Fatal Familial Insomnia: An Overview

Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) is an insidious prion disorder that tends to manifest itself as a patient reaches middle age following a pattern consistent with autosomal dominance. A wide range of symptoms are represented, many related to motor function and autonomic regulation, but degeneration of certain areas of the thalamus is present in every case. Genetically, the condition is transmitted only within families, but it has been demonstrated by Jackson et al. (2009) that FFI can be transmitted by exposure to/ingestion of infected material. A number of groundbreaking studies are discussed. These include the initial documentation of FFI as a prion disorder by Medori et al. (1992), the identification of codon 129 on PRNP as a locus for prion disease susceptibility by Palmer et al. (1991), the discovery that the aberrant isoform PrPsc requires the normal PrP protein in order to produce infectivity by Mallucci et al. (2003), and others. There are no effective treatments for FFI as of yet; scientists are still searching for all the pieces to the puzzle

Rates of breastfeeding and exposure to socio-economic adversity amongst children with intellectual disability

Children with intellectual disability are at increased risk of experiencing poor health relative to their typically developing peers. Previous research indicates that exposure to socio-economic disadvantage contributes towards this disparity but that additional factors (including parenting practices) may be involved in mediating/moderating pathways. This study examined duration of breastfeeding amongst children with and without intellectual disability by a secondary analysis of data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Children with intellectual disability were significantly less likely to have been ever breastfed; breastfed exclusively or at all at 3 months or breastfed at all at 6 months relative to children without intellectual disability. None of these differences remained significant when other psycho-social risk factors for reduced breastfeeding were controlled for. The study adds to both the sparse literature on breastfeeding practices amongst families of children with intellectual disability and research demonstrating relationships between socio-economic disadvantage and wellbeing for children with intellectual disability

An Analysis of TikTok’s Platformization Impact and Social Media Marketing Strategies

After the Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok became a large social media platform influencing the opinions of over a billion users. Sponsored by CloudYo Technology (云哟科 技), the goal of our project was to determine key variables for businesses to prioritize to increase viewership of their content on TikTok. The results from our experiment provided evidence that certain variables had a larger relationship to viewership than others, although each was significant. However, due to oversight and procedural roadblocks, our findings and project better serve as a pilot study for future topic endeavors

Non-hydrolytic sol-gel chemistry for the design of Si-Al-Mo metathesis catalysts

Light olefin metathesis is one of the most attractive reactions to upgrade abundant cheap alkenes into more demanded ones and to regulate stocks. For this purpose, MoO3-supported heterogeneous catalysts are of great interest. With classical preparation methods (impregnation of a Mo precursor on a support and subsequent calcination) fine tuning of the textural properties of the catalyst and of the nature of the Mo surface species at the molecular level are however much difficult. Here we report the possibilities offered by a non hydrolytic sol-gel route for the preparation of MoO3/SiO2/Al2O3 metathesis catalysts

Fike Family Farm: A Porción of Edinburg

Farming is at the very soul of the United States. From the shores of the Atlantic to the prairies of the Midwest and the Great Plains the image of the yeoman farmer permeates American history. In the greater Southwest those English-speaking farmers would encounter their Spanish-speaking counterparts in the 1850s. Those civilian vecinos had, served as the vanguard of the Spanish empire establishing towns, farms, and ranches in what would become California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It was in this milieu that the Rio Grande region was settled in the 1750s. A century and a half later, following the construction of railroads and irrigation systems the descendent of those first settlers were joined by new farmers speaking a polyglot of languages. Here at the beginning of the 20th century the Magic Valley was born. The guarantee of successful year-round farming enticed farming families to abandon their farms in temperate states and flock via train to the international border between the United States and Mexico. The Fikes of Ohio, and the Rorks of Nebraska were two such families who sought to make good on that promise. From them the union of Willard Fike and Anna Rork created over four generations a strong, sustainable, award-winning farming family. Farming involves long days, often pre-dawn until well after sundown. It is not glamorous. It is risky and unpredictable. These challenges are compounded by evolving regulations and geopolitics regarding tariffs and trade imbalances which can thwart even the most carefully planned plantings and harvests. It is no wonder that American family-owned farms are dwindling. Yet, the Fike Family is prospering as it begins its fourth generation of farming. In 2017 students in the seventh-annual study of an Edinburg-based farming family discovered a resiliency among the Fikes that is largely unknown in the 21st century.https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/chapspublications/1001/thumbnail.jp