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Senior Recital, Amelia Rose Sheppard, bassoon
Get PDFSenior RecitalAmelia Rose Sheppard, bassoonDaniel Stipe, pianoTuesday, April 15, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.Recital HallJames W. Black Music Center1015 Grove Avenue | Richmond, VirginiaThe presentation of this senior recital will fulfill in part the requirements for the Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. Amelia Rose Sheppard studies bassoon with Dr. Bruce Hammel
Saxophone Studio, disc one
Get PDFdisc one of twoSaxophone Studio Recital, disc oneStudents from the studio of Dr. Sheri Oyanwith James O\u27Brien, David Robbins, and Russell Wilson, pianoMonday, April 14, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.Sonia Vlahcevic Concert HallW.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts922 Park Avenue | Richmond, Virgini
String Area Recital
Get PDFString Area Recital, videoWednesday, March 26, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.Recital HallJames W. Black Music Center1015 Grove Avenue | Richmond, Virgini
Enhancing Post-Marketing Pharmacovigilance: An AI-Driven System Approach for Safety Signal Detection of Adverse Drug Events: A Case Study of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists
No full textPharmacovigilance is paramount for safeguarding patient welfare by detecting, assessing, and preventing adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Traditional monitoring methods—such as spontaneous reporting—face growing challenges from increasingly complex drug therapies and ever-expanding datasets. To address these gaps, we developed an AI-driven framework that automatically retrieves and cross-references FDA-approved drug labels from DailyMed with real-world adverse event data from the FAERS. Our approach uses a streamlined pipeline involving (1) automated label extraction and text-processing to capture critical safety data from PDFs, (2) advanced preprocessing of FAERS data—filtering, merging, and deduplicating millions of records across multiple quarters, and (3) integrated signal detection algorithms (PRR, ROR, and IC) to identify safety concerns with robust statistical validation.
We showcased this framework using Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs)—a medication class widely used for type 2 diabetes and increasingly for obesity. Despite proven therapeutic benefits, GLP-1 RAs present complex safety profiles, including gastrointestinal disturbances, rare neoplastic concerns, and various device-related issues (for injection-based formulations). By unifying data from drug labels and FAERS, our system identified multiple potential safety signals: for instance, semaglutide showed pronounced gastrointestinal signals (e.g., cholecystitis, ileus, pancreatitis), while liraglutide indicated strong neoplasm-related signals (e.g., thyroid and pancreatic malignancies). Exenatide data prominently revealed device-handling complications, underscoring the importance of injection technique. The system also automatically mapped adverse events to System Organ Classes (SOCs) via large language models (LLMs), reducing manual curation and improving consistency.
Validation showed substantial agreement (Cohen’s kappa ≥ 0.73) between LLM-based SOC mappings and established literature classifications. Additionally, our disproportionality analyses (PRR, ROR, IC) demonstrated excellent reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 1.0) compared to reference implementations, confirming the technical soundness of our approach. These validation results underscore the promise of AI for harmonizing disparate safety data sources and accelerating ADR detection. By bridging FDA labels (pre-market insights) with spontaneous reports (post-market data), our method allows more proactive, accurate, and near-real-time pharmacovigilance.
In conclusion, this study illustrates a novel, automated system that advances pharmacovigilance through AI-powered data extraction, integration, and signal detection. The successful GLP-1 RA case study highlights the transformative potential of this approach for broad application across therapeutic classes—ultimately fostering faster, more reliable safety monitoring and better patient outcomes
Molecular mechanisms of kynurenine-mediated lifespan regulation in yeast
Get PDFThe kynurenine pathway is a highly conserved pathway that acts as the primary pathway for tryptophan catabolism and has been found to be involved in lifespan regulation across many diverse organisms. Caloric restriction (CR) is the only known dietary intervention to date that both increases the mean lifespan and the health span of multiple organisms, although the molecular mechanisms of these effects are not fully understood. There are known and sometimes contradictory relationships between the kynurenine pathway activity and the life- extending effect of CR but the crosstalk between the two is not well characterized. Understanding these relationships could lead to interventions by which both lifespan and health span can be modulated. Our findings aim to identify genetic components of the kynurenine pathway that affect the lifespan extending effects of caloric restriction. We applied an RNAseq focused approach for identifying molecular changes mediated by kynurenine pathway deficiency under control and CR conditions and further assayed several phenotypic outcomes. As a result, we identified genes and pathways regulated by kynurenine pathways activity and found that decreased tryptophan catabolism is required or CR-mediated lifespan extension. Further research is needed to elucidate the lifespan altering effects of Kynurenine pathway activity in a dose dependent manner as it relates to the beneficial effects of CR
Between Hippies in Suits and Money is the Name of the Game : Farm Animal Advocates\u27 Analyses of Political Power in the Farm Bill
Get PDFThe animal agriculture industry annually slaughters roughly ten billion land animals in the United States. What can be done to improve their welfare and lessen their suffering?
