\u3cem\u3eBeyond Therapy\u3c/em\u3e: A Dramaturgical Look at Christopher Durang\u27s Absurdist Play

This research notebook (also known as a dramaturgy notebook) was created as a class project for an advanced Theatre History course. We were asked to choose one play to study throughout the semester with the ultimate goal of creating a dramaturgy notebook that would be usable for a production team were we to produce our show of choice. Having a great interest in Christopher Durang and his work, I chose to study Beyond Therapy. We were asked specifically to write a biography on our chosen playwright, a historical context essay, an essay about themes present in the show, and an essay commenting on published criticisms on various performances of the show. Beyond that, we were also asked to write two supplements that might be found in a dramaturgy notebook. For this portion of the assignment I chose to write a press release covering the fictional Linfield production, and to create a question and answer section culminating in some interview questions published on Durang’s website. While the notebook as a whole serves to provide context for a production team, each section of the notebook has its own stand-alone function. In 2014, this research was presented at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Region VII) in Boise, Idaho and was awarded first runner-up in the dramaturgy category

Prompt Book: \u3cem\u3eKickin’ Sand and Tellin’ Lies\u3c/em\u3e

This document is the prompt book created by stage manager Jennifer Layton for the Linfield College Theatre\u27s November 2012 production of Kickin’ Sand and Tellin’ Lies by Jackson B. Miller and Christopher Forrer. The prompt book includes ground plans with blocking diagrams that depict the movements of the actors throughout the play, notations that indicate the timing for lighting, sound, and multimedia cues called by the stage manager during performances, and administrative materials such as rehearsal schedules, lists of stage properties and costume pieces, and other documents related to the process of creating the production.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/dory_kstl_play/1001/thumbnail.jp

Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City

The Keck Summer Collaborative Research Program provides opportunities for Linfield College students and faculty to conduct research on issues related to the Pacific Northwest, and to bring the research findings back into the classroom within the subsequent academic year. Students partner with faculty to conduct research and present their work to other students, Linfield staff and faculty, and community members during a series of brown bag lunches. Cassidy Davis and Jennifer Layton conducted research with Tyrone Marshall and gave this presentation during the summer of 2012. This phase of Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City consists of two parts. The first part is the collection and the preservation of the oral histories of the Pacific City Dory fishermen. A group of students and faculty members started the project in the summer of 2011, and the research team expanded and continued work in the summer of 2012. The research team spent their time interviewing the fishermen about their involvement in the dory community and the larger community of Pacific City. These interviews were audio- and video-recorded, and several small segments from the interviews have been edited and published to DigitalCommons@Linfield. The editing work will continue throughout the 2012-13 school year. The second part of this project is the creation of a theatrical performance to be produced by the Linfield Theatre Arts department in November of 2012. This will be a fictional performance inspired by the stories told by the fishermen and their families

Sex-specific computational models of the spontaneously hypertensive rat kidneys: factors affecting nitric oxide bioavailability

Sex-specific computational models of the spontaneously hypertensive rat kidneys: factors affecting nitric oxide bioavailability. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 313: F174 –F183, 2017. First published March 29, 2017; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00482.2016.—The goals of this study were to 1) develop a computational model of solute transport and oxygenation in the kidney of the female spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), and 2) apply that model to investigate sex differences in nitric oxide (NO) levels in SHR and their effects on medullary oxygenation and oxidative stress. To accomplish these goals, we first measured NO synthase (NOS) 1 and NOS3 protein expression levels in total renal microvessels of male and female SHR. We found that the expression of both NOS1 and NOS3 is higher in the renal vasculature of females compared with males. To predict the implications of that finding on medullary oxygenation and oxidative stress levels, we developed a detailed computational model of the female SHR kidney. The model was based on a published male kidney model and represents solute transport and the biochemical reactions among O2, NO, and superoxide (O2 ) in the renal medulla. Model simulations conducted using both male and female SHR kidney models predicted significant radial gradients in interstitial fluid oxygen tension (PO2) and NO and O2 concentration in the outer medulla and upper inner medulla. The models also predicted that increases in endothelial NO-generating capacity, even when limited to specific vascular segments, may substantially raise medullary NO and PO2 levels. Other potential sex differences in SHR, including O2 production rate, are predicted to significantly impact oxidative stress levels, but effects on NO concentration and PO2 are limited.This research was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Grant R01-DK-106102 to A. T. Layton, and by American Heart Association Grant 14GRNT20480199 to J. C. Sullivan. (R01-DK-106102 - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 14GRNT20480199 - American Heart Association)Accepted manuscrip

