Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying The Protein That Mediates Sr1848'S Inhibition Of Lrh-1 Target Gene Expression, Allen Chan-Pong

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2020 - Present

This project investigated the nuclear receptor LRH-1, which is primarily present in endodermal tissues. It affects several pathways such as lipid synthesis, glucose homeostasis, and embryonic development. However, LRH-1 is also often implicated in several cancers. In many types, tumorigenesis occurs due to LRH-1’s upregulation of the WNT/beta-catenin pathway, which promotes cell cycle progression. LRH-1 also promotes cancer proliferation by downregulating the cell cycle inhibitor p21. Targeting LRH-1 thus shows promise for treatment of the cancers it promotes. The small molecule SR1848 is an inhibitor of LRH-1 target gene expression, but it does not directly interact with LRH-1. This project …

Novel Context Exposure Enhances Object Recognition Memory: Assessing Involvement Of Norepinephrine Neurotransmission, Eleonora Lurie

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2020 - Present

Long-term memories are encoded within the hippocampus, but some are quickly forgotten. Brief exposure of mice to a novel context following encoding of object memory significantly enhances consolidation of the object memory. The memory-enhancing effect of post-training novelty may rely on locus coeruleus tyrosine-hydroxylase expressing neurons which co-release norepinephrine and dopamine in the hippocampus. To test the contribution of norepinephrine to this novelty effect, mice received propranolol, a synthetic beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist (10 mg/kg), to block norepinephrine or 0.9% saline as a control post-training. Pre-novel context exposure and object memory was tested 24 hr later. Results revealed that propranolol did …

Unm Hsc Education Day Agenda 2022, Gary A. Smith

HSC Education Days

No abstract provided.

Indonesia Female Principal Performance Appraisal: Gender Perspective, Rahma Widyawati, Anik Sri Widowati, Mei Maemunah, Istiningsih Istiningsih, Eny Nurnilawati, Widyanti Kurnianingsih

The South East Asian Journal of Management

Research Aims: This study aimed to determine the direct influence of communication style and individual competence on female principals' empowering leadership and performance in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Design/methodology/approach: The respondents of this study were 220 teachers from 3 accredited high schools with female principals in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The questionnaire was analysed using structural equation modelling with AMOS to determine the relationship between variables and using Sobel Test to test leadership as a mediating variable.

Research findings: The results of this study show that communication style and competence have a positive and significant effect on leadership and performance, leadership has a significant …

Nutrigenetic Reprogramming Of Oxidative Stress, Joseph Ryu, Huzeifa Gulamhusein, Jin Kyun Oh, Joseph H. Chang, Jocelyn Chen, Stephen H. Tsang

School of Medicine Publications

Retinal disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa, age-related retinal degeneration, oxygen-induced retinopathy, and ischemia-reperfusion injury cause debilitating and irreversible vision loss. While the exact mechanisms underlying these conditions remain unclear, there has been a growing body of evidence demonstrating the pathological contributions of oxidative stress across different cell types within the eye. Nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor (Nrf2), a transcriptional activator of antioxidative genes, and its regulator Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) have emerged as promising therapeutic targets. The purpose of this review is to understand the protective role of the Nrf2-Keap1 pathway in different retinal tissues and shed light on the …

Effects Of Social And Personal Norms, And Connectedness To Nature, On Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Study Of Western Australian Protected Area Visitors, Joanna Pearce, Songshan (Sam) Huang, Ross K. Dowling, Amanda J. Smith

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Pro-environmental behaviors play a key role in the management and sustainability of parks and protected areas. An understanding of the antecedents of visitors' pro-environmental behaviors is vitally important in advancing knowledge, encouraging sustainability, and bettering management practice. This study developed and tested a behavioral model which integrated personal norms and social norms as normative influences, with connectedness to nature as a personality trait, as antecedents of pro-environmental behaviors. Data were collected through a visitor survey across three protected areas in Western Australia and analyzed via structural equation modelling. Results indicated that personal norms and connectedness to nature had a positive …

Parents' Experiences Of Children With A Rare Disease Attending A Mainstream School: Australia, Mandie Foster, Esther Adama, Diana Arabiat, Kevin Runions, Rena Vithiatharan, Maggie Zgambo, Ashleigh Lin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose:

To explore the perceptions of parents who had a child or adolescent (6-18 years) diagnosed with a rare disease who attended a mainstream school in Western Australia.

