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Emotion Regulation and Reactivity in Adolescent Girls and Their Caregivers: Associations with Adolescent Depressive Symptoms
Get PDFDifficulties in Emotion Regulation (EReg) have been argued to be a key underlying risk factor for internalizing symptoms in young people (Aldao et al., 2016). Similarly, Emotion Reactivity (EReact) also plays a central role in the development and maintenance of internalizing symptoms across development (Eisenberg et al., 2010). Parents play a key role in shaping their child’s EReg and EReact abilities, primarily through modeling and social referencing. Further, poorer child EReg increases their likelihood of depressive symptoms; however, the extent to which this influence persists into adolescence remains uncertain. This study examined whether adolescent EReg and EReact mediate the relationship between parent EReg and EReact and adolescent depressive symptoms. Using archival data from a sample of 208 adolescent girls (ages 9-15) and their caregivers, we assessed EReg and EReact through self-report measures (ERQ- CA, ERS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress responses (salivary cortisol) to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Three Mediation models were used. The first two models depicted child EReg mediating the relationship between parent EReg and adolescent depressive symptoms; the third model depicted child EReact mediating the relationship between parent EReact and depressive symptoms. Analyses revealed that adolescent expressive suppression (ES) mediated the relationship between parental ES and adolescent depressive symptoms, supporting a socialization effect. While parent and adolescent emotion EReact were significantly associated, only adolescent EReact was related to depressive symptoms, and no mediating effects were revealed. Also, the use of parent cognitive reappraisal (CR) did not predict the adolescent’s EReg or depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the nuanced role of EReg strategies in adolescent mental health and underscore the potential utility of targeted interventions focusing on both parent and child EReg skills to mitigate depressive symptoms.Bachelor of Art
Combining multiple sets of bibliographic data to capture institution-wide publishing output
Get PDFAt the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, most bibliometric and research impact work has been conducted at the level of individual researchers or research units, frequently on an ad hoc basis. Because institution-wide analysis typically focuses on very high-level statistics, the detail and quality of research impact data varies according to the priorities and resources of each research unit. The University Libraries can generally rely on the expertise of liaison librarians for most collection decisions, but when it comes to new publishing models like Transformative Agreements and Subscribe-to-Open, it would be helpful to have a more systematic, institution-wide understanding of where our researchers are publishing. There are numerous bibliographic tools which make it simple to analyze an institution’s research output, but comparing results between any two databases reveals significant discrepancies. In order to better understand institution-wide publishing patterns, I merged and deduplicated publication lists from 6 different databases: Dimensions, EuropePMC, The Lens, OpenAlex, PubMed, and Scopus. Most duplicate publications could be identified by DOI or another common URI, and the rest could be identified by title, source, date, and other metadata. The resulting dataset is more comprehensive than any of the database results individually, which allows us to make more confident claims about our institution-wide research output. With this poster, I outline the process I used to merge and deduplicate the data, compare the relative coverage and data quality of the different databases, and highlight some of the challenges involved in combining data with differing metadata standards.
Best Practices for U.S. Cyber Insurance Communication Strategies
Get PDFCyber insurance is a relatively new and rapidly evolving industry. Due to its complexity and ever-changing landscape, many individuals are confused or misinformed about cyber coverage. With improved communication strategies, insurance companies can increase client retention, boost cyber policy adoption, and ensure policyholders have the coverage they need when it matters most. This thesis examines how insurance companies in the United States communicate cyber risks, educate clients, and respond to cybersecurity incidents to establish best practices for the industry. This thesis explores and aims to answer the following research question: What communication strategies, based on past successful and unsuccessful approaches, are most effective for U.S. insurance companies to employ when proactively educating their clients about cyber risks? Using qualitative data from interviews with underwriters, retail agents, and wholesale brokers at leading U.S. cyber insurance companies, this research highlights the importance of proactivity, education, transparency, and trust in building effective communication strategies. The findings offer actionable insights to improve industry communication, reduce misinformation, and strengthen client relationships. Beyond its immediate implications, this thesis contributes valuable new information to the field, laying the foundation for future research, and ultimately benefiting the U.S. cyber insurance industry and the insured.Bachelor of Art
Culture in Mind: The Interplay of Identity, Creativity, and Emotion
Get PDFAs globalization and migration increase, understanding how cultural identity shapes cognition and emotion becomes increasingly crucial. This study examines whether multicultural identity influences creativity and emotion regulation, specifically cognitive reappraisal efficacy. Using a quasi-experimental design, 292 participants completed creativity and emotion regulation tasks under either a cultural identity or control priming condition.
