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1st Place Research Paper: Increasing the Accessibility of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for Adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder: A Pilot Study
Get PDFResearch has demonstrated that adolescents with developmental language disorder (AWDLD) perform more poorly compared to typically developing peers on measures of narrative production.This limitation may not only impact education and social life, but also possibly post-traumatic stress recovery, as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) involves a Trauma Narrative production activity (D’Amico et al., 2022). A limited amount of research has been conducted on adapting TF-CBT for children with intellectual disability, developmental disabilities, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (D’Amico et al., 2022; Anderson & Cook, 2015). However, there is currently no available research explicitly addressing how TF-CBT can be individualized to meet the unique needs of AWDLD. The aim of this pilot study is to identify specific barriers and accommodations for AWDLD given the Trauma Narrative task embedded within TF-CBT. Systematic literature review and expert interviews with mental health professionals and speech language pathologists were conducted and analyzed to develop a preliminary summary of barriers and solutions. Results indicate 8 barriers and 15 recommendations as reported by systematic literature review, as well as 21 barriers and 50 recommendations as reported by expert interviews. The purpose of this pilot study is to provide the foundation for future studies which will evaluate the efficacy of modifications/accommodations to TF-CBT for AWDLD with the long-term goal of developing consensus guidelines for the use of the TF-CBT Trauma Narrative activity with AWDLD
Engineering Lipid–Polymer Nanoparticles for siRNA Delivery to Cancer Cells
Get PDFBackground: RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool that can target many proteins without the expensive and time-consuming drug development studies. However, due to the challenges in delivering RNA molecules, the potential impact of RNAi approaches is yet to be fully realized in clinical settings. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have been the most successful delivery system for nucleic acids, but targeted delivery to a solid tumor still eludes the developed LNPs. We hypothesized that specially designed low-molecular-weight PEIs can partially or completely replace the ionizable lipids for more accommodating vehicles due to the structural flexibility offered by polymers, which could lead to safer and more efficient nucleic acid delivery. Methods: To achieve this, we first optimized the LNP formulations as a point of reference for three outcomes: cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, and silencing efficiency. Using a response surface methodology (Design Expert), we optimized siRNA delivery by varying mole fractions of lipid components. Leveraging the optimal LNP formulation, we integrated specifically designed cationic polymers as partial or complete replacements for the ionizable lipid. This methodological approach, incorporating optimal combined designs and response surface methodologies, refined the LPNPs to an optimal efficiency. Results: Our data revealed that DOPE and Dlin-MC3-DMA contributed to higher efficiency in selected breast cancer cells over DSPC and ALC-0315 as neutral and ionizable lipids, respectively, based on the software analysis and direct comparative experiments. Incorporation of selected polymers enhanced the cellular internalization significantly, which in some formulations resulted in higher efficiency. Conclusions: These findings offer a framework for the rational design of LPNPs, that could enhance the passive targeting and silencing efficiency in cancer treatment and broader applications for RNAi-based strategies
Abstract 2853 PRMT7 Negatively Regulates the Expression p53 in Response to DNA Damage
Get PDFProtein Arginine Methyltransferase 7 (PRMT7) is the only member of the protein arginine methyltransferase protein family that monomethylates its protein substrates. PRMT7 is found in both the nucleus and cytoplasm of breast cells and is believed to play a robust role in the tumorigenesis and metastasis of breast cancer. The goal of this project is to uncover possible pathways for PRMT7 to promote cancer progression. A preliminary antibody array was performed to determine the regulation of known cancer-related proteins by PRMT7. An early-stage human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, was transfected with plasmid pCDH1-hPRMT7-GFP to over-express PRMT7. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of detectable expression changes compared to sham transfection revealed a decrease in p53 expression, a protein not previously associated with PRMT7. Upon DNA damage, p53 can induce the expression of genes like p21, which inhibit cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and halt the cell cycle. This pause allows the cell time to repair the DNA damage before proceeding with division. Our current research aims at identifying the mechanisms of action by which PRMT7 regulates p53. For example, PRMT7 may monomethylate proteins directly implicated in the expression or activity of p53. Successful completion of this project will provide novel insights into how PRMT7 contributes to breast cancer progression
The Influence of Informational Priming on Motor Expectancy in Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)
No full textTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has shown mixed results in cognitive and motor functions, raising questions about its efficacy and/or the potential influence of psychological factors. Expectations about treatment efficacy (a placebo-like mechanism) might explain this mixed tDCS success. Recent research has begun to examine the expectations of tDCS on performance. However, it is unclear how malleable individual tDCS expectations are within the motor domain. This study investigated how informational priming influences participants’ expectations of tDCS on motor function and whether prior tDCS knowledge influences this effect. One hundred ninety-eight participants were recruited and assigned into high or low expectation priming groups. A modified expectation assessment scale, which measured expected tDCS-related motor performance, was administered before and after receiving information about tDCS efficacy. The high-expectation priming group was exposed to evidence of such efficacy, while the low-expectation priming group received information emphasizing the lack of evidence of tDCS efficacy. Expectations of tDCS efficacy for all motor domains significantly increased in the high-expectation priming group and decreased in the low-expectation priming group. Furthermore, after priming, the high-expectation priming group had significantly higher expectations than the low-expectation priming group. Interestingly, participants in the high-expectation priming group with prior knowledge of tDCS showed no change in expectations. Notably, these findings demonstrate that expectations about tDCS’s efficacy on motor performance are malleable depending on the information type and prior tDCS knowledge. Future studies are encouraged to control or assess participants’ expectations of tDCS to optimize its effect on motor outcomes
Beyond Diversity Initiatives: Building a Community of Care in Scientific Societies
Get PDFIn this Professional Biologist article, we present one such reframing that centers individualized care through structural changes. We argue that psychological and sociological motivations of belonging and social capital in the academy are funda- mental challenges contributing to the cultural problems within STEM fields and are particularly present within professional scientific societies. In support of this argument, we present survey- based data alongside significant literature from the humanities. In this reframing supported by existing organizational culture literature and our survey results, we suggest that scientific societies are uniquely positioned to promote significant cultural change within STEM by focusing on building communities of care along- side their established communities of practice. We further make specific suggestions about how to build these communities of care in ways that will increase buy-in from the historical majority to support and promote the historically excluded without relying on DEIJ initiatives that can often harm more than help (e.g., Leslie 2019 , Burnett and Aguinis 2024 , Robb and Rana 2024 )
My Performance Over Yours: Earned Entitlement, Performance, Luck, and Deservingness in Giving
Get PDFWe study how three widely discussed cues—source of income (merit vs luck), own performance, and information about others’ work status and performance—shape redistribution. Prior to the dictator game, all 306 dictators and most of the 306 recipients complete the same real-effort matrix task in an online experiment that would yield either 1 for the dictators. In the Performance treatment the dictator’s payoff is based on their performance; in Luck, it is assigned by a 50-50 draw. We find that: (i) Earned entitlement is prevalent for high-performing dictators: they keep more for themselves; (ii) Earned entitlement is conditional on performance or luck where high-performing dictators keep more when their high payoff is earned and give more when luck dictated the high payoff; (iii) Regarding recipients, deservingness arises from working and not performance. Dictators give around 20% more to anyone who worked, regardless of others’ performance. Taken together, the results show that dictators use own performance to justify keeping a larger share, yet apply a far coarser rule to others, i.e. they reward work and ignore relative performance. The findings refine the notion of earned entitlement and highlight asymmetric fairness criteria in redistributions