Design and methods:

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 41 parents of children with a rare disease. Here we report the findings of 14 open-ended questions on their experience of illness-related factors and impact on school-related social activities, such as sports, school camps and leadership roles whilst their child with a rare disease attended a mainstream school in Australia. Responses were analysed using an inductive thematic content approach.

Results:

We identified …

Carbohydrate Intake Is Associated With Learning Concentration Among High School Students In Jember Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia, Nadya Parahita Handini, Triyanti Triyanti, Kusharisupeni Djokosujono

Indonesian Journal of Public Health Nutrition (IJPHN)

Low learning concentration will have impact on low academic performance. This study aims to determine the relationship between learning concentration and several factors and to find the most dominant factor in the students of SMAN 1 Jember. In this study, learning concentration was the dependent variable, while breakfast habits, nutrient intake (energy, carbohydrates, protein, fat, iron, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin C), sleep quality, and physical activity were independent variables. This research is a quantitative study with cross-sectional design. This study conducted in June 2021 at SMAN 1 Jember with a total of 200 respondents who were selected using the quota …

Current Intake And Infection Status Were Not Good Predictive Factors Of Stunting Among Children Aged 6-59 Months In Babakan Madang Sub-District, Bogor District, West Java, Indonesia, Ruth Desinta Purnamasari, Ratu Ayu Dewi Sartika, Trini Sudarti

Indonesian Journal of Public Health Nutrition (IJPHN)

This study aims to discover the prevalence of stunting and determine the associations between the history of pulmonary tuberculosis disease with the prevalence of stunting among children under five years of age (6-59 months) in Babakan Madang Sub-District, Bogor District 2019. This study uses a cross-sectional design with a quantitative approach. The sample in this research was 194 children under five obtained by cluster sampling. Data collection was conducted through May 2019. The data collection process includes anthropometric measurements using calibrated microtoise and digital length board, dietary assessment using 1 x 24-h food recall, and a self-administered questionnaire. Data analyses …

Utilizing Pharmacology To Target Transcription Factors Involved With Cancer Onset And Development, Tristan D. Sanders

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

Transcription factors (TFs) are a vital part of every living organism on earth, as they allow for the correct genes to be expressed while much of the genome is never used. They can fall victim to mutations or manipulations that lead to the deregulation of many genes within a cell. If specific genes are over/under-expressed, a cell may become cancerous and begin replicating into a tumor. It has been demonstrated that common TFs associated with cancer can be targeted using small molecule drugs, and a popular target of these drugs is the DNA binding site on the TF along with …

Life After Steel: How Covid-19 Shed Light On Canton Township's Industrial Past, Daniel D. Dillon

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways in which life carries on, whether this manifests in the forms of altering how people interact or how individuals work to further career goals. In the field of archaeology, attending an accredited field school takes central importance to developing much-needed skills; however, the virus made such opportunities nonexistent. Seeking a remedy for this rapidly-changing situation, I decided to make the decision to run a “field school” in my parents’ backyard. What was uncovered went beyond the nearly 300 recovered artifacts, extending into the largely unexplored history of Canton Township, Washington, Pennsylvania. Just …

Full Issue

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

No abstract provided.

Ponder, Katherine Mazzanti

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Katherine Mazzanti is a junior Biology major with a Medical Humanities minor. She plans on going to dental school after graduation. She loves to listen to music, drink coffee, and watch movies in her free time. She also enjoys making collages for fun!

The Ethics And Economics Of The World's Energy Consumption, Drew Dedomenico

Academic Festival

For over 150 years, fossil fuels have helped build the world economy to the success that it boasts today. Fossil fuels are formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago (National Resources Defense Council, 2018). This includes coal, natural gas, and crude oil. What this resource has enabled our world to achieve is remarkable. While the efficiency of burning fossil fuels has allowed for notable industrial prosperity over a relatively short period of time, our planet’s constant economic growth has led these fossil fuels to become primary contributors towards air pollution and …

A Look Inside The Educational Curriculum: Why Is Dance Cast Out?, Kaitlin Broyles

Academic Festival

Joy. Anger. Sadness. Fear. Disgust. The movie Inside Out shows personified versions of these emotions and how they mature inside the brain of a young girl as she grows. Although the actual human brain is devoid of these emotion characters, people’s brains and emotions still develop and learn to cooperate with one another as they mature. Children and teenagers are sent to school to learn and to progress their development, but the traditional educational curriculum is missing a key component in helping children discover themselves and their potential.

