Craving Rojak & Snacking On Indomie: Reflections On A Transnational Experience Through Food Studies And Personal Essays

Throughout my experience as an international student at Messiah College, I have had the opportunity of encountering and experiencing great diversity in multiple areas of life: from personality and ideology, to language and food. These forces that weave the fabric of everyday life have slowly but surely transformed me. The exposure to the myriad of influences has undoubtedly been enriching. The process of navigating through the discovery and determination of who I am, who I could be and whom I aspire to be- my identity- has been confounding and distressing at times, as well as affirming and empowering at times. This project was inspired by many encounters and interactions with and around food that I experienced. These led to musings that led to questions about the influence of food and how it relates to identity and the central puzzle of a person’s place in this world. Food is a powerful, and often imperceptible force that engages everyone. It fulfills our basic needs for survival but is much more than that. It is an artifact of culture- an expression of human ideas, values and feelings- and is a part of the unique cultural identity that an international student brings to the United States (U.S.). It influences and has been influenced by the economy, culture, religion, traditions and the environment of all civilizations. On a smaller scale, food impacts on our physical condition, feelings and decisions. Humans are intertwined with food so that both mutually influence each other’s identities. Food nourishes us and reflects our identity. In turn, cultural environments and human decisions determine the way food is produced, handled, perceived and valued. In this paper, the “international student” refers to a student on a F-1 visa and/or has spent a significant part of their developmental years outside of the U.S. While missionary kids (MKs) or third-cultural kids (TCKs) can fall into the criteria of the latter description, this paper does not use the term “international student” with reference to them. I began this project intending to survey the international students on their experiences and thoughts on food back in their home country and cultures that they were surrounded by prior to attending Messiah College in America. A literature review and preliminary planning for the project was conducted and a questionnaire to send out to international students were created (Appendix 1 & 2). However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to unexpected challenges that prevented data collection to be carried out as planned. Thus, substantial modification for the direction of the project was made. The project is still about unfolding journey of one’s identity explored through the lens of food, but it has gained more personal touch including some reflections written in a memoir style form. The remainder of the paper is structured as short chapters that probes different facets of food studies and reflects on how it relates to the international student experience with personal stories forming the interludes. These seemingly disjointed sections are unified in a journey of gastronomy and self-discovery

Premature recruitment of oocyte pool and increased mTOR activity in Fmr1 knockout mice and reversal of phenotype with rapamycin.

While mutations in the fragile X mental retardation-1 (FMR1) gene are associated with varying reproductive outcomes in females, the effects of a complete lack of FMR1 expression are not known. Here, we studied the ovarian and reproductive phenotypes in an Fmr1 knockout (KO) mouse model and the role of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling. Breeding, histologic and mTOR signaling data were obtained at multiple time points in KO and wild type (WT) mice fed a control or rapamycin (mTOR inhibitor) diet. KO mice showed an earlier decline in ovarian reserve than WT mice with an increased proportion of activated follicles. mTOR and phosphorylated S6 kinase (p-S6K) levels, a measure of downstream mTOR signaling, were elevated in the KO ovaries. Rapamycin blocked these effects in KO mice, and increased the primordial follicle pool and age of last litter in WT mice. Our data demonstrates an early decline in reproductive capacity in Fmr1 KO mice and proposes that premature recruitment of the primordial pool via altered mTOR signaling may be the mechanism. Reversal of phenotypes and protein levels in rapamycin-treated KO mice, as well as increased reproductive lifespan of rapamycin-fed WT mice, suggest the mTOR pathway as a potential therapeutic target

Vascular endothelial growth factor restores delayed tumor progression in tumors depleted of macrophages

Genetic depletion of macrophages in Polyoma Middle T oncoprotein (PyMT)‐induced mammary tumors in mice delayed the angiogenic switch and the progression to malignancy. To determine whether vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF‐A) produced by tumor‐associated macrophages regulated the onset of the angiogenic switch, a genetic approach was used to restore expression of VEGF‐A into tumors at the benign stages. This stimulated formation of a high‐density vessel network and in macrophage‐depleted mice, was followed by accelerated tumor progression. The expression of VEGF‐A led to a massive infiltration into the tumor of leukocytes that were mostly macrophages. This study suggests that macrophage‐produced VEGF regulates malignant progression through stimulating tumor angiogenesis, leukocytic infiltration and tumor cell invasion

Inflammation-induced changes in BKCa currents in cutaneous dorsal root ganglion neurons from the adult rat

Background\ud Inflammation-induced sensitization of primary afferents is associated with a decrease in K+ current. However, the type of K+ current and basis for the decrease varies as a function of target of innervation. Because glabrous skin of the rat hindpaw is used often to assess changes in nociception in models of persistent pain, the purpose of the present study was to determine the type and extent to which K+ currents contribute to the inflammation-induced sensitization of cutaneous afferents. Acutely dissociated retrogradely labeled cutaneous dorsal root ganglion neurons from naïve and inflamed (3 days post complete Freund’s adjuvant injection) rats were studied with whole cell and perforated patch techniques.\ud \ud Results\ud Inflammation-induced sensitization of small diameter cutaneous neurons was associated with an increase in action potential duration and rate of decay of the afterhyperpolarization. However, no changes in voltage-gated K+ currents were detected. In contrast, Ca2+ modulated iberiotoxin sensitive and paxilline sensitive K+ (BKCa) currents were significantly smaller in small diameter IB4+ neurons. This decrease in current was not associated with a detectable change in total protein levels of the BKCa channel α or β subunits. Single cell PCR analysis revealed a significant change in the pattern of expression of α subunit splice variants and β subunits that were consistent, at least in part, with inflammation-induced changes in the biophysical properties of BKCa currents in cutaneous neurons.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud Results of this study provide additional support for the conclusion that it may be possible, if not necessary to selectively treat pain arising from specific body regions. Because a decrease in BKCa current appears to contribute to the inflammation-induced sensitization of cutaneous afferents, BKCa channel openers may be effective for the treatment of inflammatory pain

