Digital Commons Network^™

Digital Video: Engaging Students In Critical Media Literacy And Community Activism, Jessie Daniels

Publications and Research

This article presents a strategy for teaching health communication that fosters critical media literacy through the strategic combination of digital video, documentary film, video worksheets, and peer-reviewed journal articles. Given the media-saturated environment in which notions of health are shaped, critical media literacy skills are crucial to students in health-related fields. Cases of key concepts illustrated through documentary films and the peer-reviewed literature are presented. The article then explores how one class took the lead in designing a community event that critically engaged both a YouTube video and a documentary film about police brutality as a public health issue.

The Social Life Of Musical Instruments, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

Accordion Crimes, a novel by E. Annie Proulx, traces the life of and routes travelled by a green diatonic button accordion: its birth in Sicily in the workshop of “The Accordion Maker,” its numerous changes of ownership in the Americas during encounters between various immigrant communities, and its death when it finally falls into disrepair in the town of Old Glory, Minnesota. There are other accordions in the book, and many temporary human owners, but it is one particular green accordion that is the book’s protagonist. We meet and experience other characters largely through their interactions with the green accordion, …

Biosensors For Brain Trauma And Dual Laser Doppler Flowmetry: Enoxaparin Simultaneously Reduces Stroke-Induced Dopamine And Blood Flow While Enhancing Serotonin And Blood Flow In Motor Neurons Of Brain, In Vivo, Patricia A. Broderick, Edwin H. Kolodny

Publications and Research

Neuromolecular Imaging (NMI) based on adsorptive electrochemistry, combined with Dual Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF) is presented herein to investigate the brain neurochemistry affected by enoxaparin (Lovenox®), an antiplatelet/antithrombotic medication for stroke victims. NMI with miniature biosensors enables neurotransmitter and neuropeptide (NT) imaging; each NT is imaged with a response time in milliseconds. A semiderivative electronic reduction circuit images several NT’s selectively and separately within a response time of minutes. Spatial resolution of NMI biosensors is in the range of nanomicrons and electrochemically-induced current ranges are in pico- and nano-amperes. Simultaneously with NMI, the LDF technology presented herein operates on line …

Sexuality, Rights And Personhood: Tensions In A Transnational World, Dina M. Siddiqi

Publications and Research

Background This article discusses what happens when normative ‘global’ discourses of rights and individuated sexual identity confront the messiness of ‘local’ realities. It considers the tensions that emerge when the relationship between sexual and social identities is not obvious and the implications of such tensions for public health and sexual rights activism. These questions are addressed through debates over the naming of male-to-male sexualities and desires in the context of globalization and the growth of a large NGO (non-governmental organization) sector in urban Bangladesh. Methods The material in the paper draws on a research project undertaken in 2008-9 in Dhaka, …

Attention And Olfactory Consciousness, Andreas Keller

Publications and Research

Understanding the relation between attention and consciousness is an important part of our understanding of consciousness. Attention, unlike consciousness, can be systematically manipulated in psychophysical experiments and a law-like relation between attention and consciousness is waiting to be discovered. Most attempts to discover the nature of this relation are focused on a special type of attention: spatial visual attention. In this review I want to introduce another type of attention to the discussion: attention to the olfactory modality. I will first clarify the position of attention to smells in a general taxonomy of attention. I will then review the mechanisms …

Comparison And Correlates Of Three Preference-Based Healthrelated Quality-Of-Life Measures Among Overweight And Obese Women With Urinary Incontinence, Angela Marinilli Pinto, Miriam Kupperman, Sanae Nakagawa, Eric Vittinghoff, Rena R. Wing, John W. Kusek, William H. Herman, Leslee L. Subak

Publications and Research

PURPOSE: To compare three preference-based health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) measures and examine independent correlates of HRQL among overweight and obese women with urinary incontinence (UI) enrolled in a weight loss intervention trial.

