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No full textEmbargo: Never DeliverPlease note: creative writing works are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and fill out the appropriate web form.A collection of poems2999-01-01T00:00:00
Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 4, no. 4: Separate cover file (Word), print-ready
No full textThe full issue of Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 4, no. 4 is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/3828
Knowing your commitments in action
No full textAn interesting class of intentions is commitments: diachronic intentions that are especially representative of human agency. I argue that the justification conditions for knowing our commitments differ from those for knowing ordinary intentions, and I propose an externalist view according to which knowing one’s own commitments is much like knowing those of others. I discuss Sarah Paul’s transparency view, according to which, we know our intentions by making a conscious decision, even when we do not follow through on them. This is because, as she argues, the function of decisions and intentions is similar, and changing one’s mind in the face of weakness of will does not defeat or undermine that knowledge of intention acquired through a conscious decision. In contrast, I show how the same evidence from weakness of will undermines or outright proves a lack of commitment, as commitments require more than decisions; they demand consistent patterns of action to resist temptations and follow-through over time. Therefore, a conscious decision is not a reliable way to know our commitments in the same way it is for ordinary intentions. I conclude that we cannot justify our commitments merely by referring to a mental item, without also referring to our regular patterns of action.Published versio
Manganese and titanium perfluorinated alkoxide complexes including HAA by {Mn(III)OH} and models for n-TiO₂
No full text2024A new family of Mn(II) and Mn(III) complexes supported by fluorinated alkoxide ligands has been prepared and studied in detail. Complex 1 K[Mn(OH2)(pinF)2] can be deprotonated by KN(SiMe3)2 to form K2[Mn(OH)(pinF)2], 3, the first example of a mononuclear {Mn(III)OH} complex with all O-donors (pinF = perfluoropinacolate). Reactions of 1 with organic bases allowed the pKa to be estimated as 18.0 ± 0.3. Cyclic voltammetry reveals quasi-reversible redox behavior for both 1 and 3 with an unusually large ΔEp assigned to the Mn(III/II) couple. Using the Bordwell method, the bond dissociation free energy (BDFE) of the O-H bond in {Mn(II)-OH2}is estimated to be 67–70 kcal mol−1. Complex 3 abstracts H-atoms from 1,2-diphenylhydrazine, 2,4,6-TTBP, and TEMPOH, the latter of which supports a PCET mechanism. Under basic conditions in air, the synthesis of 1 results in K2[Mn(OAc)(pinF)2], 2, proposed to result from the oxidation of Et2O to EtOAc by a reactive Mn species, followed by ester hydrolysis. Complex 3 alone does not react with Et2O, but addition of O2 at low temperature effects the formation of a new chromophore proposed to be a Mn(IV) species. Several of these unusual mononuclear, all O-donor Mn complexes have been investigated by high-field electron paramagnetic spectroscopy (HFEPR) supported by DFT calculations. UV-vis spectroscopy reveals a trend in the absorption spectra for the five coordinate {Mn(III)(X/L)(pinF)2} complexes that depends on the identity of the non-pinF ligand. This trend was investigated using TD-DFT to calculate MO diagrams. TiO2 is a semiconducting metal oxide with Ti in all O-donor coordination. It is of interest for its chemical and photophysical properties which depend on the material’s structure and stoichiometry. Fluorinated alkoxides and aryloxides have been used to prepare Ti(IV) and Ti(III) complexes as models for Ti sites in pure and reduced TiO2. The unusual mononuclear titanyl complex (Me4N)2[Ti(O)(pinF)2], 12 reacts with H2O2 to form a peroxide complex (Me4N)2[Ti(O2)(pinF)2], 13, which displays a reversible O21-/2- redox feature in the cyclic voltammetry. The first hexacoordinate complexes of (OC6F5)1- have been prepared, namely dimeric {K2[Ti(IV)(OC6F5)6]}2, 14, and K3[Ti(III)(OC6F5)6], 17. Complex 14 is dimeric in both the solid and solution state, held together by non-covalent K...O/F interactions. Complex 17 displays Jahn-Teller distortion in the solid state that also manifests in the UV-vis spectroscopy. A second pair of Ti(IV/III) complexes K2[Ti(IV)(pinF)2], 15a, and K3[Ti(III)(pinF)3], 18, have been prepared, as well as a four coordinate Ti(III) complex K(crypt)[Ti(III)(OC4F9)4], 16. The electronic absorption and electrochemical properties of these Ti complexes is discussed in relation to other all O-donor Ti complexes found in the literature
Antislavery fractures: the debates between Garrisonians and black abolitionists on voting, the Constitution, and the Bible
