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Greencastle Business Beat Inglis 9-8-23
No full textFormer U.S Congressman from South Carolina and Executive Director of RepublicEN Bob Inglis discusses the economic impact of climate change in Indiana and the prospect of a carbon tax to curb Co2 emissions
Mental health and academic experiences among U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFWhen the COVID-19 pandemic began, U.S. college students reported increased anxiety and depression. This study examines mental health among U.S college students during the subsequent 2020–2021 academic year by surveying students at the end of the fall 2020 and the spring 2021 semesters. Our data provide cross-sectional snapshots and longitudinal changes. Both surveys included the PSS, GAD-7, PHQ-8, questions about students’ academic experiences and sense of belonging in online, in-person, and hybrid classes, and additional questions regarding behaviors, living circumstances, and demographics. The spring 2021 study included a larger, stratified sample of eight demographic groups, and we added scales to examine relationships between mental health and students’ perceptions of their universities’ COVID-19 policies. Our results show higher- than-normal frequencies of mental health struggles throughout the 2020–2021 academic year, and these were substantially higher for female college students, but by spring 2021, the levels did not vary substantially by race/ethnicity, living circumstances, vaccination status, or perceptions of university COVID-19 policies. Mental health struggles inversely correlated with scales of academic and non-academic experiences, but the struggles positively correlated with time on social media. In both semesters, students reported more positive experiences with in-person classes, though all class types were rated higher in the spring semester, indicating improvements in college students’ course experiences as the pandemic continued. Furthermore, our longitudinal data indicate the persistence of mental health struggles across semesters. Overall, these studies show factors that contributed to mental health challenges among college students as the pandemic continued
The Emergence of Specialized Roles Within Groups
Get PDFHumans routinely form groups to achieve goals that no individual can accomplish alone. Group coordination often brings to mind synchrony and alignment, where all individuals do the same thing (e.g., driving on the right side of the road, marching in lockstep, or playing musical instruments on a regular beat). Yet, effective coordination also typically involves differentiation, where specialized roles emerge for different members (e.g., prep stations in a kitchen or positions on an athletic team). Role specialization poses a challenge for computational models of group coordination, which have largely focused on achieving synchrony. Here, we present the CARMI framework, which characterizes role specialization processes in terms of five core features that we hope will help guide future model development: Communication, Adaptation to feedback, Repulsion, Multi-level planning, and Intention modeling. Although there are many paths to role formation, we suggest that roles emerge when each agent in a group dynamically allocates their behavior toward a shared goal to complement what they expect others to do. In other words, coordination concerns beliefs (who will do what) rather than simple actions. We describe three related experimental paradigms—“Group Binary Search,” “Battles of the Exes,” and “Find the Unicorn”—that we have used to study differentiation processes in the lab, each emphasizing different aspects of the CARMI framework
Understanding Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Diseases Using Novel Neuron Cell Models
Get PDFThis past summer I worked Dr. Anthony Grillo’s lab under my mentors Raghav Dutta and Alaa Hassan at the University of Cincinnati. The Grillo Lab is focused on understanding the mechanisms of mitochondrial complex 1 dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases. It has been shown that an early feature of neurodegeneration is complex 1 dysfunction; we were trying to determine if this is a cause or an effect of these diseases. This summer, we focused on identifying different types of neuron subtypes in brain tissue samples, isolating primary neurons by first identifying and visualizing the types of brain cells present in brain tissue samples, and imaging protein aggregates that are thought to be a major cause of aging diseases, such as Alzheimer\u27s and Parkinson’s Disease. We worked with complex 1 knockout mice because they give insight into how mitochondrial failure affects cellular physiology, giving us a better understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms that induce these genetic, aging, and environmental diseases. We used two common techniques of western blot and immunofluorescence to accomplish these tasks. Through this experience in an interdisciplinary research lab that combined biochemistry, neuroscience, and physiology, I was able to expand on my prior knowledge both in and out of the lab and collaborate with graduate and post-doctorate students.https://scholarship.depauw.edu/srfposters/1138/thumbnail.jp