METHODS: Participants completed baseline questionnaires, which included the Health Utilities Index 3 (HUI3) and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). The SF-36 was used to derive SF-6D and estimated Quality of Well-Being (eQWB) scores. Height, weight, medical history, incontinence measures, and level of physical activity also were assessed. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was computed, and differences in mean scores across HRQL measures were examined. Potential correlates of HUI3, …

Multiple Sclerosis Is Not A Disease Of The Immune System, Angelique Corthals

Publications and Research

Multiple sclerosis is a complex neurodegenerative disease, thought to arise through autoimmunity against antigens of the central nervous system. The autoimmunity hypothesis fails to explain why genetic and environmental risk factors linked to the disease in one population tend to be unimportant in other populations. Despite great advances in documenting the cell and molecular mechanisms underlying MS pathophysiology, the autoimmunity framework has also been unable to develop a comprehensive explanation of the etiology of the disease. I propose a new framework for understanding MS as a dysfunction of the metabolism of lipids. Specifically, the homeostasis of lipid metabolism collapses during …

Impaired Structural Connectivity Of Socio-Emotional Circuits In Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study, Stephanie H. Ameis, Jin Fan, Conrad Rockel, Aristotle N. Voineskos, Nancy J. Lobaugh, Latha Soorya, A. Ting Wang, Eric Hollander, Evdokia Anagnostou

Publications and Research

Background Abnormal white matter development may disrupt integration within neural circuits, causing particular impairments in higher-order behaviours. In autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), white matter alterations may contribute to characteristic deficits in complex socio-emotional and communication domains. Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract based spatial statistics (TBSS) to evaluate white matter microstructure in ASD. Methods/Principal Findings DTI scans were acquired for 19 children and adolescents with ASD (∼8–18 years; mean 12.4±3.1) and 16 age and IQ matched controls (∼8–18 years; mean 12.3±3.6) on a 3T MRI system. DTI values for fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity and axial …

Relational Memory: A Daytime Nap Facilitates The Abstraction Of General Concepts, Hiuyan Lau, Sara E. Alger, William Fishbein

Publications and Research

It is increasingly evident that sleep strengthens memory. However, it is not clear whether sleep promotes relational memory, resultant of the integration of disparate memory traces into memory networks linked by commonalities. The present study investigates the effect of a daytime nap, immediately after learning or after a delay, on a relational memory task that requires abstraction of general concept from separately learned items. Specifically, participants learned English meanings of Chinese characters with overlapping semantic components called radicals. They were later tested on new characters sharing the same radicals and on explicitly stating the general concepts represented by the radicals. …

Potential Unique Causes Of Burnout For Chiropractic Professionals, Shawn Williams

Publications and Research

Objective The objective of this narrative review is to discuss the potential for burnout in chiropractic practitioners. This discussion is grounded in the job demands-resource model, the conservation of resources model, the unique profession-specific stressors experienced by chiropractors, and information from similar health care professions. Methods A search using both the indexed (PubMed and PsychLit) and nonindexed psychosocial literature was used. Other resources included the Cochrane Library, articles from governing bodies of the chiropractic profession, trade magazines, and research conferences and symposium proceedings. Articles were analyzed following the grounded theory principles: open coding and memos for conceptual labeling, axial coding …

Developing A Community-Based Genetic Nomenclature For Anole Lizards, Kenro Kusumi, Rob J. Kulathinal, Arhat Abzhanov, Stéphane Boissinot, Nicholas G. Crawford, Brant C. Faircloth, Travis C. Glenn, Daniel E. Janes, Jonathan B. Losos, Douglas B. Menke, Steven Poe, Thomas J. Sanger, Christopher J. Schneider, Jessica Stapley, Juli Wade, Jeanne Wilson-Rawls

Publications and Research

Background Comparative studies of amniotes have been hindered by a dearth of reptilian molecular sequences. With the genomic assembly of the green anole, Anolis carolinensis available, non-avian reptilian genes can now be compared to mammalian, avian, and amphibian homologs. Furthermore, with more than 350 extant species in the genus Anolis, anoles are an unparalleled example of tetrapod genetic diversity and divergence. As an important ecological, genetic and now genomic reference, it is imperative to develop a standardized Anolis gene nomenclature alongside associated vocabularies and other useful metrics. Results Here we report the formation of the Anolis Gene Nomenclature Committee (AGNC) …

Sexual And Injection-Related Risks In Puerto Rican-Born Injection Drug Users Living In New York City: A Mixed-Methods Analysis, Camila Gelpí-Acosta, Holly Hagan, Samuel M. Jenness, Travis Wendel, Alan Neaigus

Publications and Research

Background These data were collected as part of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) study. NHBS is a cross-sectional study to investigate HIV behavioral risks among core risk groups in 21 U.S. cities with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence. This analysis examines data from the NHBS data collection cycle with IDU conducted in New York City in 2009. We explored how the recency of migration from Puerto Rico (PR) to New York City (NYC) impacts both syringe sharing and unprotected sex among injection drug users (IDU) currently living in NYC. Methods We used a mixed-methods approach to examine differences in risk …