No full text2024This dissertation traces the changing religious and political beliefs of the Garrisonians, arguing that their rejection of the Christian republican consensus, first in favor of perfectionism, then freethought, split the abolitionist movement in general and alienated black abolitionists in particular. When the Garrisonians split the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) in 1840 to uphold their perfectionist belief that voting was sinful, most black abolitionists left the AASS to continue agitating for black voting rights. In the following years, while the Garrisonians were arguing that the antislavery politics were futile and that the Constitution was irredeemably proslavery, most black abolitionists joined the Liberty Party and put forward antislavery readings of the Constitution that guaranteed citizenship rights irrespective of color. As the Garrisonians adopted freethought and concluded that the Bible was proslavery, black abolitionists overwhelmingly continued to argue that the Bible condemned American race-based, chattel slavery and many even advocated for circulating Bibles among slave populations in the hope that it would inspire them to pursue freedom. Unable to work within the dominant discourses of their time and place, the Garrisonians dwindled in numbers and influence throughout the 1840s and 50s, becoming complicit in their own marginalization – from northern society and from the majority of abolitionists, black and white, who accepted political action and orthodox religion. Conversely, black abolitionists, eventually including the once-Garrisonian Frederick Douglass, were able to appropriate the regnant Christian republicanism of antebellum America and deploy arguments from the Constitution and the Bible against slavery and racism. Black abolitionists thus built mainstream coalitions and help to lay the intellectual groundwork for the political antislavery movement that ultimately captured the White House and enabled emancipation during the Civil War. While recent historians have de-emphasized divisions within the abolitionist movement, this dissertation intervenes in the field by arguing that one must emphasize the 1840 schism in order to account fully for black abolitionists’ interpretations of and contributions to the antislavery movement. In order to give an account of abolitionism as a successful, black-driven movement, one must decenter the Garrisonians from the narrative of antebellum abolitionism and regard them primarily as an off-shoot perfectionist religious sect. Paradoxically, to decenter them, one must first develop this alternate account of the Garrisonians, as to treat the Garrisonians as the main, or even equal, participants in the abolition movement after 1840 is to reinscribe their paternalistic racism in the historical narrative. The story of free northern black Americans fighting for their political rights and the story of abolition ultimately form one long, continuous arc
A modified Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension pattern and its association with non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis and fibrosis
No full text2024BACKGROUND: The benefits of a Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern in association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), specifically steatosis and fibrosis, and its association with odds of NAFLD have been studied by few.
OBJECTIVES: This study examined the prospective association between adherence to a newly modified DASH dietary pattern (mDASH) and NAFLD odds, specifically the relative odds of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis, assessed via vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) measures of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and liver stiffness measure (LSM), among non-heavy drinking men and women in the Framingham Generation 3 (Gen III), Omni 2, and New Offspring Spouse (NOS) cohorts. In secondary analyses, we explored the modification of the association between mDASH adherence and steatosis by factors such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio (WsHtR), physical activity, smoking, alcohol drinking, and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) traits (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or an elevated TG: HDL ratio). Sensitivity analyses were also done by adding the group of heavy drinkers (>14 drinks/week females; > 21 drinks/week males) back into the study sample and repeating some primary analyses.
METHODS: The mDASH score was derived from a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire collected at examination visit 2 in all three cohorts (Gen III, Omni 2, and NOS). Measures of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis were derived from a VCTE machine called FibroScan, at the third examination visit in all cohorts. Subjects included 2573 participants (1390 females and 1183 males), aged 24 and older, who were free of all cancers except non-melanoma skin, and were not heavy drinkers (>14 drinks/week females; >21 drinks/week males). The mDASH score was classified into tertiles and dichotomized (mDASH score 8.0-21.5 vs. 22.0-39.5) to evaluate the association between mDASH and measures of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each of four NAFLD stages (no hepatic steatosis or fibrosis, hepatic steatosis without fibrosis, hepatic fibrosis without steatosis, and hepatic steatosis with fibrosis) for all subjects and females and males separately. Multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the continuous association between mDASH and measures of CAP and log-transformed LSM as indicators of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis, respectively, for all subjects. These multivariable regression models were also used to explore whether the effects of mDASH on CAP (using linear models) or the occurrence of steatosis (using logistic models) were modified by other factors. All analyses were adjusted for confounding by age, sex, education, energy intake, cigarettes per day, and alcohol drinking status. Further adjustments for confounding by BMI, WsHtR, and CMR were also done. Factors found not to confound the effects of mDASH on NAFLD were excluded from the final models.
