Investigating the Presence of R-loops at the Centromeres of Drosophila melanogaster

This study investigates the presence and localization of R-loops at the centromeres of Drosophila melanogaster. R-loops are non-canonical nucleic acid structures that have been implicated in various cellular processes, including genomic instability and accurate chromosome segregation. Although previous research has found R-loops at Drosophila satellite sequences and LTR retrotransposons, their presence and function at the centromeres of a whole organism remain largely unknown. Using IF-FISH (immunofluorescence-fluorescence in situ hybridization), we stained R-loops with the S9.6 antibody. A UAS-rnh1 overexpression line was used to induce the overexpression of RNase H1, an enzyme that resolves R-loops, to confirm the specificity of the S9.6 antibody signal. Our results showed that while inducing rnh1 overexpression did cause a decrease in the frequency of colocalization between S9.6 and CENP-C at all centromeres, this change was only statistically significant for centromere X. Similarly, the decrease in S9.6 and rDNA colocalization was only statistically significant for the X chromosome. The S9.6 signal intensity did not significantly change after induction of rnh1 overexpression. These findings prevent any definitive conclusions regarding the presence of R-loops at Drosophila centromeres

Semantic Context Boosts Word Learning from Low-Informative Events

When a toddler hears a new word, its meaning is rarely transparent from the situational context in which the word occurred. Prior work has illustrated the challenge of learning from these low informative naming events (Cartmill et al., 2013; Medina et al., 2011). We investigate whether another feature of the learning environment – the rich semantic structure in which words occur (Tamis-LeMonda et al. 2019; Custode & Tamis-LeMonda 2020) – may help learners overcome low informativity of individual naming events. To test this, we designed a modified version of the Human Simulation Paradigm (HSP) in which adult participants (N = 48) were tasked with learning a target word meaning from six low informative scenes. Importantly, half of the participants learned the target word while also learning words from the same semantic category; the other half learned the same target word from the same low informative scenes while learning words from different semantic categories. Participants were better at learning the target word when the low informative scenes occurred in a consistent semantic context, suggesting that semantic structure alleviates the challenge of learning from low informative naming events. Thus, the rich broader semantic context that has been reported in several recent studies (see Roy et al., 2015; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2019) may prove key to children’s rapid word learning and to resolving the long-standing paradox of children’s word learning

Serological Evaluation for Leptospirosis on Samples Received by the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL)

Leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic species of Leptospira, motile spirochetes capable of infecting humans and animals. Transmission typically occurs through contact with water or soil contaminated by the urine of reservoirs or infected animals. Although leptospirosis is considered a neglected tropical disease, its geographic range is expanding due to climate change and urbanization. Surveillance remains limited in many regions, especially in the United States. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence and serovar diversity of Leptospira exposure in a variety of domestic and wild animals submitted to the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL). A total of 144 serum samples were tested using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), targeting 32 Leptospiraserovars. Samples were divided into four groups: two domestic animal groups consisting of livestock and companion animals, and two wildlife groups composed of wolves and bobcats. Serological reactivity patterns were visualized using heatmaps, and diversity was further assessed using the Shannon Diversity Index. Results showed that domestic animals exhibited broad serovar reactivity, likely influenced by vaccination. Wild animal groups showed narrower reactivity patterns, consistent with natural exposure to circulating environmental strains. The highest serovar diversity was observed in bobcats from Hartford County, Connecticut, with the most observed serovar being Leptospira licerasiae. These findings support the continued use of MAT within a One Health surveillance framework and highlight the importance of wildlife monitoring in understanding regional Leptospira circulation. Expanded surveillance efforts are warranted to define environmental reservoirs, risk of spillover, and guide public health interventions

Assessment of the 3-30-300 Standard in New London, Connecticut: GIS Analysis and Systematic Literature Review on Urban Tree Cover

Cecil Konijnendijk’s 3-30-300 standard allows cities to monitor their current urban forestry conditions and progress toward improvement. The standard is met if individuals can see three trees from their home, have 30% canopy cover in their neighborhood, and are within 300 meters of a green space. I conducted a systematic review of relevant literature and an assessment of whether New London, Connecticut meets the standard. My goal was to evaluate the benefits of urban forestry standards, the feasibility of implementation, and whether cities tested adhered. The 30-component of the standard was the most difficult part to meet due to a lack of space in urban settings. Developing progress toward meeting this standard is more important than trying to achieve exact numbers. Urban forestry standards are necessary to allocate green space equally among residents. The high population densities in cities make a standard as high as 3-30-300 difficult to implement. Using an urban forestry standard like 3-30-300 in cities effectively identifies areas of high priority when planting trees and developing green space. This research aims to assess the feasibility of the 3-30-300 standard in different urban settings. For this, I will i) conduct a systematic literature review to determine whether the standard has been found feasible and ii) evaluate existing conditions relative to the standard at a neighborhood scale in a mid-size city in Connecticut

Student Unrest and The Growth of Repression on Campus: A Comparison of Administrative Responses to Student Activism at The University of Connecticut

