The Positive Impacts of Service Dogs on Individuals with Disabilities

This poster presentation examines multiple research studies justifying beneficial effects of service dogs on persons with physical and mental disabilities. To better understand the positive effects of service dogs and their capabilities, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to recount firsthand validation where their assistance has been valuable to these individuals. With over fifty million people in the United States currently living with a disability and that number rapidly increasing, the need for assistance with daily tasks can be achieved with the intervention of a service dog (Iezzoni, 2011). Existing research supports the benefits of service dogs for individuals with a disability. To further investigate this topic and the significant impact that service dogs have on the life and welfare of those with a disability, a survey will be conducted to evaluate the impact of service dogs on persons with disabilities in Iowa

Antibody-suppressor CD8+ T cells require IFN-γ and CD4+ T cells for optimal development and effector function

Antibody-mediated rejection is a significant contributor to organ transplant failure. The Bumgardner Lab has recently discovered a novel subset of CD8+ T cells (CD8+ TAb-supp cells) that express CXCR5 and suppress transplant-specific antibody (alloantibody), which results in prolonged transplant survival in mouse models. To further understand these cells, we set out to investigate the requirements for CXCR5+CD8+ TAb-supp cell development. Previous reports suggest that IFN-γ cytokine may be critical for the development of CD8+ TAb-supp cells, and I further hypothesized that CD4+ T cells are also important for their development. To investigate these hypotheses, wild-type mice or mice lacking IFN-γ, IFN-γ receptor (IFN-γR), and/or CD4+ T cells were stimulated with allogeneic antigen. In some cohorts, naïve CD8+ T cells were adoptively transferred (AT) into stimulated mice. One week following stimulation, cells were isolated from the spleens of stimulated mice and analyzed for the CD8+ TAb-supp phenotype (CXCR5), activation (CD44), proliferation, and cytotoxic effector molecules. To date, we have found that the quantity of CXCR5+CD8+ T cells (wild-type, 13.5%) was downregulated in mice that lacked CD4+ T cells (6.8%; 2-fold) or IFN-γ (8.5%; 1.5-fold). While activation was not affected by IFN-γ or CD4+ T cells, proliferation of wild-type CXCR5+CD8+ T cells is dependent on host expression of IFN-γ (wild-type=33.5% versus IFN-γ KO=19.7%). In addition, the cytotoxic effector phenotype of activated CXCR5+CD8+ T cells is nearly abrogated when hosts are IFN-γ deficient (Lamp1: WT=70.0% versus IFN-γ KO=6.7%; FasL: WT=36.5% versus IFN-γ KO=6.7%). To date, experiments using mutant CD8+ T cells adoptively transferred into wild-type hosts show no variance in CXCR5 expression, activation, or effector molecule expression. Thus, our current data, despite relatively small sample sizes, suggests a critical role for both host IFN-γ expression and CD4+ T cells in maximizing CXCR5 expression on CD8+ T cells as well as proliferation and the expression of cytotoxic effector molecules on CXCR5+CD8+ T cells. Our current hypothesis is that IFN-γ+CD4+ T cells are critically important for the development of CXCR5+CD8+ TAb-supp cells, and ongoing studies will continue to investigate the influence these factors have on the novel cell subset.This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health R01 grant AI083456 (to Ginny Bumgardner), CA016058, UL1TR002733, the OSU Division of Transplant Surgery, and the OSU College of Medicine. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.This work was supported by the Undergraduate Research Scholarship through the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the College of Engineering.No embargoAcademic Major: Biomedical Engineerin

Environmental impact assessment: Maddox Creek culvert removal and habitat restoration project

The EIA was completed as a class project for the ESCI 493 class of Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University in regards to a culvert removal proposal to help restore inaccessible salmonid habitat. A group of students performed an analysis of the environmental impacts that will arise from removing the culvert to open up fish passage making spawning and rearing habitat available for coho salmon, steelhead and sea-run cutthroat trout. The proposed project is to remove an eroding 6-foot diameter by 210-foot long culvert pipe that is acting as a fish passage barrier to traditional spawning and rearing habitat of sea-run cutthroat trout, threatened steelhead trout, and coho salmon. The culvert is situated in Maddox Creek with South Laventure Road to the northeast and residential housing to the northwest. Removing the culvert will expose approximately two miles of spawning and rearing habitat for spawning and rearing salmon and trout. The proposed action includes removing approximately 262 thousand cubic feet of fill covering the culvert, excavating the pipe, and restoring the riparian habitat. Alternatives to this action include: 1) installing a slip liner on the inside of the existing culvert and weirs systems inside the slip line and downstream in the channel to backwater the culverts outlet in order to flood the culvert to allow for fish passage; or 2) the “No Action” alternative which will leave the culvert and creek in its current condition. Mitigation for the proposed and alternative actions will consist of stabilizing the surrounding vegetation and soil using silt fences, planting, hydroseeding/fertilizing, and mulching and installation of erosion control mats for erosion and sediment control

