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Single Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics Approaches to Assess Fibroblast Heterogeneity After Spinal Cord Injury
No full textSpinal cord injury (SCI) triggers a highly heterogeneous and spatially dynamic wound response involving diverse myeloid and fibroblast populations. Here, we integrate high-resolution single-cell and spatial transcriptomics with novel genetic lineage tracing models to define the cellular composition of the spinal cord after injury, its temporal dynamics, and age-dependent molecular pathology of the SCI microenvironment.We identify previously unrecognized complexity within the myeloid cell subtypes, expanding on our initial analyses. Spatial mapping reveals that BAMs infiltrate the lesion epicenter and are positioned, even prior to injury, to act as early fibroblast activators—a role supported by colocalization analyses. Mature inflammatory macrophages dominate fibroblast interactions by 7 days post-injury (dpi), though immature monocytes do persist in the epicenter of the fibrotic scar, while microglia segregate into distinct proliferative and interferon-responsive populations which corral the fibroblasts. Notably, discrete “interferon islands” emerge throughout tissue distal to the lesion, indicating long-range perturbations in otherwise spared regions.The fibrotic scar was originally thought to be the result of the meninges being physically displaced into the parenchyma, though analyses by our lab demonstrated that the fibrotic scar develops even in the non-penetrating contusive injury, where perivascular fibroblasts are visualized delaminating from local vessels. Now, with the application of a larger scale single cell dataset and new genetic lineage tracing tools, we find that a combination of unique fibroblast niches contribute to the development and persistence of the scar...</p
Neighborhood Disadvantage and Anxiety in Women with Breast Cancer: The Buffering Role of Social Support
No full textBreast cancer is shaped by a complex interplay of biological, psychosocial, and environmental influences. One key environmental factor, neighborhood disadvantage, is a form of social adversity that has been linked to worse cancer outcomes. Anxiety, which is known to worsen breast cancer prognosis, is more prevalent among individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Emerging evidence suggests that low social support may intensify the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and physiological stress. In this study, we examined the association between neighborhood disadvantage and multidimensional anxiety (i.e., generalized anxiety, breast cancer-specific anxiety, and anxious affect) and assessed whether social support from three sources (i.e., partner, adult female family members, friends) moderated this relationship. Women with breast cancer (N = 240) completed baseline measures and reported their residential addresses. Neighborhood disadvantage showed a negative significant association with the anxiety latent variable; however, the added direct path between neighborhood disadvantage and generalized anxiety symptoms revealed a positive significant relationship. When social support was included as a moderator, two significant interactions emerged. Simple slopes revealed that participants with low or average levels of friend instrumental support in disadvantaged neighborhoods displayed lower anxiety, as did those with average or high levels of partner negative support. The findings of this study suggest that generalized anxiety symptoms may be especially noticeable or prevalent among participants in disadvantaged neighborhoods. While two sources of social support emerged with moderating effects, these results should be interpreted with caution.</p
Examining the Role of Family Cohesion and Simpatía in Patient-Physician Communication, Health Anxiety, and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Hispanic Prostate Cancer Survivors
No full textHispanic prostate cancer (PC) survivors experience elevated psychosocial distress and lower satisfaction with care compared to non-Hispanic White survivors, partly due to cultural barriers in patient-provider communication. Perceived efficacy in patient-physician interactions has been linked to lower health anxiety in cancer populations and may support better health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Family cohesion and simpatía, two culturally meaningful constructs, may shape how Hispanic PC survivors navigate medical interactions, with downstream effects on psychological and functional outcomes. This study examined whether family cohesion and simpatía were associated with survivors’ perceived efficacy in patient-physician interactions, and whether perceived efficacy was linked to lower health anxiety and, in turn, better general and disease-specific HRQoL, including urinary and sexual functioning. Baseline data were drawn from 206 Hispanic PC survivors enrolled in a randomized trial testing a culturally adapted stress management intervention. Structural equation modeling tested hypothesized pathways from family cohesion and simpatía to perceived efficacy in patient-physician interactions, from perceived efficacy to health anxiety, and from health anxiety to HRQoL outcomes, adjusting for sociodemographic, clinical, and acculturation covariates. Greater family cohesion was associated with higher perceived efficacy in patient-physician interactions, which in turn was associated with lower health anxiety. Higher health anxiety was associated with poorer urinary functioning and general HRQoL, but not sexual functioning. Family cohesion and perceived efficacy were also positively associated with general HRQoL. Findings highlight family cohesion and perceived efficacy in patient-physician interactions as protective factors, underscoring the importance of culturally informed survivorship care and communication-focused interventions for Hispanic PC survivors.</p