Mozart K.448 listening decreased seizure recurrence and epileptiform discharges in children with first unprovoked seizures: a randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of reports show the beneficial effects of listening to Mozart music in decreasing epileptiform discharges as well as seizure frequency in epileptic children. There has been no effective method to reduce seizure recurrence after the first unprovoked seizure until now. In this study, we investigated the effect of listening to Mozart K.448 in reducing the seizure recurrence rate in children with first unprovoked seizures. METHODS: Forty-eight children who experienced their first unprovoked seizure with epileptiform discharges were included in the study. They were randomly placed into treatment (n = 24) and control (n = 24) groups. Children in the treatment group listened to Mozart K.448 daily before bedtime for at least six months. Two patients in the treatment group were excluded from analysis due to discontinuation intervention. Finally, forty-six patients were analyzed. Most of these patients (89.1%) were idiopathic in etiology. Seizure recurrence rates and reduction of epileptiform discharges were compared. RESULTS: The average follow-up durations in the treatment and control groups were 18.6 ± 6.6 and 20.1 ± 5.1 months, respectively. The seizure recurrence rate was estimated to be significantly lower in the treatment group than the control group over 24 months (37.2% vs. 76.8%, p = 0.0109). Significant decreases in epileptiform discharges were also observed after 1, 2, and 6 months of listening to Mozart K.448 when compared with EEGs before listening to music. There were no significant differences in gender, mentality, seizure type, and etiology between the recurrence and non-recurrence groups. CONCLUSIONS: Although the case number was limited and control music was not performed in this study, the study revealed that listening to Mozart K.448 reduced the seizure recurrence rate and epileptiform discharges in children with first unprovoked seizures, especially of idiopathic etiology. We believe that Mozart K.448 could be a promising alternative treatment in patients with first unprovoked seizures and abnormal EEGs. Further large-scaled study should be conducted to confirm the effect. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01892605, date: June-19-201

Structural Basis for the Superior Activity of the Large Isoform of Snow Flea Antifreeze Protein

The snow flea (Hypogastrum harveyi) is protected from freezing at sub-zero temperatures by a glycine-rich antifreeze protein (AFP) that binds to seed ice crystals and prevents them from growing larger. This AFP is hyperactive and comprises two isoforms [Graham, L. A., and Davies, P. L. (2005) Science 310, 461]. The larger isoform (15.7 kDa) exhibits several-fold higher activity than the smaller isoform (6.5 kDa), although it is considerably less abundant. To establish the molecular basis for this difference in activity, we determined the sequence of the large isoform. The primary sequences of these two isoforms are surprisingly divergent. However, both contain tripeptide repeats and turn motifs that enabled us to build a three-dimensional model of the large isoform based upon the six-polyproline helix structure of the small isoform. Our model contains 13 polyproline type II helices connected by proline-containing loops stacked into two flat sheets oriented antiparallel to one another. The structure is strictly amphipathic, with a hydrophilic surface on one side and a hydrophobic, putative ice-binding surface on the other. The putative ice-binding site is approximately twice as large in area as that of the small isoform, providing an explanation for the difference in activity that is consistent with other examples noted. By tagging the recombinant AFP with green fluorescent protein, we observed its binding to multiple planes of ice, especially the basal plane. This finding supports the correlation between AFP hyperactivity and basal plane binding first observed with spruce budworm AFP

Design and performance of a compact and stationary microSPECT system

Purpose: Over the last ten years, there has been an extensive growth in the development of microSPECT imagers. Most of the systems are based on the combination of conventional, relatively large gamma cameras with poor intrinsic spatial resolution and multipinhole collimators working in large magnification mode. Spatial resolutions range from 0.58 to 0.76 mm while peak sensitivities vary from 0.06% to 0.4%. While pushing the limits of performance is of major importance, the authors believe that there is a need for smaller and less complex systems that bring along a reduced cost. While low footprint and low-cost systems can make microSPECT available to more researchers, the ease of operation and calibration and low maintenance cost are additional factors that can facilitate the use of microSPECT in molecular imaging. In this paper, the authors simulate the performance of a microSPECT imager that combines high space-bandwidth detectors and pinholes with truncated projection, resulting in a small and stationary system. Methods: A system optimization algorithm is used to determine the optimal SPECT systems, given our high resolutions detectors and a fixed field-of-view. These optimal system geometries are then used to simulate a Defrise disk phantom and a hot rod phantom. Finally, a MOBY mouse phantom, with realistic concentrations of Tc99m-tetrofosmin is simulated. Results: Results show that the authors can successfully reconstruct a Defrise disk phantom of 24 mm in diameter without any rotating system components or translation of the object. Reconstructed spatial resolution is approximately 800 mu m while the peak sensitivity is 0.23%. Finally, the simulation of the MOBY mouse phantom shows that the authors can accurately reconstruct mouse images. Conclusions: These results show that pinholes with truncated projections can be used in small magnification or minification mode to obtain a compact and stationary microSPECT system. The authors showed that they can reach state-of-the-art system performance and can successfully reconstruct images with realistic noise levels in a preclinical context. Such a system can be useful for dynamic SPECT imaging. 2013 American Association of Physicists in Medicine