Cross-National Coverage of Cross-Border Transit Migration: A Community Structure Approach

A community structure analysis (exploring variations in community/national demographics linked to differences in reporting on critical issues) compared cross-national coverage of cross-border transit migration through Mediterranean and Central European countries in leading newspapers, one per country, in 16 countries, analyzing all articles of 250 words or more from 10/01/14 to 11/01/15. The resulting 238 total articles were coded for “prominence” and “direction” (“government responsibility,” “society responsibility” — including foreign aid, or “balanced/neutral” coverage) and combined into composite “media vector” scores for each newspaper (range 0.1132 to -0.2785, a total range of .3917). A majority of 12 of 16 (75%) of media vectors reflected societal responsibility of transit migration, with the minority (4 of 16, or 25%) registering government responsibility. Pearson correlations revealed the strength of three significant national demographic indicators, two of the three associated with coverage emphasizing government responsibility for transit migration. Crop production index (r= .423, p= .051), a measure of agricultural/economic vulnerability, was linked to coverage emphasizing government responsibility for transit migration. In contrast, another vulnerability measure, global peace index, was associated with more media emphasis on societal responsibility for transit migration (r= -.466, r =.050). One measure of privilege, females in the workforce (r= .426, p= .05), was also linked to government responsibility for transit migration. A regression analysis revealed the strength of a nation’s crop production index (21.2% of the variance), females in the workforce (22.2%) and corruption score (9.8%) all connected to coverage emphasizing government responsibility, collectively accounting for 53.1% of the variance. Contrary to conventional assumptions that media typically act as “guard dogs” reinforcing the interests of political and economic elites, systematic research on demographically linked variations in transit migration coverage reveal that media can “mirror” the interests of a society’s most “vulnerable” inhabitants

Novel Humanized Recombinant T Cell Receptor Ligands Protect the Female Brain After Experimental Stroke

Transmigration of peripheral leukocytes to the brain is a major contributor to cerebral ischemic cell death mechanisms. Humanized partial major histocompatibility complex class II constructs (pMHC), covalently linked to myelin peptides, are effective for treating experimental stroke in males, but new evidence suggests that some inflammatory cell death mechanisms after brain injury are sex-specific. We here demonstrate that treatment with pMHC constructs also improves outcomes in female mice with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). HLA-DR2 transgenic female mice with MCAO were treated with RTL1000 (HLA-DR2 moiety linked to human MOG-35-55 peptide), HLA-DRa1-MOG-35-55, or vehicle (VEH) at 3, 24, 48, and 72 h after reperfusion and were recovered for 96 h or 2 weeks post-injury for measurement of histology (TTC staining) or behavioral testing. RTL1000- and DRa1-MOG-treated mice had profoundly reduced infarct volumes as compared to the VEH group, although higher doses of DRa1-MOG were needed for females vs. males evaluated previously. RTL1000-treated females also exhibited strongly improved functional recovery in a standard cylinder test. In novel studies of post-ischemic ultrasonic vocalization (USV), as measured by animal calls to their cage mates, we modeled in mice the post-stroke speech deficits common in human stroke survivors. The number of calls was reduced in injured animals relative to pre-MCAO baseline regardless of RTL1000 treatment status. However, call duration was significantly improved by RTL1000 treatment, suggesting benefit to the animal’s recovery of vocalization capability. We conclude that both the parent RTL1000 molecule and the novel non-polymorphic DRα1-MOG-35-55 construct were highly effective immunotherapies for treatment of transient cerebral ischemia in females

Concert recording 2015-11-22a

[Track 01]. Saxophone quartet. Elegie ; [Track 02]. Finale / Paul Reade -- [Track 03]. Gallumphery from Diversions in denim / Carl Anton Wirth -- [Track 04]. Shepherd\u27s hey / Percy Grainger -- [Track 05]. He is good and handsome / Pierre Passereau -- [Track 06]. Chorale prelude and fugue / J.S. Bach ; arranged by Laycock -- [Track 07]. Fugue in D / Michael Hanna -- [Track 08]. Explorations / Ryan Key -- [Track 09]. Fugato in F / René Borel -- [Track 10]. Finale from Quartett, opus 109 / Alexander Glazunov

Law, Liberty and the Rule of Law (in a Constitutional Democracy)

In the hunt for a better--and more substantial--awareness of the “law,” The author intends to analyze the different notions related to the “rule of law” and to criticize the conceptions that equate it either to the sum of “law” and “rule” or to the formal assertion that “law rules,” regardless of its relationship to certain principles, including both “negative” and “positive” liberties. Instead, he pretends to scrutinize the principles of the “rule of law,” in general, and in a “constitutional democracy,” in particular, to conclude that the tendency to reduce the “democratic principle” to the “majority rule” (or “majority principle”), i.e. to whatever pleases the majority, as part of the “positive liberty,” is contrary both to the “negative liberty” and to the “rule of law” itself