Summary of Dissertation Recitals One Program of Lecture Demonstration One Program of Workshop One Program of Piano Music

Three programs were given in lieu of a written dissertation. 1. Lecture-Recital. “Expressively, with Style: How to Approach J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 6.” Saturday, October 26, 2013, at 5:00 p.m. in Britton Recital Hall, Earl V. Moore Building. The presentation studied Baroque aesthetics and demonstrated possible approaches to different performance problems encountered in the piece. All seven movements were performed. 2. Pedagogy Workshop. “American Piano Method Books and Their Use in South Korea.” Saturday, April 5, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. in Britton Recital Hall, Earl V. Moore Building. The presentation provided a glimpse of how the piano world in South Korea has changed over the years and its current attitudes toward piano method books. Online survey results were explained and video recordings of one-on-one interviews with Korean piano teachers were shown and discussed. 3. Recital. Sunday, April 20, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. in Stamps Auditorium, Walgreen Drama Center. The program consisted of major works by two Romantic composers, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. The first half: Fantasy in C Major, op. 17, by Schumann. The second half of the program explored three piano transcriptions by Liszt. Ständchen, from “Schwanengesang” (Schubert), S. 558. Isolde’s Liebestod, from Tristan und Isolde (Wagner), S. 447. Réminiscences de Norma (Bellini), S. 394.AMUMusic: PerformanceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147511/1/cejchoi_1.pd

Colorectal Cancer Screening Behaviors among American Indians in the Midwest

Colorectal cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer among American Indians and is also the second leading cause of cancer death. We used a community-based participatory approach to conduct a mixed methods study to examine colorectal cancer screening behaviors. Here we report on the screening behaviors of our focus group participants (n=153). There were significant gender differences in the colorectal cancer screening rates for FOBT and colonoscopy. Although over 80% of participants reported having health insurance, only 35% of males over 50 years old and 57% of females reported ever having a colonoscopy. More research is needed to identify the causes of gender differences in colorectal cancer screening rates among American Indians. The results of the current study provide new information on the prevalence of colorectal cancer screening among American Indians living in the Midwestern (Kansas and Missouri) portion of the country

The Primex Proposal, Minimum Bid Price Requirements, And NASDAQ Market Woes

The objective of this case is to teach and initiate a class discussion about the Primex proposal and minimum bid price requirements at NASDAQ.  The discussion is facilitated by a real world case example that focuses on current NASDAQ market woes.  Issues central to the performance of NASDAQ as a market place are analyzed.  In addition, this study considers the effect of the merger of Instinet and Island on NASDAQ and evaluates NASDAQ's IPO decision

Humoring Violations: Uncanny Humor in Victorian Sensation Fiction

Considering the many absurd coincidences, gender-bending characters, and unsubtle mockery of novelistic conventions that exist in Victorian sensation fiction, humor is something seldom examined in connection to the genre. Humoring Violations: Uncanny Humor in Victorian Sensation Fiction aims to fill this important critical gap by analyzing humor in well-known sensation texts as well as a later example of the genre: Mary Elizabeth Braddon\u27s Lady Audley\u27s Secret, Wilkie Collins\u27s The Woman in White, and Ouida\u27s Moths. This study specifically considers humor in context with the uncanny and the violent, which is what makes it unique to the Victorian sensation novel. Many of the instances of humor that are analyzed occur when an ostensibly uncanny or violent aspect with the potential to culminate into horror unexpectedly subsides. It is in this incongruous moment that humor arises almost imperceptibly, and functions as a way to deal with the dread or incomprehensibility of the uncanny. To be confronted with humor is to be confronted with the anxieties and tensions of the uncanny that humor helps to elide. It is in this way that humor works unobtrusively with the uncanny in response to various menacing cultural, historical, and political anomalies surrounding the sensational text. In paying attention to these reversals then, we can read humor as an essential medium for the expression of sensation authors\u27 cultural, historical, and political critiques. This mode of analysis more readily makes evident why humor was inserted into these otherwise serious, and uncanny texts, and why an attention to humor is crucial in our study of them now. In addition to revelations about cultural values, constructs, and stereotypes that were in ascendancy at the time each sensation novel was produced, and how each author interrogates them, attention is given to the evolution of humor, from the more subtle humor of Braddon, to the macabre humor of Collins, and the garish sarcasm of Ouida. Doing so reveals important changes in the novels themselves, and the way humor and our response to it articulates the cultural economy. In these ways, this study intends not only to highlight an omitted (and pivotal) aspect of sensation fiction, but also to demonstrate how humor offers a more modern and critically viable approach to interpreting this genre

Myosin IIA-mediated forces regulate multicellular integrity during vascular sprouting

Angiogenic sprouting is a critical process involved in vascular network formation within tissues. During sprouting, tip cells and ensuing stalk cells migrate collectively into the extracellular matrix while preserving cell-cell junctions, forming patent structures that support blood flow. Although several signaling pathways have been identified as controlling sprouting, it remains unclear to what extent this process is mechanoregulated. To address this question, we investigated the role of cellular contractility in sprout morphogenesis, using a biomimetic model of angiogenesis. Three-dimensional maps of mechanical deformations generated by sprouts revealed that mainly leader cells, not stalk cells, exert contractile forces on the surrounding matrix. Surprisingly, inhibiting cellular contractility with blebbistatin did not affect the extent of cellular invasion but resulted in cell-cell dissociation primarily between tip and stalk cells. Closer examination of cell-cell junctions revealed that blebbistatin impaired adherens-junction organization, particularly between tip and stalk cells. Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing, we further identified NMIIA as the major isoform responsible for regulating multicellularity and cell contractility during sprouting. Together, these studies reveal a critical role for NMIIA-mediated contractile forces in maintaining multicellularity during sprouting and highlight the central role of forces in regulating cell-cell adhesions during collective motility.R01 EB000262 - NIBIB NIH HHS; R01 HL115553 - NHLBI NIH HHSPublished versio

