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Imagined Intergroup Contact as a Mechanism to Change Beliefs About Gender
Get PDFGordon Allport first proposed the Intergroup Contact Theory in 1954. According to his theory, contact between ingroup and outgroup members, under certain conditions, would lead to positive effects, specifically the reduction of prejudice. Since then, this theory has been expanded to include members of other majority/minority groups. Research suggests intergroup contact has positive effects for reduction of anti-trans prejudice. To date, the focus has largely been on the mechanisms driving changes in attitudes and intentions towards trans individuals through intergroup contact interventions. It is unclear whether this intervention might also promote the acquisition of more nuanced sociocultural understanding about gender, which could also explain a reduction in trans prejudice. This Honors Thesis Project will test the hypothesis that there is a parallel mediating effect of 1) beliefs about gender and 2) attitudes towards trans individuals in the association between imagined intergroup contact and behavioral intentions towards transgender individuals
Gertrude Stein: Autobiography and Play
Get PDFBy using Gertrude Stein’s two autobiographies, this thesis attempts to examine to use and evolution of play in writing. In The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, play stands within the language and games that Stein invites her readers to engage in. By using Roger Caillois’ characteristics of play, Stein’s writing can be seen as different from the high, serious modernism at the time with writers like William Faulkner and T.S. Eliot. After the publication of Toklas, Stein reverted into a crippling writer’s block because she could no longer find interest in the world to think and write about. However, after an experience with a dead Englishwoman, she was thrown back into a world of questions with no straightforward answer, which lead her to begin writing again. Everybody’s Autobiography is a meditation on these questions that haunted her at first but became a playful mystery to think about.https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/honors_college_posters/1028/thumbnail.jp
Long G4-rich Enhancers Physically Interacts with Promoters via a G4:G4 DNA-based Mechanism
Get PDFEnhancers are genomic sequences that function as regulatory elements capable of increasing the transcription of a given gene often located at a considerable distance. The broadly accepted model of enhancer activation involves bringing an enhancer-bound activator protein complex into close spatial proximity to its target promoter through chromatin looping. Equally relevant to the work described herein, roles for guanine (G) rich sequences in transcriptional regulation are now widely accepted. Non-coding G-rich sequences are commonly found in gene promoters and enhancers, and various studies have described specific instances where G-rich sequences regulate gene expression via their capacity to form G-quadruplex (G4) structures under physiological conditions. In light of this, our group previously performed a search for long human genomic stretches significantly enriched for minimal G4 motifs (referred to as LG4s herein) leading to the identification of 301 LG4 loci with a density of at least 80 GGG repeats / 1,000 basepairs (bp) and averaging 1,843 bp in length. Further, in agreement with previous reports indicating that minimal G4s are highly enriched in promoters and enhancers, we found 217/301 LG4 sequences overlap a GeneHancer annotated enhancer, and the gene promoters regulated by these LG4 enhancers were found to be similarly, markedly enriched with G4-capable sequences. Importantly, while the generally accepted model for enhancer:promoter specificity maintains that interactions are dictated by enhancer- and promoter-bound transcriptional activator proteins, the current study was designed to test an alternative hypothesis: that LG4 enhancers physically interact with their cognate promoters via a direct G4:G4 DNA-based mechanism. As such, this work employs a combination of informatic mining and locus-specific immunoprecipitation strategies to establish the spatial proximity of enhancer:promoter pairs within the nucleus then biochemically confirms the ability of individual LG4 ssDNAs to directly and specifically interact with DNA sequences found in their target promoters. In addition, we also identify four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), occurring within a LG4 enhancer on human chromosome 5, significantly associated with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lung disease severity (avg. p value = 2.83E-9), presumably due to their effects on the expressions of CF-relevant genes directly regulated by this LG4 enhancer (e.g., EXOC3 and CEP72)
Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - March 28, 2024
Get PDFThis is the March 28, 2024 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine’s newsletter - Watercooler.
Contents Include: Meet a Med Student LouAnn Crosby Medical Students, faculty serve on medical mission in Rwanda Doc Rock another huge success in its third year Internal Medicine residents take time to focus on wellnes
Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - May 10, 2024
Get PDFThis is the May 10, 2024 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine’s newsletter - Watercooler.
Contents Include Residents and fellows compete at annual academic exposition Pathology resident takes first place at tri-state conference Bassam receives teaching award from American Academy of Neurology Hartsell presents translational research at national conference Hewes named associate chief medical officer for Children’s & Women’s Hospital Class of 2024 donned with academic hoods at annual ceremony Alabama Power Foundation donates $500,000 to Whiddon College of Medicin
Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - June 13, 2024
Get PDFThis is the June 13, 2024 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine’s newsletter - Watercooler.
Contents Include Dolma shares research on premature infants at two conferences Medical student presents research at international MS conference USA awarded $1.43 million, selected as clinical site for dementia study Medical students present interesting case reports at annual symposiu
Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - August 29, 2024
Get PDFThis is the August 29, 2024 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine’s newsletter - Watercooler.
Contents Include Medical students publish research study on match outcomes of neurosurgery residents Now accepting nominations for 2025 Medical Alumni Association Awards Alexeyev receives $1 million NSF grant to develop ‘designer\u27 mitochondria Hall joins USA Health as emergency medicine physician New hospitalist volunteers her time and training here and abroa
Evaluating the Duckweeds Lemna minor and Spirodela polyrhiza as Alternative Aquatic Hosts for the Spread of the Bacterial Wilt Pathogen, Ralstonia solanacearum
Get PDFRalstonia solanacearum is a plant pathogen that causes bacterial wilt disease in major crops such as tomatoes and potatoes. Recently, this bacterium was discovered in floating pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) and Pennsylvania smartweed (Polygonum pennysylvanicum), two previously unsuspected aquatic plants. Duckweed is an aquatic plant with a high level of resilience and short doubling time. Common duckweed (Lemna minor) has previously demonstrated its capability as a versatile high-yield infection model for other types of pathogenic bacteria. Given this newfound branch of aquatic hosts and the fact that duckweed is a common pond weed previously identified in several ponds located nearby infected crops, the goal of this project is to determine the host status of duckweed and evaluate its capability to perform as an agent for the spread of R. solanacearum. In order to establish both common duckweed and giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) as a potential host for this pathogen, we developed an infection assay in which the pondweeds were placed into a water-based solution containing the bacterium. Following inoculation, the plants were surface sterilized, homogenized, and dilution plated in order to quantify bacterial presence inside the plant material. A culture made from a resulting colony was then used to inoculate 3-week-old Bonny Best tomato plants. Plant wilting symptoms were recorded over a course of two weeks. The results of this study indicate that both common and giant duckweed can serve as a host to R. solanacearum and S.polyrhiza is capable of serving as an agent for the spread of Ralstonia
Shrout Exhibit Door 6, Shelf 2
No full textImage of the second shelf of the sixth door of the Bill Shrout Photographic Collection Exhibit, installed September 19, 2024.https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/shrout-on-display/1012/thumbnail.jp