Lower Tanana flashcards

Master's Project (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019As part of a study of Lower Tanana, I found it expedient to create a learning tool to help myself gain familiarity with Lower Tanana. I chose to employ Anki, an open-source tool for creating digital flashcard based learning tools. With Anki, I created cards for individual Lower Tanana words and phrases. In producing the computer flashcards for Lower Tanana, I realized that they could serve as a highly flexible system for both preserving and learning Lower Tanana. Further, because of the built-in system flexibility, such systems can be created to aid in preserving and teaching other endangered languages

Assessing COVID-19 testing strategies in K-12 schools in underserved populations: Study protocol for a cluster-randomized trial

BACKGROUND: Since March 2020, COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted communities of color within the United States. As schools have shifted from virtual to in-person learning, continual guidance is necessary to understand appropriate interventions to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Weekly testing of students and staff for SARS-CoV-2 within K-12 school setting could provide an additional barrier to school-based transmission, especially within schools unable to implement additional mitigation strategies and/or are in areas of high transmission. This study seeks to understand the role that weekly SARS-CoV-2 testing could play in K-12 schools. In addition, through qualitative interviews and listening sessions, this research hopes to understand community concerns and barriers regarding COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 vaccine, and return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS/DESIGN: Sixteen middle and high schools from five school districts have been randomized into one of the following categories: (1) Weekly screening + symptomatic testing or (2) Symptomatic testing only. The primary outcome for this study will be the average of the secondary attack rate of school-based transmission per case. School-based transmission will also be assessed through qualitative contact interviews with positive contacts identified by the school contact tracers. Lastly, new total numbers of weekly cases and contacts within a school-based quarantine will provide guidance on transmission rates. Qualitative focus groups and interviews have been conducted to provide additional understanding to the acceptance of the intervention and barriers faced by the community regarding SARS-CoV-2 testing and vaccination. DISCUSSION: This study will provide greater understanding of the benefit that weekly screening testing can provide in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission within K-12 schools. Close collaboration with community partners and school districts will be necessary for the success of this and similar studies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04875520 . Registered May 6, 2021

Dopamine type-1 receptor binding in major depressive disorder assessed using positron emission tomography and [11c]nnc-112

The dopamine type-1 receptor has been implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD) by clinical and preclinical evidence from neuroimaging, post mortem, and behavioral studies. To date, however, selective in vivo assessment of D-1 receptors has been limited to the striatum in MDD samples manifesting anger attacks. We employed the PET radioligand, [C-11] NNC-112, to selectively assess D-1 receptor binding in extrastriatal and striatal regions in a more generalized sample of MDD subjects. The [C-11] NNC-112 nondisplaceable binding potential (BPND) was assessed using PET in 18 unmedicated, currently depressed subjects with MDD and 19 healthy controls, and compared between groups using MRI-based region-of-interest analysis. The mean v receptor BPND was reduced (14%) in the left middle caudate of the MDD group relative to control group (p<0.05). Among the MDD subjects D-1 receptor BPND in this region correlated negatively with illness duration (r = -0.53; p = 0.02), and the left-to-right BPND ratio correlated inversely with anhedonia ratings (r = -0.65, p = 0.0040). The D-1 receptor BPND was strongly lateralized in striatal regions (p<0.002 for main effects of hemisphere in accumbens area, putamen, and caudate). In post hoc analyses, a group-by-hemisphere-by-gender interaction was detected in the dorsal putamen, which was accounted for by a loss of the normal asymmetry in depressed women (F = 7.33, p = 0.01). These data extended a previous finding of decreased striatal D-1 receptor binding in an MDD sample manifesting anger attacks to a sample selected more generally according to MDD criteria. Our data also more specifically localized this abnormality in MDD to the left middle caudate, which is the target of afferent neural projections from the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices where neuropathological changes have been reported in MDD. Finally, D-1 receptor binding was asymmetrical across hemispheres in healthy humans, compatible with evidence that dopaminergic function in the striatum is lateralized during reward processing, voluntary movement, and self-stimulation behavior