Comparing Hippocampal Structures To Investigate Probiotic-mediated Neuroprotection

Probiotics have been hypothesized to have neuroprotective effects. We sought to investigate this in the present study by studying the effects of probiotics during a nutritional recovery period following a high-fat diet (HFD). HFD has been previously shown to reduce hippocampal volume in rodents, so adult male rats were given HFD for one month, after which they displayed hippocampal memory impairments, suggestive of reduced hippocampal structure. They were subsequently switched back to a control diet and given daily yogurt samples, which either contained probiotics or not (the yogurt given to the control group was filtered to remove any microorganisms, whereas the probiotic group received unfiltered yogurt). After 4 weeks of diet recovery and probiotic supplementation, probiotic rats had stronger recovery of hippocampal memory and the rats were sacrificed to collect brain samples. Their brains were sectioned at 40um, stained with cresyl violet to stain brain area architecture and fixed onto microscope slides. For each brain, the sizes of the following hippocampal structures were measured: dentate gyrus, CA3, and CA1/2 by tracing a representative series of sections containing these areas. Results suggest that despite memory differences between control and probiotic rats, there was no volume difference in the dentate gyrus, CA3, and CA1/2. This shows that although probiotic supplementation improves behavior, it likely does so without producing whole-scale changes to brain structure

Are My Students Really Learning?: Equipping Students to Manage Their Own Learning

During this lunch discussion, we invite you to explore possibilities for including elements of growth mindset, metacognition, and Bloom\u27s Taxonomy in your courses this semester and beyond. We will draw on a variety of resources, including Carol Dweck\u27s articulation of mindsets, Stephen Chew\u27s concrete suggestions to support metacognition, and Saundra McGuire\u27s framework for connecting mindset, metacognition and Bloom\u27s. Mike Pinter (Teaching Center and Mathematics), Jennifer Thomas (Biology) and George Shannon (Music) will present and facilitate conversation. The session will include time for questions, discussion, and classroom ideas from participants

Reading Between the Lines

Maps serve so many functions in today’s classrooms - maps can be anything from information sources to a final project in a wide variety of disciplines. Having the right tools and knowledge to understand and evaluate these vital resources will allow people to become more effective researchers in any discipline. This chapter focuses on the idea that maps, just like other kinds of information, need to be critically evaluated in order to be used ethically and effectively. The chapter opens with a practical discussion of why maps need to be evaluated, and will include examples of bias and agenda in maps. This section will contain tools the reader can use to evaluate the maps that they find. The reader will learn to use metadata, comparison, and other evaluation in order to more effectively read between a map’s lines - what was the mapmaker trying to portray with this map? Why would they want this location visualized this way? Finally, it ends with a discussion of what critical map evaluation could look like in the information literacy classroom

Rochester Savings Bank - 17

https://repository.belmont.edu/auralheritage_rochester_photos/1012/thumbnail.jp

Columbia Studio A - 05

https://repository.belmont.edu/auralheritage_nashville_photos/1004/thumbnail.jp

Columbia Studio A - 12

https://repository.belmont.edu/auralheritage_nashville_photos/1011/thumbnail.jp

Living Alone: Cognitive Aging In Tennessee

Living alone in old age is increasingly common. In the United States, the percentage of older adults living alone has more than quadrupled since the 1900s. “In 2014, 26% of older adults lived alone, representing 12.5 million people” (Portacolone et al., 2018). Those who live alone experience different aspects of aging, whether that be socially, cognitively, or physically. The data we used was gathered by mySidewalk, which offered over 600 points of data, aggregated at the zip code level, from across the entire state of Tennessee. The variables we examined more closely included Seniors in Family Households of 2 or More , Seniors Living Alone, and Seniors in Non-Family Households of Two or More , and “Poor Mental Health in Adults (2021)”. We examined whether living alone would have a negative effect on various aspects of health, specifically mental health. This study offers a more in-depth look of how there is a rising population of women living alone due to divorce and being widowed. Additionally, living alone doesn’t indicate positive mental health. There are still cognitive and even physical risks from isolated living that efforts should be made to mitigate. Also, previous literature indicates more women live alone, but studies show more data on elderly men. Lastly, mental health awareness movements emphasize teenagers and young adults, but the emotional health of adults has less attention as their ages increase. Our results indicate a notable negative effect on emotional and mental health regarding isolated living, indicating that additional attention should be provided to any older adults who are currently living alone. Further research in this area could investigate specific facets of emotional satisfaction seen in older adults with these circumstances to better understand the specific degree of cognitive decline caused by the lack of regular social interaction