Over the past decade, the problem of farm animal welfare and suffering has drawn increasing interest from the effective altruism community, a loose movement of utilitarian advocates seeking technocratic solutions to social problems (Singer, 2015). As effective altruism has become a more potent driver of the animal welfare movement, an increasing number of nonprofits have begun engaging in political advocacy for farm animal welfare. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’ Open Philanthropy is the largest charitable foundation explicitly motivated by the values of effective altruism as well as the world’s most prolific donor to animal welfare. The new source of capital and ideology from effective altruists contrasts with and challenges the dominance of establishment groups like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), which is primarily concerned with companion animals, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which seeks to abolish the status of animals as property.
This pragmatic, inductive case study uses the multiple streams framework developed by Kingdon (2011) to perform a qualitative analysis of political strategies used by moral activists in the 2023-2025 congressional session during drafting of the Farm Bill. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with lobbyists, current and former congressional staffers, and other stakeholders and subject matter experts in the fall of 2023. The qualitative aspect of this study seeks to answer the question:
How do moral activists make sense of their efforts to incorporate farm animal welfare policies into the Farm Bill during the 2023-2025 congressional session?
The specific aims of this case study are:
1. To describe moral activists’ approaches to political change in their work to incorporate farm animal welfare policies into the Farm Bill during the 2023-2025 congressional session; and
2. To describe strategies that moral activists used to lobby for the inclusion of farm animal welfare in the Farm Bill during the 2023-2025 congressional session.
This study will be useful for animal advocates seeking to direct limited human and financial capital to political strategies that may ameliorate humankind’s largest contributor to nonhuman animal suffering
New tricks? Understanding the role of education, incarceration, and reentry on the older correctional population
Get PDFAbstract
Education in prison provides an opportunity for personal growth and increased professional opportunities upon release. As older people leave prison and return to communities, the need for education serves multiple functions including successful reentry and healthy aging. The aim of this research was to explore the current literature relevant to older people during incarceration and upon release. The authors conducted a systematic literature review on 15 years of research between 2008- 2023 to understand how education in prison impacts older people while incarcerated and upon release. Articles published prior to 2008 were excluded from this study. Twenty-seven articles were included in the study. The study included articles both in the United States and internationally. Findings indicate that older people in prison already have a greater level of education upon incarceration and they are often excluded from opportunities like Federal Pell Grants, which are prioritized for younger learners. This limits their opportunities for further education during incarceration. However, education provides positive benefits for older learners including improved cognitive ability, increased social capital, and longevity. These benefits are pivotal to older people leaving prison who have limited opportunities for prosocial connections. Correctional and reentry efforts should emphasize learning for older adults to improve cognitive and social skills, reentry outcomes, and successful aging. Policy and research implications are discussed
TGFβ-Mediated Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Human Cholangiocyte Cell Cultures Following Ischemia Reperfusion Injury
No full textDonation after circulatory death (DCD) has expanded the donor pool for liver transplantation. However, ischemic cholangiopathy (IC) is a complication more commonly observed in DCD liver recipients and is associated with inferior outcomes. The molecular mechanisms of IC are largely unknown but a recent study points to possible ischemia-induced genetic reprogramming of the biliary epithelium into mesenchymal-like cells. The main objective of this study was to determine if this epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cholangiocytes after exposure to DCD conditions are regulated via Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGFβ) autocrine signaling. Human cholangiocyte cultures were exposed to periods of warm and cold ischemia to model DCD liver donation. Another model involved stimulating cells with TGFβ in the absence of ischemia and served as a positive control. Some cells were pretreated with small molecule TGFβ receptor antagonists prior to injury in both models. Before beginning studies, the effects of injury, substrate, and time on total cell number and viability in vitro were characterized. Injured groups exhibited significant increases in total cell number over time, particularly between Day 1 and Day 4, while uninjured populations remained relatively stable. By Day 4, the disparity in cell number and viability between injured and uninjured groups diminished, identifying Day 4 as a critical convergence point for comparative analyses. Substrate had minimal impact on the injury response at Day 4, supporting its use as an optimal time point. For cross-condition comparisons, EMT was characterized by assays of cell migration, cell morphology, and differential gene and protein expressions. Cholangiocytes exposed to DCD conditions and/or TGFβ displayed migratory behaviors and gene expression patterns consistent with EMT. Cell viability and E-cadherin expression fell while migration and expression of vimentin and TGFβ increased. Each of these effects in the DCD model were significantly mitigated by selective small molecule serine-threonine kinase inhibitors of TGFβ receptor signaling. Similarly, selective TGFβ receptor inhibitors were successful at mitigating TGFβ synthesis and release, vimentin, and SMAD4 elevated expressions, but did not restore E-cadherin expression in cholangiocytes undergoing EMT by exogenous TGFβ. Our findings show that EMT occurring in human cholangiocytes after exposure to DCD conditions is modulated by upstream signaling from autocrine derived TGFβ, and small molecule serine-threonine kinase inhibitors may be potential therapeutic targets for cholangiopathy after DCD liver transplantation