Examining the Relationship Between Youth-Provider Racial/Ethnic Matching, Youth and Caregiver Working Alliance Ratings, and Treatment Engagement
No full textYouth of color are disproportionately diagnosed with mental health disorders, but they are also at a much higher risk of treatment dropout and lower rates of treatment engagement. Though the strength of the therapeutic alliance has been shown to predict youth treatment engagement, youth of color tend to endorse weaker alliance ratings than White youth. Racial/ethnic matching (REM) between youth and providers has been proposed as a strategy to foster the therapeutic alliance early on, thereby increasing treatment engagement; however, the literature on its effectiveness remains mixed. Additionally, no studies to date have identified whether youth or caregiver respective alliance ratings are more important to youth treatment engagement. The present study sought to 1) understand the relationship between provider REM and treatment engagement for youth and the potential mediating role of alliance, 2) determine whether youth or caregiver alliance is more predictive of treatment engagement, and 3) determine whether these models are moderated by race/ethnicity (i.e., non-Hispanic, White versus clients of color). Results revealed no significant effects of REM on alliance ratings and treatment engagement but found several significant effects of alliance ratings on treatment engagement. Youth and caregiver alliance ratings had independent effects on treatment engagement. Caregiver alliance also had a negative indirect effect on the relationship between youth-provider REM and treatment retention. Race/ethnicity was not a significant moderator of any pathway. Simple slope analyses did reveal several significant relationships between alliance ratings and treatment engagement for youth of color, but the slopes were not significantly different from non-Hispanic, White youth. </p
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Approach to Identify Immune Checkpoint Resistance Mechanisms in Triple-negative breast cancer
No full textLifestyle Interventions in Women's Cancer Treatment: Quality of Life and Clinical Outcomes
No full textThe cancer survivorship population in the United States is projected to exceed 22 million by 2030, yet key methodological limitations hinder the optimization of survivorship care through lifestyle interventions. This dissertation addresses three critical gaps through complementary studies focused on exercise, nutritional biomarkers, and physical activity measurement in women cancer survivors. The first manuscript uses systematic review and meta analysis to evaluate domain specific effects of exercise interventions on quality of life among women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, addressing a major limitation in prior work that reports only global scores without identifying which domains benefit most. The second manuscript analyzes nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2001 to 2006 and 2017 to 2018 with mortality follow up through 2019 to examine whether serum carotenoids, objective biomarkers of dietary quality free from self report bias, predict all cause and cancer specific mortality among survivors, and whether they can identify individuals at elevated risk who may benefit from targeted dietary intervention. The third manuscript evaluates convergent validity between accelerometer based actigraphy and self reported physical activity in ovarian cancer survivors from the Lifestyle intervention in ovarian cancer enhanced survival (LIVES) study (NRG/GOG0225), comparing four cut point algorithms to determine optimal agreement and quantify systematic bias. Together, these studies address behavioral efficacy, biological risk prediction, and measurement precision, strengthening the evidence base for survivorship care guidelines, risk stratified interventions, and standardized assessment approaches that advance both research rigor and clinical translation.</p
Strategic Talent Hiring and Its Implications
