6501 research outputs found
Sort by
FROM CLASSROOM TO CAREER: A FEMINIST MIXED METHODS INQUIRY INTO HOW UNDERGRADUATE SEXISM AFFECTS WOMEN’S PATHWAYS IN BIOLOGY
No full textDespite women earning over 60% of undergraduate biology degrees, systemic barriers and gender biases continue to hinder their career advancement. This transformative mixed methods study explored women\u27s experiences during undergraduate biological sciences studies, focusing on personal, environmental, and contextual factors influencing their career decisions. Using a sequential explanatory design with a case selection variant, quantitative survey data from 100 participants identified significant trends in the frequency of sexist experiences. Qualitative interviews with 15 women who participated in the survey provided deeper insights into how microaggressions, exclusionary experiences, and internalized sexism affect confidence and career trajectories. The study’s transformative approach emphasized both understanding and addressing inequities through actionable recommendations. Key strategies include training programs to mitigate gendered biases and institutional policies that enhance mentorship and peer support. By integrating quantitative and qualitative findings, this research highlights the importance of fostering individual resilience and systemic change to promote equity in biology education and careers, contributing to the broader goal of advancing gender diversity in STEM fields
A Case of Adrenal Insufficiency Presenting with Seizures, Complicated by Developmental Cerebral Venous Anomaly and Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy: A Case Report
No full textBACKGROUND: Adrenal insufficiency is a potentially life-threatening condition that often presents with nonspecific symptoms. While fatigue, hypotension, and electrolyte disturbances are common features, seizures and stress-induced cardiomyopathy are rare initial manifestations. This case is reported for its atypical presentation and to highlight the diagnostic challenge it posed in the absence of classic biochemical findings.
CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 68-year-old Hispanic woman with diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hypopituitarism secondary to Sheehan syndrome, who presented with new-onset seizures after abruptly discontinuing chronic steroid therapy. Her symptoms included progressive weakness and behavioral changes over several weeks. Initial evaluation revealed hyperglycemia, mild hyponatremia, and no hyperkalemia-findings consistent with secondary adrenal insufficiency-associated seizures, although contributing to initial diagnostic uncertainty. Brain imaging incidentally identified a developmental cerebral venous anomaly, which was initially suspected as a potential cause of the seizures. In addition, echocardiographic findings were consistent with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, likely precipitated by the stress of her medical condition. However, further evaluation confirmed adrenal insufficiency with low cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels, and subnormal response to cosyntropin stimulation. Management included hydrocortisone for adrenal insufficiency and levetiracetam for seizure prophylaxis, leading to symptom resolution and no recurrence of seizures.
CONCLUSION: This case emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion for adrenal insufficiency in patients with a suggestive history, even when classic electrolyte abnormalities are absent and neuroimaging reveals confounding findings. Recognizing rare presentations such as seizures and stress cardiomyopathy can prevent delays in diagnosis and improve outcomes
Effect of Gait Retraining in Minimalist Footwear or Barefoot on Running Footstrike and Cadence: A Systematic Review
No full textGait retraining programs take a structured approach to altering a runner\u27s gait, often with the goal of decreasing footstrike angle and increasing cadence, as these outcomes have been correlated to a reduced rate of injury and optimal performance. Minimalist footwear, or running barefoot entirely, has been explored as a tool for gait adjustment in runners, largely due to the increased feedback from ground forces experienced by the runner. This systematic review aims to decipher the effect of gait retraining with minimalist footwear or barefoot running on footstrike angle and cadence. The comparison group included runners that underwent gait retraining in traditional footwear. Results showed a statistically significant decrease in footstrike angle, indicating more forefoot striking, in the experimental group, but no significant changes in cadence. This demonstrates promise in utilizing minimalist footwear or barefoot running as an adjunct to gait retraining in runners
DEPRESSION-RELATED IMPAIRMENT DURING THE TRANSITION TO COLLEGE: INFORMING PREVENTION EFFORTS USING A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY
No full textDepression is a major public health concern in higher education. With college mental health counseling centers struggling to meet the high demand for services, there is a critical need to refine and expand prevention efforts. The first semester as a new postsecondary institution may be an important window for prevention efforts as students are adjusting to new academic and social challenges. This dissertation has three primary aims. Study 1 aims to improve identification of students in greatest need of preventive care and allocation of limited prevention resources. Study 2 seeks to refine understanding of etiological processes contributing to depression during the college transition in a high-risk population. Improved etiological understanding could inform the development of new, and refinement of existing, preventive interventions. Finally, Study 3 aims to quantify the effect of depression-related impairment during students’ first semester on their subsequent academic performance. This may help administrators and stakeholders better estimate the impact of first-semester depression on academic outcomes, potentially influencing investment in preventive services. In sum, by improving risk identification, etiological understanding, and impact on outcomes highly valued by stakeholders, these studies could enhance future prevention efforts
