Spirit Shout

The following excerpt constitutes the beginning of a novel. Spirit Shout is a fantasy narrative that follows a boy named Sulae as he grows and interacts with the diverse spirits and monsters that inhabit his world. He’s adopted by an influential couple from a neighboring region and spends much of his younger years struggling to find a place in this community. Later, he travels to discover his origins and pursue his dreams of serving a god. From these adventures, he learns about the intricacies of identity, religion, family, and the supernatural

The effects of acute exercise on plasma oxytocin

Oxytocin is a nine-amino acid peptide hormone and/or neuropeptide that has proposed mechanisms related to diminishing the effects of physical, psychological, and psychosocial stress. Exercise is often used in clinical trials to quantify stress because it is easily reproducible between subjects using relative VO2 intensities. However, trials examining plasma oxytocin in response to physical stress within exercise have shown mixed results possibly related to the varied measurement techniques. The purpose of this study is to measure plasma oxytocin changes in response to steady state exercise and graded maximal exercise and to determine if a relationship exists. Procedures were utilized to release oxytocin from the protein binding within blood and measure the oxytocin concentration through a high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer. Difficulties in the chromatography detection sensitivity forced the present study to also use an ELISA to determine plasma oxytocin concentrations. Plasma oxytocin concentrations were consistently too low to detect even after sizable spiking for both measurement techniques. Mean resting concentration derived from the ELISA was 371.75 ± 215.10 pg/ml. There was no significant difference in concentration following either exercise stimulus. These results suggest that the extraction technique utilized with the ELISA kit failed to separate protein binding from oxytocin prior to analysis

Validation of the thigh stabilization system for a novel multi-planar instrumented knee arthrometer

Knee joint laxity characterizes the structural proprieties of the connective tissues and supporting structures within the knee joint. In the past, knee joint laxity has been measured subjectively by clinicians who assess joint integrity through manual manipulation of the joint. More recently however, instrumented knee arthrometers have provided clinicians and researchers alike with objective measures of knee joint laxity. To this end, arthrometry has become an important tool for use in to characterizing knee joint laxity and how it differs across broad populations. Despite the many technological advances in instrumented knee arthrometry over the past three decades, there are still significant issues with the reliability, and generalizability of these measurements. These issues inhibit our understanding of how knee joint integrity changes in response to joint insult and hormonal fluctuations. Therefore, a novel instrumented arthrometer must be developed to specifically address these deficiencies. To this end, this thesis examines and discusses the gaps in current instrumented arthrometry. Furthermore, it proposes a solution to address a key measurement issue associated with thigh segment stabilization and attempts to validate this solution via a stabilization study utilizing cadaveric specimens. The evidence presented herein suggests that, while the a priori benchmarks for this study were not completely met, the stabilization system was clearly able to provide sufficient stability such that an arthrometric assessment of the joint could be repeatedly administered. Moreover, with minor changes to the current stabilization system it may be entirely possible to obtain truly generalizable and highly repeatable arthrometric evaluations

An epidemiologic investigation of the relationship between religiosity, selected health behaviors, and blood pressure

The purpose of this investigation was to examine both the direct and indirect relationships between various dimensions of religiosity (the quality of being religious) and blood pressure (BP). One hundred twelve UNC Greensboro and Salem College female alumni, living in Guilford and Forsyth Counties, who were 35 years or older and of Judea-Christian faith, participated in the study. Following a 10-minute quiet rest period, three BP readings were taken with a validated Colins automated BP monitor at 5-minute intervals and the last two readings were averaged together. Height and weight were measured to determine body mass index. To measure religiosity, a 33-question multidimensional religiosity schedule (Koenig, Smiley & Gonzales, 1988), was utilized. A total religiosity score, as well as scores on nine dimensions (intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity, belief factor, religious well-being, organized religious activity, nonorganized religious activity, religious knowledge, religious experience, and religious coping) were determined. Leisure time physical activity, smoking, an interactive dietary variable (K:Na X Ca), alcohol consumption and control variables (age, socioeconomic status) were abstracted from questionnaires

The Road Less Traveled: The Achievement Gap in College and Differences by Parents’ Education, Gender, and Race

