And Lead Me Not Into Temptation

This piece discusses my personal struggles with my weight as an plus-size woman by integrating the Lord\u27s Prayer throughout the piece in a creatively bittersweet manner. Body image distortions continue to be all too common for countless young girls and women as they struggle with them, but also the growing prevalence of body shaming in our society

What a Fat Girl Wants

This piece discusses my personal struggles with my weight as an obese woman, but also addresses common aspects of daily life that countless young girls and women struggle with through the prevalence of body shaming in our society. I wanted to be their voice to make people aware of how American society wants women to be shaped and molded into the ideal female body

A Multisystem Approach for the Characterization of Bacteria for Sustainable Agriculture

The chemical, physical, and biological properties of bacteria developing resistance have been explored in animal based bacteria while plant bacteria have been largely neglected. Thus, the ability to probe changes in stiffness, adhesion, binding interactions and molecular traits of bacteria causing plant diseases is of great interest to develop a new generation of more potent, yet sustainable, pesticides. Our study aims to investigate the physical and chemical properties of bacterial systems, in particular their cell walls. Building upon this fundamental understanding of the cells, we also investigate the physicochemical responses associated to multivalent nanoparticle-based bactericide treatments on bacterial systems identified as pathogens in plant diseases. Here our efforts focus on developing a protocol for the fundamental understanding of Xanthomonas perforans, a strain known for causing bacterial spot in tomatoes and causing close to 50% losses in production. To support the design and accelerate the development of pesticides and treatments against this disease, we evaluate the changes bacteria undergo in the presence of the treatment. Using a silica nanoparticle-based treatment designed with a shell containing multivalent copper and quaternary ammonium, we compare bacteria pre- and post-treatment with infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based techniques, and TIRF microscopy. Statistical data analysis enables the identification of attributes that can potentially serve as markers to track the bacterial responses to the treatment in the future. Finally, we will discuss the exciting implications of this work, such as potential clues for the development of more potent treatments for resistant bacteria

Testing the Role of Wfs1 in Calcium Regulation in Drosophila Cells

The purpose of the project is to knock out the Wfs1 gene in Drosophila (fruit fly) cells and test the hypothesis that this gene is involved in regulating intracellular calcium levels. To test this hypothesis, the gene will first be knocked out using CRISPR-Cas9 molecular tools that are readily available in Dr. Shanle\u27s lab. This will effectively inactivate the Wsf1 gene in cells. To do this, we will transfect Drosophila cells with CRISPR-Cas9 targeting the gene. Next, we will confirm that the gene is mutated using genomic DNA purification, polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing. Finally, we will treat cells with ionomycin to increase intracellular calcium levels and measure cell death. The results for Wfs1 knockout cells will be compared to wild type cells with normal Wfs1. We hypothesize that cells lacking Wis1 will be more sensitive to ionomycin because they cannot properly transport calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum

Integrative multicellular biological modeling: a case study of 3D epidermal development using GPU algorithms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Simulation of sophisticated biological models requires considerable computational power. These models typically integrate together numerous biological phenomena such as spatially-explicit heterogeneous cells, cell-cell interactions, cell-environment interactions and intracellular gene networks. The recent advent of programming for graphical processing units (GPU) opens up the possibility of developing more integrative, detailed and predictive biological models while at the same time decreasing the computational cost to simulate those models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We construct a 3D model of epidermal development and provide a set of GPU algorithms that executes significantly faster than sequential central processing unit (CPU) code. We provide a parallel implementation of the subcellular element method for individual cells residing in a lattice-free spatial environment. Each cell in our epidermal model includes an internal gene network, which integrates cellular interaction of Notch signaling together with environmental interaction of basement membrane adhesion, to specify cellular state and behaviors such as growth and division. We take a pedagogical approach to describing how modeling methods are efficiently implemented on the GPU including memory layout of data structures and functional decomposition. We discuss various programmatic issues and provide a set of design guidelines for GPU programming that are instructive to avoid common pitfalls as well as to extract performance from the GPU architecture.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrate that GPU algorithms represent a significant technological advance for the simulation of complex biological models. We further demonstrate with our epidermal model that the integration of multiple complex modeling methods for heterogeneous multicellular biological processes is both feasible and computationally tractable using this new technology. We hope that the provided algorithms and source code will be a starting point for modelers to develop their own GPU implementations, and encourage others to implement their modeling methods on the GPU and to make that code available to the wider community.</p

Does playing video games make you an athlete?

The purpose of this study is to compare the tap and move-and-tap reaction times between those who play sports, those who play video games, and those who do neither. We hypothesize that the Neither group will have the slowest reaction times, while the Sports group will have the fastest move-and-tap reaction times, and the Gamers group has the fastest tap reaction times. Many research articles have indicated that gamers and athletes have similar reaction times speeds, with non-gamers/athletes having the slowest. However, we wanted to test the reaction times of all groups, based on them simply taping a button/mouse already in their hand, to them having to reach/extend their arm to tap a button/mouse. We would expect gamers to have faster reaction times/speed when it comes to pressing the mouse/button (that is placed in their hand), opposed to having to press it while extending their arm. Furthermore, we expect athletes to have faster reaction times/speed to having to extend their arm to press the mouse/button, with non-gamers/athletes having the slowest reaction times/speeds in both categories. Conclusions will allow us to decide if gaming is considered a sport. Thus, ultimately determining if E-Sports rightfully belongs in the Olympics

