The Context of Sexual Risk among African-American Female College Students

Objective: To assess the sexually transmitted infection (STI) awareness, sexual risk behaviors, and related contextual factors of African-American female college students. Participants: Eighty-nine African-American first year female students attending a majority public four-year college in the southern U.S. participated in the study in Spring, 2006. Methods: Participants completed an anonymous self-administered paper-and-pencil survey and received a $15 cash incentive. Results: Participants were highly knowledgeable and aware about STIs and their consequences. While this awareness translated into low levels of risk for many, still others engaged in behaviors and maintained beliefs that could potentially put them at high risk for contracting STIs. Conclusions: Given the disproportionate rates of STIs among young African-American females, researchers must not ignore the non-behavioral factors (i.e. beliefs and perceptions) that may influence sexual risk behaviors to help in determining optimal methods for intervention and prevention among young African-American females

Gastrointestinal Appetite Hormones Change With Maternal Adaptations to Pregnancy and Lactation in the Rat

As obesity is becoming more prevalent, there is concern for maternal health during pregnancy, parturition and beyond, alongside the impact that maternal obesity has on offspring health. Appetite regulation by gut hormones is one target for obesity ‘treatment’, although little is known about this fundamental system during different female reproductive stages. The main aims of this thesis were to study the orexigenic stomach-secreted hormone ghrelin and the anorexigenic colon-secreted hormones peptide-YY (PYY) and glucagonlike peptide-1 (GLP-1) in female rats during their oestrous cycle, pregnancy and lactation. Changes in gut dimensions during pregnancy and lactation were also studied. In addition, lactation litter sizes were adjusted to explore the effects of different nutritional demands on both the dams and their male and female pups. Reduced food intake has been reported during oestrus in rats. Here, significantly reduced fasted stomach contents leading into oestrus occurred with significantly increased circulating GLP-1 during proestrus. Ghrelin-positive stomach cells were significantly higher after parturition compared with non-pregnant and pregnant dams; this change may initiate and sustain lactation-associated hyperphagia, with significantly increased plasma ghrelin evident by late lactation. Paradoxical high levels of PYY and GLP-1 were found early in lactation when food intake was high, which may be related to a significant increase in gut growth from early to late lactation. Maternal gut size was significantly increased by late lactation and lactation litter size appeared to influence these changes. Only male offspring had altered satiety hormones, with significantly decreased descending colon PYY and GLP-1 levels when raised in large litters. In conclusion, gut hormones and gastrointestinal modifications were altered during different reproductive states in females and in their male offspring at weaning. Further study is required to elucidate whether these changes may persist, influencing future health status, and whether they can be reliably modified for therapeutic purposes

The formation of helium lines in the spectrum of COM J1740-5340

The He I 5876A absorption line recently discovered in the spectrum of the companion to the millisecond pulsar PSR J1740-5340 is tentatively attributed to electron impact excitations due to the irradiation of its atmosphere by gamma-rays emitted by the pulsar's magnetosphere. Numerical calculations, similar to those carried out previously for Type Ib SNe, indicate that a pulsar beam with photon energies ~ 1 MeV gives rise to a 5876A line of the observed strength if the beam's spin-down conversion efficiency approaches 1%. However, a significant difficulty for the proposed mechanism is the strength of the singlet line at 6678A. Compared to the corresponding triplets, singlet lines are weak because of the loss of excitation when photons emitted in decays to the ground state ionize hydrogen atoms, an effect absent in the hydrogen-free atmospheres of Type Ib SNe.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Arithmetic needed in the textile industry

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

How rapid is aphid-induced signal transfer between plants via common mycelial networks?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Inhibitory Effect of CBD on Proinflammatory Cytokine, IL-6, in LPS-Mediated Inflamed THP-1 Differentiated Macrophage Cells

About 1.5 million Americans suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), an autoimmune, chronic inflammatory disease with no cure. This is a condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, leaving the body in a constant state of inflammation. A major characteristic of RA is unresolved inflammation specifically in the joints of the hands, wrists, and knees. People who have RA suffer from a lot of pain, experience bone, and joint deformity, and have a loss of function in the targeted areas. In patients with RA, the immune system is not working properly, and the immune responses are unregulated. Due to being an autoimmune disorder, our B cells are presenting healthy cells with autoantigens that trigger multiple signaling pathways that lead to the release of cytokines. A primary cytokine, IL-6, plays a role in the pathogenesis of RA due to its pro-inflammatory effects. IL-6 causes the release of acute phase proteins which cause fevers, iron deficiency, fatigue, fat and muscle loss, anorexia, and weakness. One way to treat RA is to target the inflammation directly by interrupting cytokine release. In this work, the effect of CBD was evaluated to determine if its application has the potential to decrease IL-6 expression/release by inflamed cells. Macrophages derived from THP-1 Cells cultured with PMA were treated with LPS to model inflammation in vitro and the expression of IL-6 was determined by ELISA to correlate in a dose-dependent manner to LPS

Increasing phosphorus supply is not the mechanism by which arbuscular mycorrhiza increase attractiveness of bean (Vicia faba) to aphids

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Towards a praxis of care in post-pandemic fieldwork: Comparing ethnographic encounters during Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of ensuring the wellbeing of both researchers and participants throughout the research process. In this paper, we argue that in order to produce caring research, the wellbeing of researchers must not be neglected. Using our experiences as three doctoral researchers undertaking ethnographic fieldwork during the pandemic, we consider what it means to do research which has a ‘praxis of care’ at its core. By consciously embedding care into the research process, we argue that we can work towards research that prioritises multiple modes of care and compassion. To demonstrate this, we present and reflect on our three related, but individual experiences as ongoing case studies. Grounding our own research encounters within broader literature focused on self-care in early career research alongside feminist perspectives, we ask the following questions: In the pursuit of knowledge, what does taking a step back to care for ourselves look like? How can we plan fieldwork which operates without harm for both researcher and participant? Finally, we contemplate what fieldwork with an epistemological commitment to ‘care’ for both researchers and participants could look like and propose some practical recommendations for incorporating a praxis of care throughout the research process