The development and validation of a sport assertion scale

The broad purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self-administered situation—specific assertion scale for collegiate male and female competitive athletes. More specifically, the investigation sought to identify the relationships among an athlete's assertiveness as measured by the Dailey Assertion Scale, teammates' evaluations of her/his assertiveness, and the coach's assessment of the athlete's assertiveness. Secondly, the relationship between an athlete's scores on the DAS and on a general assertion scale (Galassi et al., 1974, CSES) wan investigated. Finally, in light of the above, the research was designed to reveal whether or not the DAS was a valid instrument for the assessment of sport assertion

A legal analysis of appellate tort negligence cases in public school physical education K-12 from 1963-1983

The purpose of the study was to describe the importance of court level and certain key factors on the judgments and settlements of negligence cases in physical education. This case law study of tort liability • pertains to only those negligence cases involving public school physical education, kindergarten through 12th grade, in the United States from January 1, 1963 to December 31, 1983. The following three questions to be answered in the study: 1. What factors or combinations of factors do cases decided in favor of either the plaintiff or the defendant have in common? 2. What, if any, is the difference in judgments and settlements of tort liability cases involving public school physical education that are heard at the trial court level as opposed to the appellate level? 3. What implications can be ascertained from the analysis of the findings of this study

RNA viruses : the strategies they employ to interfere with host cell protein expression and to synthesize viral proteins, and a new way to identify their RNA in biological samples

This dissertation is composed of the projects I worked on that were able to be made into scientific papers. My projects centered primarily around viral RNAs and how they interact with host cell mRNAs coding for selenoprotein, and if these effects were negated or enhanced by the addition of selenium to the environment. The first chapter of this dissertation is an introduction into selenoprotein synthesis and importance, viral implications in history, and viral survival strategies. My first author publication is the second chapter of this dissertation, and the one I spent the majority of my time on. It concerns predicted antisense interactions between conserved regions in the 3’ untranslated region of Zika viral RNA and selenoprotein mRNA’s in the host cell. Aside from the initial computational data for the antisense interactions between Zika (ZIKV) RNA and SePP1 and TXNRD1 host cell RNA species, along with the gel shift assay using oligonucleotides that matched the predicted sequences, all work in the first chapter of this dissertation was performed. This manuscript has been submitted to BBA Advances. The third chapter is the continuation of Dr. Lakmini Premadasa’s work supporting the hypothesis that an antisense tethering region between TXNRD1 mRNA in the host cell and the 3’ untranslated region downstream of the nef gene in HIV-1 could lead to a UGA stop codon readthrough at the 3’ end of the nef gene resulting in a longer nef protein isoform. There were some issues reviewers posed before it could be published, and Dr. Premadasa was no longer around to be able to address the concerns, so my contributions to this manuscript involved a Western blot probe of GFP expression as a result of the proposed UGA stop codon readthrough event and if selenium had any effect on GFP expression. This manuscript preprint is published and the manuscript itself has been resubmitted to the American Journal of Pharmacotherapy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. For the fourth chapter of this dissertation, I was lucky to get to collaborate with Dr. Adam Hall and Dr. Komal Sethi at the Wake Forest School of Medicine with a project regarding HIV-1 identification via Solid-State nanopore technology. I was responsible for synthesizing all RNA used for the experiments and was part of the HIV-1 and probe designs used in the experiments. I provided a write up of my RNA synthesis, purification, and quantification procedure for the paper. This manuscript has officially been approved for publication in ACS Nano

Cultivating Hospital Volunteers and Auxiliary Board Leadership: THE NEXT GENERATION

In spring 2009, Team Vision accepted the challenge from the VCUHS Hospital Auxiliary Board to assist in increasing the auxiliary volunteer population. After meeting with the Auxiliary Board, Volunteer Services, and John Duvall (team mentor), Team Vision proposed a project that would look more globally at volunteer recruitment, training and placement, and retention.As the project evolved, we also examined how the two organizations could draw on their deep experience and resources not only to develop a robust volunteer population , but to develop and strengthen their own organizations to better define their goals and ensure an Auxiliary Board membership of vitality and longevity

Probiotic treatment reduces appetite and glucose level in the zebrafish model.

The gut microbiota regulates metabolic pathways that modulate the physiological state of hunger or satiety. Nutrients in the gut stimulate the release of several appetite modulators acting at central and peripheral levels to mediate appetite and glucose metabolism. After an eight-day exposure of zebrafish larvae to probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus, high-throughput sequence analysis evidenced the ability of the probiotic to modulate the microbial composition of the gastrointestinal tract. These changes were associated with a down-regulation and up-regulation of larval orexigenic and anorexigenic genes, respectively, an up-regulation of genes related to glucose level reduction and concomitantly reduced appetite and body glucose level. BODIPY-FL-pentanoic-acid staining revealed higher short chain fatty acids levels in the intestine of treated larvae. These results underline the capability of the probiotic to modulate the gut microbiota community and provides insight into how the probiotic interacts to regulate a novel gene network involved in glucose metabolism and appetite control, suggesting a possible role for L. rhamnosus in the treatment of impaired glucose tolerance and food intake disorders by gut microbiota manipulation

Pulsatility of insulin release – a clinically important phenomenon

The mechanisms and clinical importance of pulsatile insulin release are presented against the background of more than half a century of companionship with the islets of Langerhans. The insulin-secreting β-cells are oscillators with intrinsic variations of cytoplasmic ATP and Ca2+. Within the islets the β-cells are mutually entrained into a common rhythm by gap junctions and diffusible factors (ATP). Synchronization of the different islets in the pancreas is supposed to be due to adjustment of the oscillations to the same phase by neural output of acetylcholine and ATP. Studies of hormone secretion from the perfused pancreas of rats and mice revealed that glucose induces pulses of glucagon anti-synchronous with pulses of insulin and somatostatin. The anti-synchrony may result from a paracrine action of somatostatin on the glucagon-producing α-cells. Purinoceptors have a key function for pulsatile release of islet hormones. It was possible to remove the glucagon and somatostatin pulses with maintenance of those of insulin with an inhibitor of the P2Y1 receptors. Knock-out of the adenosine A1 receptor prolonged the pulses of glucagon and somatostatin without affecting the duration of the insulin pulses. Studies of isolated human islets indicate similar relations between pulses of insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin as found during perfusion of the rodent pancreas. The observation of reversed cycles of insulin and glucagon adds to the understanding how the islets regulate hepatic glucose production. Current protocols for pulsatile intravenous infusion therapy (PIVIT) should be modified to mimic the anti-synchrony between insulin and glucagon normally seen in the portal blood

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 1

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1661/thumbnail.jp