Sex Education: The Parent's Perspective

Presents summary findings from the first in-depth statewide poll of California parents on school-based comprehensive sex education

When Freedom Prevents Vindication: Why the Heck Rule Should Not Bar a Prisoner’s § 1983 Action in \u3cem\u3eDeemer v. Beard\u3c/em\u3e

In 2014, in Deemer v. Beard, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the Heck v. Humphrey rule required all plaintiffs seeking damages for unconstitutional conviction under § 1983 to demonstrate that the criminal proceeding in question terminated in their favor. This decision defies a majority of circuit courts, which have held that there exists an exception to Heck if the plaintiff does not have other federal means of redress. In its decision, the Third Circuit aligned itself with three other appellate courts that did not take a plaintiff’s lack of access to other means of federal relief into consideration. Although these circuit courts have correctly adhered to binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, doing so places an unfair burden upon a plaintiff’s ability to challenge an unconstitutional conviction. This Comment contends that the U.S. Supreme Court should settle the Heck circuit split and allow such an exception to the Heck rule to meet the underlying principles of § 1983

Growth of Pseudotypes of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus with N-Tropic Murine Leukemia Virus Coats in Cells Resistant to N-Tropic Viruses

Formation of pseudotypes between murine RNA tumor viruses and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) has been confirmed. Pseudotypes of VSV genomes coated by the surface envelope from an N-tropic tumor virus grew equally well in cells homozygous for either the Fv-1n or Fv-1b alleles. Therefore, the product of the Fv-1 locus, which restricts growth of murine RNA tumor viruses, must act on an intracellular aspect of tumor virus replication, a step after attachment and penetration

Tailored design of NKT-stimulatory glycolipids for polarization of immune responses.

Natural killer T (NKT) cell is a distinct population of T lymphocytes that can rapidly release massive amount of Th1 and Th2 cytokines upon the engagement of their T cell receptor with glycolipids presented by CD1d. The secreted cytokines can promote cell-mediated immunity to kill tumor cells and intracellular pathogens, or suppress autoreactive immune cells in autoimmune diseases. Thus, NKT cell is an attractive target for developing new therapeutics to manipulate immune system. The best-known glycolipid to activate NKT cells is α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), which has been used as a prototype for designing new NKT stimulatory glycolipids. Many analogues have been generated by modification of the galactosyl moiety, the acyl chain or the phytosphingosine chain of α-GalCer. Some of the analogues showed greater abilities than α-GalCer in polarizing immune responses toward Th1 or Th2 dominance. Among them, several analogues containing phenyl groups in the lipid tails were more potent in inducing Th1-skewed cytokines and exhibited greater anticancer efficacy than α-GalCer. Analyses of the correlation between structure and activity of various α-GalCer analogues on the activation of iNKT cell revealed that CD1d-glycolipid complexes interacted with the same population of iNKT cell expressing similar T-cell receptor Vβ as α-GalCer. On the other hand, those phenyl glycolipids with propensity for Th1 dominant responses showed greater binding avidity and stability than α-GalCer for iNKT T-cell receptor when complexed with CD1d. Thus, it is the avidity and stability of the ternary complexes of CD1d-glycolipid-iNKT TCR that dictate the polarity and potency of immune responses. These findings provide a key to the rationale design of immune modulating glycolipids with desirable Th1/Th2 polarity for clinical application. In addition, elucidation of α-GalCer-induced anergy, liver damage and accumulation of myeloid derived suppressor cells has offered explanation for its lacklustre anti-cancer activities in clinical trials. On other hand, the lack of such drawbacks in glycolipid analogues containing phenyl groups in the lipid tails of α-GalCer coupled with the greater binding avidity and stability of CD1d-glycolipid complex for iNKT T-cell receptor, account for their superior anti-cancer efficacy in tumor bearing mice. Further clinical development of these phenyl glycolipids is warranted

Broken English and Fixed Stereotypes: The Portrayal of Asian Americans in the Popular Media

Since the arrival of East Asian people to the United States of America in the nineteenth century, their portrayal in the popular media has largely consisted of stereotypes: John Chinaman, Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu, Geisha Girl, etc. To investigate if there are changes in the representation of Asian Americans in the popular media, two types of research methods were utilized: content analysis and surveys. With over 300 surveys distributed electronically on the Union College campus, 56 responses were received. The survey was composed of 30.4% Asian Americans and 69.6% Caucasian Americans. The surveys had some interesting trends, which indicate that the more time an Asian American spends in the United States, the less sensitive he or she is to other Asian Americans in the popular media. Asian Americans were also more likely than Caucasian Americans to assume another Asian American actor was born outside of the United States of America. This trend suggests that Asian Americans imitate the cultural snobbery of their Caucasian American counterparts, revealing more complex issues with their identity. Second, the content analysis was performed on primetime comedy shows (Family Guy, Modern Family, 30 Rock), and remakes of a primetime drama show (Hawaii Five-O), and a martial arts movie (Karate Kid). The rites of reversals observed in the primetime comedy shows and the dramatic changes in the portrayal of Asian American characters in the remakes signify a transformation in the representation of Asian Americans in the popular media. The dramatic decrease in the number of Asian American stereotypes observed in the analyzed media implies shifting racial attitudes in the United States of America

Enhancing Mesenchymal Stem Cell Chondrogenesis for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Articular cartilage provides a bearing surface for transmitting forces across joints. The poor ability of cartilage to self-repair has motivated efforts to engineer replacement tissues, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can undergo chondrogenesis, have emerged as a promising cell source. To date however, the functional properties of MSC-based constructs remain lower than those of the native tissue and of chondrocyte-based constructs cultured identically. Therefore, the overall objective of this thesis is to better understand the transcriptional and functional limitations underlying chondrogenic differentiation and enhance MSC chondrogenesis. Toward this end, established tissue engineering strategies from the chondrocyte literature were applied. Specifically, the effects of cell seeding density, media formulation and mechanical stimulation were examined with respect to functional growth. Transient application of TGF-β3 improved the compressive properties of MSC-laden constructs, but only when constructs were formed at a higher seeding density. Long-term dynamic compression initiated 3 days after MSC encapsulation impaired functional properties; in contrast, dynamic compression initiated after 3 weeks of chondrogenic pre-culture improved mechanical function. While these strategies enhanced functional chondrogenesis, the compressive properties achieved were ~50% of native tissue levels and did not reach chondrocyte levels. To understand the basis of this difference, microarray analysis was carried out to compare these two cells types and a set of molecular factors were identified as mis-expressed during MSC chondrogenesis. Although work up to this point focused on optimizing compressive properties, the tensile properties of articular cartilage are also critical to its functional role. In this work, we characterized the tensile properties of MSC-based constructs and demonstrated functional parity with chondrocyte-based constructs. To further enhance these properties, a novel sliding contact bioreactor was developed to better replicate physiologic joint loading conditions. Long-term application of loading to MSC-laden constructs improved not only tensile properties, but instilled biochemical inhomogeneity, reminiscent of native articular cartilage. Overall, the work outlined in this thesis represents a significant advancement in engineering cartilage replacements as well as in understanding MSC chondrogenesis. Using a multi-faceted approach, we explored potential routes toward overcoming limitations in chondrogenesis and demonstrated that MSCs are responsive to their chemical and mechanical environment