Shiela Mae E. Holder, Senior Art Portfolio

These are three digital illustrations regarding social issues created by Shiela Mae Holder for her senior art exhibition. The size of each of these social illustrations is 18 in. by 24 in. The first social illustration is a cellphone issue illustration, the second illustration is an opioid issue illustration, and the third illustration is a religion issue illustration.https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/artportfolios/1040/thumbnail.jp

Gender Pay Gap: A Macro Perspective

This paper examines the factors influencing the gender wage gap by using an unbalanced cross-country aggregated panel data set for a sample covering 53 economies for the period 1995–2010. Using robust estimators proposed by Lewbel (2012) to correct for heterogeneity and endogeneity, results suggest that a higher female share in the industry sector tends to widen the gender wage gap regardless of a country’s development stage. While having more children widens the gender wage gap, as expected, the effect is only statistically significant for developing countries. In developed countries, more labor force participation by women seems to narrow the gender wage gap, probably due to the number of female labor market entrants taking up higher-paying service sector jobs. For developing countries, closing the gender gaps in labor force participation and education is not sufficient to achieve gender wage parity. Higher-paying jobs should be created by developing the service sector in these economies

Antibacterial activity in the sea urchin Echinus esculentus

The studies described in this thesis fall into two parts: 1. A survey of the normal bacterial flora of the common British sea urchin, Echinus esculentus, in comparison with the bacterial flora of seawater and sand from the same locality. 2. An investigation of the antibacterial activity in E. esculentus. This formed the main part of the work. In part 1, the normal bacterial flora, of the sea urchin was examined with isolates from the coelomic fluid, the peristomial membrane and the gut. Aerobic heterotrophic organisms from these sites were identified by a scheme based on that of Shewan, Hobbs and Hodgkiss (1960). The main genera identified were PseudomonasVibrio, Aeromonas, Flavobacterium, Acinetobacter and Moraxella. A few Gram-positive bacteria were also isolated. Of 188 urchins examined, two-thirds had sterile coelomic fluid and it is likely that organisms found there had been introduced by damage to the animal and do not form a permanent indigenous flora. In part 2, initial experiments showed that urchins were capable of clearing, within 24 h, large doses of marine bacteria which had been injected into the coelomic cavity. This indicated that sea urchins possess an efficient antibacterial mechanism. A procedure was developed to examine in vitro the coelomic fluid of sea urchins for antibacterial activity. As test bacterium in these experiments a marine pseudomonad, strain 111, was chosen bacause it produced characteristic black, agar-digesting colonies on marine 2216E agar which were not readily confused with contaminating bacteria. A non-bactericidal control fluid was included in all tests. This consisted of the boiled supernatant of coelomic fluid which was considered to be nutritionally and ionically equivalent to coelomic fluid, and which allowed growth of the test bacterium. Strain 111 incubated in coelomic fluid for 48 h WS'S usually reduced to less than 5% of its initial viable count, whereas in the control fluid the bacteria multiplied. Coelomocytes clot almost immediately when coelomic fluid is withdrawn from urchins but this appeared to have no effect on in vitro antibacterial activity. In vitro the fluid from all 188 urchins studied showed antibacterial activity. The activity was temperature-dependent (optimum

Genetic aspects of antibiotic resistance, haemolysin and bacteriocin production in enterococci

A previous survey of enterococci had identified five strains of Streptococcus faecalis (K55 and SB94) - two subspecies liquefaciens (K60 and K88) and one zymogenes (K87) - and two S. faecium strains (K46 and SB69) which were resistant to tetracycline and streptomycin but susceptible to gentamicin. All the S. faecalis strains and K46 were in addition resistant to erythromycin but only the S. faecium strains were penicillin and ampicillin resistant. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of a further six antibiotics were determined. These values confirmed that in S. faecalis strains, erythromycin resistance was accompanied by resistance to lincomycin and pristinamycin IA, a phenotype typical of macrolide - lincosamide - streptogramin B - type (MLS) antibiotics resistance. The erythromycin resistant K46 however, although resistant to lincomycin, was pristinamycin susceptible and so the basis of resistance is unknown. S. faecalis K60, K87 and SB94 were resistant to kanamycin and neomycin as was S. faecium K46 but all strains were susceptible to spectinomycin. The phenotypes were consistent with resistance mediated by enzymic modification of streptomycin with adenyltransferase (6) and of kanamycin and neomycin with phosphotransferase (3') (5")-III. Erythromycin and tetracycline resistances were expressed constitutively in all strains. Only one S. faecalis (K88) was found to be chloramphenicol resistant and as is typical of Gram-positive bacteria, resistance was inducible. The ability to produce bacteriocin was restricted to beta-haemolytic strain K87 and to strain SB94. Subsequent results indicated that strain K87 probably produced more than one bacteriocin, the activity of which was repressed in the parental strain but which, in derivatives, could be enhanced by the presence of streptomycin. Evidence for the location of resistance, haemolysin and bacteriocin genes was sought from study of the transfer characteristics and stability of markers and from examination of the plasmid content of parental strains and their derivatives. The well characterised S. faecalis subspecies zymogenes strain DS5 (Clewell et al., 1982b) was included for comparison in transfer and curing experiments. All the S. faecalis strains aggregated in response to a cell free filtrate of a plasmid free recipient strain JH2-1, indicating the presence of at least one conjugative plasmid although the low transfer frequencies of most resistance genes in broth matings suggested that response was not necessarily encoded by antibiotic resistance plasmids. Transfer of beta-haemolytic activity and all resistance markers was observed after broth matings but the range of transfer frequencies between strains was wide. Furthermore, the incidence of transfer could be variable particularly in the transfer of DS5 erythromycin resistance and all K87 antibiotic resistances which seemed to be dependent on the production of active donor bacteriocin. Matings of S. faecalis strains carried out on membrane filters were only marginally more efficient in terms of transfer frequencies but were superior with regard to reproducibility of transfer. No antibiotic resistance transfer from S. faecium donors was observed after broth matings and only SB69 tetracycline resistance transferred after filter mating at very low frequency. Several resistance determinants and those encoding β-haemolysin were found to be capable of retransfer indicative of association with genes specifying conjugative ability. Analysis of transconjugant phenotypes revealed that the tetracycline resistance gene of K55, the streptomycin resistance gene of K88 and β-haemolytic activities were always transferred alone but some resistance markers were usually co-transferred with other donor markers. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.