No full textThis dissertation examines firms’ strategic talent hiring and its implications through three empirical essays. Findings from the first essay indicate that target firms strategically increase their job postings before acquisition announcements as an impression management tool to signal their growth prospects to acquiring firms. This tactic can enhance the perceived value of target firms by acquiring firms, thereby increasing the acquisition premiums that target firms receive. Findings from the second essay suggest that awareness of ongoing acquisitions encourages acquirers’ rivals to strategically post jobs near the target firms as a competitive tool. This approach can effectively poach talent from target firms, potentially disrupting acquisition success. Findings from the third essay show that executives’ long-term environmental and social (E&S) incentives motivate them to hire employees with E&S human capital, while short-term E&S incentives encourage them to acquire target firms with E&S performance that is superior to that of their own firms. E&S hiring inspired by long-term E&S incentives can reduce firms’ E&S reputation risk over the long run. This dissertation contributes to the strategic human capital literature by uncovering novel factors that drive firms to strategically hire talent and examining the implications of these hiring activities.</p
Downstream Effector Pathways of G-Protein Signaling in the Caenorhabditis elegans Egg-Laying Circuit
No full textNeuromodulators signal through G-protein-coupled receptors to regulate neural circuit activity through a variety of complex signaling pathways. Studies in various systems have found that G-protein signaling pathways can facilitate vesicle release, regulate calcium flow within the cell, activate protein kinases, modulate ion channels, and regulate transcription pathways. Many questions remain, however, about the exact mechanisms by which these pathways regulate neural circuit activity and how distinct G-protein signaling pathways work together to fine-tune the rate and intensity of neural circuit activity in response to signals from other circuits, such as sensory cues. The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be an invaluable model organism to study the genetic determinants of synaptic transmission. Its simple nervous system and behaviors make it amenable to forward genetic screens using simple phenotype analysis, which have been used to map a diverse array of conserved synaptic and signaling proteins to simple neural circuits. Its transparent body allows for the in vivo use of optogenetic techniques and of transgenically expressed fluorescent proteins, which have been used to identify useful cell-specific promoters, acutely and specifically manipulate cell activity in model circuits, and measure changes in real-time cell activity patterns in response to genetic and acute perturbations. In this dissertation, I present a series of studies in which I have explored how G-protein signaling pathways regulate the egg-laying circuit and tested candidate ion channels as effectors of these pathways. </p
How Loneliness and Misinformation Become Dual Epidemics in the Digital Age
No full textLoneliness and misinformation have both been recognized as critical public health concerns, often described as an epidemic and an infodemic, respectively, due to their widespread impact on large populations. However, little is known about how these two issues may be connected. This dissertation addresses this gap by adopting a novel perspective that explores the relationship between loneliness and misinformation through social identity. Drawing on social identity theory and motivated reasoning theory, Study 1 employs a quasi-experimental design to examine the existence of this relationship and how are they associated. Building on these findings, Study 2 extends the investigation by exploring how loneliness may intensify individuals’ perceptions to specific types of content in social media environments, focusing on the role of the repost function and identity language. Together, this dissertation offers valuable insights for both public health and communication research by highlighting the impact of loneliness on group identification and individuals’ responsiveness to language and social cues within digital media environments.</p
Shots at Success: A Mixed Methods Study of Barriers and Facilitators to Long-Acting Injectable Antiretroviral Treatment (LAI-ART) at Florida Syringe Service Programs (SSPS)
No full textPeople who inject drugs (PWID) face significant barriers to HIV care, yet long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy (LAI-ART) offers a promising alternative to daily oral regimens. Syringe service programs (SSPs) may be uniquely positioned to deliver LAI-ART, but implementation in these settings remains underexplored. This convergent mixed-methods study examined the acceptability and feasibility of LAI-ART across three Florida SSPs by identifying multilevel barriers and facilitators. Quantitative data from 203 SSP clients living with HIV showed strong interest in LAI-ART, especially among younger participants and those who recently used methamphetamine, though many were excluded by viral suppression requirements. Qualitative interviews with SSP staff (n = 7), guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), revealed operational challenges, medication storage, staffing, cost, and lack of planning, alongside facilitators such as team collaboration, peer outreach, and alignment with harm reduction values. Findings suggest that while LAI-ART is acceptable to clients and staff, successful integration will require tailored strategies like expanded eligibility, mobile delivery, and sustainable reimbursement models. This study highlights the potential for SSPs to expand HIV treatment access for PWID and provides implementation guidance to support equitable scale-up.</p