University at Albany, State University of New York
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Analysis of Cytokine Data in a Case-Control Study of ME/CFS
Get PDFThis study investigated the role of cytokines in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a debilitating multi-system disease with unknown etiology. Using data from a case-control study (60 cases, 61 controls) previously collected by Dr. Roxana Moslehi’s lab, serum levels of 48 cytokines were analyzed. Statistical analyses, including T-tests, Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests, and logistic regression (unadjusted and adjusted for medication use), were performed to identify differences between cases and controls.
Results revealed a statistically significant difference in mean Fractalkine levels between cases and controls (p=0.031). Borderline significant differences were also observed for IL-6 (p=0.046) and MIP-1α (p=0.046). Unadjusted logistic regression showed a significant association between lower Fractalkine levels and ME/CFS (OR=1.422, p=0.037), which remained borderline significant after adjusting for medication (OR=1.448, p=0.0498). In a gender-stratified analysis, higher RANTES levels were significantly associated with a decreased risk of ME/CFS in females (OR=0.376, p=0.047). There is no evidence to suggest there is a significant association between medication use during 24 hours prior to blood draw on case-control status and between gender and case-control status as well.
Lower Fractalkine levels are significantly associated with an increased risk of ME/CFS, even after adjusting for medication. The influence of medication on cytokine associations varied, with some remaining statistically significant and others becoming less so. Higher levels of RANTES were associated with a statistically significant decreased risk of ME/CFS in females only. Future analyses in Dr. Moslehi’s lab will explore gender-cytokine interactions, effect of specific medication categories on ME/CFS, and multiple-testing adjustments to minimize false positives
Diversity, Genomics and Antimicrobial Resistance of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus: A Literature Review
Get PDFMembers of the gram-positive bacterial genus Staphylococcus have historically been classified into coagulase-positive Staphylococcus (CoPS) and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS). This classification is based on the ability of clotting of plasma by the coagulase enzyme, which converts fibrinogen to fibrin. CoNS species are ubiquitous commensals that frequently colonize the skin and mucosal surfaces. They are also opportunistic pathogens implicated in many human and animal infections. The evolutionary history of CoNS has generally been overlooked because of the historical lack of recognition for their clinical importance and poor taxonomic sampling. They are often perceived as being less or non-pathogenic, especially compared to the more widely studied coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus. Part 1 of this thesis describes the taxonomy and characteristics of CoNS. Part 2 summarizes the genomic features of some CoNS species, focusing on horizontal gene transfer. Part 3 discusses the clinically relevant features such as antimicrobial resistance and virulence in CoNS. I emphasize the need to carry out comparative and population genomic investigations of CoNS, which offer unprecedented resolution in understanding their host adaptation, pathogenicity and response to clinical interventions
Anti-racism as the Resistance to Racial Trauma: A Three-Paper Qualitative Study on Therapeutic Approaches That Promote Healing among BIPOC Individuals
Get PDFPaper One Abstract: This paper examines the impact of racial trauma on the well-being of Black and Brown individuals and explores the utility of racial healing social work approaches in providing mental health treatment. Grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT), the study delves into the lived experiences of Black and multiracial social workers as they support their clients through racial trauma. Through interpretive phenomenological analysis, narrative interviews with twelve Black and multiracial participants revealed the intergenerational nature of racial trauma and the various therapeutic approaches employed by social workers, including validation, addressing stigma, building trust, psychoeducation, narrative therapy, and intersectionality. The findings underscore the importance of these approaches in supporting the healing journey of Black and brown clients. These social workers address racial issues by directly confronting the impact of racism. Using a trauma-informed perspective and storytelling, they identify the effects of racism in their sessions and ways to support healing.
Paper Two Abstract: This paper explores the impact of structural racism on mental health service delivery, as perceived by twelve Black and multiracial social workers. The study emphasizes the necessity of anti-racist approaches in psychotherapy. It delves into critical inquiries regarding characterizing anti-racism within psychotherapy, perceptions of social work as an anti-racist discipline, and the influence of organizational structures and policies on racial healing efforts. Informed by Critical Race Theory counter-storytelling, the study aims to shift the focus from prevailing white narratives to elevate the voices of BIPOC individuals. I use an interpretive phenomenological analytic approach; the study identifies social workers\u27 perspectives on how organizational structures and policies influence racial healing in social work. It explores the way white supremacy remains present in social work. Findings indicate that despite well-intended efforts, the social work field perpetuates racism, further marginalizing BIPOC individuals.