RESULTS: Overall, 729 individuals met the VCTE criteria for hepatic steatosis (122 of whom had concurrent fibrosis and 607 without any fibrosis) and 96 met the VCTE criteria for fibrosis without steatosis. 1748 individuals had neither steatosis nor fibrosis. Individuals in the middle and highest categories of mDASH had 35% lower odds of any hepatic steatosis (95% CIT2: 0.52-0.81; 95% CIT3:0.51-0.83; p-trend: 0.0008) compared to individuals in the lowest category of mDASH. When stratifying by sex, males had a higher prevalence of steatosis than females. Females in tertile 3 (vs. tertile 1) had 40% lower odds (95% CI: 0.41-0.87) of steatosis versus 37% lower odds (95% CI: 0.45-0.88) for males in tertile 3. However, when further adjusting for BMI, WsHtR, or CMR, mDASH was more protective against steatosis in males than females. Individuals in tertile 2 and tertile 3 (vs. tertile 1) of mDASH had 34% and 29% lower odds (95% CIT2: 0.52-0.84 and 95% CIT3: 0.55-0.92; p-trend: 0.0144) of steatosis without fibrosis. Those in the highest category of mDASH had 56% lower odds of steatosis with fibrosis while those in the middle category of adherence to mDASH had 44% lower odds of steatosis with fibrosis when compared to those in the lowest category of mDASH (95% CIT3: 0.26-0.75; 95% CIT2: 0.35-0.88; p-trend: 0.0023). All odds ratios were attenuated when further adjusting for BMI, WsHtR, or CMR. No association was found between mDASH adherence and the odds of hepatic fibrosis without steatosis. We then examined the associations between mDASH and the continuous measures of steatosis (CAP) and fibrosis (LSM) using linear regression models. For every 5-point increase in mDASH, the CAP measurement was 4.95 dB/m (SE: 1.15; p3 but ≤14 drinks/week for females; >3 but ≤21 drinks/week for males) had 44% lower odds of steatosis (95% CI: 0.41-0.76). High mDASH adherence was also protective in current, former, and nonsmokers, with the greatest protective association being seen in nonsmokers (OR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.39-1.00). Beneficial effects of mDASH among current and former smokers were weaker and non-statistically significant. Finally, those participants with no cardiometabolic dysfunction were found to have lower relative odds of steatosis, particularly with higher adherence to mDASH. However, even those with cardiometabolic dysfunction seemed to benefit from higher adherence to mDASH (vs. those with cardiometabolic dysfunction with lower adherence to mDASH) (OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.59-0.96). When no cardiometabolic traits were present, individuals who were highly adherent to mDASH, had 78% lower odds of steatosis (95% CI: 0.16-0.29).
CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective cohort study, higher adherence to an mDASH dietary pattern was associated with lower odds of hepatic steatosis with or without fibrosis in females and males aged 24 years or older who were not heavy drinkers (>14 drinks/week in females; >21 drinks/week in males). These beneficial effects were apparent even among certain higher-risk individuals, including those with a higher BMI, less physical activity, and prevalent cardiometabolic dysfunction
The effects of congenital heart disease on brain development in individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome
No full text2024BACKGROUND: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2 DS) is a chromosomal microdeletion disorder, occurring in 1:4000 births, and often associated with neurologic and cardiologic manifestations. This autosomal dominant disorder is caused by a heterozygous deletion which occurs de novo in approximately 90% of cases. People with 22q11.2 DS can have variable penetrance and phenotypic heterogeneity, and most individuals with 22q11.2 DS require specialty care throughout their lives. Due to the high prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders, many studies have assessed how brain development is altered by deletion of the 22q11.2 region. However, most studies agree that the haploinsufficiency of genes in the 22q11.2 region alone is insufficient to explain the broad spectrum of phenotypes and varying levels of severities observed. Despite this consensus however, there are limited studies of human development that explore the correlations between non-neurological diagnoses and brain development in people with 22q11.2 DS. Specifically, the association between congenital heart disease (CHD) and structural brain development has been infrequently studied in 22q11.2 DS, despite CHD being present in ~75% of people with 22q11.2 DS and the main cause of mortality in this population.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to investigate correlations between clinical diagnoses and structural brain development in people with 22q11.2 DS. We aim to use analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to identify potential correlations between non neurological phenotypes such as CHD and brain development in people with 22q11.2 DS.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Individuals with 22q11.2 DS who had obtained a clinical brain MRI were identified via electronic medical record query. Confirmation of 22q11.2 DS was obtained via review of genetic testing, and MRI data availability was confirmed within radiology records. Retrospective chart review was conducted to extract clinical history of CHD and other diagnoses. Brain MRI data was quantitatively assessed with an age prediction deep learning algorithm. The difference between the true chronological age of the individual and estimated brain age (by the algorithm) was calculated and labeled as “brain age gap” (BAG). The distributions of the BAG values for individuals with CHD and those without CHD were compared via Mann-Whitney U Test. A correlation matrix was then run to calculate Pearson coefficients between each of the individual phenotypic variables collected, as well as between the individual phenotypic variables and BAG.
