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Downregulation of Notch Signaling Pathway Decreases Primary Cilium Lengths in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
No full textvi, 31 p.Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) affects over half a million people and causes around 10% of end stage renal failure in the United States. One of the most prominent symptoms of ADPKD includes the presence of renal cysts that over time, interfere with kidney function. The cause of ADPKD consists of genetic mutations in the PKD1 and PKD2 genes. These mutations negatively influence the formation in polycystin1 and polycystin2 protein complex (PC1 and PC2 protein complex) which regulates intracellular and extracellular calcium flow in the primary cilium. An intracellular loss of calcium has been shown to be correlated with cell proliferation. Previous research has also established a connection between Cux1, a murine homolog of Cut from drosophila melanogaster, and cell proliferation in kidneys of affected patients. Additionally, a relationship between Cux1 and Notch1, a receptor of the Notch signaling pathway, has also been detected. It was discovered that Notch1 upregulated Cux1 indicating that the Notch signaling pathway is involved in cyst formation in ADPKD. This present study looked at the Notch signaling pathway and its relation to cyst formation. In this study, primary cilium lengths were compared with those of Recombination Signal Binding Protein for Immunoglobin Kappa J (RBPj) knockout mice. Knocking out RBPj inhibits the Notch pathway as it is a crucial part of the signaling pathway. This study, through immunofluorescence discovered that there was a significant difference in the cilia lengths between wild type and Notch inhibited mice. These findings suggest that there are new possible therapeutic treatments for ADPKD by inhibiting the Notch signaling pathway
A Southwest Conservation Experience and the Status of California Condor Conservation
No full textiii, 17 p.The objective of this Senior Integrated Project was to gain a better understanding of careers in conservation by gaining firsthand experience doing physical field work, and by conducting academic research on the subject. For my experiential SIP, I went to Arizona to work for a conservation corps called the American Conservation Experience, where I had the opportunity to work alongside and gain career insight and new skills from experienced professionals in the field of land management and conservation. The work I did took place on federal lands, specifically Coconino National Forest and Grand Canyon National Park. In doing this work, I happened to witness the critically endangered California condors in the wild. I was quite intrigued by my encounters with them, and this inspired me to make them the subject of my research in the latter half of this paper, which reviews the literature on the anthropogenic threats this species faces, and what conservation efforts are being made to protect them. The findings of this research illustrate how these efforts have managed to start bringing California condors back from what was at one point the brink of certain extinction, and have instead put them on a trajectory of growth. Having gained this new experience and knowledge, it has become clearer to me how rewarding and impactful conservation work can be
Effect of Amphibian Chytrid Fungus on the Size Distribution of Boreal Toads in Rocky Mountain National Park
No full textvi, 28 p.Amphibians have unique physical characteristics that increase their susceptibility to environmental disturbances. Their permeable skin and ectothermic manner of thermoregulation coupled with pathogen exposure are contributing factors to the global decline of amphibians. Additionally, most amphibians are biphasic, meaning they have two distinct habitat requirements over the course of their life. An aquatic environment is required for reproduction, while feeding and wintering as adults takes place on land. Amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [Bd]) is a skin pathogen affecting amphibian populations globally, including the populations of boreal toads in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) in Colorado. We conducted population monitoring in tandem with size measurements of individual boreal toads found at two sites in RMNP. Lost Lake is a site that tests positive for Bd and Spruce Lake is a site with no evidence of Bd. Male and female toads found in the presence of Bd at Lost Lake had shorter snout-to-vent length (SVL) measurements and lower mass, suggesting that Bd may effect body size. Reproductive capacity may be altered by body size, so understanding the relationship between Bd and body size is important for species conservation of endangered boreal toads
SIP Internship
No full text6 p.While at Alro Steel Corporation in Battle Creek, Michigan the emphasis was that every customer and employee were family. How does being a part of a family positively affect a business one may think? Multiple experiences from working in the office, spending time with coworkers outside of the work setting, and even shadowing territory managers and their interactions with customers to receive feedback on how the partnership is going and areas of improvement all came back to one commonality which was family. I felt as if I wasn’t just an intern. I felt that I belonged. The customers who I spoke to or witnessed felt as if they could communicate their wants and needs, while expressing what they liked and didn't like with the manner of professionalism and also comforting as if they were talking to people they know instead of just another worker on the phone
The Role of TGF-β Ligands on Mobility and Exercise Performance in Drosophila
No full text31 p.Endurance exercise has become a successful method for improving mobility decline
associated with age, slowing the occurrence of many age-related diseases, and boosting
metabolic health. Although chronic endurance exercise promotes the health benefits mentioned,
the molecular pathways governing these adaptations are not fully understood. Drosophila has
emerged as a useful model for understanding the physiological processes of endurance exercise
because of their short lifespans and the ability to conduct large genetic screens using genetic
manipulation. Here, we take advantage of the fly’s instinctual negative geotaxis behavior to
assess the effects of chronic endurance exercise on fly metabolism combined with RNAi
expression of TGF-β ligands myostatin and follistatin in the muscle. The activity of myostatin
and follistatin RNAi alters fly fatigue tolerance and climbing speed compared to wild-type flies.