Development of Natural Product Analogs as Therapeutic Agents
No full textCancer stem cells (CSC) are cancer cells in a tumor mass that may self-renew and develop into various cell types, resulting in a heterogeneous tumor. CSCs have been shown to have a role in many facets of cancer formation, including tumor genesis, proliferation, and metastatic activity. They are also implicated in chemotherapeutic treatment resistance and the recurrence of some malignancies. Based on these capacities, CSCs have been identified as the next target for cancer therapy and control. Salinomycin\u27s potential for therapeutic use based on ongoing research, as well as the synthesis of its derivatives and their biological activity, will also be emphasized. This study builds upon the established anti-cancer properties of Salinomycin. A library of Salinomycin analogs was synthesized through targeted modifications at two key positions: the C1 carboxylic acid and the C20 hydroxyl. A series of Salinomycin amide derivatives were prepared by replacing the C1 carboxylic acid group with various substituted thiadiazoles and imidazoles. Salinomycin was further derivatized at the C20 position to yield ironomycin. Subsequently, the C20-modified Salinomycin-thiadiazole/imidazole analogs underwent oxidation of the C20 alcohol, followed by amination to generate the corresponding ironomycin analogs. C20 Salinomycin conjugates were also synthesized utilizing the established ironomycin intermediate. The biological activity of these synthesized molecules was evaluated using both in vitro and in vivo assays, demonstrating promising anti-cancer potential
Understanding Faculty Engagement with Transformative Publishing Agreements
No full textTransformative agreements, also known as read and publish agreements, are a journal subscription model used to facilitate both access to scholarly content and Open Access (OA) publishing for researchers. The Rowan University Libraries (RUL) have adopted 17 of these agreements in addition to supporting an OA publishing fund. This research study aims to discover how the use of these agreements has influenced perceptions of OA publishing and publishing decisions of faculty
Martingale Methods for Structural Change Detection and Feature Attribution in Dynamic Networks
No full textDynamic networks undergo structural changes when their generative process shifts at a change-point. We need to detect this change-point with minimal delay while identifying its underlying causes. This is an optimization problem of minimizing the expected detection delay while controlling the false alarm probability below a threshold---leading to three critical challenges: non-parametric detection without distributional assumptions, exact feature attribution, and early detection with rigorous false alarm control. We construct additive martingale statistics from multiple graph features using conformal prediction, providing false alarm guarantees via Ville\u27s inequality. Our key theoretical contribution proves the Martingale-Shapley equivalence: each feature\u27s martingale value equals its Shapley value, enabling exact feature attribution to detected changes as an integral component of detection rather than post-hoc analysis. Our forecast-enhanced horizon martingales accumulate evidence from predicted network states, achieving earlier detection with statistical false-alarm guarantees. Empirical evaluation on synthetic networks (SBM, BA, ER, NWS) shows that single-feature approaches fail across diverse scenarios, while our multi-feature framework achieves robust detection with true positive rate (TPR) 88\% and 13--25\% delay reduction. Testing our approach on the MIT Reality dataset validates real-world effectiveness with 96.0\% TPR for academic event detection and 21.9\% delay reduction, while providing precise attribution of the network features driving these changes
The Use of Culturally Responsive Mentor Texts For Literacy Development in An Elementary Classroom
No full textThe purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Culturally Responsive Mentor Text in literacy development in an elementary classroom. Students in this study demonstrated increases in overall literacy development in the areas of comprehension and verbal discourse when paired with Culturally Diverse texts throughout the study. This study revealed that students were able to make more connections with texts and increase discussion when recognizing unfairness and overcoming struggles
Engineering the Self: Identity Formation Among Disabled Engineering Students
No full textA persistent challenge in the field of engineering education is attracting and maintaining a diverse population of students. A large body of research is dedicated to characterizing the unique obstacles faced by marginalized and minoritized students and developing interventions to overcome these obstacles. However, throughout these efforts, one population has remained underrepresented and under-investigated: disabled students. This dissertation serves as an exploratory investigation into this population using three approaches: resource usage, social connections, and narratives. The first study in this work surveys the resources disabled engineering students use to support themselves and the effect of the resources on the students\u27 engineering identity. The second study explores the students\u27 social resources—the people they consider supporters, the types of support these people offer, and the overall structure of the students\u27 social networks. The third study follows the engineering journeys of four disabled engineering students, striving to understand their perception of their time in school and the coping mechanisms they developed to succeed. This dissertation found that the experience of disabled engineering students is diverse; there is no one size fits all solution available to support all disabled students. Rather, the work emphasizes the importance of understanding students\u27 individual needs, raising awareness of effective yet underutilized resources, and encouraging students to pursue these resources