The scourge of head injury among commercial motorcycle riders in Kampala; a preventable clinical and public health menace

Background: Trauma is an increasingly important cause of disease globally. Half of this trauma is from road traffic injuries with motorcycles contributing 21-58%. Low protective gear use, lack of regulation and weak traffic law enforcement contribute to unsafe nature of commercial motorcycles also known as \u201cboda boda\u201d in Uganda. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of protective gear use, the occurrence of head injury and the relationship between the two among commercial motorcycle riders in Kampala. Methods: Following ethical approval we recruited consecutive consenting participants to this analytical cross-sectional study. Data was collected using pretested interviewer administered questionnaires, double entered in Epidata and analyzed with STATA. Proportions and means were used to summarize data. Odds ratios were calculated for association between wearing helmets and occurrence and severity of head injury. Results: All 328 participants recruited were male. Of these, 18.6% used Protective gear and 71.1 % sustained head injury. Helmets protected users from head injury (OR 0.43, 95% CI, 0.23-0.8) and significantly reduced its severity when it occurred. Conclusion: Protective gear use was low, with high occurrence of head injury among commercial motorcycle riders in Uganda. More effective strategies are needed to promote protective gear use among Uganda\u2019s commercial motorcycle riders

Subtelomeric CTCF and cohesin binding site organization using improved subtelomere assemblies and a novel annotation pipeline

Mapping genome-wide data to human subtelomeres has been problematic due to the incomplete assembly and challenges of low-copy repetitive DNA elements. Here, we provide updated human subtelomere sequence assemblies that were extended by filling telomere-adjacent gaps using clone-based resources. A bioinformatic pipeline incorporating multiread mapping for annotation of the updated assemblies using short-read data sets was developed and implemented. Annotation of subtelomeric sequence features as well as mapping of CTCF and cohesin binding sites using ChIP-seq data sets from multiple human cell types confirmed that CTCF and cohesin bind within 3 kb of the start of terminal repeat tracts at many, but not all, subtelomeres. CTCF and cohesin co-occupancy were also enriched near internal telomere-like sequence (ITS) islands and the nonterminal boundaries of subtelomere repeat elements (SREs) in transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) and human embryonic stem cell (ES) lines, but were not significantly enriched in the primary fibroblast IMR90 cell line. Subtelomeric CTCF and cohesin sites predicted by ChIP-seq using our bioinformatics pipeline (but not predicted when only uniquely mapping reads were considered) were consistently validated by ChIP-qPCR. The colocalized CTCF and cohesin sites in SRE regions are candidates for mediating long-range chromatin interactions in the transcript-rich SRE region. A public browser for the integrated display of short-read sequence–based annotations relative to key subtelomere features such as the start of each terminal repeat tract, SRE identity and organization, and subtelomeric gene models was established

Increasing traditional vegetable consumption in Cavite, Philippines: Understanding consumer and market vendor preferences

The study conducted in Cavite province sheds light on the factors that influence the availability and accessibility of indigenous vegetables in urban and peri-urban markets. The study specifically looked at the perspectives of both market vendors and consumers in the two primary urban areas of Dasmariñas and Bacoor. One of the key findings of the study is that adult women predominantly make household decisions when it comes to buying vegetables. This suggests that targeting women consumers with information and education about indigenous vegetables could be an effective strategy for promoting their consumption. Nutrition, freshness, and price are the primary considerations for consumers when purchasing vegetables, and they perceive indigenous vegetables as nutritious and affordable. Vendors prioritize shelf life in addition to price, freshness, and nutrition when selecting indigenous vegetables to sell. The results highlight the importance of the supply chain for indigenous vegetables. In Cavite, it extends from the north to the south of Luzon. Understanding the dynamics of this supply chain is crucial for improving the availability and accessibility of indigenous vegetables in urban and peri-urban markets. Overall, the findings provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities for promoting the consumption of indigenous vegetables in urban areas. By addressing the gaps in awareness and knowledge about these food plants and their growth requirements, improving the supply chain to meet consumer and vendor requirements, and improving women consumers’ access to education and information, we can work towards a future where these nutritious, locally-adapted, and culturally significant crops are widely known and available

Indigenous vegetables: consumer and market vendor preferences in Cavite, Philippines

Indigenous vegetables (IVs) are locally-adapted, nutritious and culturally significant crops, yet consumption of IVs is low- with dwindling numbers of people with knowledge about their multiple uses and benefits. Additionally, in urban areas such as the Cavite province in the Philippines, IVs are not easily found in markets- the place where most households acquire their vegetables from. Improving IV consumption requires concerted efforts both on the supply and demand side of the IV value chain, based on a clear understanding of consumer and market vendor preferences