Subversion of Form: Mixing Poetry and Prose

My honors thesis project is called Subversion of Form: Mixing Poetry and Prose. The purpose has been to research how writers have interwoven poetry and prose, to write a creative nonfiction piece that uses both genres, and to improve as a writer through committing myself to this piece and solidifying writing as a daily practice. In my introduction, I outline the research I conducted on poetry and prose and my takeaways from the writers I read. I conclude that the purpose of prose is to tell, while the purpose of poetry is to search. The piece that I have worked on is titled Notes from behind a Window. It is creative nonfiction written in first-person and totals 49 pages and 12,090 words. I divided the story into two sections: March and April. March details my spring break trip to Arizona, returning home for quarantine, and adjusting to a pandemic existence. April includes my experience of school via zoom, my mental health struggles, and my grandfather’s death. One prominent theme is time: what did the pandemic do to time? Another is a contrast between glass (fragility) and water (adaptability), which I used to explore topics of mental health, isolation, and hope. I conclude with a short epilogue celebrating the making of beauty from everyday life

Frequency in COPD and CAD Emergency Department Visits in South Carolina: Medicare Versus Self-pay

Coronary artery diseases (CAD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) represent the most common cause of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalization for both Medicare and self-pay patients, which amount to nearly 2 to 4 million spent annually. The purpose of this quantitative stud ywas to identify the relationship between ED frequency among CAD and COPD Medicare and self-pay recipients 18 to 65 years within South Carolina between 2016 to 2018. The variables for this study were age and payer (independent) and ED frequency (dependent). Using a sample size of 7,689 an ANOVA Regression and t-test analyses were used to analyze data in conjunction on the Andersen model of health behavior. Results revealed a significant association between ED frequencies among COPD patients, while the ED frequency among CAD self-pay patients was nonsignificant in South Carolina. In both cases, the age and payer confounding variables had little to no effect on the relationship. The payment method used affected the ED visits for CAD patients compared in the years 2016 and 2017 versus the year 2018. Analyses revealed that payer type was significant in all years from 2016 to 2018, but payment type was not significant in 2018. The prevalence of Medicare and self-pay that patient’s align with the use of EDs services directly with payer and payment type. The study contributes to positive social change by enabling health professionals and policymakers to develop strategies to increase alternatives to ED usages, adapt patient-centered interventions, and modify existing chronic disease care strategies to minimize or prevent outcomes. Such improvements could eliminate or reduce the overcrowding in EDs in South Carolina

The Impact Of Evidence Presentation On False Confessions

A confession is one of the most influential kinds of evidence offered at trial (Leo, 2009). The weight of a confession on trial outcomes warrants careful attention. Interrogation practices need to be carefully examined to ensure individuals are not being manipulated into falsely confessing. Previous research has demonstrated that when presented with evidence in stressful scenarios, an average individual can be pressured into falsely confessing (Kassin & Kiechel, 1996). The current study explored the effects different types of evidence had on false confession rates. It was believed that the more concrete the evidence was (i.e., videotape), the more likely a person would falsely confess. Participants were accused of cheating by using the answer key that “accidently” emerged on the computer screen during a recall test. Four conditions (three types of evidence and a control condition) were presented to participants by the researcher. The rate at which individuals falsely confessed under all of the conditions was recorded. A binary logistic regression revealed that none of the evidence conditions elicited significantly more false confessions than the control condition. The need to escape an ambiguous and stressful situation as described by Davis and Leo (2012) maybe used to explain the pattern of results

Choosing Valpo: Study on the Impact of Digital Relationships

Prospective college students, often early adapters of technological advances, seek information from digital sources when making a college decision. Different social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are among the tools that prospective students use. Universities are beginning to implement these tools to build relationships with prospective students. Valparaiso University, too, is adapting to this new technology. The University has a digital presence through its Facebook and Twitter accounts, a YouTube.com channel, and a comprehensive webpage. The primary focus of this study is to see if a relationship is being built between Valparaiso University and its prospective students through these tools. Does Valparaiso University’s online presence attract incoming college students? Are prospective students more informed because they can virtually observe campus life? Are these resources being utilized to their fullest potential? Research focused on answering these questions as well as exploring the best possible way to establish a successful relationship between prospective students and the University. Students in the spring semester of their freshman year were surveyed to learn from their experience over the past twelve months

Promoting Health By Strengthening Community Partnerships

Social inequities, such as employment, living conditions, and food insecurity, can adversely affect health. Our project explores the efficient integration of social determinants of health into patient care. Social determinants of health are the conditions in the environments in which people live, work, and play that impact overall wellbeing and quality of life. We propose leveraging the VCU Health system to support already existing community partnerships to improve housing access and social assistance for vulnerable populations, specifically targeting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. We will connect patients to community resources to reduce health disparities, improve health outcomes, and lower costs