We find that multicultural identity alone did not significantly predict creativity, but acculturation played a key role. Multicultural participants with high levels of both home and host acculturation demonstrated enhanced creativity when primed, while those with mismatched acculturation performed worse. We also find that emotion regulation efficacy improved across all participants when primed with cultural identity, but those with mismatched acculturation continued to face challenges in reappraisal, suggesting that cultural integration may support more consistent emotion regulation strategies.
These findings suggest that cultural integration, rather than multicultural identity alone, plays a key role in cognitive flexibility and emotional adaptability, with implications for educational and psychological interventions.Bachelor of Scienc
Sore Spots
Get PDFA collection of personal essays exploring loss, familial ties, regrets, and the process of pressing on a bruise over and over again.Bachelor of Art
Sportswashing and Media Framing: A Comparative Analysis of Global Narratives in the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Qatar World Cup
Get PDFThis paper sought to examine sportswashing through a comparative media framing analysis of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. A relatively novel term, sportswashing refers to the strategic use of sports by nations to improve international image or as a distraction from internal issues such as human rights abuses and political repression. Using purposive sampling and content analysis, this study analyzes coverage from prominent Western (ESPN, BBC, Fox Sports) and Eastern (Gulf News, China Daily, Al Jazeera) media outlets from December 2021 to December 2022. The results reveal substantive differences in media framing: Western outlets were more inclined toward critical coverage highlighting ethical concerns and governance issues, as opposed to Eastern sources most commonly which offered positive or neutral portrayals emphasizing event successes and national prestige. Despite considerable media coverage of human rights issues surrounding the events in question, direct mentions of sportswashing were rare, suggesting that media framing frequently prioritizes neutrality, potentially contributing to the goals of sportswashing practices. This study highlights the ethical challenges media outlets face in balancing critical reporting with sports coverage and calls for increased journalistic responsibility in addressing the geopolitical and ethical dimensions of global sporting events.Bachelor of Art
Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Telehealth Service in Acute Psychiatric Medicine: A Mixed-Methods Assessment of Outcomes, Equity, and Provider Experiences
Get PDFBackground: Amid escalating mental health challenges, particularly in North Carolina’s rural and underserved areas, emergency departments face overwhelming psychiatric demands. To help meet this need, the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Acute Telepsychiatry Service (ATS) employs both synchronous (live video) and asynchronous (e-consult) modalities to extend specialist psychiatric care across diverse hospital settings statewide.
Objective: This study evaluates the effectiveness, equity, and provider experiences of the UNC ATS in addressing acute psychiatric needs within emergency care.
Methods: A convergent mixed-methods design was employed, integrating quantitative analyses of system metrics (e.g., consult turnaround times, ED length of stay, patient dispositions, etc.) with qualitative interviews of psychiatrists to capture their perspectives on service delivery and operational challenges.
Findings: Results indicate that while ATS facilitates prompt specialist engagement and broad access, particularly in geographically isolated regions, systemic issues – such as extended ED stay durations – persist. Providers expressed high satisfaction with live consultations for initial assessments and valued the flexibility of remote service delivery, despite the need for improved subspecialty coverage and care coordination.
