The Cryptococcus neoformans pyruvate kinase PYK1 influences pathogen interaction with host immunity

Undergraduate Basi

Improving Teen Engagement in Buffalo and Erie County

Erie County offers many opportunities for teen engagement through afterschool programs, summer jobs programs, and internships. National research reveals many benefits from these programs, such as improved academic achievement, better health outcomes, and reductions in violence. Participation, however, often drops significantly after youth enter high school. A better understanding of adolescent development and youth engagement strategies, ranging from active participation to shared leadership, will draw more teens into programs and maximize their impact

Get in the Zone: A survey of Dental Professionals\u27 Knowledge of Ozone Therapy

Ozone therapy has been used in medicine for many years to treat a variety of ailments. Ozone is an unstable triatomic molecule made up of three oxygen atoms. This molecule has the ability to kill bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. The researcher first was curious if there has been research done on uses of Ozone Therapy in the dental setting. After reviewing the literature there is indeed a use for Ozone Therapy to treat a host of dental problems including periodontal disease, ulcers, and carious lesions (also known as cavities). However, there are conflicting conclusions in the literature as to whether or not Ozone Therapy is the most effective treatment against oral pathogens. The research done on the subject in dentistry is limited. The researcher sent out a brief survey to inquire if dentists in the state of Kentucky are aware of Ozone Therapy and its uses in dentistry. The researcher also inquired about the dentists’ location, the year of graduation from dental school, and if they specialize in a certain area of dentistry. The survey will give insight into whether or not dentists are aware of this treatment alternative. The research suggest that more dentist are unaware of Ozone Therapy than those that are aware of Ozone Therapy. There seems to be no significant relationship between knowledge of Ozone Therapy and the year that the dentist graduated dental school. Nor is there a relationship between knowledge and whether or not the dentist practices general dentistry or specializes

Sleeping Disturbances

Since a large percent of a person’s life is spent sleeping, it is crucial to achieve sufficient sleep. Sleeping disturbances are largely responsible for inadequate sleep. Sleep disturbances usually result from biochemical or environmental influences. Consequently, there are many harmful short-term and long-term effects on the body. In order to minimize harmful effects, bright light treatments, sleeping pills, cognitive behavioral therapy alterations, and other treatment may be beneficial. In order to sleep sufficiently and avoid sleeping disturbances, however, exercise, proper sleep hygiene, and other prevention methods can be taken

Development of diagnostic immunoassays for tularemia and leptospirosis

The zoonotic bacteria Francisella tularensis and Leptospira species are the causative agents for tularemia and leptospirosis respectively. Both of these diseases have significant deficits in the diagnostic tools available for efficient early diagnosis, which can result in delayed treatment of these potentially life-threatening infections. Both bacteria are extremely challenging to isolate from patients for definitive diagnosis and instead serological techniques for detection are relied on. Antibody titers can take up to two weeks to reach diagnostic significance, and the assays used to measure this often require extensive laboratory equipment and trained staff to perform. To address the lack of diagnostic options available for these bacteria, libraries of monoclonal antibodies to potential diagnostic targets were produced for inclusion in diagnostic immunoassays. Mice were immunized with purified F. tularensis lipopolysaccharide and ten monoclonal antibodies were isolated and confirmed to be reactive to pathogenic strains of the bacteria. The antibodies were screened, and reactive pairs identified to develop a sensitive, quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and prototype lateral flow immunoassay (LFI) for rapid point of care detection. The ELISA was optimized in human serum and urine and used to quantify LPS in filtered tularemia patient serum samples. Eight samples contained quantifiable levels of F. tularensis LPS, showing that LPS is a viable diagnostic antigen for tularemia. An LFI prototype was developed and determined to be specific for pathogenic F. tularensis. A limit of detection of 5 ng/mL purified LPS in normal human serum and urine was determined. Leptospiral lipoprotein LipL32 was selected as the diagnostic target for production of antibodies specific for pathogenic Leptospira. This antigen is conserved in pathogenic Leptospira and is not present in saprophytic strains. Mice were immunized with purified recombinant LipL32 and fifteen monoclonal antibodies were isolated. Reactivity of these antibodies was confirmed with heat inactivated pathogenic Leptospira species. These antibodies were used to develop a Western blot for direct detection of LipL32 in patient urine samples. A limit of detection of between 2.72x103 and 1.36x103 colony forming units/mL heat inactivated L. interrogans spiked into pooled normal human urine. Previously described clinical ranges indicate that this sensitivity would likely be sufficient for detection of leptospires in symptomatic leptospirosis patients