Dance could be this missing piece. There is much more to the …

The Neuroscience Of Intelligence And Ethical Issues, Lauren Szczepanowski

Academic Festival

This paper will explore the issues that arise from intelligence testing because of concerns of racism. The introduction will begin to introduce some of the ethical issues that have arisen from intelligence testing and will also talk about how intelligence is more highly affected by genes than by environment. This is important because it leads to the whole point of the paper that if conducted correctly, intelligence testing should still be credible and not seen as unethical since it is much more highly impacted by genes than environment, so socio-economic status should not matter. The second section will then go …

Hashtag Suicide: Social Media Correlates To American Adolescent Suicide Deaths, Tinamarie Dadic

Academic Festival

As the second leading cause of death for young adults, suicide rates are on the rise in the United States and strike many as a cause for concern. With the ever-increasing amount of social media present in today’s society – especially among the young adult population, there are correlations between the negative aspects of social media and the overall well-being and mental health decline of U.S. adolescents. However, the discrepancy is that many teenagers use social media as a coping mechanism or as a means to seek support from their community, potentially through an anonymous state. Yet, the link between …

Addressing Period Poverty: The Cost Of Menstruating In America And The Ethical Responsibility To Provide Free Menstrual Care, Jayden Tabor, Olivia Delgado

Academic Festival

UNICEF estimates that every month, some 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate (UNICEF, 2020). Menstruation is a natural, healthy, and uncontrollable part of life for anyone with the female reproductive system. Me, you, your friends, your family, and everyone else on Earth would not be born if it weren’t for this routine part of life. Why, then, does society wince at the thought of periods? The effect of menstrual stigma has plagued billions of menstruators for centuries and continues to have massive negative ramifications on the wellness and livelihood of people simply trying to cope with a biological process. …

Relationship Between Social Media, Body Dissatisfaction, And The Development Of Eating Disorders In Adolescents, Carlee Swanson

Academic Festival

Since its creation in the late nineties, social media has only grown and evolved into the societal influence it is today. In addition to the rise in social media, society has seen an increase in eating disorders and body image issues. The goal of this research paper is to explore the connection between social media and body image as it pertains to the development of eating disorders. While the presence of eating disorders has been around much longer than the internet and social media, it is possible that social media could become another factor contributing to their development in adolescents. …

Future Research Of Xenotransplantation To Improve Human Health, Kayla Kruk

Academic Festival

The organ shortage has become a prominent problem for public health as thousands of patients die per year because of the limited availability. Research has found that xenotransplantation could be the solution to this deathly public health issue. By using animal organs to transplant into humans, there would be a significant increase in availability thus saving countless lives of those in need of organs. In this article research has been done to show the barriers of xenotransplantation that cause organ failure and solutions that have been successful in overcoming those barriers. Barriers that cause organ rejection include immune rejection, inflammation, …

The Social And Hierarchical Implications Of The Propagation Of A Male God, Julianna Rezza

Academic Festival

In this paper, I will be discussing how the use of the word father in the Bible has created and continues to create a church hierarchy in which women cannot hold authority equivalent to a man, thereby displaying that the propagation of Father God impacts how women function in today’s society. First, I explore the use of the word father in both the earlier and late portions of the Bible and the lines drawn to certain male traits. Often in the Old Testament and portions of the text that “advise,” we understand the disciplining authority of God, how God is …

Plastic Pollution Effects On Pacific Marine Life, Amanda Celentano

Academic Festival

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest trash site on the planet. It is in the North-Central Pacific Ocean and is twice the surface area of Texas. It also outnumbers sea life in the region six to one. This phenomenon is the name for a mass of debris that has accumulated over time due to intersecting ocean currents that move in a swirling motion leaving all the plastic waste that is trapped in the more stable middle section of the currents, therefore creating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This trash accounts for 100 million marine life deaths and causes …

Are Plant Size Differences In A Restored And A Natural Spartina Alterniflora Marsh In Connecticut Driven By Genetics Or Environment?, Loretta Marie Borghi

Academic Festival

Are plant size differences in a restored and a natural Spartina alterniflora marsh in Connecticut driven by genetics or environment?

Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) in marshes lessens erosion and provides habitat for many species, making efforts to restore degraded marshes critical for coastal areas. Restored marshes often have different plant heights or densities than naturally occurring marshes, due to genetics, environmental factors, or both. This study investigated the role of genetic and environmental factors in controlling differences in S. alterniflora height and diameter at a restored marsh in Stratford, Connecticut and a natural marsh in Milford, Connecticut. The Stratford marsh …

Patient Reported Health Status And The Risk Of Subsequent Hospitalizations In Pad Patients With Intermittent Claudication, Brooklyn Bradley

Academic Festival

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) involves atherosclerotic occlusion of arteries in the lower extremities affecting over 230 million people worldwide¹. Patients with PAD have the highest rates of hospitalizations among atherothrombotic conditions².Health status plays an important role in outcome for patients with PAD. Poor health status has been shown to be associated with ~3 times increased risk rehospitalization in patients with coronary artery disease³, but this has not been studied in PAD. We used a large, multicenter registry of patients with symptomatic PAD (the PORTRAIT Registry) to investigate the relationship between health status and rehospitalization.

The Effects Of Social Media On The Development Of Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia Nervosa In Adolescent Females, Jennifer Garcia

Academic Festival

Most people are reliant on social media- that is a known fact. While there are some positive aspects to it, social media has unfortunately become a dark hole of comparison and body dysmorphia. This paper outlines the unfortunate connection between social media and the prevalence of eating disorders in adolescent females, specifically anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Supporting The Inclusion Of Transgender Athletes In Sports, Megan Matullo

Academic Festival

This paper will discuss the importance of the participation of transgender athletes in sports.

The Ethics Of Animal Captivity, Karlee Russo

Academic Festival

In the United States, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild worldwide (“Captive Animals.,” n.d.). How can removing or robbing an animal from its natural habitat be justified in any way? Zoos across America rationalize this action and their simple existence in a variety of ways, none of which are rooted in absolute legitimacy.

Animal captivity, specifically in zoos, raises a controversial debate centered around animal ethics and rights. The examination of zoos and their practices begins with an investigation of animal rights and equality at the fundamental level. Zoos claim to have their purpose rooted in …

Hindbrain Defects Induced By Di-Butyl Phthalate (Dbp) In Developing Zebrafish Embryos, Evelyn Paquette, Naomi Mumper, Alissa Rodrigues, Morgan Voulo, Sierrah Rich

Academic Festival

Di-butyl phthalate (DBP) is a phthalic acid ester (PAE) added during manufacturing of plastic compounds to provide strength, yet keep plastics flexible. DBP is found in products like shower curtains, raincoats, bowls, vinyl fabrics, and medical tubing. However, PAEs are not covalently bound and easily leach into the environment. DBP is found in air, soil and water samples as a noted biological pollutant. Studying the impacts DBP on the developmental stages of life is important as this period underscores the development of adult structures. Zebrafish are used as a model organism in our study due to their physical attributes and …

After Six Years, Has The Restoration Of Saltmarsh And Oyster Reef Habitats Restored Ecosystem Services In Stratford, Connecticut?, Julia Vinci, Madison Eaton

Academic Festival

Restoring saltmarshes (Spartina alterniflora) and oyster reefs (Crassostrea virginica) at a remediated site in Stratford, Connecticut will contribute to the recovery of lost ecosystem services. In this study, started in 2014, we planned to decrease erosion, increase sediment deposition, and increase wildlife habitat by installing an artificial oyster reef and planting plugs of cordgrass landward of the reef. We hypothesized that average height and stem density of cord grass will be equivalent over time to a reference fringing marsh in Milford, CT. and that a wild eastern oyster population will become established. By 2020, the restored …

Mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris) Prevents Meadow Restoration, Deepening The Pollinator Crisis, Anna Klein, Nicole Guidi

Academic Festival

We are living in the Anthropocene, the age of human domination, no habitat on earth has been untouched by human activity. Thus, over half of pollinator populations and one quarter of wildflower populations have been lost. Pollinators are crucial for maintaining biodiversity and our agricultural products. Meadow restoration is imperative but difficult. We tested the idea of restoring 4 acres of meadow in Stratford, Connecticut, to help increase our native pollinators by using seed mixes with 42 wildflower species. After remediation, the land was tilled and seeded in December 2015 with 30 pounds of native wildflower seed mix from Ernst …