Additionally, organizational structures and policies adversely impact social work practices, as they are subject to the distorting influence of structural racism, which places the burden of change on individuals rather than the institution. The system\u27s failure to support individuals in their practice, coupled with the influence of structural racism, presents challenges to achieving actual transformational change within the field.
Paper Three Abstract: I employ various methodological and theoretical approaches in this paper, including autoethnographic methods, counter-storytelling, Black feminism, and Blackout poetry. I explore my journey of embracing love as an act of defiance, detailing my various challenges and adversities. Through the lens of a counter-narrative, I illuminate my experiences with racial trauma and the grief experienced following the murder of George Floyd, articulating the process through which I reestablished a sense of love and resilience. Additionally, I integrate qualitative data gathered from ten influential Black social workers, which elucidates the foundational principles guiding their contributions to the field of social work. This examination highlights the significance of these counter-stories and illustrates the transformative power of Blackout poetry as a medium through which these experiences and discoveries are articulated. Through this approach, I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the intersections between personal experience, social justice, and the role of love in the face of systemic adversity
Exploring Homeschooling Parents’ Conceptions of Reading Motivation from a Self-Determination Theoretical Perspective
Get PDFThe purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how homeschooling parents (HPs) conceptualize the role of motivation in early reading development and how these conceptualizations inform how they design and implement their reading instruction. Given the importance of reading motivation for early literacy development, the decline in reading motivation over the early years, the lack of understanding how early literacy instructional practices affect young students’ reading motivation, and the paucity of research regarding home education, the researcher proposed that exploring HPs’ conceptualizations through the use of surveys, interviews, and home observations would allow for the compilation of a rich description of reading motivation supportive practices within the home education environment. The study was underpinned by a Self-Determination Theoretical (SDT) framework as the findings were organized according to HPs’ support for SDT’s constructs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The key findings of the study demonstrate how HPs conceptualized the role of motivation in their child’s literacy development and the varied methods of support for their young learners’ sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Situating these findings within the existing literature base illuminated several motivational strategies employed by HPs: for autonomy support, HPs followed their child’s lead, encouraged topical interests, and made use of technology; for competence support, HPs employed personalized and targeted instruction within a consistent structure, prioritized interest, and protected feelings; and for relatedness support, HPs established a culture of reading through the curation of high-interest literacy materials and spaces, validated struggles, and incorporated celebrations. Overall, the study asserts the importance of examining the multi-faceted and complex nature of early reading motivation and its effects on literacy development
Kafka in the Plague Years: Reinterpreting Absurdity in the 2020s
Get PDFNo word better encapsulates the confusion and inequality proliferating in the post-2020 global world than “absurd.” Absurdity consumes the way we interact with one another, going about life-as-usual in pocket worlds in which the individual is alienated from both oneself and others. Life is defined by a series of problems that regularly go ignored by both institution and general populace alike, but not by the human body: the effects of sustained illness and reinfection by recurrent viruses in a world that no longer acknowledges their severity nor their pervasiveness nor steps we may take towards personal safety. Daily life has resumed its “normal” rhythms for most, with former mask and vaccine mandates increasingly being relaxed, supplanted by a suspicion towards medical science, the masked, and a growing movement to ban face coverings and vaccines altogether. Contrary to this movement, the number of severe COVID-19 and other infectious disease cases has only increased since the end of enforced lockdowns.
The requirement for endless growth to fuel global capitalism creates an innate absurdity: the sacrifice of body, mind, and livelihood for the behest of profit, and human life is in turn translated into a sort of resource with which to keep the fires of industry and economic prosperity burning. Virtue can only be found in labor, and therefore those who cannot– or refuse to– participate in this labor are reviled.
