The Monkey in the Looking Glass: Fairies, Folklore and Evolutionary Theory in the Search for Britain\u27s Imperial Self

In his groundbreaking work of postcolonial theory, Orientalism, Edward Said puts forth the idea that imperial Europe asserted an identity by constructing the character of its colonized subjects. Said writes that his book tries to “show that European culture gained in strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even underground self” (3). The object of this thesis is a related project, for it too is a search for imperial Britain’s surrogate or underground self. Yet rather than positioning this search within the British colonies, this thesis takes as its context a land and people that were at once more intimate and more alien: the races and landscapes of Fairyland. This Thesis attempts to situate the fairy folklore and literature from the Victorian era within the context of greater social and political ideologies of the age, specifically those pertaining to national identity, imperial power and race. In doing so it will analyze Charles Kingsley’s Water-Babies, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Kenneth Grahame’s The Golden Age, George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden concluding that the British self proposed by these works was an uncomfortable manifestation, and haunted by the anxieties and discontinuities that arose as imperial Britain attempted to navigate an identity within Victorian conceptions of race and power

Lessons Learned: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Water Management [abstract]

2 pages

Varicose: a MAGUK required for the maturation and function of Drosophila septate junctions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Scaffolding proteins belonging to the membrane associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK) superfamily function as adapters linking cytoplasmic and cell surface proteins to the cytoskeleton to regulate cell-cell adhesion, cell-cell communication and signal transduction. We characterize here a <it>Drosophila </it>MAGUK member, Varicose (Vari), the homologue of vertebrate scaffolding protein PALS2.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Varicose localizes to pleated septate junctions (pSJs) of all embryonic, ectodermally-derived epithelia and peripheral glia. In <it>vari </it>mutants, essential SJ proteins NeurexinIV and FasciclinIII are mislocalized basally and epithelia develop a leaky paracellular seal. In addition, <it>vari </it>mutants display irregular tracheal tube diameters and have reduced lumenal protein accumulation, suggesting involvement in tracheal morphogenesis. We found that Vari is distributed in the cytoplasm of the optic lobe neuroepithelium, as well as in a subset of neuroblasts and differentiated neurons of the nervous system. We reduced <it>vari </it>function during the development of adult epithelia with a partial rescue, RNA interference and generation of genetically mosaic tissue. All three approaches demonstrate that <it>vari </it>is required for the patterning and morphogenesis of adult epithelial hairs and bristles.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Varicose is involved in scaffold assembly at the SJ and has a role in patterning and morphogenesis of adult epithelia.</p

Biosimilars in Oncology: From Development to Clinical Practice

Biologics play an integral role in the treatment of cancer not only for their therapeutic effects and ability to improve outcomes, but also as supportive care agents. Biologics are more complex to manufacture and take longer to bring to market. Because biologics are considerably more costly than small-molecule drugs, their use has placed an increasing economic demand on healthcare systems worldwide. Biosimilars are designed to be highly similar to existing branded biologics, but because biologics cannot be exactly copied, biosimilars should not be referred to as generic, exact versions of the innovator biologic. Biosimilars have the potential to increase access and provide lower cost options for cancer care as patent protection for some of the most widely used biologics begins to expire. Regulatory requirements for biosimilars are evolving, as are global harmonization and/or standardization strategies that can facilitate their robust clinical development. This review highlights critical factors involved with the integration of biosimilars into oncology treatment paradigms and practices. Clinicians will likely seek out practice guidelines and position statements from established scientific societies to help evaluate key information regarding biosimilars, such as efficacy, safety, comparability, and interchangeability with the reference biologic. Automatic substitution, nomenclature, extrapolation of clinical data from one indication to another, as well as parameters for ongoing pharmacovigilance are evolving considerations. Education of physicians and other healthcare providers, payers, and patients about biosimilars may facilitate informed decision making, promote acceptance of biosimilars into clinical practice, increase accessibility, and expedite associated health and economic benefits

Strategies to Address Student Food and Financial Basic Needs in Higher Education

College students experience basic needs insecurity, including food and housing insecurity, at a higher rate than the overall U.S. population. This issue has serious negative implications for student health and academic outcomes, which in turn negatively impacts their institutions of higher education. Due to increased awareness of student basic needs insecurity, institutions of higher education have started addressing this issue in multiple ways but there is limited research assessing the process, outcomes, and impact of these interventions. This report details the extent of basic needs insecurity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through comparison to national and state data and considers the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on this issue. To explore what is being done to combat basic needs insecurity at institutions of higher education, I conducted and in-depth review of peer-reviewed and grey literature on commonly recommended intervention strategies. The report describes available evidence supporting the creation of centralized resource hubs, development of SNAP application supports, acceptance of EBT on campus, use of campus food pantries, and disbursement of meal vouchers to address student basic needs. The findings emphasize that there are many strategies to address basic needs insecurity, but no one intervention fully resolves this issue and more research is needed to evaluate outcomes of, best practices for, essential components of, and synergies between interventions.Master of Public Healt

