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Sex and the APOE4 genotype modulate cognitive and molecular outcomes in a murine model of chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment.
No full textChemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is reported in over 35% of cancer survivors. Understanding risk factors for CICI provides insight into mechanisms and treatment. Female sex and the E4 allele of the APOE gene are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and may also confer risk for CICI. We investigated these factors in a middle-aged murine model. We used a 2 (+/- cisplatin) x 2 (male/female) x 2 (wild-type/APOE4 knock-in) factorial design (N = 51). Cisplatin (2.3 mg/kg/day) or saline was administered for 2 rounds of 5 days each. Behavior was evaluated one month after treatment, followed by brain gene expression analyses. Male mice exhibited more severe weight loss following cisplatin. In cognitive tasks, cisplatin reduced performance, with sex and genotype modulating performance. Cisplatin affected Bdnf mRNA expression but varied according to brain region, sex, and genotype. Our data provide evidence that sex and genotype may modulate the development of CICI
Exploring the relationship between mindfulness practices and well-being for K–12 educators : a multiple case study.
No full textA large number of K–12 teachers report experiencing high levels of stress and burnout, which can make it challenging to maintain their professional well-being. High stress can lead to adverse physical and mental health concerns and may negatively impact both individual educators and their organizations. Mindfulness practices (i.e., activities that support bringing attention and awareness to the present moment; Kabat-Zinn, 1994; Shapiro et al., 2006) show promise in supporting educators’ stress management. However, there is little research about how individual educators learn and engage in mindfulness. This study explored how educators experience learning a mindfulness practice and using it to support their professional well-being.
This study included four cases, each bound as an individual participant who worked as a K–12 teacher and engaged in a mindfulness practice. The participants worked in city and suburban schools in the United States. I explored each participant’s experiences by collecting data through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. I used Mezirow’s (1978, 1991) transformative learning theory as a framework for this study.
This study had six key findings. The first finding was that before learning a mindfulness practice, educators in this study described having poor stress management and a lack of a conceptualization of well-being. The second finding was that each educator in this study described reaching a point where they believed that stress played a role in their negative physical and mental health symptoms. The third finding was that educators encountered various opportunities to learn a mindfulness practice, which supported the development of self-awareness and the integration of mindfulness into their professional role. The fourth finding was that mindfulness practices empowered educators to choose actions that support their well-being. The fifth finding was that each educator’s specific mindfulness practices supported their professional stress management, self-care, and a desire to share mindfulness with others. The sixth finding was that educators in this study similarly defined mindfulness as a daily practice but differed in their description of how mindfulness supported their well-being
Gender differences in salary, experience, and enrollment : a quantitative causal comparative analysis of Missouri K–12 public-school administrators.
No full textGender disparities persist within United States K–12 public education, particularly in administrative roles where females face unequal pay (Grissom et al., 2021), slower career advancement (Bailes & Guthery, 2020), and disproportionate placement in lower-status or higher-risk positions (Jang & Alexander, 2022). Despite comprising the majority of the teaching workforce (Ingersoll et al., 2021), females remain underrepresented in leadership roles such as principals (Bailes & Guthery, 2020) and superintendents (Gullo & Sperandio, 2020). These gender disparities are often intensified by intersectional factors such as race, reinforcing glass ceilings that hinder advancement and glass cliffs that increase the likelihood of failure after promotion (Acker, 2012).
This cross-sectional quantitative causal comparative study examines potential gender disparities between female and male Missouri K–12 public-school administrators across three variables: salary, total years of experience, and student enrollment size. Guided by Joan Acker’s (2012) gendered organizations theory, which suggests that institutions embed systemic inequalities through organizing processes, this research study analyzed 2024 statewide administrator data obtained from the Missouri Comprehensive Data System (MCDS). The sample included all Missouri assistant principals (n = 1,714), principals (n = 2,215), assistant superintendents (n = 338), and superintendents (n = 529), for a total of 4,796 administrators. Using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests, the study identified statistically significant gender-based differences.
The results of this study emphasizes the need for Missouri superintendents, school boards, and other district leaders to address gender-based salary gaps and implement equitable hiring and promotion practices. It also calls for leaders to confront personal biases and commit to intentional, data-driven reforms. Additionally, females aspiring to educational leadership roles should pursue professional development and mentoring opportunities tailored to meet the needs of female leaders. These steps are essential for fostering equity and inclusion in educational leadership
Incorporating external controls into win ratio analysis with applications to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) trials.
No full textThe win ratio method offers a clinically valuable approach for analyzing composite endpoints in clinical trials by accounting for hierarchical priorities across components. It assigns greater weight to more severe components, such as death, compared to less severe ones, such as hospitalization. This approach improves both statistical power and clinical interpretation compared to traditional composite endpoint analyses. These advantages are particularly appealing in trials for rare diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), where efficient and interpretable effect estimates on complex endpoints are important. In rare diseases, patient populations are extremely limited, and disease progression is often rapid and severe. Leveraging external control data can enhance the efficiency of trials and reduce the sample size requirement in placebo arms. However, leveraging external data remains unexplored in the win ratio framework. In this dissertation, we developed three methods to incorporate external control data into win ratio analysis while properly accounting for differences between studies. We proposed (1) a propensity score (PS)-based stratified win ratio, (2) a PS-integrated win ratio, and (3) a two-stage Bayesian win ratio framework for longitudinal and survival composites to support interim decisions. Through simulation studies and real-data applications in ALS trials, the proposed methods demonstrate improved statistical power and robustness while maintaining control of the Type I error rate
Competencies in higher education and student affairs : how graduate students perceive their professional competencies across their program tenure.