Above all else in the “post-pandemic” world, the concept of “normalcy” reigns supreme. The citizen is expected to return to “work as normal,” the student is expected to “study as normal,” and businesses are expected to resume ordinary dates and hours of operation. Equipment used to keep the body safe– the vaccine, the mask, necessary quarantine– has collectively been discouraged and deemed less meaningful than the continued growth of capitalism, which in and of itself is unsustainable.
In turn, in a world of failing health and failing bureaucracy, the works of author Franz Kafka shine with renewed relevance: most significantly, his short stories “The Metamorphosis” and “The Trial,” which illustrate politics of bodies and minds that have been overrun with ideas about what it means to be a good citizen in an age with a senseless approach to the concept of the self. Josef K. attemps to follow the unnavigable Law set out for him to avoid imprisonment, and Gregor Samsa attempts to reenter his old world – the world of a businessman and family patriarch – after losing his humanity at random. Both works investigate contradictions present in our expectations of our governing systems, our governing systems’ expectations of us, and the ways in which those two expectations often defeat one another and leave grave implications for citizens who find the systems laid out in bureaucracy to be physically or intellectually unnavigable– which, Kafka argues through both narratives, is by design. Tying them together, we have the thought experiment present in the short story “Before the Law,” showing us a man waiting at a bureaucratic gate marked only for his entry to be processed until the moment of his death – his and his alone, yet there is never time for his concerns to be heard.
All four of these narratives, in turn, are suited to a Marxist re-interpretation in which they are analyzed through the lens of an alienating, absurdist simulacrum of normalcy– people being pressured to invest labor, understanding, and their physical selves into bureaucratic systems that are not just nonsensical, but nonsensical by design to distract from the fact that they do not fulfill their promises or stated purposes for the “average citizen” of their time.
Samsa is not rewarded for the hard work he has provided for his company nor the financial stability he has provided for his family, and K. is not given protection nor shelter by the law that is meant to guard his rights as a citizen. In both cases, bureaucracy treats them as a threat to its continued machine, and excises them like tumors from its body so that it may continue unimpeded. “Before the Law” describes a legal system that by its very nature cannot enforce anything, a vestigial set of symbols that indicate nothing and exist to force one to stay where he is, as he is, without gaining information about his circumstance.
I contribute to this collection my own interpretation: that the archetypes of K, Gregor Samsa, and the citizens present in “Before the Law” and “An Imperial Message” are analogous to modern-day citizens, failed by the current process of bureaucracy in a similar way to how citizens of Prague were failed in Kafka’s time by its own Law. The disabled and the accused suffer similarly, and even those who think themselves average working-class citizens could at any moment be the victim of incrimination or illness that takes away every aspect of life which they have been sure of up to this point.
At current, an “average citizen” is one who has experienced a Covid-19 infection. At current, an “average citizen” is someone whose health and future have been failed by one or more systems of bureaucracy in order to keep the decrepit corpse of “normal” moving and producing capital. We, as are Kafka’s protagonists, wading through the undeath of normalcy. What is to be done
Elucidating the Effects of Environmental and Physiological Conditions on Stem Cell Regulation In Vivo
No full textThe Notch signaling pathway is a highly conserved intercellular signaling pathway that any dysregulation can lead to a variety of human diseases. These diseases are further exacerbated by various environmental, pathological and genetic conditions. Previous studies have shown that these conditions have been known to affect the Notch transcriptional response. However, the molecular mechanisms by which such conditions influence Notch signaling remained largely unknown. Moreover, most Notch studies have relied on in vitro systems and indirect reporters, which can miss the dynamic and contextual nature of Notch signaling. Here, we systematically analyzed the effects of these conditions with single molecule resolution in vivo within Caenorhabditis elegans, where Notch maintains the germline stem cell (GSC) pool by activating the transcription of its target genes in a graded manner. We examined the spatiotemporal changes of Notch responses under varying developmentally and clinically important conditions, including diverse growth temperature, pathological Notch receptor mutations, and starvation. We re-classified the mutations based on their effects on Notch-induced transcriptional activation, and germline function and defined the relationship between the two categories, enabling the prediction of genetic and phenotypic traits of untested mutations. We also demonstrated that changes in temperature and dietary conditions distinctly affected the Notch transcriptional activation and activity. This research elucidated the molecular mechanisms by which critical environmental conditions influence Notch activation, with the potential for refining the efficacy of therapeutics for Notch-related diseases
Managing Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector: Adoption, Implementation, and Results
Get PDFWith the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), governments around the world are increasingly exploring how AI can enhance decision-making and improve public service delivery. A growing body of research has examined governmental use of AI, offering insights into several key areas: (1) domains of application, (2) potential benefits and risks of AI initiatives, and (3) adoption and implementation processes, including critical determinants and results. However, two significant gaps remain in the literature. First, there is limited understanding of how the unique characteristics of AI may transform government service delivery and internal operations. Second, while many studies on AI-related managerial processes emphasize data and technological aspects, few adopt a multi-dimensional approach — resulting in a fragmented understanding of AI’s role and influence in the public sector. Addressing these gaps, this dissertation aims to contribute to the literature by exploring the following overarching question: How do AI adoption, implementation, and result evaluation occur in the public sector?
Drawing on the literature on innovation adoption, technology implementation, and digital transformation, this dissertation develops a holistic framework to assess the processes of AI adoption, implementation, and result evaluation. Two lines of inquiry, comprising four empirical studies and employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, structure the research. The first line of inquiry focuses on practice-level dynamics of AI by examining the real-world use of AI chatbots. Based on semi-structured interviews, the two chapters in this line of inquiry explore the practical realities of AI adoption, implementation, and observed results within U.S. state agencies. The second line of inquiry takes a policy-level perspective, offering a broader view of AI use in government. The two chapters examine how public organizations should adopt, implement, and evaluate AI initiatives, based on a content analysis of state agency policies and a nationally representative survey of U.S. citizens.
Overall, this dissertation provides a comprehensive perspective on the use of AI in government, highlighting the various stakeholders and factors that influence the processes of adoption, implementation, and result evaluation. It demonstrates that, as an emerging technology, AI introduces distinct challenges at each phase, necessitating diverse strategies to ensure its deployment aligns with public values. It also identifies areas for further investigation to ensure that AI use remains accountable and responsive to citizens’ needs. Finally, the findings offer practical contributions by outlining key processes and strategies for the development of AI initiatives
Socio-economic and Infrastructural Determinants of Response Time Disparities across Emergency Service Agencies
Get PDFThis study comprehensively analyzes the determinants of disparities in emergency response times for EMS, Fire, and Police agencies in San Francisco from 2021 to 2023, utilizing a multilevel modeling framework and publicly accessible data. Contrary to a primary reliance on structural neighborhood factors, this research reveals that while neighborhood disadvantage statistically significantly interacts with agency type to influence response times, its direct effect is weak and not uniformly consistent across services. Specifically, the analysis demonstrates that variance in call response times across neighborhoods is minimal (Intraclass Correlation Coefficients \u3c 0.02), the effects of disadvantage are agency-specific (null effects for Police and Fire), and even when significant (for EMS calls only), response times are faster in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. These findings challenge the existing literature on emergency response times and highlight the need for tailored policy interventions that consider both neighborhood context and agency-specific operations to promote equitable emergency response
Stratospheric Variability and Its Relationship to Cold Air Outbreaks in the United States
Get PDFOnly since the early 2000s, has there been a growing body of work linking extreme winter temperature anomalies to the variability of the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex (SPV). However, the understanding behind stratosphere-troposphere coupling and cold air outbreaks (CAOs) remain occasionally contradictory in the literature, making it difficult to properly articulate societal risks. Studies often focused on broad stratospheric influences, but this research directly compared stratospheric variability according to their respective tropospheric impacts. This dissertation filled a knowledge gap, as there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis to quantify the differences in stratospheric variability with and without CAOs in the U.S.
The first part of the research focused on climatological and statistical analyses of all U.S. CAO events and investigated them in the context of Northern Hemisphere polar stratospheric vortex conditions preceding their occurrence at lead-times of 15-, 30-, and 60-days. Three different types of stratospheric variability were analyzed: weak vortex events (WVE), strong vortex events (SVE), and wave reflection events. Wave reflection events were subdivided using two different metrics for calculating a reflective layer. One was based on the difference of zonal-mean zonal-winds at 60°N between 10-hPa and 2-hPa (DURI) and a second used the difference of regionally averaged meridional heat fluxes between Siberia and Canada (VTRI). Results showed the occurrence of extreme cold CAOs following within 15-days of a WVE was less than expected (90th percent confidence interval), and CAOs that occurred within 30-days of a WVE had shorter durations, (95th percent confidence interval). The frequency of CAOs within 15- and 30-days of a VTRI event were significant (90th percent confidence interval).