We find that endurance exercise training improves climbing speed in follistatin flies and
endurance in both myostatin and follistatin flies. Among the proteins that play critical roles in the
pathways stemming from exercise, AKT is critical for comparing with myostatin to better
understand its effects with exercise metabolism. The connection between AKT phosphorylation
and myostatin shows how myostatin is required for normal phosphorylation of AKT following
exercise training. Lifespan of myostatin flies is drastically influenced by exercise as we find that
exercised myostatin RNAi flies live longer than unexercised myostatin RNAi flies. These results
indicate that myostatin and follistatin are critical secreted factors that influence the metabolic
adaptations derived from endurance exercise training in Drosophila.Department of Physiology. Wayne State University Medical School. Detroit, Michigan
Working Without a Diploma : Strategy and Operations at the Leading Financial Information and Services Provider in Vietnam
No full textii, 39 p.The goal of this paper is three-fold: (i.) Summarize the 2-year experience at FiinGroup, a company in the growth stage (stage III-G – Churchill and Lewis, 2022) in a detailed manner, (ii.) Apply and reflect from the learning experience at K College after leaving FiinGroup. (iii.) Draw a strategy going forward for the company from my own judgment. In addition, this paper aims towards those interested in business and corporate management and aims towards those interested in exploring career opportunities in general. The paper shall provide corporate management fundamentals as well as reflections that could impact one’s career philosophy
Orientation and Alignment in the Photodissociation of Alkyl Nitrites
No full textvii, 19 p.The photodissociation of alkyl nitrites (RONO) provides a view of fundamental processes in chemical dynamics. A primary product in the photodissociation, NO, is readily amenable to 1+1’ REMPI, allowing for a detailed view of the translational, vibrational, and rotational energy in the products. Further information on the alignment and orientation of the NO product is determined using polarized lasers. Alkyl nitrites were photodissociated from the S2 state and the resultant NO products were detected with DC-sliced ion imaging. The ion images were fit directly to extract both even and odd bipolar moments, revealing that the transition dipole (μ) is parallel to the fragment velocity (v), with both μ and v perpendicular to the angular momentum (j). The preferred orientation of j was determined to be in the same direction as v x μ. Differences between the dynamics of the studied nitrites are attributed to the variation in conformer populations
Applying a Computer Science Education in Healthcare IT : A Summer Internship as an Applications Analyst
No full text6 p.As this was my second summer with Sparrow as an applications analyst, my goals focused around further improving my knowledge of not only my roles and responsibilities, but also of the health system in general and how my work affects patient care. Last summer, I earned my Epic proficiency in the Inpatient – Clinical Documentation settings. This certification was a three-week process and took up almost half of my summer between the training courses, projects, and proctored exams. Because of this and COVID-19 shortening the internship experience, I was not able to finish some of my projects. Towards the end of that summer, I focused solely on taking short ticket requests so I would not leave work behind for my coworkers. This summer, my number one priority was to take on larger projects and be able to get them to production before I left in August. To me it did not matter what project I was on as they all were going to be a learning experience, but I wanted the satisfaction of seeing a project from beginning talks to being moved to the production environment. My second goal was to get to know the health system as whole better, especially getting to go see how my work affects the different departments and service areas included in the hospital. Being on the inpatient team, we cover all work relating to hospitalizations, so being able to tour the hospital and shadow clinicians was a goal of mine to better understand how I can best improve their workflows. Being able to meet them in person and take any questions or concerns is something my team did before COVID-19, so I was hoping to be able to do that with the lessening of restrictions. Finally, I wanted to show myself that although this job is not what people originally expect from a computer science major, I could still apply all my skills from my education and learn some more to help me in my final year at Kalamazoo
Graphic Design and User Experience Research Internships: A Reflection
No full text13 p.In the present paper, I discuss the design related internships I completed during the Summer of 2021, what I learned from them, how these experiences relate to my career, and how these internships relate to what I have been learning about as a psychology major at Kalamazoo College. I learned about myself and how I work on projects, as well as my design process. I also learned that I enjoy using my creative abilities more than my research abilities, and I discuss how this affects my career outlook. Overall, I am glad I challenged myself this past summer and completed three separate internship positions, two of which were through the University of Michigan, and the other through a close connection. Moving forward, I know that it will be useful to pull from these experiences whether I choose to attend graduate school or join the design workforce
Modeling Cognitive Diversity
No full textvi, 36 p.In this paper we propose a computational modeling approach to the study of cognitive diversity, which is a rising hot topic of scientific interest. Theoretical studies overwhelmingly suggest that cognitive diversity, specifically diversity of functional background, improve team performance. However, data collected from corporate teams shows mixed results; in fact many such studies have concluded that functional diversity hurts team performance. This project will take a new approach and use agent based modeling to computationally investigate the relationship between functional diversity and team performance and its moderating variables. Agent based modeling allows us to explore agent behaviors, this will not only help to determine if a correlation exists between diversity and team performance, but also the mechanisms behind why those patterns emerge. Our model takes a specific approach and investigates how two different definitions of diversity, Dominant Functional Diversity and Intrapersonal Functional Diversity, affect team performance. The findings from this model indicate that the definition of diversity has a strong effect on the perceived team performance, which could explain why results generated from studies that do not have the same experimental setup are inconsistent with each other. Our findings reveal the importance of a universal construct of cognitive diversity which will make future studies more comparable