemical sequences and guiding therapeutic development. …

Identification Of Small-Molecule Inhibitors Against Meso-2, 6-Diaminopimelate Dehydrogenase From Porphyromonas Gingivalis, Victoria N. Stone, Hardik I. Parikh, Fadi El-Rami, Xiuchun Ge, Weihau Chen, Yan Zhang, Glen E. Kellogg, Ping Xu

Philips Institute for Oral Health Research Publications

Species-specific antimicrobial therapy has the potential to combat the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance and alteration of the human microbiome. We therefore set out to demonstrate the beginning of a pathogen-selective drug discovery method using the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis as a model. Through our knowledge of metabolic networks and essential genes we identified a “druggable” essential target, meso-diaminopimelate dehydrogenase, which is found in a limited number of species. We adopted a high-throughput virtual screen method on the ZINC chemical library to select a group of potential small-molecule inhibitors. Meso-diaminopimelate dehydrogenase from P. gingivaliswas first expressed …

Lysophosphatidic Acid Up-Regulates Hexokinase Ii And Glycolysis To Promote Proliferation Of Ovarian Cancer Cells, Abir Mukherjee, Yibao Ma, Fang Yuan, Yongling Gong, Zhenyu Fang, Esraa M. Mohamed, Erika Berrios, Huanjie Shao, Xianjun Fang

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a blood-borne lipid mediator, is present in elevated concentrations in ascites of ovarian cancer patients and other malignant effusions. LPA is a potent mitogen in cancer cells. The mechanism linking LPA signal to cancer cell proliferation is not well understood. Little is known about whether LPA affects glucose metabolism to accommodate rapid proliferation of cancer cells. Here we describe that in ovarian cancer cells, LPA enhances glycolytic rate and lactate efflux. A real time PCR-based miniarray showed that hexokinase II (HK2) was the most dramatically induced glycolytic gene to promote glycolysis in LPA-treated cells. Analysis of the …