No full textGraduate higher education and student affairs programs have doubled in number from 1999 to 2014 (Whitt & Schuh, 2015). This study utilizes Astin’s (1993) Input-Environment-Output (I-E-O) model, and a longitudinal mixed methods approach aimed to understand the relationship between student experiences in higher education graduate programs and the development of professional competencies as defined by NASPA and ACPA (2015). With the growth of the field and preparatory programs, knowing if and how graduate students are developing these competencies will provide helpful knowledge to students and program directors to evaluate their current programs. The findings suggest that student characteristics (inputs) and the programmatic environment, including assistantship, internship, or full-time work, play crucial roles in shaping competency development (outcomes), particularly in areas such as Advising and Supporting, Organizational and Human Resources, and Assessment, Evaluation, and Research. This highlights the need to ensure opportunities for scholar-practitioner practice and the development of competencies
Enhancement and tailoring of Miranda v. Arizona : the necessity of statutory safeguards and enhanced law enforcement training for juveniles.
Get PDFMiranda v. Arizona established the requirement that law enforcement must make suspects explicitly aware of their right to an attorney and their right to remain silent before conducting a custodial interrogation. However, Miranda failed to address the unique vulnerabilities of juveniles. The question of whether Miranda must be applied to differently juveniles has remained unanswered by the Court. Some states across the nation have begun enacting statutory safeguards meant to ensure that the rights of juveniles are not infringed upon by law enforcement. Further, several cities and police departments have taken proactive steps to address the problem of the unique susceptibility and reactivity of juveniles. These initiatives include specialized training focusing on juvenile interaction, child development education, and Community Oriented Policing strategies. Research on departments across the United States reveals widespread support for these statutory safeguards, initiatives, and specialized training. The current safeguards and training initiatives are few and far between, providing simply a patch work of protection across the nation. It is the intent of this thesis to provide evidence for why Miranda necessitates federal statutory safeguards and mandating juvenile-specific law enforcement training
Memories of the ‘Montgomery Success’ : a thematic analysis of allied airborne combatant memoirs from Operation Market Garden.
No full textOperation Market Garden was an Allied plan in World War II involving massive airborne drops into the German-occupied Netherlands to seize key bridges along a large highway leading up to the German border. Though the operation failed, countless Allied airborne soldiers fought in various battles across the Netherlands, suffering immense hardships and tragedies along the way. By examining memoirs from veterans of the American 101st Airborne, American 82nd Airborne, and British 1st Airborne Divisions, key themes emerge about the Allied airborne experience during Market Garden. These include tensions with fellow coalition members, particularly upper leadership; dealing with intense battlefield emotions, including rage and hopelessness; and struggling with a sense of futility given the operation’s outcome. Ultimately, reading these memoirs to discover what Market Garden veterans subjectively experienced humanizes both the fighting and those who participated in it, proving that this operation cannot be ignored simply because of its poor strategic result
Portrait of a woman : Servilia Caepionis.
Get PDFUpon visiting Rome for the first time, as much as I was entranced by the colosseum, the forum, and the city cloaked in Latin inscriptions, what caught my eye the most was the mosaics. Of course, I had come across these unassuming masterpieces during my studies, but it took being in front of one to truly appreciate their sheer beauty. For my thesis, I made a portrait of Servilia Caepionis, the mother of Brutus and mistress of Caesar, with classical mosaic techniques and tools. Servilia was a complex and powerful woman, one who occupied a liminal space in Late Republican society, a society which did not open the door to women in politics, but did not quite close it either. This mosaic is able to be interpreted in two primary ways: (1) as a tool of power in Servilia’s world, and (2) as an educational tool in our own
Assessing COVID-19’s toll on students’ mental health : the effects of adverse childhood experiences and distress tolerance.
Get PDFThis thesis examined distress tolerance and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as factors influencing stress related to the Covid-19 pandemic in a sample of undergraduates. Pandemic-related stress was assessed across three subscales: avoidance, intrusion, and hyperarousal. Data was analyzed from three timepoints: March 2020, March 2021, and November/December of 2022. At time one, ACEs and distress tolerance were significantly correlated with hyperarousal. At time two, ACEs were significantly correlated with hyperarousal and intrusion and distress tolerance was significantly correlated with all three subscales. At time three, ACEs were significantly correlated with all three subscales. Regression analyses found that ACEs and distress tolerance significantly predicted hyperarousal at time one, neither ACEs nor distress tolerance significantly predicted any subscale at time two, and ACEs significantly predicted all subscales at time three. This suggests that students with more ACEs experienced longer-lasting responses to pandemic stress even as the world returned to normalcy
A primer on asset-based lending.
No full textAsset-based lending (ABL) is a financing method secured primarily by the assets of a borrower rather than cash flows. An asset-based loan consists of a secured revolving line of credit backed by a company’s borrowing ability governed by its asset values, typically accounts receivable and inventory, and calculated through a borrowing base. Chapter One of this thesis walks through the history, deal process, industry structure, and key elements of an asset-based loan. Chapter Two presents a case study of Bed Bath & Beyond, a retail company that utilized ABL strategies amid declining profitability and market share. This case study analyzes three ABL credit agreements and performs collateral monitoring through the lens of the Bed Bath & Beyond liquidation, the worst-case scenario for an ABL