Internet Use for Health Information among American Indians: Facilitators and Inhibitors

Our research team explored Internet use among a heterogeneous American Indian (AI) population to determine Internet use in relation to health information seeking behaviors. Participants examined an AI culturally-tailored tobacco website as an example to explain what they wanted in an AI Internet health site. Using community-based participatory research, we conducted 10 focus groups with non-college AI men and women (N=96), stratified by age (18-29, 30-49, and 50 and over) to better understand their perceptions of Internet use and health information needs. We found that Internet use varied greatly among all strata. Participants referenced WebMD© more than any other website, but participants were not pleased with the design and navigation. When examining the sample website, participants across strata stressed that recreational and traditional tobacco use should be discussed. Participants in all strata desired a simple website design with easy to read text accompanied by images. In order to gain and maintain cultural respect, participants stated that web designers should be aware that some images hold cultural meaning, particularly tobacco. Baseline data are needed for AI’s use of the Internet to obtain health information; this research is helpful to address health inequalities among AI, particularly access to web-based health information

BCL-W has a fundamental role in B cell survival and lymphomagenesis.

Compromised apoptotic signaling is a prerequisite for tumorigenesis. The design of effective therapies for cancer treatment depends on a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that govern cell survival. The antiapoptotic proteins of the BCL-2 family are key regulators of cell survival and are frequently overexpressed in malignancies, leading to increased cancer cell survival. Unlike BCL-2 and BCL-XL, the closest antiapoptotic relative BCL-W is required for spermatogenesis, but was considered dispensable for all other cell types. Here, however, we have exposed a critical role for BCL-W in B cell survival and lymphomagenesis. Loss of Bcl-w conferred sensitivity to growth factor deprivation-induced B cell apoptosis. Moreover, Bcl-w loss profoundly delayed MYC-mediated B cell lymphoma development due to increased MYC-induced B cell apoptosis. We also determined that MYC regulates BCL-W expression through its transcriptional regulation of specific miR. BCL-W expression was highly selected for in patient samples of Burkitt lymphoma (BL), with 88.5% expressing BCL-W. BCL-W knockdown in BL cell lines induced apoptosis, and its overexpression conferred resistance to BCL-2 family-targeting BH3 mimetics. Additionally, BCL-W was overexpressed in diffuse large B cell lymphoma and correlated with decreased patient survival. Collectively, our results reveal that BCL-W profoundly contributes to B cell lymphoma, and its expression could serve as a biomarker for diagnosis and aid in the development of better targeted therapies

Prevention of sexual transmission of Ebola in Liberia through a national semen testing and counselling programme for survivors: an analysis of Ebola virus RNA results and behavioural data

BACKGROUND: Ebola virus has been detected in semen of Ebola virus disease survivors after recovery. Liberia\u27s Men\u27s Health Screening Program (MHSP) offers Ebola virus disease survivors semen testing for Ebola virus. We present preliminary results and behavioural outcomes from the first national semen testing programme for Ebola virus. METHODS: The MHSP operates out of three locations in Liberia: Redemption Hospital in Montserrado County, Phebe Hospital in Bong County, and Tellewoyan Hospital in Lofa County. Men aged 15 years and older who had an Ebola treatment unit discharge certificate are eligible for inclusion. Participants\u27 semen samples were tested for Ebola virus RNA by real-time RT-PCR and participants received counselling on safe sexual practices. Participants graduated after receiving two consecutive negative semen tests. Counsellors collected information on sociodemographics and sexual behaviours using questionnaires administered at enrolment, follow up, and graduation visits. Because the programme is ongoing, data analysis was restricted to data obtained from July 7, 2015, to May 6, 2016. FINDINGS: As of May 6, 2016, 466 Ebola virus disease survivors had enrolled in the programme; real-time RT-PCR results were available from 429 participants. 38 participants (9%) produced at least one semen specimen that tested positive for Ebola virus RNA. Of these, 24 (63%) provided semen specimens that tested positive 12 months or longer after Ebola virus disease recovery. The longest interval between discharge from an Ebola treatment unit and collection of a positive semen sample was 565 days. Among participants who enrolled and provided specimens more than 90 days since their Ebola treatment unit discharge, men older than 40 years were more likely to have a semen sample test positive than were men aged 40 years or younger (p=0.0004). 84 (74%) of 113 participants who reported not using a condom at enrolment reported using condoms at their first follow-up visit (p \u3c 0.0001). 176 (46%) of 385 participants who reported being sexually active at enrolment reported abstinence at their follow-up visit (p \u3c 0.0001). INTERPRETATION: Duration of detection of Ebola virus RNA by real-time RT-PCR varies by individual and might be associated with age. By combining behavioural counselling and laboratory testing, the Men\u27s Health Screening Program helps male Ebola virus disease survivors understand their individual risk and take appropriate measures to protect their sexual partners. FUNDING: World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention