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Motion-Compensated Diffusion Imaging With Phase-Contrast for Robust Quantification of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow
No full textTo develop and evaluate a motion-compensated diffusion imaging with phase-contrast (MC-DIP) technique for mitigating errors in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) quantification caused by physiological brain motion.
Diffusion-weighted images were acquired in 11 healthy volunteers on a 3.0 T MRI system using three gradient schemes: second-order motion-compensated (2nd-MC), first-order motion-compensated (1st-MC), and non-compensated (non-MC) diffusion gradients. Absolute rCBF maps were generated for each scheme by calibrating intravoxel incoherent motion-derived relative perfusion maps with total cerebral blood flow measured by phase-contrast MRI. The rCBF values from the DIP methods were compared in gray and white matter with a reference arterial spin labeling (ASL) measurement.
Both motion-compensated schemes (2nd-MC and 1st-MC) provided significantly better biexponential fitting accuracy in gray matter compared with the non-MC scheme (p < 0.05). In white matter, however, only the 2nd-MC scheme resulted in a significant improvement over the other methods (p < 0.05). While rCBF values from all three DIP methods showed a strong positive correlation with ASL in gray matter (ρ ≥ 0.82, p < 0.05), only the 2nd-MC-DIP method demonstrated a significant positive correlation in white matter (ρ = 0.69, p < 0.05).
The implementation of second-order motion compensation within the DIP framework improves fitting accuracy, enabling robust rCBF quantification
Disrupting the Immunosuppressive Myeloid Compartment in Solid Tumors
No full textDespite progress in immunotherapy, many solid tumors remain resistant to T-cell-centric approaches. Mounting evidence implicates myeloid cells as critical drivers of immune evasion, therapeutic resistance, and disease progression. This review surveys the biology of myeloid immunosuppression and highlights translational strategies to target their recruitment, checkpoints, metabolic axes, and suppressive signaling. Together, these efforts underscore the therapeutic promise of integrating myeloid-directed interventions into rational, multimodal cancer immunotherapy
Communicating Corporate Social Advocacy When Stakeholders Disagree: Corporate Response Strategies to Comments Criticizing Corporate Social Advocacy
No full textIn recent years, companies have become increasingly engaged in controversial socio-political issues via corporate social advocacy (CSA), while the public has become more politically polarized. However, several studies have shown that the net effects of CSA tend to be negative. Thus, examining how companies should respond to criticism of CSA is imperative. Yet, this issue has received scant attention in the literature. To address this research gap, the present work conducted two studies sequentially to explore how companies can best respond to criticism of CSA on social media. By analyzing 148 corporate replies to user comments on their CSA tweets, the first study sought to understand how U.S. companies responded to different types of comments on their social media CSA posts, especially harsh criticism, and whether/how companies incorporate intergroup conflict resolutions into their replies. Study 1 uncovered that companies adopted two strategies to deal with negative comments on CSA: acknowledgment and explanation/reassurance. The second study employed experimental design to test the effectiveness of using intergroup conflict resolution to address comments criticizing the stance of CSA and whether its effectiveness would be moderated by pre-existing issue stance. Study 2 suggested that compared to the corporate reply that only acknowledged receipt of negative comments, utilizing intergroup conflict resolution to address comments criticizing CSA’s position increased the perception of CSA authenticity among the public whose view aligns with the CSA. In addition, among the public who shares the CSA’s stance, using the intergroup conflict resolution - creating empathy for outgroup members - as a response to comments against CSA could increase perceived CSA authenticity compared to not responding to the comment. This dissertation research emerged as one of the first studies investigating the response strategies that companies can leverage to address criticism of CSA, with significant theoretical and practical implications outlined.</p
The Role of Light Spectrum, Retinal Macular Pigment and Filtering in Moderating Visual Photosensitivity
No full textThe spectrally adjustable Ocular Photosensitivity Analyzer (saOPA) is a new automated instrument utilized to quantify the visual photosensitivity thresholds (VPT) in healthy subjects with good vision. The saOPA generates light stimuli of varying intensities utilizing unequal ascending and descending steps to yield the visual photosensitivity threshold. The saOPA can emulate distinct light sources such as LED, incandescent and sunlight. Catch trials were integrated within the saOPA psychophysical testing paradigm as a performance metric to measure the response reliability of the subject during the OPA VPT measurement session.The pilot saOPA study (n=12 ) revealed that the device can reliably measure VPT in healthy subjects, and the optimal rest period between tests is 10 minutes. The saOPA pilot study also revealed that VPT can significantly increase VPT) by using 476nm spectral filter.The main saOPA study (n=44) sheds light on the intricate relationship between specific wavelengths of light and visual photosensitivity threshold (VPT), revealing important insights into its modulation. The findings underscore the moderating role of blue wavelengths in VPT when effectively filtered, with spectral filters at 456 and 476nm significantly increasing VPT . Moreover, the influence of green and red light emerges as a significant factor in moderating the overall effect of light sources (LED, incandescent, and solar). Factors such as macular pigment optical density (MPOD), skin color, and iris color emerge as substantial mediators in the effects of filters and light modes, hinting at a complex interplay between biological factors and environmental stimuli. Changes in pupil constriction (constriction rate and maximum) serve as a reflective marker of differences in VPT, revealing the nuanced nature of light sensitivity under varying conditions
Reckoning with Philanthropy: Governance, Justice, and a Radical Future for Environmental Giving
No full textPhilanthropy faces a reckoning. The current pace and scale of conservation philanthropy, specifically, is unprecedented. There are basic questions about the practice, including who is giving, what they are giving to, and with what consequences and impacts, that remain elusive. In this dissertation, I tease out the contradictions of conservation philanthropy to move beyond binary discussions of philanthropic foundations as “good” or “bad” and towards more deliberative discussions about why they exist, what they do, and what they must do to pursue environmental justice. I draw three main conclusions. In Chapter 2, I show that philanthropic foundations perform at least six governance roles in marine conservation beyond their role as funders, firmly situating them as governance agents in environmental politics. In Chapter 3, I show how a funding intermediary, the Micronesia Conservation Trust, plays a vital role in operationalizing principles of justice. Yet, intermediaries like MCT cannot be used as a silver bullet to solve the injustices that are inherent to funding dynamics. Instead, there is a need to think critically about what funding intermediaries’ roles and responsibilities should be to address injustices. Finally, in Chapter 4, I engage social science fiction to explore the dominant critiques of philanthropy in a new way and respond to these critiques via a short story about a radically just future for environmental philanthropy. This story focuses on turning towards rather than away from the contradictions of solidarity in environmental justice work. Overall, my dissertation moves towards the possibilities of ethical reform for the practice of philanthropy. A radically just future for philanthropy, I argue, ends not with an end to philanthropy as such, but a deeper investment in philanthropy’s desire to pursue a love of others. Indeed, we need this now more than ever. My dissertation argues that the institution of philanthropy has untapped potential for pursuing effective and just environmental governance. </p
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Factors Related to Muslim Mental Health, Help-Seeking, and the Feasibility of Islamically-Integrated Interventions
No full textCurrent research suggests that Muslims living in the United States and Canada face a multitude of risk factors including high levels of discrimination and acculturative stress, which may put them at risk for poorer mental health. This underscores an urgent need to better understand mental health determinants and help-seeking factors in Muslims. The present study systematically reviews the literature to 1) assess risk (i.e., acculturative stress) and protective (i.e., religious coping) factors related to mental health and 2) to see whether Muslims are indeed at greater risk for poor mental health. This study also examines factors related to professional psychological help-seeking in Muslims and synthesizes the main findings of Islamically-integrated interventions. Utilizing quantitative meta-analytic techniques and qualitative analyses, all studies published prior to December 1, 2021, on the topic of Muslim mental health in North America were reviewed. As expected, acculturative stress was associated with greater psychological distress and adaptive religious coping was related to fewer depressive symptoms. Further, the following factors contributed to poorer help-seeking attitudes: higher self-stigma, lower knowledge/familiarity with mental health services, and higher levels of cultural beliefs about the etiology of mental illness Against expectations, there was no evidence that Muslims experience more psychological distress compared to non-Muslims of similar ethnic/regional background, though qualitative syntheses reveal more nuanced findings. Literature on current psychotherapeutic interventions for Muslims is also reviewed and discussed, though early dropout and minimal studies on interventions remains a pervasive issue. The above findings highlight that Muslims are facing significant barriers in North America that contribute to poor mental health and low help-seeking. Clinical implications, avenues for future research, and study limitations are discussed.</p
Gossip, Internalized Sexual Stigma, and Suicidal Ideation in BIPOC Individuals Who are Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexaul
No full textIn contrast to heterosexual individuals, sexual minority individuals (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, LGB) face a heightened risk of suicide (Hottes et al., 2016). This increased risk is often due to high levels of family rejection and other forms of sexual minority discrimination (Carnelly et al., 2011; Willoughby et al., 2006). Although sexual stigma is pervasive within most cultures, research highlights especially prevalent homophobic attitudes within many Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) communities. This may lead to heightened experiences of discrimination and distress for BIPOC sexual minorities. A significant way to transmit discrimination towards sexual minorities is through gossip, or the act of relaying either positive or negative information about in-group and out-group members. Gossip affirms social conventions that informally police group members to reinforce further social norms and values (Baumeister et al., 2004; Gluckman, 1963). Using a sample of 303 BIPOC (153 heterosexual and 150 sexual minority individuals), the current study assessed the relationship between perceived family gossip and suicidal ideation (SI), along with factors that may further help explain this relationship. Greater perceived family gossip was associated with greater SI. However, in line with study hypotheses, this finding was moderated by sexual orientation, such that the relationship was positive and significant for sexual minorities, but not for heterosexuals. Other potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between gossip and SI were also examined and will be discussed. Our findings suggest that targeting communication patterns in therapy, such as how families share information (e.g., gossip), may be one important avenue to help reduce the risk of SI in BIPOC populations.</p
Books Aren't Magic: Amazon, Indie Bookstores, and the Utility of Literature
No full textThis dissertation analyzes the competing discourses and media representations that attend independent bookstores, the Amazon corporation, and public libraries as a means to interrogate the concept that “books are magic” in the digital age. By comparing and contrasting different approaches to book production, distribution, acquisition, consumption, and evaluation in the 21st century, I substantiate my claim that the book-bound, spatialized, past-oriented “magic” of indie bookstores and the digital, placeless, future-oriented “magic” of Amazon operate synergistically, rerouting material and imaginative resources away from the present of our increasingly underfunded public library systems and the “un-magical” books that they contain. Ultimately, I demonstrate that one of the primary utilities that literature can provide in the era of the internet derives from its ability to metaphorize, and in some cases logistically disrupt, the imaginaries and distribution systems that sustain literary production and consumption under capitalism. Taking its title from the beloved Brooklyn-based indie bookstore Books Are Magic, this dissertation contends that engaging with the claim that “books are magic” can help readers to recognize and reappropriate the aesthetic, social, affective, and political potentialities often coopted and commodified by the discourses of magic that animate our ever-evolving relationship with books, bookstores, and libraries. Though I criticize indie bookstores and Amazon, I intend for those critiques to highlight how these private enterprises can supply us with what Ernst Bloch calls “wishful images,” the glimpses of a future in which a more complicated perception of how we produce, acquire, and use books can allow libraries of all kinds to feel magical again
Desinformación, Discourse, and Internet Celebrity: Understanding the Practices of Latina/o/x Political Influencers on YouTube
No full textThere is a growing body of research interested in uncovering the role that social media influencers and other internet celebrities play in amplifying circulations of disinformation, within countries and through transnational networks. While some scholars are beginning to examine disinformation in Spanish-dominant communities within the United States, there has yet to be a study that investigates the practices of known disseminators of mis- and disinformation to their Spanish-speaking audiences or how diasporic networks may be formed and leveraged by these influencers. Minority language communities may have less access to factually based news and information from government institutions in charge of health, emergency operations, and electoral infrastructure, especially at the local level. At its worst, the consequences of disinformation can range from participation in intolerant political movements to dangerously poor health choices. By examining populist YouTube influencers who have been observed to embed harmful discourse such as disinformation and partisan sensationalism into their Spanish-language programming, this study is premised on the importance of understanding the practices of successful influencers who construct harmful discourses in ways that appear authentic, engaging, and potentially trustworthy to followers. The aim of this study is to understand how false narratives are constructed by political social media influencers within minority language communities, thus foregrounding communities that are underserved by a country’s news and information infrastructure and which are comparatively more embedded in transnational (dis)information flows.</p
Dermoscopy of the Hair and Nails
No full textThis new edition of a bestselling text almost amounts to a completely new book, with over 750 figures of common and uncommon disorders, including new chapters on trichoscopy of hair transplantation, teletrichoscopy, and trichoscopy of the shaved scalp. The chapters also list the key clues that are important to help the practitioner reach the correct diagnosis about problems with hair or nails.
"Numerous high-quality photos are helpful in demonstrating key features" (Doody's Reviews) [of the previous edition