The Construction of Self in an Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Counselors working in a wide array of settings are likely to encounter clients who have significant histories of childhood trauma, including childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The effects of CSA on the adult survivor are complex, and often difficult to resolve. Many trauma theorists have hypothesized that these problems may be mediated by disturbances in the survivor\u27s construction of self. This exploratory, phenomenological study examined the subjective self as it moved through the processes of therapy and recovery from CSA. The data consisted of written material generated over several years of my own therapeutic work, including journals, letters, and poems. The analysis of data revealed significant shifts in elements of the self including the development of a truer and more coherent autobiographical narrative, a greater sense of connection with and ownership of the body, and a stronger sense of both autonomy and the ability to enter and sustain healthy relationships. The purpose of this study was to offer a conceptual bridge between the subjective world of a survivor and the theoretical and clinical perspectives of the practicing counselor and counselor educator. The results revealed one person\u27s strategies for creating a stronger and more integrated self as well as suggestions for future researc

The Construction of Self in an Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Counselors working in a wide array of settings are likely to encounter clients who have significant histories of childhood trauma, including childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The effects of CSA on the adult survivor are complex, and often difficult to resolve. Many trauma theorists have hypothesized that these problems may be mediated by disturbances in the survivor\u27s construction of self. This exploratory, phenomenological study examined the subjective self as it moved through the processes of therapy and recovery from CSA. The data consisted of written material generated over several years of my own therapeutic work, including journals, letters, and poems. The analysis of data revealed significant shifts in elements of the self including the development of a truer and more coherent autobiographical narrative, a greater sense of connection with and ownership of the body, and a stronger sense of both autonomy and the ability to enter and sustain healthy relationships. The purpose of this study was to offer a conceptual bridge between the subjective world of a survivor and the theoretical and clinical perspectives of the practicing counselor and counselor educator. The results revealed one person\u27s strategies for creating a stronger and more integrated self as well as suggestions for future researc

The Trypanosoma cruzi enzyme TcGPXI is a glycosomal peroxidase and can be linked to trypanothione reduction by glutathione or tryparedoxin.

Trypanosoma cruzi glutathione-dependent peroxidase I (TcGPXI) can reduce fatty acid, phospholipid, and short chain organic hydroperoxides utilizing a novel redox cycle in which enzyme activity is linked to the reduction of trypanothione, a parasite-specific thiol, by glutathione. Here we show that TcGPXI activity can also be linked to trypanothione reduction by an alternative pathway involving the thioredoxin-like protein tryparedoxin. The presence of this new pathway was first detected using dialyzed soluble fractions of parasite extract. Tryparedoxin was identified as the intermediate molecule following purification, sequence analysis, antibody studies, and reconstitution of the redox cycle in vitro. The system can be readily saturated by trypanothione, the rate-limiting step being the interaction of trypanothione with the tryparedoxin. Both tryparedoxin and TcGPXI operate by a ping-pong mechanism. Overexpression of TcGPXI in transfected parasites confers increased resistance to exogenous hydroperoxides. TcGPXI contains a carboxyl-terminal tripeptide (ARI) that could act as a targeting signal for the glycosome, a kinetoplastid-specific organelle. Using immunofluorescence, tagged fluorescent proteins, and biochemical fractionation, we have demonstrated that TcGPXI is localized to both the glycosome and the cytosol. The ability of TcGPXI to use alternative electron donors may reflect their availability at the corresponding subcellular sites

A Near-Infrared L Band Survey of the Young Embedded Cluster NGC 2024

We present the results of the first sensitive L band (3.4 micron) imaging study of the nearby young embedded cluster NGC 2024. Two separate surveys of the cluster were acquired in order to obtain a census of the circumstellar disk fraction in the cluster. From an analysis of the JHKL colors of all sources in our largest area, we find an infrared excess fraction of > 86%. The JHKL colors suggest that the infrared excesses arise in circumstellar disks, indicating that the majority of the sources which formed in the NGC 2024 cluster are currently surrounded by, and likely formed with circumstellar disks. The excess fractions remain very high, within the errors, even at the faintest L magnitudes from our deeper surveys suggesting that disks form around the majority of the stars in very young clusters such as NGC 2024 independent of mass. From comparison with published JHKL observations of Taurus, we find the K - L excess fraction in NGC 2024 to be consistent with a high initial incidence of circumstellar disks in both NGC 2024 and Taurus. Because NGC 2024 represents a region of much higher stellar density than Taurus, this suggests that disks may form around most of the YSOs in star forming regions independent of environment. We find a relatively constant JHKL excess fraction with increasing cluster radius, indicating that the disk fraction is independent of location in the cluster. In contrast, the JHK excess fraction increases rapidly toward the central region of the cluster, and is most likely due to contamination of the K band measurements by bright nebulosity in the central regions of the cluster. We identify 45 candidate protostellar sources in the central regions of the NGC 2024 cluster, and find a lower limit on the protostellar phase of early stellar evolution of 0.4 - 1.4 X 10^5 yr, similar to that in Taurus.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, To appear in the Astronomical Journa

