Evaluating Workforce Programs: A Guide to What Policymakers Need to Know to Structure Effective, User-Friendly Evaluations

This brief discusses the value and purpose of program evaluations, highlights different evaluation tools and techniques, and illustrates how policy makers and program managers can structure and implement evaluations of workforce development programs

Patience, Young Grasshopper: Analyzing the Fungal Components of the Grasshopper Gut Microbiome

Microbes inhabit many corners of the Earth, including the intestines of all animals. These intestinal microbes, collectively called the “gut microbiome,” provide numerous nutritional and regulatory functions for the animals they live in and thus play an important role in animal health. The fungal communities in insects, specifically, play a diverse, but important role in insect physiology, as well as insect control. The goals of this project were to expand knowledge of R programming through statistical analysis of microbial ecology and to identify the fungal communities in grasshoppers to enrich our knowledge in insect fungal microbiome. Questions that we wanted to answer were: “what is the composition of the fungal communities in the microbiome of grasshoppers?” and “what drives the composition of the fungal communities in the microbiome of grasshoppers?” The grasshoppers were collected in the summer of 2017 from a Texas prairie as part of a multifactorial micronutrient experiment. Upon arrival at the University of Dayton, the guts of the grasshoppers were removed to extract the DNA, which was then submitted for sequencing by Zymo Research. After analyzing the sequencing results, we identified two fungal phyla that were present in all samples: Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Within Ascomycota, the class Dothideomycetes is most prevalent. Within Basidiomycota, the classes Tremellomycetes and Ustilaginomycetes are most prevalent. Dothideomycetes are typically found as saprobes, or decomposers, that break down dead leaf matter. They are also commonly found on living plants, acting as pathogens or endophytes. Tremellomycetes are a type of pathogenic fungus that acts as a parasite toward insects and plants. Ustilaginomycetes, known as “smut fungi,” act as a parasite toward vascular p lants. These classes of fungi are directly involved with plant matter. Findings include that diet and phylogeny are potential drivers of the fungal composition within the grasshopper gut microbiome

Readiness for AUC-Dosing of Vancomycin in Montana Hospitals

Vancomycin is an essential antibiotic for treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infections. Vancomycin requires close monitoring because of its potential to damage the kidney.1 Evidence now supports the use of a new parameter, area-under-the-curve (AUC), to monitor vancomycin dosing and recently has become the standard-of-care.2,3,4 The preferred method for estimating AUC is with sophisticated, computer software using a Bayesian analysis. The expense of commercially available programs may be difficult to justify for hospitals with limited budgets, especially smaller hospitals that infrequently administer vancomycin to patients

Hurting the Ones They Love: Character Analysis and Original Screenplay Crimes of Passion

The thesis is a ten-page analysis on two films, Fatal Attraction and Lakeview Terrace. The thesis begins with a brief introduction to the horror genre and its subgenre in which the two films and original screenplay are categorized, psychological horror. It covers all the important elements of a film and screenplay: conflict, arc, goal, structure and plot. The thesis also consists of feminists’ reactions to Fatal Attraction, and examines whether the original 60- page screenplay helps or worsens the image of women. The screenplay also raises the question if having the villains need to be insane to prove a point. Further in the thesis is a description of the original screenplay Crimes of Passion and its main characters Jennifer, Alex and Keith. Jennifer, the heroine, becomes the target of scorned lover and police officer Keith. Alex, Keith’s rival, must protect Jennifer. The analysis ends with the restated questions the audience must have in mind and answer while reading the screenplay

Studies of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors containing α4 and α6 subunits in nicotine-induced synaptic plasticity in brain reward areas

