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Faith-Based Emergency Powers, Noa Ben-Asher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores an expanding phenomenon that it calls Faith-Based Emergency Powers. In the twenty-first century, conservatives have come to rely heavily on Faith-Based Emergency Powers as a legal strategy in the culture wars. This typically involves carving faith-based exceptions to rights of women and LGBT people. The novel concept of Faith-Based Emergency Powers is developed in this Article through an analogy to “traditional” emergency powers. In the war-on-terror, conservatives have argued that judges, legislators and the public must defer to the President and the executive branch in matters involving national security. As scholars have shown, this position has three …

Depression, Thanu Abraham

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders in the United States. Anyone can be diagnosed with depression at any point in life. The objective of this paper is to explore depression within special populations. This paper will be sectioned into five different chapters. Chapter I will discuss what depression is. Chapter II will examine depression in adolescents. Chapter III will explore postpartum depression. Chapter IV will discuss geriatric depression. Chapter V will explore the relationship between depression and cardiovascular disease. Each section will contain extensive research within its topic. Although depression drastically impacts one's life, only half …

Synergy Of Bcl2 And Histone Deacetylase Inhibition Against Leukemic Cells From Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma Patients, Benoit Cyrenne

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

The presence and degree of peripheral blood involvement in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) portend a worse clinical outcome. Available systemic therapies for CTCL may variably decrease tumor burden and improve quality of life, but offer limited effects on survival; thus, novel approaches to the treatment of advanced stages of this non-Hodgkin lymphoma are clearly warranted. Mutational analyses of CTCL patient peripheral blood malignant cell samples suggested the anti-apoptotic mediator BCL2 as a potential therapeutic target. To test this, we developed a screening assay for evaluating the sensitivity of CTCL cells to targeted molecular agents, and compared a novel …

A Novel Staining Method For Detecting Bloodborne Bacteria After Their Dielectrophoretic Isolation, John Gaudet

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Current methods to diagnose bacteremia typically require 18 to 36 hours to detect positive samples and five days to identify negative ones. This delay stems in part from the incubation time necessary for bacteria to multiply and achieve detectable concentrations. In recent years, microfluidic chips have been developed that isolate and concentrate bacteria from the blood on a time scale of minutes to hours (1). This research seeks to stain and visualize these bacteria after their microfluidic processing thereby significantly shortening the time required to diagnose bacteremia.

The traditional Gram stain is not sufficiently sensitive to detect bacteria in this …

Implementation Of New Definitions Of Labor Arrest Disorders And Failed Induction Can Decrease The Cesarean Rate, Jessica Tanzer Wright Greenberg

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Cesarean delivery for labor arrest currently makes up the largest proportion of

primary cesarean delivery in the United States. Because cesarean delivery is associated

with significant morbidity, it is important to limit its use to ensure the benefits outweigh

the risks. New diagnostic criteria to limit the diagnosis of labor arrest have the potential

to decrease the cesarean delivery rate. To investigate how cesarean delivery for arrest of

dilation or descent and failed induction contributed to the primary cesarean delivery rate,

we analyzed rates of primary cesarean for these indications among 17,864 live births at

our institution from 2010 through …

Arterial And Venous Impacts Of Transdermally Administered Vasodilators On The Local Microvasculature, George Guo

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Microcirculatory function is an important component of cardiovascular pharmacology as related to cardiovascular dysfunction. We used photoplethysmography (PPG) to compare the microcirculatory effects of transdermal patches of rivastigmine (Exelon, Novartis), nicotine, nitroglycerin (NTG) and topically applied EMLA (eutectic mixture of lidocaine/prilocaine). We anticipate that this initial pilot comparison of single doses of each medication will catalyze future multi-dose comparisons of the various vasodilatory features of these and other drugs.

Methods: With IRB approval, 10 healthy volunteers were monitored with PPG at the time each transdermal patch was applied and every 8 minutes afterwards for a total of 40 minutes. 1x1 …

Adherence To Prospective Registration Policy And Implications For Clinical Trial Endpoint Integrity, Anand Gopal

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Since implementation of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) prospective registration policy in 2005, trial registration has increased significantly. Registering clinical trials is critical in promoting transparency and integrity in medical research, however trials must be registered in an appropriate manner to deter unaccounted protocol modifications or selection of alternate endpoints that may enhance favorability of reported results. This thesis provides relevant background on clinical trial registration and appropriate reporting in addition to evaluating adherence with the ICMJE’s prospective trial registration policy and the implications of inappropriate adherence for the integrity of reported results. In a cross-sectional, retrospective …

Disparities In Socioeconomic Context And Response To Antihypertensive Medication In The Antihypertensive And Lipid-Lowering Treatment To Prevent Heart Attack Trial (Allhat), Andi Shahu

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Where one lives affects one’s blood pressure. Observational studies demonstrate

that living in communities of low socioeconomic status is associated with higher blood

pressure and worse cardiovascular outcomes. In understanding the reasons for these

disparities, a key question is whether evidence-based antihypertensive medication therapy

is less effective in lowering blood pressure and improving cardiovascular outcomes in

lower socioeconomic communities. If so, then anti-hypertensive therapies derived from

randomized clinical trials (RCTs) may be suboptimal in achieving expected outcomes.

Despite standardized protocols and balancing of demographic and clinical characteristics

between study arms of RCTs, the socioeconomic environment in which people live is …

Role Of The Rna Modification N6-Methyladenosine In Normal Hematopoiesis & Disease, Radovan Vasic

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant modified nucleotide occurring in mRNA, with key roles in RNA metabolism and regulation of gene expression. Proposed effects of m6A modification of RNA transcripts include effects on transcript half-life, translation efficiency, splicing and miRNA biogenesis. Importantly, m6A is the only known dynamic RNA modification, with deposition mediated by the “writer” METTL3, and demethylation carried out by the “erasers” ALKBH5 and FTO. We hypothesized a role for m6A in hematopoiesis, with potential disease relevance in myeloid malignancies.

To gain an understanding of the effects of m6A on normal hematopoiesis and myeloid malignancies such as the …

Photodynamic Therapy For Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma In-Situ & Mutation Burden Analysis, Yuemei Zhang

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY FOR CUTANEOUS SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA IN-SITU & MUTATION BURDEN ANALYSIS. Yuemei (Amy) Zhang, Mei Zhong, Haifan Lin, and Sean Christensen. Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.

SCC in-situ (SCCIS), or Bowen’s disease, is a precursor to invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin. Compared to other available treatment modalities, photodynamic therapy (PDT) may offer comparable efficacy with decreased morbidity and better cosmetic and functional outcomes. This retrospective study analyzes the effectiveness and outcomes of photodynamic therapy with aminolevulinic acid (ALA-PDT) treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in-situ (SCCIS) with blue light. Data …

Orally-Dosed Citalopram Stimulates Small Intestinal Mucosal Growth, Lucy Zhang

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Parenterally-administered selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), such as citalopram, increase intestinal mucosal absorptive surface by day 7 of treatment. We hypothesized that enteral citalopram would also induce intestinal mucosal growth, thus allowing for therapy with an oral agent. In the study’s first phase, C57BL/6 mice received peanut butter (PB) pellets containing 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day citalopram for 7 days; or 25 mg/kg/day citalopram for 14 or 21 days; or plain PB pellets for 7, 14, or 21 days. In the second phase, C57BL/6 mice received 0, 10, 25, or 50 mg/kg/day citalopram in drinking water for 2, 3, 6, …

Using Ttr50-127 Fragments As Probes To Detect Amyloidogenic Seeding, Luke Thomas Nelson, J. D. Schonhoft, Jeffrey Kelly, Jeff Duerr