Gastrointestinal nematode-derived antigens alter colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through regulation of cell cycle and epithelial-mesenchymal transition proteins

As the global incidences of colorectal cancer rises, there is a growing importance in understanding the interaction between external factors, such as common infections, on the initiation and progression of this disease. While certain helminth infections have been shown to alter the severity and risk of developing colitis-associated colorectal cancer, whether these parasites can directly affect colorectal cancer progression is unknown. Here, we made use of murine and human colorectal cancer cell lines to demonstrate that exposure to antigens derived from the gastrointestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus significantly reduced colorectal cancer cell proliferation in vitro. Using a range of approaches, we demonstrate that antigen-dependent reductions in cancer cell proliferation and viability are associated with increased expression of the critical cell cycle regulators p53 and p21. Interestingly, H. polygyrus-derived antigens significantly increased murine colorectal cancer cell migration, which was associated with an increased expression of the adherens junction protein β-catenin, whereas the opposite was true for human colorectal cancer cells. Together, these findings demonstrate that antigens derived from a gastrointestinal nematode can significantly alter colorectal cancer cell behavior. Further in-depth analysis may reveal novel candidates for targeting and treating late-stage cancer

Goal-directed Leg Movements and Kicks in Infants with Spina Bifida

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Infants with SB present with a known central nervous system lesion that often results in neurologic, orthopedic, and/or cognitive impairments. They usually learn to walk significantly later than typically developing (TD) infants. The delays they experience in learning to walk appear to be related to the fact that they move their legs and kick less often than infants who are TD. Only a small number of studies have reported strategies that therapists and parents may use to increase how often infants with SB move their legs and kick. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact conjugate reinforcement has on the frequency of leg movements (LMs) and kicks generated by infants with SB. METHODS: The LMs of 7 infants with lumbar or sacral SB were videotaped while they were supine in 3 conditions: Baseline; Acquisition (tethered to a mobile); and Extinction. The infants’ LMs were video-taped for two minutes in each condition which enabled us to capture their spontaneous and goal-directed LMs and kicks. The video-tape of each infant’s LMs were then behavior coded via a frame by frame analysis to identify how often each baby moved his or her legs and kicked in each condition as well as how often they generated 9 types of kicks. RESULTS: A significant correlation was observed between LMs and kicks (r= .976, p=0.00). These infants moved their tethered leg significantly more than their untethered leg (p=0.036). These infants generated more goal-directed LMs and kicks in the acquisition and extinction conditions; however, these differences only approached significance (p \u3c .05). Single kicks and parallel kicks were the most common types of kicks generated in each condition. CONCLUSION: The present results are consistent with the literature and suggest that increased kicks lead to stronger neural connections and increased strength, which ultimately leads to earlier onset of ambulation. Due to the significant correlation between LMs and kicks, increasing the frequency of LMs in infants may increase the amount of kicks. However, further research is needed. This study was limited by the small sample size and large standard deviations within group means

Depressive Symptoms Predicted by Executive Dysfunctions

Poster Presentation & Judging of Undergraduate Research

'It's Up to You': Experimentally Manipulated Autonomy Support for Prosocial Behavior Improves Well-Being in Two Cultures Over Six Weeks

Previous research has demonstrated a strong link between prosocial behavior – particularly autonomous prosocial behavior – and well-being. Little is known, however, about whether and how autonomy might be boosted in the context of everyday kindnesses. We tested the effect of supporting students’ autonomy on well-being gains from practicing acts of kindness in a six-week randomized experimental study in the United States and South Korea. As predicted, performing kind acts while receiving autonomy support led to greater improvements in well-being than performing kind acts without autonomy support or engaging in comparison activities (i.e. focusing on one’s academic work, with or without autonomy support). Notably, these well-being improvements were mediated by feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The current study is one of the first to demonstrate the causal effect of autonomous prosocial behavior on well-being, as well as the psychological mechanism (i.e. need satisfaction) explaining this effect

MedDevRisk: Risk Analysis Methodology for Networked Medical Devices

The prolific integration of technology into medical environments is continuously generating new attack vectors. This continuous amalgamation of technology into the medical field prompted the idea that risk assessment models can be utilized to identify cyber security vulnerabilities in medical settings. This research presents an initial investigation into the application of risk assessment frame works, i.e., STRIDE, Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures, and a Common Vulnerability Scoring System to identified networked medical devices that are currently employed in an operational medical simulation lab. The contribution of this research is twofold and culminates in a novel proof-of-concept system known as MedDevRisk. First, it demonstrates an approach to incorporating existing threat models into a relational database schema based on Threat-Vulnerability-Asset (TVA) relationships. Second, it provides an initial empirical analysis of the risk associated with networked medical devices along with providing the foundation for future research