Irrelevant Features Of A Stimulus Can Either Facilitate Or Disrupt Performance In A Working Memory Task: The Role Of Fluid Intelligence, Bernardo Perfetti, Marcello Tesse, Sara Varanese, Aristide Saggino, Marco Onofrj

Publications and Research

It has been shown that fluid intelligence (gf) is fundamental to overcome interference due to information of a previously encoded item along a task-relevant domain. However, the biasing effect of task-irrelevant dimensions is still unclear as well as its relation with gf. The present study aimed at clarifying these issues. Gf was assessed in 60 healthy subjects. In a different session, the same subjects performed two versions (letter-detection and spatial) of a three-back working memory task with a set of physically identical stimuli (letters) presented at different locations on the screen. In the letter-detection task, volunteers were asked to match …

Censuring The Praise Of Alienation: Interstices Of Ante-Alienation In Things Fall Apart, No Longer At Ease, And Arrow Of God, Kevin Frank

Publications and Research

Interrogating Abiola Irele’s largely unchallenged praise of alienation, this essay is bold and insightful in returning to Chinua Achebe’s African trilogy to examine the subtler, equally dangerous agent of externality: ante-alienation, or social alienation within traditional African culture, which precedes race-based, colonial alienation. This ante-alienation challenges Négritude’s paradisiacal view of Africa and raises questions about Africans always being happiest with themselves within their traditional culture.

Age-Related Differences In Idiom Production In Adulthood, Peggy S. Conner, Jungmoon Hyun, Barbara O'Connor-Wells, Inge Anema, Mira Goral, Marie-Michelle Monereau-Merry, Daniel Rubino, Raija Kuckuk, Loraine Obler

Publications and Research

To investigate whether idiom production was vulnerable to age-related difficulties, we asked 40 younger (ages 18–30) and 40 older healthy adults (ages 60–85) to produce idiomatic expressions in a story-completion task. Younger adults produced significantly more correct idiom responses (73%) than did older adults (60%). When older adults generated partially correct responses, they were less likely than younger participants to eventually produce the complete target idiom (old: 32%; young: 70%); first-word cues after initial failure to retrieve an idiom resulted in more correct idioms for older (24%) than younger (15%) participants. Correlations between age and idiom correctness were positive for …

Using The Open Systems Perspective To Understand Critical Incidents, Denise D. P. Thompson

Publications and Research

At the end of its Fall 2010 conference, the Academy for Critical Incident Analysis (ACIA) called for the development of frameworks that would aid in the study and analysis of critical incidents. This paper responds to that call. The paper answers the question, “is it possible to construct a framework that is generic enough to encapsulate the essential components observed in all critical incidents?” The paper utilizes the open systems perspective to develop a conceptual framework to help us delineate and understand critical incidents and how they evolve. The paper presents examples to substantiate arguments made about the framework. The …

The September 11 Digital Archive, Stephen Brier, Joshua Brown

Publications and Research

This article focuses on the creation and subsequent development of the September 11 Digital Archive (www.911digitalarchive.org), currently one of the largest digital repositories of historical materials on the September 11 attacks. The article reflects on archival and methodological questions and on issues raised by the efforts of staff members at the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University and at the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning (ASHP) at the City University of New York Graduate Center to preserve and present via the Internet digital resources related to the epochal events of …

Temporal Sensitivity Changes With Extended Training In A Bisection Task In A Transgenic Rat Model, Bruce L. Brown, Sophie Hohn, Alexis Faure, Stephan Von Horsten, Pascale Le Blanc, Nathalie Desvignes, Nicole El Massioui, Valerie Doyere

Publications and Research

The present study investigated temporal perception in a Huntington disease transgenic rat model using a temporal bisection procedure. After initial discrimination training in which animals learned to press one lever after a 2-s tone duration, and the other lever after a 8-s tone duration for food reward, the bisection procedure was implemented in which intermediate durations with no available reinforcement were interspersed with trials with the anchor durations. Bisection tests were repeated in a longitudinal design from 4 to 8 months of age.The results showed that response latencies evolved from a monotonic step-function to an inverted U-shaped function with repeated …

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure Increases Synaptic Localization Of A Neuronal Rasgef, Grasp-1 Via Hyperphosphorylation Of Ampar Anchoring Protein, Grip, Kalindi Bakshi, Mary Kosciuk, Robert G. Nagele, Eitan Friedman, Hoau-Yan Wang

Publications and Research

Prenatal cocaine exposure causes sustained phosphorylation of the synaptic anchoring protein, glutamate receptor interacting protein (GRIP1/2), preventing synaptic targeting of the GluR2/3-containing alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4- isoxazolepropionic acid-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs; J. Neurosci. 29: 6308–6319, 2009). Because overexpression of GRIP-associated neuronal rasGEF protein (GRASP-1) specifically reduces the synaptic targeting of AMPARs, we hypothesized that prenatal cocaine exposure enhances GRASP-1 synaptic membrane localization leading to hyper-activation of ras family proteins and heightened actin polymerization. Our results show a markedly increased GRIP1-associated GRASP-1 content with approximately 40% reduction in its rasGEF activity in frontal cortices (FCX) of 21-day-old (P21) prenatal cocaineexposed rats. This cocaine effect …

Reducing Psychosocial And Behavioral Pregnancy Risk Factors: Results Of A Randomized Clinical Trial Among High-Risk Pregnant African American Women, Jill G. Joseph, Ayman El-Mohandes, Michele Kiely, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, Marie G. Gantz, Allan A. Johnson, Kathy S. Katz, Susan M. Blake, Maryann W. Rossi, Siva Subramanian

Publications and Research

Objectives. We evaluated the efficacy of a primary care intervention targeting pregnant African American women and focusing on psychosocial and behavioral risk factors for poor reproductive outcomes (cigarette smoking, secondhand smoke exposure, depression, and intimate partner violence).

Methods. Pregnant African American women (N=1044) were randomized to an intervention or usual care group. Clinic-based, individually tailored counseling sessions were adapted from evidence-based interventions. Follow-up data were obtained for 850 women. Multiple imputation methodology was used to estimate missing data. Outcome measures were number of risks at baseline, first follow-up, and second follow-up and within-person changes in risk from baseline to the …

Relationships Between Self-Reported Smoking, Household Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure And Depressive Symptoms In A Pregnant Minority Population, Sylvia Tan, Lauren P. Courtney, Ayman El-Mohandes, Susan M. Blake, Marie G. Gantz, Jutta Thornberry, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, David Perry, Michele Kiely

Publications and Research

This study sought to examine relationships between depressive symptoms and prenatal smoking and/or household environmental tobacco smoke exposure (HHETSE) among urban minority women. We analyzed private, audio computer-assisted self interview data from a clinic-based sample of 929 minority pregnant women in Washington, DC. Depressive symptoms were assessed via the Beck Depression Inventory Fast Screen. HH-ETSE, current smoking, and former smoking were assessed via self-report. Depression levels and demographic characteristics were compared: (1) among nonsmokers, for those reporting HH-ETSE versus no HH-ETSE; and (2) among smokers, for those reporting current smoking (in last 7 days) versus former smokers. Measures associated with …

In The Name Of Citizenship: The Writing Classroom And The Promise Of Citizenship, Amy J. Wan

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Age-Related Deficits In Spatial Memory And Hippocampal Spines In Virgin, Female Fischer 344 Rats, Victoria N. Luine, Maureen E. Wallace, Maya Frankfurt

Publications and Research

Effects of aging on memory and brain morphology were examined in aged, 21-month-old, and young, 4-month-old, Fischer 344 female rats. Spatial memory was assessed using the object placement task, and dendritic spine density was determined on pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus following Golgi impregnation. Consistent with previous studies, aged females showed poorer object placement performance than young subjects. Young subjects significantly discriminated the location of objects with a 1.5-hour intertrial delay while aged subjects did not. Spine density of basal dendrites on CA1 pyramidal cells was 16% lower in the aged subjects as compared to the young subjects. No differences …

Insightful Problem Solving In An Asian Elephant, Preston Foerder, Marie Galloway, Tony Barthel, Donald E. Moore Iii, Diana Reiss

Publications and Research

The ‘‘aha’’ moment or the sudden arrival of the solution to a problem is a common human experience. Spontaneous problem solving without evident trial and error behavior in humans and other animals has been referred to as insight. Surprisingly, elephants, thought to be highly intelligent, have failed to exhibit insightful problem solving in previous cognitive studies. We tested whether three Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) would use sticks or other objects to obtain food items placed out-of-reach and overhead. Without prior trial and error behavior, a 7-year-old male Asian elephant showed spontaneous problem solving by moving a large plastic cube, on …

The Genome Of The Green Anole Lizard And A Comparative Analysis With Birds And Mammals, Jessica Alföldi, Federica Di Palma, Manfred Grabherr, Christina Williams, Lesheng Kong, Evan Mauceli, Pamela Russell, Craig B. Lowe, Richard Glor, Jacob D. Jaffe, David A. Ray, Stéphane Boissinot, Andrew M. Shedlock, Christopher Botka, Todd A. Castoe, John K. Colbourne, Matthew K. Fujita, Ricardo Godinez Moreno, Boudewijn F. Ten Hallers, David Haussler, Peter Novick

Publications and Research

The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments1. Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for mammals2 and birds3–5, but not for non-avian reptiles. Here we report the genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. We find that A. carolinensis microchromosomes are highly syntenic with chicken microchromosomes, yet do not exhibit the high GC and low repeat content that are characteristic of avian microchromosomes3. Also, A. carolinensis mobile elements are very …

Bone Morphogenetic Protein Inhibition Promotes Neurological Recovery After Intraventricular Hemorrhage, Krishna Dummula, Govindaiah Vinukonda, Philip Chu, Yiping Xing, Furong Hu, Sabrina Mailk, Anna Csiszar, Caroline Chua, Peter Mouton, Robert J. Kayton, Joshua C. Brumberg, Rashmi Bansal, Praveen Ballabh

Publications and Research

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) results in neural cell death and white matter injury in premature infants. No therapeutic strategy is currently available against this disorder. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling suppresses oligodendrocyte development through basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors and promotes astrocytosis. Therefore, we hypothesized that IVH in premature newborns initiates degeneration and maturation arrest of oligodendrocyte lineage and that BMP inhibition alleviates hypomyelination, gliosis, and motor impairment in the survivors of IVH. To test the hypotheses, a rabbit model of IVH was used in which premature rabbit pups (E29) are treated with intraperitoneal glycerol at 2 hours of age to induce …

Effectiveness Of A Combined Home Visiting And Group Intervention For Low Income African American Mothers: The Pride In Parenting Program, Kathy S. Katz, Marian H. Jarrett, Ayman El-Mohandes, Susan Schneider, Doris Mcneely-Johnson, Michele Kiely

Publications and Research

Intervention strategies are needed to improve maternal and infant outcomes in minority populations living in poverty. Home visiting by nurses has improved outcomes for mothers and young children, but use of professional staff makes these programs expensive. Pride in Parenting was a randomized controlled trial of paraprofessional home visitation to provide health and developmental intervention for high-risk African American mothers in Washington, DC. This study proposed to test whether paraprofessional visitors drawn from the community could effectively influence health and mothers; parenting behaviors and attitudes. African American mothers with inadequate prenatal care were recruited at delivery and randomized to intervention …

Fathers' Time Investments In Children: Do Sons Get More?, Kristin Mammen

Publications and Research

Evidence suggests that, from birth, fathers treat sons differently than daughters in the U.S., as well as in developing countries. Fathers' time investments in children are one channel through which differential treatment by gender may affect children's outcomes. This paper uses data from the 2003 American Time Use Survey to explore three questions about paternal time in married two-parent families: Does the gender composition of his children affect the amount of time a father spends with them? If so, does the gender of the individual child have an additional effect? And is a girl advantaged or disadvantaged by the presence …

Weight-Related Behavior Among Adolescents: The Role Of Peer Effects, Mir M. Ali, Aliaksandr Amialchuk, Frank W. Heiland

Publications and Research

Purpose To investigate whether social interactions in friendship networks influence the following weight-related behaviors of adolescents: exercising regularly, playing an active sport, hours of TV/Video viewing, sleeping six or fewer hours, eating breakfast on weekdays, frequency of eating at fast food restaurants, eating five servings of fruits/vegetables daily, and consuming calorie-dense snacks.

Method Data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents are used to examine the association between peer and individual weight-related behaviors. Evidence from multivariate regression analysis controlling for an extensive list of individual- and family-level factors as well as school-level unobserved heterogeneity is obtained. Results We find a …

“What” And “Where” In Auditory Sensory Processing: A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study Of Distinct Neural Processes Underlying Sound Object Recognition And Sound Localization, Victoria M. Leavitt, Sophie Molholm, Manuel Gomez-Ramirez, John J. Foxe

Publications and Research

Functionally distinct dorsal and ventral auditory pathways for sound localization (WHERE) and sound object recognition (WHAT) have been described in non-human primates. A handful of studies have explored differential processing within these streams in humans, with highly inconsistent findings. Stimuli employed have included simple tones, noise bursts, and speech sounds, with simulated left–right spatial manipulations, and in some cases participants were not required to actively discriminate the stimuli. Our contention is that these paradigms were not well suited to dissociating processing within the two streams. Our aim here was to determine how early in processing we …