Youth\u27s Lived Experience of an After-School Music Program: Understanding the Meanings and Values Placed on Music Learning

The value of arts education in our nation has steadily diminished. As aims for global expansion and development become more geared towards sustaining economic and technological vitality, the role of education naturally follows a similar trajectory, making the permanent implementation of arts curriculum in schooling an obscure reality. Amidst this transition, however, arts educators are relentlessly working to create arts programs for underprivileged youth whose families often times cannot afford private lessons. This thesis will explore the essence of a music educational space that embodies this effort in order to understand the meaning making processes of development and expansion for youth. By investigating the lived experience of the students in an after-­‐school orchestral style music program, this study cultivates an understanding of the implications of educational involvement in the arts. The findings revealed in the text will contribute to the working effort of researchers to bring the voices of students engaged in music learning to the forefront

Introducing Allergenic Food into Infants\u27 Diets: Systematic Review

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to explore the association between timing of introduction of potentially allergenic foods to infants and development of food allergies. Methods: CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science were searched using the terms solid food, complementary food, or infant feeding combined with allergy or hypersensitivity for articles published in English in 2000 or later. Inclusion criteria were 1) primary research articles with 2) a focus on association between introduction of complementary foods including potentially allergenic foods into diets of infants less than 12 months of age and development of food allergies. Articles were excluded if they were 1) not primary research, 2) about complementary foods only (without specifi city of allergenic foods), or 3) on allergic conditions other than food allergy (such as asthma or eczema). Results: The initial literature search yielded 533 articles; 14 articles met inclusion criteria. Level of evidence of each study was determined with the SORT criteria. Results found that delayed introduction of solid foods in general and allergenic foods in particular was not associated with decreased risk for allergic diseases among high and low-risk infants. Later introduction was associated with increased risk for allergy development. Clinical Implications: For infants at low risk for development of food allergies, providers should advise caregivers to introduce potentially allergenic foods with other solid foods between 4 and 6 months of age when children show an interest in eating solids. Infants at high risk for peanut allergy, should be evaluated by an allergy specialist prior to introduction of peanuts and work with providers to create an individualized plan for introduction of peanuts and other allergenic foods as needed

Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy Training Program (SAPAT)

According to present research and reports, incidents of sexual assaults are increasing across college and university campuses in the United States. Sexual assault prevention and advocacy presents an opportunity for social justice work that could have the power to positively impact the culture of colleges and universities. The current study proposes a cost-effective workshop training for faculty, staff, and students at a Midwestern university to be advocates for sexual assault prevention and supporters of survivors of sexual assault. The program aims to decrease endorsement of rape myths, increase positive attitudes toward bystander intervention, and increase awareness and knowledge

The Effects of Modulating Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthese (eNOS) Activity and Coupling in Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL)

Introduction: ESWL is a clinical therapy to break down kidney and uretal stones into smaller fragments that are more easily eliminated through the urinary tract. High-energy shock waves are focused on the stone to cause shear stress and cavitation bubbles which synergistically ablate the stones. While ESWL is the preferred treatment for kidney stones over invasive surgeries, the repetitive shock waves necessary to break up the stones may also cause damage to the renal vasculature endothelium and that can lead to chronic hypertension [1]. Previous studies have found that ESWL can cause endothelial dysfunction which is characterized decreased nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide (O2-) [2]. Normally, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is in a coupled state which forms NO in the presence of essential cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) and molecular oxygen. Oxidative stress, such as that caused by ESWL-induced ROS, can cause BH4 to be oxidized to dihydrobiopterin (BH2). When the BH2:BH4 ratio is increased, eNOS becomes uncoupled and produces O2- instead of NO [2, 3] (Figure 1). O2- is short-lived and converted to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in blood by superoxide dismutase. Protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε) has previously been found to regulate eNOS activity via phosphorylation at serine-1177. Cell-permeable PKCε peptide activator (PKCε+) increases eNOS activity while PKCε inhibitor (PKCε-) reduces eNOS activity [2]. Using a combination of eNOS cofactors BH4 or BH2 with eNOS activity regulators PKCε+ or PKCε-, we can explore the role of modulating eNOS to reduce oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction caused by ESWL

The Effects of Dihydrobiopterin and Tetrahydrobiopterin on Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitric Oxide Release During Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy

Extracorporeal shockwave lithrotripsy (ESWL) is an effective, non-invasive clinical therapy utilized to break up stones in the kidney and urinary tract. A lithotripter generates high-energy acoustic pulses and propagates those shock waves through a lens on a region that focuses on the location of the stone, in turn breaking up the stone. The successive pulses generate shearing forces and cavitation bubbles. Cavitation bubbles are the formation and implosion of liquid free zones. The cavitation bubbles implode rapidly to create their own shockwaves that also put pressure on the stone. After treatment, fragmentation of the stone allows the debris to be cleared by the flow of the urinary tract. The problem is that to break up the kidney stone, it requires many repetitive shock waves that not only hit the kidney stone but also the surrounding tissue. Although lithotripsy provides a safer alternative to invasive treatments for removing harmful stones, ESWL may cause prolonged vasoconstriction after ESWL treatment, reducing renal blood flow, and subsequent endothelial dysfunction, which may cause kidney damage leading to acute to chronic hypertension clinically. ESWL-induced vascular oxidative stress and further endothelial dysfunction may be mediated by reduced levels of endothelial-derived nitric oxide (NO) and/or increased reactive oxygen species. Previous studies have shown that ESWL can induce oxidative stress, which can cause an increase in blood hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a decrease in endothelial-derived NO bioavailability release. Under normal conditions, tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is the cofactor to promote eNOS coupling, and endothelial-derived NO is produced. When the dihydrobiopterin (BH2) to tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) ratio is increased during oxidative stress, such as ESWL, BH2 promotes eNOS uncoupling and produces superoxide (SO) instead of NO. (1,2) (Figure 1) SO is then later converted to H2O2 by superoxide dismutase. BH4 and BH2 bind to eNOS with equal affinity, therefore the ratio will determine whether eNOS principally produces NO or SO

The effects of Mitoquinone on simulated ischemia/reperfusion injuries in H9c2 cells

Introduction: Reperfusion to an ischemic myocardium could result in damage termed myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a major factor in I/R injury, producing less ATP and generating more reactive oxygen species (ROS). Mitoquinone (MitoQ) is an antioxidant that highly accumulates in the mitochondria. However, the dose-response effects and underlying mechanisms of MitoQ on simulated I/R injury have not been well established. Objectives: We hypothesized that H9c2 myoblast cells would be damaged by simulated I/R. Moreover, MitoQ would attenuate myocardial injury, characterized by increased cell viability, compared to non-treated control. Methods: The H9c2 myoblast cells (less than 20 passages) were treated with or without various concentrations of MitoQ (0.005, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 μM) under 3 different mediums: normal (containing 4.5 g glucose and pyruvate), low glucose (containing 1 g glucose and pyruvate), and no glucose/pyruvate medium. Three different experiments were conducted on the cells. The first experiment aimed to determine if MitoQ alone exerts different effects under different medium conditions by treating the cells with MitoQ for 24 hrs in a normal incubator. The second experiment aimed to determine if MitoQ increased cell viability under simulated ischemia conditions after MitoQ pretreatment. The third experiment aimed to determine if MitoQ increased cell viability under simulated I/R conditions after MitoQ pretreatment. Cell viability was measured by absorbance at 450 nm after adding a cell counting agent. The change in cell viability was expressed as ratios relative to the untreated controls. Results: Low concentrations of MitoQ alone slightly increased cell viability in all three mediums. The maximum increased cell viability was 1.25 ± 0.07 (n=9) at 0.005 μM MitoQ in the normal medium, 1.35 ± 0.23 (n=5, p MitoQ pretreatment exerts protection to cells in simulated ischemia conditions at certain MitoQ concentrations. The maximum increased cell viability was 1.37 ± 0.3 (n=4) at 0.01 μM MitoQ in normal medium, 1.20 ± 0.13 (n=4) at 1.0 μM MitoQ in low glucose medium, and 1.45 ± 0.24 (n=3) at 0.1 μM MitoQ in no glucose medium compared to the untreated control. MitoQ effects on simulated I/R injury will be reported in the future. Discussion: Preliminary data shows the effects of MitoQ alone and MitoQ pretreatment in ischemic conditions on cell viability is influenced by different mediums and concentrations of MitoQ

Differing Patterns of Altered Slow-5 Oscillations in Healthy Aging and Ischemic Stroke