The Benefits of a Daily Walk

Previous research has shown that consistent physical activity can have a positive impact on the body as a whole and is correlated with reduced anxiety and depression, enhanced thinking and learning, prevention of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, overall well-being, etc. (World Health Organization, 2022). Support for positive effects due to chronic exercise has also been found to have a positive effect on overall cognition, specifically memory, while acute exercise does not appear to find the same results (Loprinzer et. al., 2021), (Rathore and Lom, 2017), (Etnier et al., 1997). However, research is lacking when introducing a college-aged participant pool (Verbough et al., 2014). The purpose of this study is to test the impact of chronic physical activity on short-term memory retention in college-aged individuals and investigate the limited found research to further prove the validity and generalizability of the current findings on this subject. This current study aims to improve knowledge of the body, focusing specifically on short-term memory retention and its significant relationship with consistent physical activity. The results are currently being analyzed

The Relationship Between Sleep and Psychological Well-Being in College Students

Psychological well-being, which constitutes having fulfilled hedonic and eudemonic happiness as well as resilience, is particularly important as students transition from high school to college and from college to the “real world.” Having a good psychological well-being helps students feel and function effectively in order to realize their full potential and achieve a feeling of purpose and sense of control (Ryff, 1995). Identification of risk behaviors will assist in the development of better programming and services for this group of young people. College students are also vulnerable as they are not sleeping sufficiently for the high demands and rigor of a college curriculum (Gilbert & Weaver, 2010). In addition to the lack of sleep, unhealthy dietary habits and lack of physical activity all contribute to a decrease in psychological well-being in college students (Kenyone & Koerner, 2007; Nambiar & Brunda, 2020; Udhayakumar & Illango, 2018). The purpose of this study is to examine college students\u27 psychological well-being, its relationship to sleep, and the factors that impact it. Participants in this study were 30 non-freshman students living in single room residences. Participants were recruited from Introductory Psychology classes as well as word of mouth and are over 18 years old. Participants completed the Ryff Psychological Well-Being questionnaire to determine their psychological well-being as well as the Perceived Stress Scale to determine overall levels of chronic stress. Participants were given Muse sleep tracking technology to wear with time spent asleep, time spent in REM, light, and deep sleep, and deep sleep intensity collected all accumulating into an average sleep quality score. They also provided a saliva sample at the end and at the beginning of the study to determine cortisol concentration. Additionally, participants recorded their daily eating and exercise habits and stress levels

The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Cognitive Control in College-aged Participants

Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) have been shown to impact numerous cognitive functions throughout development. More specifically, ACES have been shown to decrease an individual’s cognitive control, or the ability to inhibit fixation on distractors to focus on a task. Cognitive control can be tested with numerous tests such as the Stroop Task and a Visual Search task, both of which ask the participant to complete a visual task with distractors. The current study asked participants to complete the ACES questionnaire in order to provide their ACES score as well as complete the Stroop Task and a visual search task. In order to determine whether participants were fixating on the distractors in the visual search task, an eye tracker was used to read their overt focus. Response times were taken from each task and the distraction fixation times were taken from the visual search task to determine the participants’ performance. Once all of the data is fully collected, a Pearson’s Correlation will be run between ACES Scores and Stroop Task times, ACES Scores and Visual Search Task times, and ACES Scores and distractor fixation times. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between ACES Scores and performance in cognitive control tasks. It is hypothesized that individuals with higher ACES Scores will have higher response times on both the Stroop Task and visual search task as well as higher distractor fixation times