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

The aggregation and amyloid deposition of soluble transthyretin (TTR) has been linked to the development sporadic and familial forms of cardiac amyloidosis. TTR associated cardiomyopathies are often diagnosed when the disease state has reached advanced stages (if at all), precluding effective clinical intervention. This diagnostic problem can largely be attributed to a lack of fundamental understanding of the mechanism of disease pathogenesis and the clinical similarities of TTR cardiomyopathies to other heart failure related conditions. In the human prion diseases and tau protein related neurodegenerative diseases, the amyloidogenic protein conformations have the ability to “seed” and transform non-amyloidogenic states into …

The Force Of Absent Things: Hiv/Aids, Pepfar Vietnam, And The Afterlife Of Aid, Alfred Montoya

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

This article examines emerging strategies employed by nongovernmental organizations working in HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Vietnam that have been put to work in the recent past in the context of precipitous declines in US funding for such work through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). These strategies foreground specific personalities in an instrumentalization of experience, expert knowledges, and identity in a delicate balance between projecting strength and indicating urgent need. These strategies are played out in the realm of social media, facilitated through information communications technologies (ICTs) that are quickly restructuring forms of sociality and the tradecraft …

Networked Human, Network’S Human: Humans In Networks Inter-Asia, E. Kerr, Connor Graham, Alfred Montoya

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

This special issue explores the conceptions of the human that emerge out of the form and the design of information and communications technologies (ICTs). Geographically, our focus compares two countries with a relatively high level of ICT penetration—South Korea and Singapore—and two countries with a relatively low level—India and Vietnam. In each country we see how different forms of the human emerge, in part out of the ways in which technological infrastructure develop and intertwine with social order. In this introduction we reflect on the long genealogy of “human” and “humanity” and the more recent history of ICTs in Asia.

Adam Smith On The Future Of Experimental Evolution And Economics, Maria Pia Paganelli

Economics Faculty Research

Experimental evolution is difficult to apply to humans because of the need to study possible changes over many generations. A similar method, though, may see history as a substitute for experiments. The 18th century economist Adam Smith uses methods compatible with the logic of experimental evolution, through the assumption of human homogeneity and the study of history, to explain endogenous variations of preferences and institutions.

Chalcogen Impact On Covalency Within Molecular [Cu3(Μ3-E)]3+ Clusters (E = O, S, Se): A Synthetic, Spectroscopic, And Computational Study, B. J. Cook, G. N. Di Francesco, R. B. Ferreira, J. T. Lukens, K. E. Silberstein, B. C. Keegan, V. J. Catalano, K. M. Lancaster, Jason M. Shearer, L. J. Murray

Chemistry Faculty Research

Reaction of the tricopper(I)-dinitrogen tris(β-diketiminate) cyclophane, Cu₃(N₂)L, with O-atom-transfer reagents or elemental Se affords the oxido-bridged tricopper complex Cu₃(μ₃-O)L (2) or the corresponding Cu₃(μ₃-Se)L (4), respectively. For 2 and 4, incorporation of the bridging chalcogen donor was supported by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) data. Cu L_2,3-edge X-ray absorption data quantify 49.5% Cu 3d character in the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of 2, with Cu 3d participation decreasing to 33.0% in 4 and 40.8% in the related sulfide cluster Cu_{3 …}

Building Teacher Efficacy: Challenges Of Creating Communities Of Practice Among New Teachers And Veteran Teachers In A Toxic Work Environment, J Lail

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Recently, changes in graduation requirements in some states have made it more important than ever for students to be literate in all content areas. State assessments not only measure student academic ability, but they are a necessary component of graduation from high school. After completing required courses, students are expected to take assessments covering the content of those courses. In order to safely meet the graduation requirement, students must score at least 3 points per assessment on a 5-point scale. This has proven difficult for over 50% of students expecting to graduate.

