Impulsivity and Motivational Deficits in Rats Perinatally Exposed to Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol

The perception that cannabis (i.e., marijuana) use produces little to no harm is widespread, with about 70% of both pregnant and nonpregnant women believing there is slight or no risk associated with using cannabis once or twice a week. However, perinatal exposure to cannabis has been linked to externalizing behaviors in offspring, including impulsivity, hyperactivity, and substance use – behaviors associated with externalizing disorders including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In preclinical research, most studies focus on exposure to the psychoactive constituent of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC). ∆9-THC is lipophilic so it can cross the placental barrier and is secreted in maternal milk, thereby exposing the fetus/neonate. Preclinical data on the effects of perinatal ∆9-THC exposure on impulsive behavior is extremely limited. Therefore, we examined whether perinatal exposure to 5.0 mg/kg/day ∆9-THC or an equal volume of vehicle increased impulsivity in adult offspring. We used a differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) operant task to measure impulsive action where the rat had to press a lever to start a trial but wait a prespecified amount of time before pressing the same lever again to earn a food reinforcer. ∆9-THC-exposed rats earned fewer reinforcers and exhibited a higher proportion of non-reinforced IRT pause responses between 2.5 – 15.0 sec, as well as a lower proportion of reinforced IRT responses greater than 15.0 sec, indicative of impulsivity. Surprisingly, they also appeared to exhibit decreased motivation, which is also frequently observed in ADHD individuals. These results validate epidemiological findings demonstrating an increase in externalizing behavior following perinatal cannabis exposure, but also suggest perinatal cannabis exposure may alter affective behavio

Jolly Roger tail art

The Jolly Roger insignia, white skull and crossed bombs, was painted on the tail of every plane in the 90th Bombardment Group thus giving them the nickname, The Jolly Rogers.https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-90thbg1/1024/thumbnail.jp

Mental Health Services as a Mandatory Necessity for Returning Citizens

In her paper titled “Mental Health Services as a Mandatory Necessity for Returning Citizens,” Dr. Crystal DeBerry, Owner of DeNovo Clinical Strategies LLC and Founder of the Memphis nonprofit Indomitable Families Affected by Incarceration, describes the importance of mental health resources and support for those impacted by incarceration. She argues that wrap-around mental health services, including counseling, supportive programs, and support for families of incarcerated loved ones, should be a mandatory component of reentry. Just as the first paper makes clear that mass incarceration begins far before any individual person is imprisoned, this paper underscores the fact that the criminal legal system does not simply end when a person is released from detention. The effects of the criminal legal system are vast and long-lasting

SICKLE CELL DISEASE IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder. Normal red blood cells are round. In those with SCD, the red blood cells are crescent shaped. In the Unites States (US), more than 90% of those living with SCD are Black. We conducted three epidemiological studies related to the burden of common comorbidities in individuals with SCD, the relationship between SCD and chronic kidney disease, and the effects of historical racial housing policies on births with SCD. First, we evaluated the annual incidence and demographic associations of stroke, seizures, congestive heart failure, asthma, systemic hypertension, and diabetes mellitus in individuals living with SCD. Older individuals with SCD had higher odds of stroke, seizures, congestive heart failure, systemic hypertension, and diabetes mellitus compared to those under the age of 18. Females with SCD had 1.66 (95% CI: 1.13, 2.44) times the odds of incident diabetes mellitus compared to males. Individuals living with SCD in rural Tennessee had 2.05 (95% CI: 1.14, 3.68) times the odds of incident congestive heart failure compared to urban dwellers. Next, we evaluated the incidence, demographic associations, and mortality in individuals with SCD who had chronic kidney disease (CKD). Compared to those under 18 years of age, those above 45 had 23.54 (95% CI: 7.07, 78.36) times the odds of incident CKD. In terms of mortality, individuals with SCD who had CKD, had statistically significant lower mean age of death compared to the general US population (53 years vs. 73.7 years, p-value 0.0485). The final analysis estimated the burden of births with SCD in historically redlined Zip codes along with modern-day economic implications. A higher proportion of newborns with SCD (32%) were born in historically redlined Zip codes compared to the general population (15%) of the state. There were similar findings for three (Shelby, Davidson, and Hamilton) of the four major counties. There was also a statistically significant association between births with SCD and living in a previously redlined Zip code (p-value 0.0012). In terms of modern-day economic implications, there were no significant associations between births with SCD and median household income

Structure of a Sequence with Prescribed Zero-Sum Subsequences in Rank Two Abelian Groups

Let $G=(\mathbb Z/m\mathbb Z) \oplus (\mathbb Z/n\mathbb Z)$ where $

Players, Not Parts: Rethinking Percussion Writing For Wind Ensemble

This document is both a supplement to and an explanation of my final project for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Memphis. I have taken five compositions for wind ensemble and rearranged the percussion parts to assist with the ease of performance, equipment, and personnel. I began work on this project in the Fall of 2022, inspired by a rehearsal of Urban Requiem, and was able to have my edit of A Child’s Garden Of Dreams performed by the percussion section of the University Of Memphis Wind Ensemble during the performance of said piece in the Fall of 2023. I present this document so that the reader can better understand the performance, equipment, or personnel issues typically experienced by a percussion student performing in these ensembles. The purpose of this project is to bring awareness to the stresses that are inadvertently placed on the average percussion player in a typical university wind ensemble

Colored Narratives

My thesis delves into Black identity through the medium of painting and drawing. Colored Narratives shows a fictional world where people called Unknown, due to their pure Black skin, living in a world where they are outcasts due to their looks and characteristics. These paintings discuss Black identity from theories by Black artists and authors. The pieces in Colored Narratives are created from different passages and converted into a visual message to show through cultural and personal narratives. Through these artworks, they aim to provide a clear understanding of race, representation, and identity

Self consistent calculations of the electric charge, ion drag force, and the drift velocity of spherical grains using Langevin dynamics and comparisons against canonical experiments

The relative motion of ions with respect to objects/grains in a plasma leads to the ion drag force 1-5, like the drag force experienced by surfaces immersed in flows of neutral fluids. Ion drag force F ⃗_id plays a critical role in the collective motion and self-organization of grains in plasmas 6, 7, void formation in We present trajectory simulation-based modeling to capture the interactions between ions and charged grains in dusty or complex plasmas. Our study is motivated by the need for a self-consistent and experimentally validated approach for accurately calculating the ion drag force and grain charge that determine grain collective behavior in plasmas. We implement Langevin Dynamics in a computationally efficient multiscale approach to capture multiscale ion and grain dynamics. Along with critical assessments of our approach, suggestions for future experimental design to probe charging of and momentum transfer onto grains that capture the effect of space charge concentration and external fields are outlined