Interdisciplinary – Page 37 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Interdisciplinary

Geographic Differences in Faculty Attitudes on the Inclusion of Content on Oppression in Social Work Curriculum

Faculty in graduate schools of social work have a critical role in shaping the future of social work through their role in training and teaching new social workers. This study aims to examine how, if at all, the American geographical regions in which social work educators teach affects their views on the importance of including content on racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia/cissexism, ageism and classism. Using several one-way ANOVAs, this study investigates whether a faculty’s geographical location contributes to a difference in how strongly they believe content on a specific type of oppression should be included in the curriculum they teach. Findings revealed that faculty attitudes on what content of oppression to include were not homogenous throughout the country. Further investigation showed that there is not one topic that any social work educator would deem not important to include in their teaching. Given that MSW students believe that the social work profession calls for them to challenge all forms of oppression (Goode et. al, 2020), it is critical that their instructors educate them on these systems. Faculty attitudes on the importance of including content on oppression in their curriculum can impact not only what they teach, but how prepared future social workers feel to do what the profession calls for them to do. Therefore, it’s important to analyze potential factors that would shape how important social work educators feel it is to include content on different forms of oppression.

Geographic Differences in Faculty Attitudes on the Inclusion of Content on Oppression in Social Work Curriculum Read More »

In silico drug design for pain and addiction therapeutics

Traditional opioids target the mu opioid receptor and remain the de facto treatment for pain management. However, they are responsible for a myriad of unwanted side effects, such as addiction and respiratory depression, limiting long-term clinical utility. The kappa opioid receptor has emerged in recent years as a viable drug target as a means to avoid the undesirable side effects stemming from the mu opioid receptor. Thus, identifying a novel kappa opioid receptor agonist would be of great therapeutic value. To better understand the preference of the kappa opioid receptor’s preference for agonists or antagonists, opioids known to target this receptor were subjected to molecular docking against the agonist- and antagonist-bound structures to predict whether either had preference for an opioid type. After ranking ordering based on the docking score, no preference was observed for either receptor. Additional optimization of the docking protocol, such as the use of pharmacophore constraints, would potentially improve results. Structurally, a better understanding of opioid preference for the kappa opioid receptor would aid in the selection of compounds following a virtual screen for experimental validation.

In silico drug design for pain and addiction therapeutics Read More »

Improving the accuracy of detecting single-exon deletions in human cancers

Current algorithms that analyze data from Next-generation sequencing(NGS) systems have a blind spot for Copy Number Variants(CNVs) involving one or two exons. This involves the insertion or deletion of entire exons or coding regions of the DNA. This is an important complication because deletions involving one or two exons are usually associated with the deactivation of an entire gene. The purpose of this research project is to design a novel algorithm which can detect single exon CNVs and quantify how common these aberrations are in human cancers. This project utilizes the R programming language and popular R packages such as Bioconductor to design the algorithm and parse genetic data. The algorithm will be built using existing statistical techniques such as the Hall and von Neumann estimates for variance. The data is obtained from a database of hundreds of samples in order to accurately describe the per-exon variance. Results are expected that allow for more consistent identification of single exon CNVs in human cancers. It is also possible that this increase in sensitivity and accuracy will be associated with a decrease in specificity when compared to current algorithms. This research can improve the ability to characterize different cancers which can help inform clinical diagnostics and ultimately improve outcomes for patients.

Improving the accuracy of detecting single-exon deletions in human cancers Read More »

Identification of novel genetic drivers of pediatric tumors

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer among pediatric patients and is characterized by fewer mutations than adult cancers, suggesting that aberrant gene expression is a critical factor in treatment and prognosis. Gene expression data can identify targeted therapy pathways by identifying more precise cancer profiles based on genetic expression. To assess effectiveness of RNA expression analysis at identifying target genes, mRNA copy counts from tumor samples of 32 pediatric ALL patients were gathered. Sample grouping was explored using principal component analysis, t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding, and uniform manifold approximation and projection. The samples were then split according to expression levels of known neuroblastoma driver ALK and then analyzed for differentially expressed genes using the DESeq2 and limma workflows. As part of the preliminary findings, differential expression analysis revealed differences within the group in expression of known neuroblastoma drivers MYCN, ALK, PHOX2B, and TERT. This also revealed limitations of RNAseq analysis due to noise at low expression levels and outliers that skewed mean expression data. Analysis of RNA expression data shows promising results by identifying groups of similar cancer profiles and identifying differentially expressed genes as therapeutic targets.

Identification of novel genetic drivers of pediatric tumors Read More »

Impact of a Web-Based Naloxone Training on First Responders

In the midst of the pandemic, the United States continues to experience an opioid epidemic. Fatal opioid overdoses have risen significantly during the pandemic. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, and is an effective public health intervention to reduce opioid overdoses. Law enforcement officers are often first to arrive at the scene of an overdose. To equip law enforcement officers to respond to opioid overdoses, a web-based naloxone training program was developed in collaboration with our community partners (www.overdoseaction.org). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of our First Responder web-based naloxone training program. We aim to use descriptive statistics and paired samples t-test to analyze pre-test and post-test data to assess the law enforcement officers’ improvements in knowledge, confidence, and attitudes towards naloxone and overdoses. We anticipate our results will show an increase in knowledge, confidence, and attitudes among law enforcement officers who participate in our web-based naloxone training.