Discussion & Conclusion: The evaluation underscores the potential of hybrid telepsychiatry models to expand access to quality psychiatric care while highlighting areas for operational refinement. These insights inform strategic enhancements for telepsychiatry implementations aimed at mitigating acute mental health crises.Bachelor of Science in Public Healt
GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Alter Interoceptive Effects of Alcohol and Reward Preference
Get PDFRecent studies provide promising data supporting semaglutide as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Semaglutide is commonly prescribed for obesity and type II diabetes mellitus management, and some patients have reported changes in their perception of the interoceptive effects of alcohol as well as reduced drinking frequency. To test whether semaglutide modulates the interoceptive effects of alcohol, we used an operant discrimination procedure to train rats to discriminate the interoceptive effects of alcohol from water. We tested the acute, chronic, and post-treatment effects of semaglutide across a dose range. When rats were administered semaglutide, appropriate alcohol responding was reduced, suggesting that semaglutide disrupts the expression of the interoceptive effect of alcohol. However, at higher doses, some results showed reduced response rate and locomotor rate, indicating the importance of appropriate dose selection to change alcohol interoceptive effects while reducing side effects. This study indicated that semaglutide alters the interoceptive effects of alcohol. Further study explored how semaglutide altered self-administration of sucrose and alcohol when both rewards were presented simultaneously. Semaglutide did not alter preference of the rewards, but tirzepatide, a newer GLP-1 receptor agonist, shifted preference from alcohol towards sucrose. Understanding the importance of reward values may help in the process of evaluating GLP-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of AUD. These findings regarding reduction in the interoceptive effects of alcohol and reward preference may be an important part of how semaglutide could be therapeutic for AUD.Bachelor of Scienc
Characterizing the Role of CXCR6 in Promoting CD4+ T Cell Migration into Peripheral Tissues after Viral Infection
Get PDFAs part of the adaptive immune response, T cells play a crucial role in recognizing and responding to infection within the body. Many T cells traffic to adipose tissue after viral infection to form permanent memory T cell populations. However, upon re-infection, these same memory T cells reactivate and elicit an overly strong immune response, causing tissue damage and reduced survival. Previous studies have identified increased CXCR6 expression on CD4+ T cells in adipose tissue post-lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection. CXCR6, a chemokine receptor, is known to influence immune cell migration, but its specific role in CD4+ T cell trafficking remains unclear. To investigate this, a CXCR6-expressing retrovirus was generated and used to transduce LCMV-infected mice with CXCR6-overexpressing CD4+ T cells. Subsequent migration of these cells into adipose, lung, liver, and splenic tissues was then analyzed through flow cytometry. Results showed that adipose contained the highest ratio of CXCR6+/GFP+ cells compared to other peripheral tissues, suggesting that CXCR6+ cells preferentially trafficked into adipose tissue. However, CXCR6+ expression was not statistically significant across all tissue types. Similarly, CXCR6+PD-1+ expression was higher in each individual tissue, although statistically insignificant. These modest effects suggest that T cell migration could be partially driven by CXCR6 expression, and inhibiting CXCR6 expression could potentially decrease tissue damage following viral infection. Future experiments will track CXCR6+ T cell migration at different viral infection timepoints to further understand how immune cell migration changes with course of infection.Bachelor of Scienc
Stability of Commonly Used Antiretroviral Medications in Blood: Implications for Clinical Studies
Get PDFBackground: Drug degradation in blood samples is an important consideration in trial design as it may falsely lower measured drug concentrations. The University of North Carolina (UNC) Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Clinical Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry (CPAC) Lab does not have stability data for samples processed more than 2 hours post-collection. However, mid-dosing samples for the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) are often drawn at the end of the workday and not processed until morning (> 12 hours post-collection).
Objective: To assess the whole blood stability of two first-line HIV treatment regimens in blood to determine optimal sample collection and processing.
Methods: Whole EDTA-anticoagulated blood from healthy volunteers was spiked with dolutegravir (DTG), tenofovir (TFV), emtricitabine (3TC), abacavir (ABC) and lamivudine (FTC) at high and low quality control concentrations of established LC-MS/MS assays. Time (T) = 0 samples were processed into plasma immediately; additional samples were stored on ice under refrigeration for 18 and 24 hours before processing. Plasma samples were extracted by protein precipitation with stable isotopically labeled internal standards (IS; DTG-d5,13C, 13C5-TFV, 3TC-13C,d2, ABC-d4, FTC-13C,15N2) and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Analyte:internal standard peak area ratios from the refrigerated samples were compared with the peak area ratios from the T=0 samples. . The percent change from T=0 was calculated and compared to a threshold of <15% change from T=0 as established by the Food and Drug Administration for acceptable analytical assay variability.
Results: After 18 and 24 hours of refrigeration, the average area ratio of TFV, ABC, and DTG in the plasma samples ranged between -10% to 3% whereas that of 3TC and FTC ranged from -25% to -14%.
Conclusions: While TFV, DTG and ABC concentrations remained within 15% of the T=0 concentration after 18 and 24 hours of refrigeration, 3TC and FTC concentrations were outside of this acceptable window. These results validate the need to process samples containing 3TC and FTC in whole blood within the previously validated 2-hour post-collection window.Doctor of Pharmac