Peptide Fragmentation Studies on Doubly Charged Proline and Pipecolic Acid Containing Pentapeptides and Methods Development for an HPLC/MS Instrument for Proteomics Experiments

This thesis presents fragmentation studies as well as proteomics studies performed using mass spectrometry. Peptide fragmentation was performed on both singly and doubly charged peptides containing either a proline or pipecolic acid residue, as well as either an arginine or lysine residue using collision-induced dissociation. Results showed that altering the position of pipecolic acid or proline in relation to arginine or lysine can affect the formation of doubly charged product ions, which may be a result in change of the proton affinity of the basic residue. Proteomics experiments were performed on a new HPLC/LTQ instrument using a standardized sample of six digested proteins in order to optimize a method by which future proteomics studies can be performed. The protein sample underwent separation via the HPLC with a 90 or 63.3-minute gradient, then data dependent scanning in the LTQ mass spectrometer. These data dependent scans were processed using the SEQUEST searching algorithm in order to identify all possible proteins. Results showed that a 63.5-minute linear gradient of acetonitrile/H2O was sufficient to successfully identify all proteins in the standard sample using SEQUEST, at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min in the HPLC with initial injection size of 10 µl into a ACE superC18 reverse phase column, using CID only in the mass spectrometer to induce fragmentation

International Relations and Contemporary Artwork: Canadian Settler Colonialism, Indigenous Self-Determination, and Decolonizing Visuality

In this project I analyze the international dimensions of sovereignty, political self-determination, and creative self-expression by Indigenous contemporary artists in the context of Canadian settler colonialism. My key research question is: how does the conventional International Relations (IR) imagination of state formation and world ordering through territorial sovereignty displace the violences of Canadian settler colonialism? With a transnational feminist analysis I examine visual expressions of the Canadian settler colonial imaginary of world ordering by territorial sovereignty expressed at particular historical moments and how the work of Indigenous artists, curators, academics, and communities calls attention to the power relationships and violences of these international processes. Methodologically, I analyze how visual methods of knowledge production in art museums, galleries, and international art exhibitions express and inform conventional identities, policies, institutional practices, divisions of labour, academic theories, and popular ideas about Canadian nationalism, subjectivity, and settler colonial claims to territorial sovereignty. I demonstrate how contemporary visual artwork by Brian Jungen, a Dane-zaa First Nations artist of European descent, and Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore unsettle the conventional Westphalian imaginary of sovereignty in IR and offer transformative potentials for decolonizing material conditions of power, agency, and visuality in international politics. I analyze how Jungen and Belmore’s artwork and framing of their projects in the contexts of the international political conditions within which they live and work intervenes in mainstream Canadian and global visual cultures in terms of political struggles over colonial ethnographic institutional visual methods, Indigenous peoples’ experiences of dispossession, colonial commodification, sexual violence, and Indigenous peoples’ lands and waterways reclamations. Taking the lead from the artists’ self-identified entry points in framing their work, I contribute to IR debates by analyzing how Jungen and Belmore’s work as contemporary visual artists puts pressure on conventional IR theories and methods of understanding power, sovereignty, visuality, anarchy, hierarchy, commodification, violence, agency, and social justice. I discuss the tensions between settler claims to sovereignty and Indigenous peoples’ relationships with traditional lands and waterways as well as Indigenous scholars’ land-based philosophies, in order to better understand possibilities for decolonizing international relationships between non-Indigenous Canadian settlers and Indigenous peoples through artwork

THE MENTOR IN YOU:EXPECTED AND RECIEVED STUDY ABROAD PREPARATION

When you think of studying abroad, visions of exotic locations and wild adventures come to mind. However, have you ever thought about the process before going abroad? This study examines the steps and programs offered to a student before going abroad. The research process involved examining existing literature about the study abroad process and what programs are offered at Illinois State University. Two interviews were conducted with students who have already studied abroad and one interview with a student who is about to study abroad. Further investigation included reviewing blogs and examining the data through narrative analysis. The research findings concluded that the mentor needs mentorship and the study abroad program repeats the same information from past events

A brief acceptance and commitment therapy based intervention for distressed graduate students

Graduate students report to experience distress at high rates. Research suggests that self-care behaviors such as sleep exercise and mindfulness practice can helpful for mental health and wellbeing. The current study examined the effectiveness of a brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) based intervention on increasing self-care behaviors in distressed graduate students at the University of Mississippi (N=7). The intervention was delivered in three 60-minute individual sessions. The effects of the intervention were examined using a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Results indicated that five out of seven participants shoincreases in self-reported self-care behaviors after the start of the intervention and three maintained their gains in the post-intervention period. Implications of these findings for distressed graduate students are discussed