Identity Theft Reports Of Adolescents

The purpose of this paper was to explore the identity theft victimization experiences of high school students, as well as the predictors of it being reported to school counselors

STRAD Pseudokinases Regulate Axogenesis and LKB1 Stability

BACKGROUND: Neuronal polarization is an essential step of morphogenesis and connectivity in the developing brain. The serine/threonine kinase LKB1 is a key regulator of cell polarity, metabolism, tumorigenesis, and is required for axon formation. It is allosterically regulated by two related and evolutionarily conserved pseudokinases, STe20-Related ADapters (STRADs) α and β. The roles of STRADα and STRADβ in the developing nervous system are not fully defined, nor is it known whether they serve distinct functions. RESULTS: We find that STRADα is highly spliced and appears to be the primal STRAD paralog. We report that each STRAD is sufficient for axogenesis and promoting cell survival in the developing cortex. We also reveal a reciprocal protein-stabilizing relationship in vivo between LKB1 and STRADα, whereby STRADα specifically maintains LKB1 protein levels via cytoplasmic compartmentalization. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate a novel role for STRADβ in axogenesis and also show for the first time in vivo that STRADα, but not STRADβ, is responsible for LKB1 protein stability

Influenza nucleoprotein delivered with aluminium salts protects mice from an influenza virus that expresses an altered nucleoprotein sequence

Influenza virus poses a difficult challenge for protective immunity. This virus is adept at altering its surface proteins, the proteins that are the targets of neutralizing antibody. Consequently, each year a new vaccine must be developed to combat the current recirculating strains. A universal influenza vaccine that primes specific memory cells that recognise conserved parts of the virus could prove to be effective against both annual influenza variants and newly emergent potentially pandemic strains. Such a vaccine will have to contain a safe and effective adjuvant that can be used in individuals of all ages. We examine protection from viral challenge in mice vaccinated with the nucleoprotein from the PR8 strain of influenza A, a protein that is highly conserved across viral subtypes. Vaccination with nucleoprotein delivered with a universally used and safe adjuvant, composed of insoluble aluminium salts, provides protection against viruses that either express the same or an altered version of nucleoprotein. This protection correlated with the presence of nucleoprotein specific CD8 T cells in the lungs of infected animals at early time points after infection. In contrast, immunization with NP delivered with alum and the detoxified LPS adjuvant, monophosphoryl lipid A, provided some protection to the homologous viral strain but no protection against infection by influenza expressing a variant nucleoprotein. Together, these data point towards a vaccine solution for all influenza A subtypes

Predictors of Enteric Pathogens in the Domestic Environment from Human and Animal Sources in Rural Bangladesh.

Fecal indicator organisms are measured to indicate the presence of fecal pollution, yet the association between indicators and pathogens varies by context. The goal of this study was to empirically evaluate the relationships between indicator Escherichia coli, microbial source tracking markers, select enteric pathogen genes, and potential sources of enteric pathogens in 600 rural Bangladeshi households. We measured indicators and pathogen genes in stored drinking water, soil, and on mother and child hands. Additionally, survey and observational data on sanitation and domestic hygiene practices were collected. Log10 concentrations of indicator E. coli were positively associated with the prevalence of pathogenic E. coli genes in all sample types. Given the current need to rely on indicators to assess fecal contamination in the field, it is significant that in this study context indicator E. coli concentrations, measured by IDEXX Colilert-18, provided quantitative information on the presence of pathogenic E. coli in different sample types. There were no significant associations between the human fecal marker (HumM2) and human-specific pathogens in any environmental sample type. There was an increase in the prevalence of Giardia lamblia genes, any E. coli virulence gene, and the specific E. coli virulence genes stx1/2 with every log10 increase in the concentration of the animal fecal marker (BacCow) on mothers' hands. Thus, domestic animals were important contributors to enteric pathogens in these households

Microbiome alteration Via Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Is Effective For Refractory Immune Checkpoint inhibitor-induced Colitis

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) target advanced malignancies with high efficacy but also predispose patients to immune-related adverse events like immune-mediated colitis (IMC). Given the association between gut bacteria with response to ICI therapy and subsequent IMC, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) represents a feasible way to manipulate microbial composition in patients, with a potential benefit for IMC. Here, we present a large case series of 12 patients with refractory IMC who underwent FMT from healthy donors as salvage therapy. All 12 patients had grade 3 or 4 ICI-related diarrhea or colitis that failed to respond to standard first-line (corticosteroids) and second-line immunosuppression (infliximab or vedolizumab). Ten patients (83%) achieved symptom improvement after FMT, and three patients (25%) required repeat FMT, two of whom had no subsequent response. At the end of the study, 92% achieved IMC clinical remission. 1