The ‘default-mode’ network (DMN) has been investigated in the presence of various disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Autism spectrum disorders. More recently, this investigation has expanded to include patients with ischemic injury. Here, we characterized the effects of ischemic injury in terms of its spectral distribution of resting-state low-frequency oscillations and further investigated whether those specific disruptions were unique to the DMN, or rather more general, affecting the global cortical system. With 43 young healthy adults, 42 older healthy adults, 14 stroke patients in their early stage (< 7 days after stroke onset), and 16 stroke patients in their later stage (between 1-6 months after stroke onset), this study showed that patterns of cortical system disruption may differ between healthy aging and following the event of an ischemic stroke. The stroke group in the later stage demonstrated a global reduction in the amplitude of the slow-5 oscillations (0.01-0.027 Hz) in the DMN as well as in the primary visual and sensorimotor networks, two ‘task-positive’ networks. In comparison to the young healthy group, the older healthy subjects presented a decrease in the amplitude of the slow-5 oscillations specific to the components of the DMN, while exhibiting an increase in oscillation power in the task-positive networks. These two processes of a decrease DMN and an increase in ‘task-positive’ slow-5 oscillations may potentially be related, with a deficit in DMN inhibition, leading to an elevation of oscillations in non-DMN systems. These findings also suggest that disruptions of the slow-5 oscillations in healthy aging may be more specific to the DMN while the disruptions of those oscillations following a stroke through remote (diaschisis) effects may be more widespread, highlighting a non-specificity of disruption on the DMN in stroke population. The mechanisms underlying those differing modes of network disruption need to be further explored to better inform our understanding of brain function in healthy individuals and following injury

Evaluation of Changes in the Motor Network Following BCI Therapy Based on Graph Theory Analysis

Despite the established effectiveness of the brain-computer interface (BCI) therapy during stroke rehabilitation (Song et al., 2014a, 2015; Young et al., 2014a,b,c, 2015; Remsik et al., 2016), little is understood about the connections between motor network reorganization and functional motor improvements. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the network reorganization of the motor cortex during BCI therapy. Graph theoretical approaches are used on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquired from stroke patients to evaluate these changes. Correlations between changes in graph measurements and behavioral measurements were also examined. Right hemisphere chronic stroke patients (average time from stroke onset = 38.23 months, standard deviation (SD) = 46.27 months, n = 13, 6 males, 10 right-handed) with upper-extremity motor deficits received interventional rehabilitation therapy using a closed-loop neurofeedback BCI device. Eyes-closed resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scans, along with T-1 weighted anatomical scans on 3.0T MRI scanners were collected from these patients at four test points. Immediate therapeutic effects were investigated by comparing pre and post-therapy results. Results displayed that th average clustering coefficient of the motor network increased significantly from pre to post-therapy. Furthermore, increased regional centrality of ipsilesional primary motor area (p = 0.02) and decreases in regional centrality of contralesional thalamus (p = 0.05), basal ganglia (p = 0.05 in betweenness centrality analysis and p = 0.03 for degree centrality), and dentate nucleus (p = 0.03) were observed (uncorrected). These findings suggest an overall trend toward significance in terms of involvement of these regions. Increased centrality of primary motor area may indicate increased efficiency within its interactive network as an effect of BCI therapy. Notably, changes in centrality of the bilateral cerebellum regions have strong correlations with both clinical variables [the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), and the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT)

UNC-Emory Infant Atlases for Macaque Brain Image Analysis: Postnatal Brain Development through 12 Months

Computational anatomical atlases have shown to be of immense value in neuroimaging as they provide age appropriate reference spaces alongside ancillary anatomical information for automated analysis such as subcortical structural definitions, cortical parcellations or white fiber tract regions. Standard workflows in neuroimaging necessitate such atlases to be appropriately selected for the subject population of interest. This is especially of importance in early postnatal brain development, where rapid changes in brain shape and appearance render neuroimaging workflows sensitive to the appropriate atlas choice. We present here a set of novel computation atlases for structural MRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging as crucial resource for the analysis of MRI data from non-human primate rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) data in early postnatal brain development. Forty socially-housed infant macaques were scanned longitudinally at ages 2 weeks, 3, 6, and 12 months in order to create cross-sectional structural and DTI atlases via unbiased atlas building at each of these ages. Probabilistic spatial prior definitions for the major tissue classes were trained on each atlas with expert manual segmentations. In this article we present the development and use of these atlases with publicly available tools, as well as the atlases themselves, which are publicly disseminated to the scientific community