Trauma histories among justice-involved youth: findings from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

BackgroundUp to 90% of justice-involved youth report exposure to some type of traumatic event. On average, 70% of youth meet criteria for a mental health disorder with approximately 30% of youth meeting criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Justice-involved youth are also at risk for substance use and academic problems, and child welfare involvement. Yet, less is known about the details of their trauma histories, and associations among trauma details, mental health problems, and associated risk factors.ObjectiveThis study describes detailed trauma histories, mental health problems, and associated risk factors (i.e., academic problems, substance/alcohol use, and concurrent child welfare involvement) among adolescents with recent involvement in the juvenile justice system.MethodThe National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set (NCTSN-CDS) is used to address these aims, among which 658 adolescents report recent involvement in the juvenile justice system as indexed by being detained or under community supervision by the juvenile court.ResultsAge of onset of trauma exposure was within the first 5 years of life for 62% of youth and approximately one-third of youth report exposure to multiple or co-occurring trauma types each year into adolescence. Mental health problems are prevalent with 23.6% of youth meeting criteria for PTSD, 66.1% in the clinical range for externalizing problems, and 45.5% in the clinical range for internalizing problems. Early age of onset of trauma exposure was differentially associated with mental health problems and related risk factors among males and females.ConclusionsThe results indicate that justice-involved youth report high rates of trauma exposure and that this trauma typically begins early in life, is often in multiple contexts, and persists over time. Findings provide support for establishing trauma-informed juvenile justice systems that can respond to the needs of traumatized youth

Maternal hemoglobin and hematocrit levels during pregnancy and childhood lung function and asthma. The Generation R Study

Objective: To examine the associations of maternal hemoglobin and hematocrit levels during pregnancy with childhood lung function and asthma, and whether adverse pregnancy outcomes and atopic predisposition modify the associations. Methods: In a population-based prospective cohort study among 3672 subjects, we measured maternal hemoglobin and hematocrit levels in early pregnancy, and lung function by spirometry and current asthma by questionnaire at age 10 years. Results: Higher maternal hematocrit levels, both continuously and categorized into clinical cut-offs, were associated with lower forced expiratory flow at 75% of forced vital capacity (FEF75) in children (Z-score (95%CI): −0.04 (−0.07, −0.01), per increase of 1 SDS in hematocrit level; Z-score (95%CI) difference: −0.11 (−0.20, −0.03) compared with normal hematocrit levels, respectively), taking lifestyle and socio-economic factors into account. Adverse pregnancy outcomes and atopic predisposition did not modify the results. No associations of maternal hemoglobin and hematocrit with current asthma were observed. Conclusion: Higher maternal hematocrit levels during pregnancy are associated with lower childhood lung function but not with risk of asthma. Adverse pregnancy outcomes and atopic predisposition do not modify these associations. Underlying mechanisms need to be further studied

The Design, Fabrication, and Magnetic Actuation of a Microactuator to Accomplish Propulsion and Large Deflection in Viscous and Elastic Environments

Biomimetics is the study of the structure and function of biological organisms, properties, or substances to inform or inspire the creation of artificial mimics. Nature's evolutionarily evolved answers to its own obstacles can become great solutions to our problems in the fields of physics, materials science, and engineering. The field of biomimetics has both led to technological advances and utilized biomimetic systems to glean knowledge about their biological inspirations. I have developed a single biomimetic system which both mimics a biological system well enough to inform biology and is capable of advancing technology. This biomimetic system is composed of novel core-shell microrods that closely mimic the size of biological cilia and generate fluid transport in both viscous and viscoelastic fluids. Complex biological processes such as the determination of left-right asymmetry in the vertebrate embryonic node and mucociliary clearance in the lung are dependent on the successful transport of fluids, both buffer-like and viscoelastic. A biomimetic system such as the one I have developed allows us to compare cilia-driven transport in both aqueous and viscoelastic fluids. In addition, I have used arrays of these core-shell microrods, comprising a flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) core surrounded by a 100 nm shell of nickel, to assess the time evolution of fluid properties at the microscale, such as the formation of blood clots, which act to stem the flow of blood in the event of trauma or tissue damage. Using this system as an assay for the onset of clot development results in clinically relevant clotting time measurements. I will discuss these applications for the use of this biomimetic cilia system, as well as the system's design parameters and the fabrication procedure.Doctor of Philosoph

Faculty and Student Online Mentoring Preferences

Isolation of online doctoral students intensifies when they transition from coursework to the dissertation/capstone phase, limiting them to interacting with their mentors. A three-round modified Delphi study was conducted to examine mentoring preferences of online doctoral students and faculty. The first round provided qualitative data regarding the preferred mentoring practices for faculty and alumni. Round 1 qualitative data were organized into Likert questions and used in the second round, which resulted in data about frequency of mentoring practices for the same participants from Round 1. The third round provided data about importance of each preference rated by faculty and current students. Findings indicated a dichotomy was present in that mentees’ academic self-esteem appeared to be tied to faculty being responsive. Faculty emphasized mentee autonomy while mentees wanted frequent contact with faculty