Impact of a Web-Based Naloxone Training on First Responders Read More »

Consumer Response to Self-Sampling Methods for Cervical Cancer Screening

Cervical cancer is one of the most prominent cancers in the world, as it is the third most prevalent cancer in women across the globe. However, it is also deemed as one of the most treatable cancers as long as there is early detection and diagnosis because of the primary and secondary stages of prevention: “the HPV vaccine and cervical cancer screening have made it one of the most preventable cancers” (CDC.gov). The problem is that most people are unaware that they are infected with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and that many women between the recommended ages do not receive a Pap smear since it is not an accessible screening for everyone. Consequently, no treatment will be given to the patient, resulting in a greater risk of obtaining cervical cancer if the patient is infected with high-risk HPV. In this MISSH study, we observe the consumer response to two self-sampling kits used to detect the presence of high-risk HPV. One kit includes the urine sampling method (ColliPee), and the other includes the vaginal method (Eve brush). Women who volunteered to participate in this study were given the options of either using one method of their choice, or using both kits. These self-sampling kits are sent through the mail; and once the sampling is done, extensive phone interviews were conducted to inquire about the patient’s preferences. Through this, we were able to learn what adjustments/accommodations are needed to be made in order to make the self-sampling methods more widely accepted, taking into account that more women feel more comfortable and are more likely to get screened with a self-sampling method.

Consumer Response to Self-Sampling Methods for Cervical Cancer Screening Read More »

Unravelling the organizing principles of bacterial chromosomes

Gene regulation in E. coli bacteria is determined primarily by transcriptional regulatory proteins and their interactions with DNA. These proteins, such as LER and H-NS, are vital to determining virulence in E. coli, and while much research has been done on the proteins themselves and the genes they express, work still needs to be done to determine which DNA structures and/or sequences are preferred by these proteins. We hypothesize that proteins like H-NS and LER prefer to bind to structures, rather than sequence, with an affinity for bent or elongated DNA. Using the molecular simulation software NAMD, and its analysis counterpart VMD, it is possible to simulate interactions between the proteins and DNA. Laboratory testing using Spect-seq and gel shift assays will work in conjunction with the simulations to test the findings of the computational side of this research, and provide additional insights into the reality of protein-DNA interaction in a laboratory setting. If we can better understand how these proteins regulate the bacterial genome, we will expand our knowledge of regulating virulence, and thus find better ways of treating bacterial infections without the harmful effects and risks of traditional antibiotics, as well as providing valuable insight on protein-DNA interaction of any form.

Unravelling the organizing principles of bacterial chromosomes Read More »

Understanding children’s biological beliefs regarding disease transmission of COVID-19

Despite the vast scientific research by Americans on pandemics from the past, little is known about how children are impacted by these unprecedented times and uncertainty. According to Au et al. (2008), the results from their findings suggest that education has the power to foster effective health-promoting behaviors among children and provides a basis for this COVID-COLD study. As a way to understand how children process these scenarios and adapt their behaviors according to public guidelines, this study focuses on how children conceptualize this information during the present-day COVID-19 pandemic. This two-part study reveals how children conceptualize common colds and the COVID-19 virus through qualitative, self-administered studies via a virtual survey. 320 children ages 5-12 from the United States participated in this study and were asked to complete two virtual studies: The Common Cold study and the COVID-19 study. The study is administered over the video-streaming platform Zoom, and the researcher adheres to a script for the entirety of the virtual meeting. Because this study is fairly new, a formal analysis of these research findings has not yet been conducted and an analysis is to-be determined. This study adds on to a fairly underrepresented research area and is part of a growing body of cognitive-developmental research during the COVID-19 pandemic. In delving into a largely unexplored area of cognitive-developmental research, this project hopes to contribute to future research on how best to teach children about colds and viruses. Understanding how children navigate through these unprecedented times and how they conceptualize these abstract concepts allows caregivers, teachers, and adults to learn the most efficient way in educating children in the future.

Understanding children’s biological beliefs regarding disease transmission of COVID-19 Read More »

Digital Dialogue

In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans find themselves depending on technology and virtual meeting tools more than ever. Though these resources are highly effective, their use tends to be more awkward when compared to face-to-face interaction. This project aims to evaluate the similarities and differences between in-person and virtual language processing. In order to do this, we utilized the Michigan SONA system to meet with 44 students over Zoom. We created a list of 56 yes/no audio questions (each one marked “predictable” or “unpredictable” depending on how easy or hard it would be to understand the question before it ends) and split them into two sets of 28. One set was to be played over Zoom from the experimenter to the student, while the other was to be played locally by the student. After having them answer the questions, we recorded the amount of time it took for participants to respond to each question. Data collection has been completed for this experiment, but the data is not yet fully organized. Though there are currently no reportable results, we hope to observe a significant difference in conversational flow and language comprehension depending on the medium of communication.

Digital Dialogue Read More »

Conversation

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues without a clear end in sight, a higher degree of conversation through digital means has risen. Often through online meetings there are technical boundaries that create odd disturbances within conversation that may make these meetings hesitant, awkward, and uncomfortable. Through preexisting literature on the turn-taking process in conversation, it is obvious that response times between two people conversing is very important in how one perceives the answer that will be given. Considering that technical delays in audio input may increase response time, it is imperative that digital conversations are examined. The basis of our study relies heavily on a similar project performed on non-digital conversation in the Cognition journal (Corps et al 2018). The project involved participants answering yes or no to questions considered either predictable or unpredictable with their response times recorded. This was replicated in the study with the addition of the variables “remote” and “local.” An unrelated member of the team prerecorded the questions from the Cognition journal to be used in data collection. The process involved one on one meetings with participants on Zoom where the audio recordings were played by the researcher through the share feature (remote) and later switched to the participant playing the audio through the share feature (local). The meeting was recorded in attempts to later derive the response times through manual transcription. Reflection on the raw data seems to suggest that response times were indeed larger though this process has yet to be completed. However, results will likely show an increase in response times which – taken with a grain of salt as there are many technical issues at play – can cause the hesitancy, awkwardness, and uncomfortableness that digital meetings may bring.

Conversation Read More »

lsa logoum logo