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Sex- and Stress-Dependent Effects on Dendritic Morphology and Spine Densities in Putative Orexin Neurons
Get PDFWe recently found that non-stressed female rats have higher basal prepro-orexin expression and activation of orexinergic neurons compared to non-stressed males, which lead to impaired habituation to repeated restraint stress at the behavioral, neural, and endocrine level. Here, we extended our study of sex differences in the orexin system by examining spine densities and dendritic morphology in putative orexin neurons in adult male and female rats that were exposed to 5 consecutive days of 30-min restraint. Analysis of spine distribution and density indicated that putative orexinergic neurons in control non-stressed females had significantly more dendritic spines than those in control males, and the majority of these were mushroom spines. This morphological finding may suggest more excitatory input onto orexin neurons in female rats. As orexin neurons are known to promote the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal response, this morphological change in orexin neurons could underlie the impaired habituation to repeated stress in female rats. Dendritic complexity did not differ between non-stressed males and females, however repeated restraint stress decreased total dendritic length, nodes, and branching primarily in males. Thus, reduced dendritic complexity of putative orexinergic neurons is observed in males but not in females after 5 days of repeated restraint stress. This morphological change might be reflective of decreased orexin system function, which may allow males to habituate more fully to repeated restraint than females. These results extend our understanding of the role of orexin neurons in regulating habituation and demonstrate changes in putative orexin cell morphology and spines that may underlie sex differences in habituation
Upper bounds for constant slope p-adic families of modular forms
Get PDFWe study p-adic families of eigenforms for which the p-th Hecke eigenvalue a p has constant p-adic valuation (“constant slope families”). We prove two separate upper bounds for the size of such families. The first is in terms of the logarithmic derivative of a p while the second depends only on the slope of the family. We also investigate the numerical relationship between our results and the former Gouvêa–Mazur conjecture
“It’s Complex:” Student Sex Workers Constructing Their Lives in the 21st Century A Modified Qualitative Content Analysis
No full textIndividuals in the United States who work in the sex industry while in undergraduate or graduate school are in the unique position of straddling between the two seemingly disparate worlds of academia and the sex industry. This position has the potential to put them at greater risk of isolation due to stigmatization and the threat of criminalization. Limited empirical data has been gathered regarding student sex workers’ financial, personal, and professional goals; how they manage life challenges and who they turn to for support, or what student sex workers need. To address this gap, a qualitative content analysis was conducted with 17 cisgender female student sex workers, ages 19 to 33 years. Using semi-structured interviews, demographic surveys, and contextual interviews with five key informants, this study sought to understand how the participants constructed their lives as students and as sex workers and how 21st century neoliberal economic policies and sensibilities factored into their constructions. Four themes emerged: 1) Doing what is socially expected; 2) Doing what the 21st century economy demands; 3) Embracing a stigmatized identity: “I am a sex worker” while also resisting the stigma attached to it; and 4) Needing and deserving acknowledgement rather than being saved or judged by social workers and academic institutions. With knowledge gained from this study, social workers are in a position to support student sex workers and raise staff awareness on campuses, as well as impact national policy debates regarding sex work criminalization
Estimates on Oscillatory Singular Integral Operators
No full textIncluded with every oscillatory singular integral operator is a phase function and a kernel, both essential to the operator’s behavior over any function space. Studies on such operators are rooted in the deep theories developed by Fourier, Calder´on, Zygmund, and Stein. In this work we show results on a new oscillatory singular integral operator with Calder´on-Zygmund kernel and a generalized phase function. We use techniques such as Calder´on-Zygmund theory, dyadic decomposition, the method of rotations, and others to show boundedness of the new operator over the real ndimensional Hardy Space. Our work expands upon results stemming from Sj¨olin, Fan, Pan, Al-Qassem, and Cheng by demonstrating that the bounds continue to exhibit logarithmic behavior with regards to the coefficients associated to the phase function. These new conclusions allow room for further generalization of the phase function and for continued developments in bounding oscillatory singular integral operators beyond classical techniques
Black Mirrors and Digital Culture: Digital Citizenship through Pop Culture
Get PDFWashington and Lee University faculty-librarians teach a first-year seminar that integrates digital and information literacy while exploring digital culture in the context of the popular television series Black Mirror. Class assignments teach digital skills and allow students to refine their digital identities. Through embedded information literacy concepts, students strengthen their abilities as researchers and content creators.
Participants will use live polling to determine their familiarity with class themes, and perform a digital and information literacy audit on one of their existing course assignments, with an opportunity to share discoveries with the group