Islands of Suppression: Japanese Internment in Hawaii vs. West Coast 1941-1945
Get PDFThe United States\u27 involvement in World War II resulted in the internment and relocation of people of Japanese descent on the home front. The Territory of Hawaii was comprised of over a hundred thousand Japanese residents, who were also slated to be relocated. By exploring the differences between the military generals placed in charge of the West Coast (General John L. DeWitt) and the Territory of Hawaii (General Delos C. Emmons), the treatment of the ethnic Japanese in the areas shows a broader context of morals and racial profiling in the United States
Cultivating Green: Learning How to Farm Sustainably
No full textIn the summer of 2022 and throughout the following 2022-2023 academic year, I worked as a farm intern at Ullem Campus Farm. This experience provided a fantastic opportunity for me to learn about sustainable farming practices, gain hands-on experience with organic farming techniques, and explore the hydroponics field. I also had the chance to visit other eco-friendly farms during field trips, where I learned from experienced farmers and heard their inspiring stories.https://scholarship.depauw.edu/srfposters/1120/thumbnail.jp
An Introduction to the VERITAS Observatory
Get PDFLocated at the base of Mount Hopkins, Arizona, at an elevation of approximately 4200 feet, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is a ground-based gamma ray observatory containing four Cherenkov telescopes designed to detect very high energy gamma rays with energies ranging from 100GeV to 10TeV using the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique. In April 2007, VERITAS began successful operations with all four telescopes. As of today, over 15 years of data has been taken by the VERITAS array, stored in an archive of data, and used for a wide variety of research, publications, PhD theses, and conventions examining some of the most violent and energetic processes in our universe.https://scholarship.depauw.edu/srfposters/1132/thumbnail.jp
XRK3F2 inhibits p62 signaling and augments myeloma killing by proteasome inhibitors
Get PDFBackground:
Despite advancements in therapy, multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable blood cancer. Our mission is to maximize the efficacy of a primary treatment for myeloma, proteasome inhibitors (PIs) which cause intracellular waste buildup, leading to ER stress and cell death. p62(sequestosome-1) provides an alternate pathway when the proteasome is inhibited, by breaking down cytotoxic material via autophagy. Upregulation of p62 is associated with PI resistance. We identified a small molecule, XRK3F2, that binds to the ZZ domain of p62 and inhibits its autophagic function. We hypothesized that XRK3F2 would improve MM killing when combined with PIs.
Methods Used:
We tested XRK3F2 and PI combinations in vitro, in ex vivo co-cultures, and in a human MM xenograft model. We tested XRK3F2 plus bortezomib in vitro and in ex vivo myeloma: bone cocultures and analyzed effects on tumor burden in a prior mouse xenograft experiment. Results: XRK3F2 induced cell death in various human MM cell lines, with a IC50s of 3-6 M. When combined with carfilzomib, the most potent approved PI, at physiologically relevant doses, there was strong synergy (Combinatorial index of 0.4 to 0.6, by Chou-Talalay analysis). The combination of the two agents significantly increased tumor killing in a tumor: bone co-culture model, where the microenvironment of the tumor provides MM survival signals and potential drug resistance. Enhanced tumor killing was further confirmed in a plasmacytoma model of the human MM cell line RPMI-8226 in NSG mice. We also identified soluble BCMA (B-cell maturation antigen, sBCMA) as a sensitive biomarker for tumor burden, which allowed for serial tumor measurements in all tested models.
Conclusion and Potential Impact:
Combining the p62-ZZ domain inhibitor XRK3F2 with PIs shows great promise in improving the killing of MM. Work is ongoing to validate the combination in xenograft models, where tumor cells colonize bones, and in immunocompetent models. Further mechanistic studies using primary MM cells from patients are also ongoing. sBCMA is a cheap, specific, and sensitive tool for serial tumor measurement and should be further validated for preclinical and clinical usage.https://scholarship.depauw.edu/srfposters/1114/thumbnail.jp
DePauw Football V Denison 10-7-23
No full textIt\u27s Old Gold day at Blackstock, as the Tigers take on the Big Red from Denison! Broadcast 10-7-23
Putnam County Game of the Week Greencastle High School V Owen Valley 10- 6-23
No full textIt\u27s homecoming at Greencastle as the Tiger Cubs take on Owen Valley, with Ben and Joe on the call. Broadcast 10-6-23