This paper sheds light on how university administrations have historically used instruments such as police, policy and punishment in order to deter and control student protests on campus. Students at the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus have an undeniable relationship with activism that integrates global issues at the local level, allowing them to play visible roles in international anti-war and anti-racist movements of different eras. The University of Connecticut (UConn) is used as a case study by assessing the ways the administration has responded to anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in comparison to the actions taken against the Pro-Palestinian Anti-Apartheid movements of the 2020’s. By setting UConn’s history of protest and response within the broader national context of each era, it becomes clear that university administrations have become more aggressive in their tactics, ultimately at the cost of student freedoms. Modern student activists can better safeguard their rights and advance their movements forward by understanding the development of universities reliance on police, policy and punishment to deter student protest

How Attention Related Brainwaves Vary with Performance on Speech-In-Noise Tasks

Prior studies have found alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-30 Hz) oscillations measured with EEG both increase in power when people are performing speech-in-noise tasks. In theory, variation in speech-in-noise performance could reflect the ability to segregate and neurally encode background versus foreground sounds. Here, we aim to examine how alpha and beta oscillations play a role in ignoring background sounds versus attending to foreground speech sounds. We had thirty-four healthy young adults perform a speech-in-noise task while we recorded brain signals using 64-channel EEG. Subjects were instructed to ignore the randomly varied background “noise” sounds that onset at the beginning of each trial and attend to foreground digits. After listening to each digit sequence, subjects reported the digits heard. We analyzed the EEG data using custom MATLAB scripts developed by our lab, finding that speech-in-noise performance is easier when the background sound has high stationarity in acoustic features over time. Our results indicate a high involvement of alpha and beta oscillations in attending to foreground sounds amidst background noise, with the alpha oscillations increasing prior to foreground sound onset during background sound onset in order to suppress brain processing of the distracting background sound in preparation for focusing on the attended foreground digits. Interestingly, the increase of beta power prior to onset of the attended digit sequence supports the theory that beta oscillations engage to generate a working memory encoding of the ignored background sounds. Additionally, the more dynamically variable speech “Babble” background sound induced more beta oscillations, in theory reflecting more working memory processes and detection of temporal amplitude modulations over time for the speech “Babble” sounds as compared to the other sounds, such as “White Noise”. Given that the behavioral performance for correctly reporting the digit sequence was also lower for “Babble” background sounds, the higher beta power for “Babble” may index distractibility as well as a working memory representation of the “Babble” sound

Teacher Educators’ Languaging for More Just English Language Education in Ecuador

This article describes how English language teacher educators in Ecuador envision their languaging practices contributing to more just English language education in a Global South context. The study took a capabilities approach informed by Latin American decolonial theory. Findings are based on a qualitative thematic analysis of focus group interviews conducted with 37 instructors teaching English language teacher education content courses at 18 universities. The findings illustrate two distinct theories of change: through best practices and through contextualization. Teacher educators linked English-only practices with developing teacher English proficiency, holding teachers accountable to standards, and preparing them to ultimately enact global ‘best practices’ like maximizing classroom English to expand educational access. Alternatively, multilingual practices were linked to developing teacher identity and cognition, empowering teachers to differentiate instruction, and preparing them to ultimately enact contextualized pedagogies that—according to this alternate theory of change—would better serve marginalized learners

Does an Impaired Sense of Smell Make it Harder to Think About Things like Garlic?

According to sensorimotor-based (also called embodied or grounded ) theories of semantic memory, accessing conceptual knowledge about things involves reactivating—or “simulating”—the sensory and motor experiences that we have had with them. For instance, thinking about things for which olfactory experience is dominant (e.g., garlic or a rose) would involve simulating their smell. However, evidence for olfactory simulation when thinking about smelly” things is sparse and mixed. We tested smell-impaired (“anosmic”) and control participants (N=130 in the anosmic group and N=190 in the control group) on three tasks (1) Picture-Word Verification, (2) Semantic Property Verification, and (3) Free Recall. We predicted that anosmic participants should have more difficulty with smell/taste-experienced items compared to control participants but perform similarly on “non-smelly” items primarily experienced via other sensory or motor modalities (e.g., zipper, water). In preliminary analyses of picture-word verification and semantic property verification data, anosmic and control participants performed similarly across smelly and non-smelly items. Analyses were conducted by observing differences in accuracy and reaction time by subject and item. The patterns found suggest that olfactory simulation is not required for identifying or verifying properties of things experienced highly through smell, hinting that conceptual knowledge may not be entirely dependent on embodied sensory information

The (Quorum) Call is Coming from Inside the House: Incongruity Between the Current Interpretation of the Quorum Clause and the Supreme Court’s First Congress Canon

Since the start of the twenty-first century, Congress members have faced more threats to their safety than at any other point in American history. Up to this point, none of the attacks have been successful in killing a majority of the members. However, such a prospect comes with the possibility of a reality where all Congressional action is stalled until replacement elections are held and new members are seated. In order to address this fear, Congress has changed its interpretation of the Quorum Clause to define the majority needed to conduct business as the majority of the members who are chosen, sworn, and living–rather than requiring the majority of members compared to the total number of seats in each house. But, as the Supreme Court continues to provide opinions deferring to the intentions of the drafters and the First Congress, will this modern reading of the clause survive judicial review? This Note explains why Congress’ position on the Quorum Clause is an unreliable attempt to safeguard our nation’s legislative body during a continuity of government crisis, and why changes need to be made to the modern meaning of quorum