A Piece of My Heart: Examining Healing Facilitated by the Performing Arts

Undergraduate Performing Arts - Theatr

Every Brilliant Thing: The Rippling Effects of Mental Illness and Suicide on the Family

Undergraduate Theatr

How Do Literacy Teacher Educators Engage as Literacy Leaders?

Literacy teacher educators play a pivotal role in developing future PreK-12 classroom teachers for the task of literacy leadership. However, little is known about literacy teacher educators and how they engage as literacy leaders. In the current study, we retrieved data from 132 literacy teacher educators and analyzed it descriptively using teacher educator identify as a theoretical lens. Findings revealed 15 different literacy leadership practices that represented five distinct groups. Among these groups, respondents demonstrated high and low levels of engagement with literacy leadership practices that pointed to important implications for administrators of teacher education programs

NSFB 101: Getting Started with the National Survey of Fertility Barriers

The NSFB research team presented the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (NSFB) Data Users’ Workshop at the Population Association of America (PAA) annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, on April 17, 2010. This workshop provided an opportunity to explore wave 1 of the nationally representative NSFB public-use dataset and to learn how the data can be used to answer various research questions related to (sub, in)fecundity, fecundity intentions and pathways, fertility outcomes, and the psychosocial dynamics that operate between fecundity and fertility. Why did we do a population based, longitudinal, telephone study of fertility/infertility that includes partners? It was the most efficient way to answer compelling questions Greil’s (1997) critical review of past research on the social psychological impact of infertility showed the need for new data

Meeting Standards 2017? A National Survey of Classroom Teacher Preparedness for Literacy Instruction

The purpose of this study was to gain a preliminary understanding of how literacy teacher educators in the United States view classroom teacher preparedness for literacy instruction. A cross-sectional survey was developed using the most recent version of professional preparation standards and components for classroom teachers released by the International Literacy Association. Quantitative data were collected among 205 respondents and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings for respondents’ views were reported by grade-level band (i.e., preK/primary, elementary/intermediate, middle/high school), which revealed three overarching trends. A discussion of trends was provided, along with implications for literacy teacher education and future research areas

T cells enhance gold nanoparticle delivery to tumors in vivo

Gold nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) has shown great potential for the treatment of cancer in mouse studies and is now being evaluated in clinical trials. For this therapy, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are injected intravenously and are allowed to accumulate within the tumor via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. The tumor is then irradiated with a near infrared laser, whose energy is absorbed by the AuNPs and translated into heat. While reliance on the EPR effect for tumor targeting has proven adequate for vascularized tumors in small animal models, the efficiency and specificity of tumor delivery in vivo, particularly in tumors with poor blood supply, has proven challenging. In this study, we examine whether human T cells can be used as cellular delivery vehicles for AuNP transport into tumors. We first demonstrate that T cells can be efficiently loaded with 45 nm gold colloid nanoparticles without affecting viability or function (e.g. migration and cytokine production). Using a human tumor xenograft mouse model, we next demonstrate that AuNP-loaded T cells retain their capacity to migrate to tumor sites in vivo. In addition, the efficiency of AuNP delivery to tumors in vivo is increased by more than four-fold compared to injection of free PEGylated AuNPs and the use of the T cell delivery system also dramatically alters the overall nanoparticle biodistribution. Thus, the use of T cell chaperones for AuNP delivery could enhance the efficacy of nanoparticle-based therapies and imaging applications by increasing AuNP tumor accumulation

High-density sub-100-nm peptide-gold nanoparticle complexes improve vaccine presentation by dendritic cells in vitro

Nanocarriers have been explored to improve the delivery of tumor antigens to dendritic cells (DCs). Gold nanoparticles are attractive nanocarriers because they are inert, non-toxic, and can be readily endocytosed by DCs. Here, we designed novel gold-based nanovaccines (AuNVs) using a simple self-assembling bottom-up conjugation method to generate high-peptide density delivery and effective immune responses with limited toxicity. AuNVs were synthesized using a self-assembling conjugation method and optimized using DC-to-splenocyte interferon-γ enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assays. The AuNV design has shown successful peptide conjugation with approximately 90% yield while remaining smaller than 80 nm in diameter. DCs uptake AuNVs with minimal toxicity and are able to process the vaccine peptides on the particles to stimulate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). These high-peptide density AuNVs can stimulate CTLs better than free peptides and have great potential as carriers for various vaccine types

Gold-silver alloy nanoshells: a new candidate for nanotherapeutics and diagnostics

We have developed novel gold-silver alloy nanoshells as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dual T1 (positive) and T2 (negative) contrast agents as an alternative to typical gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents. Specifically, we have doped iron oxide nanoparticles with Gd ions and sequestered the ions within the core by coating the nanoparticles with an alloy of gold and silver. Thus, these nanoparticles are very innovative and have the potential to overcome toxicities related to renal clearance of contrast agents such as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. The morphology of the attained nanoparticles was characterized by XRD which demonstrated the successful incorporation of Gd(III) ions into the structure of the magnetite, with no major alterations of the spinel structure, as well as the growth of the gold-silver alloy shells. This was supported by TEM, ICP-AES, and SEM/EDS data. The nanoshells showed a saturation magnetization of 38 emu/g because of the presence of Gd ions within the crystalline structure with r1 and r2 values of 0.0119 and 0.9229 mL mg-1 s-1, respectively (Au:Ag alloy = 1:1). T1- and T2-weighted images of the nanoshells showed that these agents can both increase the surrounding water proton signals in the T1-weighted image and reduce the signal in T2-weighted images. The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited strong absorption in the range of 600-800 nm, their optical properties being strongly dependent upon the thickness of the gold-silver alloy shell. Thus, these nanoshells have the potential to be utilized for tumor cell ablation because of their absorption as well as an imaging agent

Size-controlled synthesis of monodispersed gold nanoparticles via carbon monoxide gas reduction

An in depth analysis of gold nanoparticle (AuNP) synthesis and size tuning, utilizing carbon monoxide (CO) gas as a reducing agent, is presented for the first time. The sizes of the AuNPs are tunable from ~4 to 100 nm by altering the concentration of HAuCl4 and inlet CO gas-injection flow rate. It is also found that speciation of aqueous HAuCl4, prior to reduction, influences the size, morphology, and properties of AuNPs when reduced with CO gas. Ensemble extinction spectra and TEM images provide clear evidence that CO reduction offers a high level of monodispersity with standard deviations as low as 3%. Upon synthesis, no excess reducing agent remains in solution eliminating the need for purification. The time necessary to synthesize AuNPs, using CO, is less than 2 min