Next, the analysis partitioned different types of stratospheric variability by whether or not a U.S. CAO occurred within a given window after the onset of a stratospheric event. The first part of this analysis used the quasi-geostrophic height tendency equation to show that the forcings for significant geopotential height features differed between stratospheric event types. Composites of the WVEs with a U.S. CAO occurring in the following 15- and 30- days and VTRI events with a CAO following within 15-days had significant amplification of an Alaskan ridge (\u3e 90th percentile), a known synoptic feature linked to U.S. CAOs. Those VTRI events with a CAO also showed anomalously low geopotential heights at 250-hPa, in a trough centered in northern North America. QG analysis demonstrated that in the cases of WVE with CAOs following in the 15- and 30-day windows, regions near the Alaskan Ridge had the strongest forcing for ridging in the upper troposphere. However, VTRI events with a CAO in 15-days the strongest forcing for height rises in the Alaskan ridge came from differential temperature advection in the lower stratosphere. Downstream over North America, differential temperature advection, maximized in the lower stratosphere and near the tropopause, deepened the trough. To understand if all of the CAOs that occurred with a precursor stratospheric event were indeed driven by stratospheric variability, a cluster analysis revealed WVEs with a CAO in 15-days had a differential thermal advection pattern resembling a Rossby wave train with a second cluster exhibiting stratosphere-troposphere coupling driving the dynamics. WVE with a CAO in 30-days only showed the former. VTRI events with a CAO in the 15-days cluster analysis revealed differential thermal advection patterns consistent with near tropopause and lower-stratosphere QG forcing in both clusters.
The final part of the dissertation employed empirical orthogonal function analysis for cross sections of 45-75˚N averaged eddy geopotential height to identify common modes of variability during stratospheric-tropospheric coupled U.S. CAOs. EOF1-4 showed wave structures consistent with the variability of planetary wavenumbers 1 and 2 in the troposphere and stratosphere, while EOF5 and EOF6 were consistent with wave reflections events. Averaged composite magnitudes of WVE showed amplification of both EOF5 and EOF6 occurred in the subset of WVEs with CAOs within 15- and 30-days but did not occur in the group where a CAO did not occur. The result suggested wave reflection concurrent with a WVE was critical for genesis of stratosphere-troposphere coupled CAOs in the U.S. Likewise, the results show that wave reflection events are statistically and dynamically related to stratospheric variability with CAOs, and wave reflection events are common modes of variability in the coupled troposphere-stratosphere system
Diversity within Species: Mechanisms, Evolution and Implications in Bacterial Disease
Get PDFThe Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli are ubiquitous commensal and opportunistic pathogens. In humans, S. aureus is commonly found on the skin and mucus membranes, and is known to cause infections in the skin, bloodstream and brain. E. coli is a normal part of the gut microbiota in humans and can cause intestinal and extraintestinal infections alike. S. aureus and E. coli pose global threats to public health, due to the high morbidity and mortality of invasive strains. The wide range of infections they cause in humans and other animals are exacerbated by the presence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Evolutionary processes, like mutation and horizontal gene transfer, are mechanisms through which AMR can arise and spread within a population. These processes, in addition to natural selection and genetic drift, shape the genomic diversity of these pathogens. In this dissertation, I investigate the genetic and evolutionary factors that shape the population of AMR in S. aureus and E. coli. I examine the accessory genomes of publicly available S. aureus genomes to assess gene gain, loss and co-occurrence (Chapter 1), the variation and frequency in genetic recombination of bloodstream E. coli (Chapter 2), and plasmid sharing in human- and animal-associated S. aureus (Chapter 3). The findings of this dissertation provide important insights into the genetic basis for the success of bacterial pathogens, which will inform efforts to treat bacterial diseases and control the spread of AMR