Launching through the Surf: Audio and Video Editing

This project is a part of the student-faculty collaborative research project Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City. Research for this project began in the summer of 2011, and the research team expanded and continued work in the summer of 2012. The purpose of this project was to collect and preserve the oral histories of the Dory Fleet in Pacific City, Oregon. The team worked to interview dory fishers and their families in order to learn about their experiences as commercial and recreational fishermen. These interviews were audio- and video-recorded, and then short stories from the interviews were edited and published in DigitalCommons@Linfield. The interviews also helped to shape a full-length theatrical production produced by the Linfield Theatre in November of 2012. This presentation focuses on work done by students to record, edit, and process the audio and video recordings collected through the research

David McDonald Interview 2016

Interview with David McDonald, Associate Provost of Western Oregon University. He discusses his career, daily challenges at Western, helping students finding career paths, the transition from public to private board, and his hopes for the future of the university

Impact of sex and pathophysiology on optimal drug choice in hypertensive rats: Quantitative insights for precision medicine

Less than half of all hypertensive patients receiving treatment are successful in normalizing their blood pressure. Despite the complexity and heterogeneity of hypertension, the current antihypertensive guidelines are not tailored to the individual patient. As a step toward individualized treatment, we develop a quantitative systems pharmacology model of blood pressure regulation in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and generate sex-specific virtual populations of SHRs to account for the heterogeneity between the sexes and within the pathophysiology of hypertension. We then used the mechanistic model integrated with machine learning tools to study how variability in these mechanisms leads to differential responses in rodents to the four primary classes of antihypertensive drugs. We found that both the sex and the pathophysiological profile of the individual play a major role in the response to hypertensive treatments. These results provide insight into potential areas to apply precision medicine in human primary hypertension.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada || Canada 150 Research Chair progra

Maternal lipid profile differs by gestational diabetes physiologic subtype

Aim To characterize lipid profiles in women with different gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) physiologic subtypes. Methods We measured seven lipid markers (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), ApoA, ApoB) in fasting plasma collected in a prospective cohort of 805 pregnant women during second trimester. We estimated insulin sensitivity and secretion using oral glucose tolerance test-based validated indices. We categorized GDM physiologic subtypes by insulin sensitivity and secretion defects defined as values below the 25th percentile among women with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), as previously established. We compared lipid markers across NGT and GDM subtypes. We explored associations between lipid markers and newborn anthropometry in the overall group and stratified by glucose tolerance status. Results Among 805 women, 67 (8.3%) developed GDM. Women with GDM had higher body mass index (BMI; 29.3 vs. 26.6 kg/m2), while ethnicity (97.3% vs. 97.0% European ancestry) and age (28 vs. 29 years) were similar. In comparison to women with NGT, women with GDM characterized by a predominant insulin sensitivity defect had significantly higher triglycerides (2.20 vs. 1.82, P = 0.002), lower HDL (1.64 vs. 1.90, P = 0.01) and higher NEFA (0.34 vs. 0.24, P < 0.0001). GDM women with a predominant insulin secretion defect differed from women with NGT with respect to NEFA (0.32 vs. 0.24, P = 0.003) while other lipid markers were similar. These associations remained significant after adjusting for maternal age and BMI. Greater maternal levels of NEFA were associated with higher birth weight z-scores in women with an insulin secretion defect (BMI-adjusted r = 0.58, P = 0.01). We did not find significant associations between other lipid markers and newborn anthropometry in other groups. Conclusion Women with GDM have distinct lipid profiles based on their GDM physiologic subtype which may not be apparent when investigating GDM as a single group

Network Influence of the Cerebellum for Predicting DBS Response in Patients with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease

Introduction: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a treatment option for reducing motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) when first-line medication becomes ineffective. Existing literature has hypothesized that the clinical outcome of DBS may depend on brain connectivity profiles of the stimulation site to distant brain regions. However, the potential of brain connectivity profiles to predict response to DBS in PD remains unclear. Objective: This study aimed to investigate how changes in structural and functional connectivity may relate to patient response to DBS, through the examination of brain network changes using graph theory. Methods: Ten patients with advanced PD were included in this study. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state fMRI scans were acquired prior to DBS implantation. Pre-DBS and post-DBS UPDRS-III scores were obtained. Network analysis of the DTI and fMRI scans was performed using GRETNA to compute structural and functional graph theory metrics, respectively. Metrics were correlated with UPDRS-III improvement to identify significant correlations to UPDRS improvement due to DBS. Results: Combined structural and functional graph theory metrics highlighted 32 structures to be significantly correlated with UPDRS-III improvement. Mainly, connections to the cerebellum were found to be significantly correlated with UPDRS-III improvement across several metrics for both structural and functional connectivity. Discussion: This work combined DTI, fMRI, and graph theory analysis to evaluate improvement with DBS. Several imaging biomarkers were identified that are robust predictors for UPDRS-III improvement. This work warrants investigation into the compensatory effect of the cerebellum and other potential biomarkers for identifying DBS candidates