RESULTS, DISCUSSION, AND/OR KEY LEARNING: We identified a significant difference in the median values and distribution sizes of brain age gap among people with 22q11.2 DS, depending on the presence or absence of CHD. This pilot experiment highlights a large potential role for CHD in brain health among people with 22q11.2 DS. We did not find any significant correlation between the specific subtype of CHD and age prediction values. We also did not find any strong correlations between the non-neurological phenotypes themselves
Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 10, no. 1: Separate cover file (Word), print-ready
No full textThe full issue of Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 10, no. 1 is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/4978
The effects of a new class of glaucoma treatment drug netarsudil on cellular connections of Schlemm’s canal endothelium
No full text2024BACKGROUND: Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) is a subclass of glaucoma. It is the second most common cause of blindness, within the United States. This disease is characterized by its link to one of its major risk factors, increasing intraocular pressure (IOP). High IOP causes neuronal death of the optic nerve, progressively reducing the visual field until total blindness. IOP elevation is due to an obstruction somewhere along the trabecular outflow pathway, the primary route of drainage for the aqueous humor. One of the most effective treatments to mitigate the progress of POAG involves lowering IOP, by using medicine, laser and surgery. Netarsudil, is one of Rho-Kinase inhibitors, which is a relatively new medication to lower IOP in glaucoma and ocular hypertension. A previous study in Dr. Gong’s lab found that Netarsudil increased outflow facility in human eyes; it induced trabecular meshwork expansion and episcleral vein dilation, which results in an increase in active flow area, consequently increasing outflow facility. However, the effect of Netarsudil on the inner wall endothelial cells has not been carefully studied.
AIM: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that one of mechanisms that Netarsudil increases outflow facility is through reduction of connectivity between the inner wall (IW) endothelial cells of Schlemm’s canal (SC) and their underlying juxtacanalicular cells (JCT) and matrix.
METHODS: Human eyes were perfused with or without Netarsudil for three hours, and perfusion-fixed prior to the onset of this study. Since outflow is not uniform, high- and non-flow regions of each eye were identified and processed for serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF- SEM). SBF-SEM images of these eyes were produced by the Cleveland clinic and returned to the Gong Lab for study. Images of 20 cells from both high- and non-flow regions of the Netarsudi-treated and control groups were analyzed, five cells from each group. Cellular connectivity was counted manually using a software program known as Reconstruct. Raw Data was input into spreadsheets for statistical analysis. Data was then normalized to account for the difference in cellular length. Statistical analyses were performed using Prism.
RESULTS: Netarsudil significantly reduced the total cell-cell (C-C) and cell-matrix (C-M) connections compared to the control. When normalized, a similar reduction is exhibited. When control and treated groups were separated into flow regions, a significant decrease in mean number of total connections was evident in the high-flow region, but not in non-flow region. Once normalized, however, no significant decrease could be noted. When further comparing the effects of Netarsudil on mean C-M connections, between the non- and high-flow regions, no significant findings were evident. When normalized, there were also no significant differences. Analysis of Netarsudil’s effects on C-C connections between treated and control flow regions show no significant difference could be observed for the mean C-C count and normalized means. Cell-cell counts were further specified for 6 different type distributions and compared between high- and non- flow regions of treated and controls. There was a significant decrease in type 2 connections with the Netarsudil administration, while other types (3-7) did not exhibit significant differences in mean connection count in non-flow regions. When normalized, it appears Netarsudil enacted a significant decrease in type 2 connections, and a significant increase in type 5 connections. Type 2 connections were significantly decreased in high-flow regions. Normalization re-affirmed that Netarsudil decreased type 2 connections in high-flow regions.
CONCLUSION: Netarsudil significantly reduced the total cell-cell (C-C) and cell-matrix (C-M) connections compared to the controls, and specifically, Netarsudil significantly decreased type 2 cellular connections. Our data supports our hypothesis. Netarsudil exhibits this relaxing effect on the IW cells of SC and promotes outflow facility by minimization of adherence at the junction of the IW/JCT, resulting in ECM expansion and more uniform flow. The limitation of this study was a small sample size. An increase in sample size would greatly add to the significance and validity of the data and help to reaffirm the findings with more confidence. In addition to what could have been done to improve this study, more work can be done to analyze this effect in the low-flow regions of the TM as well, to develop a more coherent and cohesive understanding of the treatment effects across the entire TM
Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 2, no. 4: Booklet, no cover (A4 format), print-ready
No full textThe full issue of Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 2, no. 4 is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/3566