Tobacco addiction is a serious threat to public health in the United States and abroad, and development of new therapeutic approaches is a major priority. Nicotine, the primary psychoactive compound in tobacco smoke, activates and/or desensitizes nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) throughout the brain. nAChRs in ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons are crucial for the rewarding and reinforcing properties of nicotine. Nicotine causes cellular changes in VTA DA neurons, including the enhancement of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) function. This enhancement sensitizes the VTA to excitatory input and promotes drug seeking in animal models. However, which nAChR subtype(s) are responsible for initiating these cellular changes is poorly understood. nAChRs containing the α6 subunit (α6* nAChRs) are highly and selectively expressed in DA neurons in the VTA. Therefore, we hypothesized that activation of α6* nAChRs is sufficient to enhance AMPAR function on the surface of VTA DA neurons. To test this, we studied mice expressing hypersensitive, gain-of-function α6 nAChRs (α6L9S mice). We found that low concentrations of nicotine could act selectively through α6* nAChRs to enhance the function of AMPARs on the surface of VTA DA neurons. Through pretreatment with pharmacological inhibitors, we found that NMDA receptors, as well as Ca2+/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II, are also required for this effect. We subsequently expanded these studies to include alcohol because of the high rate of tobacco and alcohol co-abuse. Just as with nicotine, we found that low concentrations of ethanol were sufficient to enhance AMPAR function on VTA DA neurons of α6L9S mice. Because ethanol and nicotine both modulate AMPAR function in a manner involving α6* nAChRs, we tested the hypothesis that low concentrations of ethanol and nicotine combine to modulate AMPAR function. Remarkably, co-incubation of α6L9S brain slices in concentrations of ethanol and nicotine that are sub-threshold when incubated alone resulted in robust enhancement of AMPAR function. Within the VTA, α6 nAChR subunits form nAChRs with and without the α4 nAChR subunit. Therefore, we studied the contribution of α4 nAChR subunits to nicotine-elicited changes in VTA synaptic plasticity. To address this, we removed α4 nAChR subunits from the VTA of adult mice by injecting viral vectors directing expression of Cre recombinase into the VTA of mice with loxP sites flanking the α4 subunit gene. We found that nicotine no longer increases AMPAR function when α4 nAChR subunits are removed from the VTA, indicating a role of nAChRs that contain both α4 and α6 nAChR subunits in VTA synaptic plasticity. Interestingly, we also saw that removing α4 subunits from the VTA of adult mice increases the excitability of VTA DA neurons. We hypothesized that removal of α4* nAChRs from GABAergic neurons in the VTA results in less tonic inhibition of VTA DA neurons. To test this we measured spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) on VTA DA neurons. Indeed, we saw that the instantaneous frequency of IPSCs was significantly reduced when α4 nAChR subunits are removed from the VTA. Overall, these studies highlight the importance of α4α6* nAChRs in the initiation of cellular changes that play a role in addiction to nicotine, suggesting α4α6* nAChRs may be a promising target for future smoking cessation pharmacotherapies

The Role of DNA Methyltransferases in Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that regulates gene transcription. The addition of a methyl group to cytosine is catalyzed by a family of enzymes known as DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts). The three catalytically active Dnmts in humans and mice are Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, and Dnmt3b. DNA methylation is clinically relevant, as aberrations in the methylation landscape are a hallmark of nearly all human cancers. Cancer methylomes are typically characterized by genome wide hypomethylation and regional specific hypermethylation, both of which have been linked to alterations in gene expression. In order to understand the contribution of epimutations to the development of hematological malignancies we created several mouse models in which one or more Dnmt is deleted in hematopoietic stem cells and all downstream lineages. This allowed us to address the role of individual Dnmts in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. We found that Dnmts contribute to the cancer methylome through both de novo and maintenance methylation, and that activities of individual Dnmts seldom overlap with one another. We identified Dnmt1 as being critical for T cell development and maintenance of the tumor phenotype in T cell lymphomas. Furthermore, we identified Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b as critical tumor suppressor genes in the prevention of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in mice. Collectively, these studies provide insight into the effects of Dnmt deregulation in tumorigenesis

“My Training Wheels are Off:” How First Generation College Students Made Meaning of the Influence of their College Access and Support Programs

This research explored how 47 first generation college students at a private university in the Northeast used non-profit and government-funded college access and support programs to make meaning of their college-going journeys. The participants used college access programs to prepare themselves for, gain access to, and persist at a selective postsecondary institution directly after high school. This research asked what skills and knowledge do first generation college students learn through their college access and support programs? How do first generation college students use the skills and knowledge they obtained through their college access and support programs to help navigate their college-going journeys? Using the theoretical frameworks of Communities of Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005, 2006) and critical theory (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2002), I analyzed the participants’ counterstories and uncovered how first generation college students used college access and success programs to navigate a historically classed and raced education system. The findings centered the students’ stories, showed how college access programs became a form of capital within themselves for first generation college students, and provided students with the resources they needed to matriculate and persist in college. I then critically examined whether or not college access programs contributed to closing the educational gap in the United States and educational reform