Aging in Equity: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders in America

A research report examining the core issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) elders, including housing, health and wellness, economic issues and access to supportive services. The report provides a series of promising practices by practitioners in various fields

Rapid “Open-Source” Engineering of Customized Zinc-Finger Nucleases for Highly Efficient Gene Modification

Summary—Custom-made zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) can induce targeted genome modifications with high efficiency in cell types including Drosophila, C. elegans, plants, and humans. A bottleneck in the application of ZFN technology has been the generation of highly specific engineered zincfinger arrays. Here we describe OPEN (Oligomerized Pool ENgineering), a rapid, publicly available strategy for constructing multi-finger arrays, which we show is more effective than the previously published modular assembly method. We used OPEN to construct 37 highly active ZFN pairs which induced targeted alterations with high efficiencies (1 to 50%) at 11 different target sites located within three endogenous human genes (VEGF-A, HoxB13, CFTR), an endogenous plant gene (tobacco SuRA), and a chromosomally-integrated EGFP reporter gene. In summary, OPEN provides an “opensource” method for rapidly engineering highly active zinc-finger arrays, thereby enabling broader practice, development, and application of ZFN technology for biological research and gene therapy

A Biomedically Enriched Collection of 7000 Human ORF Clones

We report the production and availability of over 7000 fully sequence verified plasmid ORF clones representing over 3400 unique human genes. These ORF clones were derived using the human MGC collection as template and were produced in two formats: with and without stop codons. Thus, this collection supports the production of either native protein or proteins with fusion tags added to either or both ends. The template clones used to generate this collection were enriched in three ways. First, gene redundancy was removed. Second, clones were selected to represent the best available GenBank reference sequence. Finally, a literature-based software tool was used to evaluate the list of target genes to ensure that it broadly reflected biomedical research interests. The target gene list was compared with 4000 human diseases and over 8500 biological and chemical MeSH classes in ∼15 Million publications recorded in PubMed at the time of analysis. The outcome of this analysis revealed that relative to the genome and the MGC collection, this collection is enriched for the presence of genes with published associations with a wide range of diseases and biomedical terms without displaying a particular bias towards any single disease or concept. Thus, this collection is likely to be a powerful resource for researchers who wish to study protein function in a set of genes with documented biomedical significance

Effects of Temporal Delay on Memory

The reliability and validity of participants self-reported confidence while making eyewitness memory judgements is a hotly debated topic within the criminal justice system. In current research I hypothesize that eyewitnesses will report greater confidence in memory when given slight affirmation. University of San Diego undergraduates: complete a short survey measuring confidence in memory, view a brief film of a mock robbery, complete an immediate free recall assessment, and answer follow-up questions regarding the crime they witnessed. Participants are then presented with photographic line-ups and are asked to identify the perpetrators. Subjects are randomly assigned to receive either slight positive or negative affirmation of their assessments from the investigator, regardless of their accuracy. Three days later, participants complete an identical assessment instrument to measure any variation in memory and reported confidence. Results, conclusions, and future implications will be discussed

WIND BASS: A GUIDE TO PLAYING BASS LINES ON THE TUBA

Thesis (DM) – Indiana University, Music, 202

Differences in Undergraduate Drinking Motives and Alcohol Involvement as Influenced by Gender and Neuroticism

College marks the onset of drinking behaviors for many undergraduate students as they enter a new environment devoid of previous inhibiting variables. Whatever the reason college students choose to drink, and not all of them do, it is imperative that we understand the motives and influences that can lead to increased alcohol related risks in college. This study examines the relationship between drinking motives and alcohol involvement in undergraduate students as defined by gender, expanding on previous literature by not only analyzing the effects of a direct relationship between drinking motives and alcohol involvement but also analyzing the impact subject personality, namely neuroticism, may play in mediating and changing the relationship. Utilizing existing data and multiple regression analysis, this study evaluates the influence neuroticism has on alcohol involvement. Mediated path models for male and female subjects are used to test for gender differences in drinking outcome. I hypothesize that female undergraduates will have an increased likelihood of a mediated relationship between neuroticism and drinking outcomes because females are more likely to be neurotic than males. I also hypothesize that males will be less likely to report emotional reasons for drinking and as such will be unlikely to produce the mediated results. This study will provide insight into the gender differences in drinking motive and provide implications for changing the approaches we take to alcohol involvement by gender

Exploring the Relationship between Instagram Appearance Anxiety and Related Constructs

Adolescents and young adults use social media to connect and communicate more than ever, with nearly three quarters of American teenagers utilizing Instagram and making it the most popular photo sharing platform (Roesler, 2018). Users post pictures and videos often designed to portray an idealized lifestyle, with positive social feedback indexed by the number of viewings, likes, and positive comments the posts receive. Sherlock and Wagstaff (2018) reported that the frequency of Instagram use is correlated with depressive symptoms, self-esteem, general and physical appearance anxiety, and body dissatisfaction. Such symptoms may be exacerbated by the extent of positive social feedback received and the platform recently announced a trial program to deter a focus on content performance by hiding performance metrics (Instagram, 2019). The current research aims to more fully explore the connection between users\u27 social anxiety and Instagram use. Specifically, a two-phase program was designed to investigate the relationship between female undergraduates\u27 patterns of Instagram usage and self-reported levels of social appearance anxiety. An exploratory survey was designed to assess how patterns of Instagram usage may affect participants\u27 self-esteem, social anxiety, and social appearance anxiety. These findings will be used to guide an experimental design manipulating photographic content and perceived liking to explore causality between variables. Results, implications and future directions will be discussed

Perceptions and Misperceptions: College Students with Down Syndrome

People with Down syndrome are often left out of the college narrative, yet many colleges and universities are opening doors to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Current research suggests that the perceived capabilities of individuals with IDD impacts the expected achievement of people with IDD. However, studies are commonly conducted done in colleges. The purpose of current research is to understand the views USD students hold towards students with IDD. Undergraduates are exposed to descriptions of student candidates for an on-campus position that are randomly assigned to either; have IDD/don’t have IDD or are qualified/unqualified. They then rank each applicant and make a hiring decision as a product of these rankings. Based on previous research, I hypothesize that USD students will indicate a preference for a student that doesn’t have IDD. The results of this research could have important implications for people with disabilities attending college