Mental health and academic experiences among U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, U.S. college students reported increased anxiety and depression. This study examines mental health among U.S college students during the subsequent 2020–2021 academic year by surveying students at the end of the fall 2020 and the spring 2021 semesters. Our data provide cross-sectional snapshots and longitudinal changes. Both surveys included the PSS, GAD-7, PHQ-8, questions about students’ academic experiences and sense of belonging in online, in-person, and hybrid classes, and additional questions regarding behaviors, living circumstances, and demographics. The spring 2021 study included a larger, stratified sample of eight demographic groups, and we added scales to examine relationships between mental health and students’ perceptions of their universities’ COVID-19 policies. Our results show higher- than-normal frequencies of mental health struggles throughout the 2020–2021 academic year, and these were substantially higher for female college students, but by spring 2021, the levels did not vary substantially by race/ethnicity, living circumstances, vaccination status, or perceptions of university COVID-19 policies. Mental health struggles inversely correlated with scales of academic and non-academic experiences, but the struggles positively correlated with time on social media. In both semesters, students reported more positive experiences with in-person classes, though all class types were rated higher in the spring semester, indicating improvements in college students’ course experiences as the pandemic continued. Furthermore, our longitudinal data indicate the persistence of mental health struggles across semesters. Overall, these studies show factors that contributed to mental health challenges among college students as the pandemic continued

When Mothers Go Wrong: Likely Neural Undercurrents Related to Poor Parenting

The mammalian model of survival begins with puzzling-out a simple but stark truth: Life must learn to care for life. We have described the experiences involved in changing from nulliparous female to mother, from unresponsive to committed. The transition taking place in the nervous system that underpins the shift from largely self-centered organism to other-focused caregiver is accompanied by an assortment of effects ranging from basic gene expression changes, to modifications of neuronal complexity and activity, to wholesale shifts in the size of specific brain structures. In total, the female changes in ways both subtle an

Site-specific identification and quantitation of endogenous SUMO modifications under native conditions.

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) modification regulates numerous cellular processes. Unlike ubiquitin, detection of endogenous SUMOylated proteins is limited by the lack of naturally occurring protease sites in the C-terminal tail of SUMO proteins. Proteome-wide detection of SUMOylation sites on target proteins typically requires ectopic expression of mutant SUMOs with introduced tryptic sites. Here, we report a method for proteome-wide, site-level detection of endogenous SUMOylation that uses α-lytic protease, WaLP. WaLP digestion of SUMOylated proteins generates peptides containing SUMO-remnant diglycyl-lysine (KGG) at the site of SUMO modification. Using previously developed immuno-affinity isolation of KGG-containing peptides followed by mass spectrometry, we identified 1209 unique endogenous SUMO modification sites. We also demonstrate the impact of proteasome inhibition on ubiquitin and SUMO-modified proteomes using parallel quantitation of ubiquitylated and SUMOylated peptides. This methodological advancement enables determination of endogenous SUMOylated proteins under completely native conditions

A conserved domain important for association of eukaryotic J-protein co-chaperones Jjj1 and Zuo1 with the ribosome

AbstractJ-proteins, obligate co-chaperones, provide specialization for Hsp70 function in a variety of cellular processes. Two of the 13 J-proteins of the yeast cytosol/nucleus, Zuo1 and Jjj1, are associated with 60S ribosomal subunits. Abundant Zuo1 facilitates folding of nascent polypeptides; Jjj1, of much lower abundance, functions in ribosome biogenesis. However, overexpression of Jjj1 substantially rescues growth defects of cells lacking Zuo1. We analyzed a region held in common by Zuo1 and Jjj1, outside the signature J-domain found in all J-proteins. This shared “zuotin homology domain” (ZHD) is important for ribosome association of both proteins. An N-terminal segment of Jjj1, containing the J-domain and ZHD, is ribosome-associated and, like full-length Jjj1, is competent to rescue both the cold- and cation-sensitivity of ∆zuo1. However, this fragment, when expressed at normal levels, cannot rescue the cytosolic ribosome biogenesis defect of ∆jjj1. Our results are consistent with a model in which the primary functions of Zuo1 and Jjj1 occur in the cytosol. In addition, our data suggest that Zuo1 and Jjj1 bind overlapping sites on ribosomes due to an interaction via their common ZHDs, but Jjj1 binds primarily to pre-60S particles and Zuo1 to mature subunits. We hypothesize that ZUO1 and JJJ1, which are conserved throughout eukaryotes, arose from an ancient duplication of a progenitor J-protein gene that encoded the ZHD ribosome-binding region; subsequently, specialized roles and additional ribosome interaction sites evolved