Students at Midwestern-American High School (MAHS) have been …

The Effect Of Sleep Quantity And Quality On Direct Current Potential In Collegiate American Football Players, Erik D. Korem

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Direct current (DC) potential is an objective measure of the functional state of the human organism. It is a sensitive and accurate indicator of short- and long-term adaptations to stress, adaptive capacities, and it is an important marker of athlete readiness. Sleep is posited to be the most efficacious strategy for improving recovery to enhance sport performance, and adequate sleep is considered vital to normal psycho-physiological function. Thus, optimal sleep may enhance the functional state, in turn enhancing an athlete’s adaptability to training stress. However, little is known about the relationship between sleep and DC potential. Therefore, the purpose of …

Effects Of High Fat Exposure On Skeletal Muscle Autophagy And Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, Adrienne Rose Herrenbruck

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Autophagy is a major degradation mechanism, responsible for clearing damaged and dysfunctional organelles, including the endoplasmic reticulum, a structure essential for protein synthesis and myocellular hypertrophy. Alterations in autophagy throughout various tissues of the body have been linked to various negative side effects such as decreased myocellular hypertrophy and insulin resistance. High fat diets lead to changes (both increases and decreases) in autophagy in various tissues throughout the body in a tissue-specific manner.

Skeletal muscle autophagy is decreased in myotubes cultured from obese women, however the mechanism by which this occurs is unknown. As the largest organ system in the …

Community College Campuses And Sexual Minorities: The Experience Of Lgbtq Students At Community Colleges, Baron Guy Wolf

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The purpose of this study was to examine national survey data from across the United States for respondents from two-year community colleges. Historically little empirical evidence exists in the literature about this population of students who identity as sexual minorities. The study begins with a historical overview of the LGBTQ rights movement. This provides a baseline for why studies including this invisible minority group are important and especially timely for two-year college campuses. Literature is barrowed from four-year college and university studies. Data were analyzed using the Rasch Partial Credit model. This analysis included testing for data-fit to the model, …

Towards Better Outcomes For Families With Transition-Age Youth Or Young Adults With Asd: A Mixed Methods Study From A Parent’S Perspective, Wing Hang Wong

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The after-high-school outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families are less than desirable. The current study employed an exploratory sequential mixed methods design in order to enhance understanding of the family adaptation process during transition. First, a qualitative study was conducted in order to understand the stressors, external and internal support, coping strategies, and family adaptation outcomes during transition, from a parent’s perspective, using the ABCX model. Thirteen parents of adolescents and young adults with ASD were interviewed. These parents reported a continually high level of stress due to normative strains and ASD-related demands. They clearly …

Risk And Protective Factors For Sexual Desire Among Women With Children And Their Romantic Partners, Christine E. Leistner

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Romantic couples with children struggle to balance the needs of their romantic relationships with the responsibilities of parenting and mothers report difficulty viewing themselves as sexual beings after having children. Understanding the risk and protective factors for sexual and relational outcomes for couples with children or those that may have children in the future may provide insight into the dynamics of these couples and the ways in which parents can preserve relational health over time. The current study utilized Basson’s Model of Sexual Response (2000) as a conceptual theoretical framework and the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kenny et al., …

Multimodal Noncontact Diffuse Optical Reflectance Imaging Of Blood Flow And Fluorescence Contrasts, Daniel Irwin

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

In this study we design a succession of three increasingly adept diffuse optical devices towards the simultaneous 3D imaging of blood flow and fluorescence contrasts in relatively deep tissues. These metrics together can provide future insights into the relationship between blood flow distributions and fluorescent or fluorescently tagged agents. A noncontact diffuse correlation tomography (ncDCT) device was firstly developed to recover flow by mechanically scanning a lens-based apparatus across the sample. The novel flow reconstruction technique and measuring boundary curvature were advanced in tandem. The establishment of CCD camera detection with a high sampling density and flow recovery by speckle …

Sleep And Thermoregulation: A Study Of The Effect Of Ambient Temperature Manipulation On Mouse Sleep Architecture, Asma'a A. Ajwad

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Good quality sleep is essential for mental and physical health. Inadequate sleep impacts memory consolidation, learning and cognition, immune function, autonomic regulation, physical performance, and other vital functions. In many neurological disorders that are associated with sleep problems such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, changes in brain circuitry affect sleep-wake regulation mechanisms; this is reflected in anomalous sleep-wake architecture and usually accompanied by poor sleep depth. Thus, over many years, many approaches have been tried in humans and animal models with the goal of improving sleep quality. Unfortunately, each of those approaches comes with limitations or side effects. Thus, there …

Preferential Pathways For Vapor Intrusion: Site Screening And Field Sampling Of Sewers To Assess Inhalation Exposure Risks, Evan James Willett

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Hazardous waste sites and aging wastewater infrastructure are common in the United States. There are hundreds of thousands of contaminated sites and more than a million miles of sewer pipes. Populations living close to hazardous waste sites often suffer from increased risk of adverse health effects due to exposure to contaminated environmental media. Vapor intrusion is one process by which nearby populations can be exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Aging wastewater infrastructure is important for vapor intrusion site assessments because sewer pipes can serve as preferential vapor transport pathways. Near contaminated sites, pipe deterioration allows migration of contaminants into …

Numerical Modeling And Isotope Tracers To Investigate Karst Biogeochemistry And Transport Processes, Admin Husic

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This dissertation investigated the physical and biogeochemical processes affecting the source, fate, and transport of sediment, carbon, and nitrogen within a highly-coupled fluviokarst system. Elemental and isotopic datasets were collected at surface and subsurface locations for both dissolved and particulate contaminant phases, new methodology regarding data collection was presented to the karst research community, an in-cave sediment transport model coupling physical transport with elemental and isotopic mass balances of carbon and nitrogen was formulated, pathway and process control on nitrate leaching from agricultural karst watersheds was assessed, and nitrate mobilization and fractionation were modeled using high frequency storm sampling and …

Modeling And Mapping Location-Dependent Human Appearance, Zachary Bessinger

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Human appearance is highly variable and depends on individual preferences, such as fashion, facial expression, and makeup. These preferences depend on many factors including a person's sense of style, what they are doing, and the weather. These factors, in turn, are dependent upon geographic location and time. In our work, we build computational models to learn the relationship between human appearance, geographic location, and time. The primary contributions are a framework for collecting and processing geotagged imagery of people, a large dataset collected by our framework, and several generative and discriminative models that use our dataset to learn the relationship …

Jak/Stat Signaling Regulates Gametogenesis And Age-Related Reproductive Maintenance, Michelle Suzanne Giedt

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Cell signaling is central to integration of internal and external cues that regulate development and homeostasis. Most development is thought of as pre-adult, but limited developmental processes occur in adults. Gametogenesis incorporates elements of both these facets, with a distinct developmental plan for gamete synthesis which is regulated by integration of homeostatic inputs such as nutrient status, and environmental cues. Signaling pathways integrate and transduce information from these cues to evoke a response. A decline in homeostasis and subsequent cues occurs over time, in the case of reproductive tissues leading to a progressive loss of fertility. The Janus Kinase and …

“Beyond Sisterhood There Is Still Racism, Colonialism And Imperialism!” Negotiating Gender, Ethnicity And Power In Madagascar Mangrove Conservation, Manon Lefèvre

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Understanding women’s experiences of mangrove forest conservation in the Global South is important because mangrove forests are a crucial defense against climate change, and are also increasingly the targets of global climate change policies. The intervention of postcolonial feminist theory combined with feminist political ecology has the potential to bring forward women’s seldom-heard experiences of climate change in these valuable ecosystems. This work supports previous feminist political ecology scholarship focused on understanding women’s complicated relationships to the environment and the gendered effects of climate change policies, while challenging dominant conservation discourse around women as a monolithic group. This thesis focuses …

Moving Experiences: Women And Mobility In Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth-Century American Literature, Amy Simpson Birk

Theses and Dissertations--English

This project recovers and revises late nineteenth and early twentieth-century narratives of mobility which invoke female protagonists who move from stifling, patriarchal domestic settings in the rural and suburban United States to the more symbolically emancipated settings of New York City and even Europe to reveal both the limitations and possibilities for women’s lives in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. By challenging popular American fiction’s preoccupation with urban white slavery myths and the lingering proscriptive standards for women’s behavior of the Victorian era, the Introduction argues the selected works of this dissertation mark a significant, …