Development and Preliminary Characterization of a Novel Setup for Generation of Wood Smoke Extract
No full textInhalation of wood smoke, whether from wildfires or biomass combustion, poses a significant public health concern due to its complex mixture of toxic gases and particulate matter. Despite growing awareness of its respiratory hazards, there remains a gap in development of standardized experimental models to evaluate wood smoke-induced lung injury and test potential therapeutics. This thesis aims to start addressing this gap by developing a low-cost wood smoke extract (WSE) generation system suitable for in vitro applications. Initial characterization revealed that the generated WSE contained particles of about 5 μm and about 452.5 μmoles of carbonyl compounds like aldehydes and ketones. We also observed a loss of carbonyl content during storage at 4°C, -20°C and -80°C over a period of 10 days. Exposure of bronchial epithelial cells (Calu-3) to WSE resulted in reduced cell viability, impaired epithelial barrier function and elevated expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. These findings support the use of the generated WSE as a viable model for studying wood smoke toxicity in vitro. To explore potential interventions, the study further evaluated the effects of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) derived from pig lung tissue as a pre-treatment strategy. dECM-treated cells exhibited partial preservation of viability and barrier function following WSE exposure, suggesting a protective role of the bioactive matrix components. However, the response was subject to variability, highlighting the need for further optimization. Overall, the platform described in this thesis may facilitate future studies aimed at understanding the mechanisms of smoke toxicity and the screening of potential therapeutic candidates
Treatment Resistant Obesity Among Midlife Women Receiving Care from a Specialized Weight Management Clinic
No full textBackground: Obesity is a complex chronic disease that conveys significant health risk. Women with obesity are at greater risk for associated conditions including heart disease, hypertension, ischemic stroke, and sex-specific cancers compared to their male counterparts. Midlife may present unique challenges for women as it is during this life phase that they experience an increase in their overall obesity prevalence and severity. Some midlife women experience treatment resistant obesity (TRO), a phenomenon not previously explored in the research literature, conceptualized as failure to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss of ≥ 5% after having received medically specialized obesity care for one year. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of TRO among midlife women and to identify biopsychosocial factors associated with the condition.
Methods: For this research, a retrospective data analysis was completed using information collected from the electronic health records of 203 midlife women with obesity between the ages of 40 – 60 years old who received one year of care from a metabolic weight management clinic led by providers certified in obesity medicine. Quantitative methods of analysis were utilized to determine the prevalence of TRO among midlife women and evaluate for associations between TRO and the biopsychosocial factors of age, baseline BMI, race and ethnicity, number of office visits, insurance status, dietary modifications, physical activity, sleep, stress coping, and the use of pharmacotherapeutics for obesity management.
Results: The findings from this study indicate that more than a quarter, 27.5%, of the midlife women who received medically specialized obesity care for one year demonstrated TRO. Only two of the identified biopsychosocial variables demonstrated associations with TRO. The use of FDA approved injectable medications for the management of obesity was associated with TRO among midlife women in that those who were not using these medications were three and a half times more likely to have TRO (OR = 3.49, p = 0.0002). The dietary modification of lowering carbohydrate intake was also associated with TRO in that those who did not incorporate this modification into their diet were twice as likely to demonstrate TRO. While these two factors together, use of FDA approved injectables and a diet lower in carbohydrates, resulted in a statistically significant final multivariable logistic regression model (X2 18.55 (DF 2) p = \u3c 0.001) they do not fully explain all the variation within the population of midlife women with TRO (RSquare = 0.07).
Conclusions: More than a quarter of midlife women with obesity who receive medically specialized obesity care from providers certified in obesity medicine may fail to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss of ≥ 5% total body weight after one year and demonstrate TRO. The use of FDA approved injectable medications for obesity and following a diet lower in carbohydrates are recommendations that providers can offer to midlife women with obesity to mitigate their risk of TRO. Incorporation of these two treatment strategies alone does not eliminate the occurrence of TRO among midlife women. Additional research into the phenomenon of TRO among midlife women and its associated biopsychosocial factors will be necessary to develop more efficacious treatment strategies for this at-risk population