The author explored social factors that contribute to participation or non-participation in honors program to further understand the achievement gap that exists at the collegiate level. Parents' education, race, and gender (independent variables) were explored in relation to GPA, participation in an honors program, unpaid, out-of-class work experience with a professor, and working for pay (dependent variables). Data was collected via interviews with students and officials within the honors program. Also, statistical testing was completed via the SPSS software to run crosstabs. The researcher found that all the tables, except out-of-class work experience with a professor by gender and race produced values that were significant. However, certain relationships (e.g. parents' education by GPA, participation in an honors program, and working for pay) can be considered strong factors that may encourage participation. Research should continue to be explored on honors programs and factors encouraging or deterring participation

Analytical and numerical analyses of the micromechanics of soft fibrous connective tissues

State of the art research and treatment of biological tissues require accurate and efficient methods for describing their mechanical properties. Indeed, micromechanics motivated approaches provide a systematic method for elevating relevant data from the microscopic level to the macroscopic one. In this work the mechanical responses of hyperelastic tissues with one and two families of collagen fibers are analyzed by application of a new variational estimate accounting for their histology and the behaviors of their constituents. The resulting, close form expressions, are used to determine the overall response of the wall of a healthy human coronary artery. To demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method these predictions are compared with corresponding 3-D finite element simulations of a periodic unit cell of the tissue with two families of fibers. Throughout, the analytical predictions for the highly nonlinear and anisotropic tissue are in agreement with the numerical simulations

Education can improve the negative perception of a threatened long-lived scavenging bird, the Andean condor

Human-wildlife conflicts currently represent one of the main conservation problems for wildlife species around the world. Vultures have serious conservation concerns, many of which are related to people's adverse perception about them due to the belief that they prey on livestock. Our aim was to assess local perception and the factors influencing people's perception of the largest scavenging bird in South America, the Andean condor. For this, we interviewed 112 people from Valle Fértil, San Juan province, a rural area of central west Argentina. Overall, people in the area mostly have an elementary education, and their most important activity is livestock rearing. The results showed that, in general, most people perceive the Andean condor as an injurious species and, in fact, some people recognize that they still kill condors. We identified two major factors that affect this perception, the education level of villagers and their relationship with livestock ranching. Our study suggests that conservation of condors and other similar scavengers depends on education programs designed to change the negative perception people have about them. Such programs should be particularly focused on ranchers since they are the ones who have the worst perception of these scavengers. We suggest that highlighting the central ecological role of scavengers and recovering their cultural value would be fundamental to reverse their persecution and their negative perception by people.Fil: Cailly Arnulphi, Verónica Beatríz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; ArgentinaFil: Lambertucci, Sergio Agustin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Borghi, Carlos Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; Argentin

Phenotypic Variation and Bistable Switching in Bacteria

Microbial research generally focuses on clonal populations. However, bacterial cells with identical genotypes frequently display different phenotypes under identical conditions. This microbial cell individuality is receiving increasing attention in the literature because of its impact on cellular differentiation, survival under selective conditions, and the interaction of pathogens with their hosts. It is becoming clear that stochasticity in gene expression in conjunction with the architecture of the gene network that underlies the cellular processes can generate phenotypic variation. An important regulatory mechanism is the so-called positive feedback, in which a system reinforces its own response, for instance by stimulating the production of an activator. Bistability is an interesting and relevant phenomenon, in which two distinct subpopulations of cells showing discrete levels of gene expression coexist in a single culture. In this chapter, we address techniques and approaches used to establish phenotypic variation, and relate three well-characterized examples of bistability to the molecular mechanisms that govern these processes, with a focus on positive feedback.

Single-Cell Profiling Reveals the Origin of Phenotypic Variability in Adipogenesis

Phenotypic heterogeneity in a clonal cell population is a well-observed but poorly understood phenomenon. Here, a single-cell approach is employed to investigate non-mutative causes of phenotypic heterogeneity during the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells into fat cells. Using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy and flow cytometry, adipogenic gene expression, insulin signaling, and glucose import are visualized simultaneously with lipid droplet accumulation in single cells. Expression of adipogenic genes PPARγ, C/EBPα, aP2, LP2 suggests a commitment to fat cell differentiation in all cells. However, the lack of lipid droplet in many differentiating cells suggests adipogenic gene expression is insufficient for lipid droplet formation. Instead, cell-to-cell variability in lipid droplet formation is dependent on the cascade responses of an insulin signaling pathway which includes insulin sensitivity, kinase activity, glucose import, expression of an insulin degradation enzyme, and insulin degradation rate. Increased and prolonged insulin stimulation promotes lipid droplet accumulation in all differentiating cells. Single-cell profiling reveals the kinetics of an insulin signaling cascade as the origin of phenotypic variability in drug-inducible adipogenesis