Increased racial tensions in America should be considered in evaluating current psychotherapeutic and social structures. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) argues that divulging vulnerable information about oneself is essential for emotional intimacy. When vulnerability is responded to with attempts to build safety, vulnerable behavior is reinforced (strengthened). This reciprocal process of vulnerability and building safety aids in the development of intimate relationships across social and psychotherapeutic settings. The interaction model of FAP has never been examined through an interracial lens. In interracial interactions, people may be less comfortable being vulnerable, which may contribute to increased social anxiety. These communication differences may partially explain lower rates of efficacy in cross-cultural psychotherapy. Our study analyzed the effect of race on vulnerability and anxiety as important elements in the well-established model of intimate relationship development. During same-race and interracial mock therapeutic interactions, undergraduate participants (representing clients) were asked questions intended to elicit vulnerability by research assistants. Heart rate (HR) data were recorded from participants as a physiological measure of anxiety throughout the interaction. Participant vulnerability was assessed through self-report and behavioral coding by blind, independent research assistants. We hypothesize that participants in the interracial interactions will show higher levels of anxiety, as measured by HR data, and lower levels of vulnerability, as measured by self report and behavioral coding, compared to participants in same-race interactions. This project may reveal that developing organic interracial connections is more difficult than developing same-race connections. This would indicate a need to modify current social and psychotherapeutic structures to facilitate the creation of effective and meaningful interracial relationships.

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the USA. Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is a neuroprotective phenomenon wherein a brief ischemic exposure induces robust neuroprotection against subsequent prolonged ischemia. The Weinstein laboratory has previously demonstrated: (i) a robust type 1 interferon response in cortical microglia following IPC, (ii) type I interferon signaling in microglia is required for IPC-mediated protection and (iii) IPC induces a robust increase in the number of microglia in preconditioned cortex. An initial component of my project was to validate this microglial response by first staining for Iba1 (a microglial marker) alone and then double staining for Iba1 and proliferation marker BrdU. We used immunofluorescent microscopy (IFM) following by quantitative stereology (QS). Our hypothesis was that type I interferon signaling is necessary for IPC-induced microglial proliferation. We carried out IPC on WT and type 1 interferon receptor deficient (IFNAR-/-) mice and quantified cortical microglial number and proliferation as above. Preliminary results were: (i) in naïve WT, 0.643 ± 0.038 (mean ± S.D), Iba1+ cells per position, (ii) in preconditioned WT, 1.113 ± 0.1385, (iii) in naïve IFNAR1-/-, 0.751 ± 0.058 and in preconditioned IFNAR1-/-, 0.903 ± 0.125. Two way ANOVA revealed a significant difference between naïve and IPC-induced cortical microglia numbers [F(1,14)=9.62, p=0.0078], but no significant effect of genotype [F(1,14)=0.258, p=0.619]. IPC induced increases in the number of cortical Iba1+/BrdU+ proliferating microglia in both IFNAR1-/- (0.451 ± 0.107) and WT (0.205 ± 0.069) mice. These results suggest a complex picture in which deficiency in type 1 IFN signaling may not influence IPC-induced microglial proliferation but does attenuate the overall number of cortical microglia. This raises the possibility that type 1 IFN signaling may be required for optimal microglial survival following IPC. More studies will be required to confirm the above findings and explore possible mechanisms.

Color blindness is defined as a perspective understanding one’s racial identity is irrelevant and it is best to ignore the importance of race and skin color. This ideology is embraced by whites who deny their prejudice through this modern form of racism by diminishing other’s race and culture and claiming to view all people as equal. Although white people may believe their intentions behind color blindness are good by not judging people by the color of their skin, but rather by the content of their character, alternately the true motivation behind the color blindness ideology may be white people’s discomfort around black people, which causes them to avoid color all together. We believe that color blindness is a modern form of racism in which individuals suppress their discomfort among blacks. Therefore, we predict higher levels of color-blindness will correlate with lower levels of allophilia, which represents positive attitudes, feelings, and demeanor towards minorities. We tested this prediction in a survey study in which UW undergraduate students completed measures of color-blindness and allophilia towards Black people. The current study also seeks to investigate how social desirability influences this relationship between color blindness and allophilia. Social desirability is a biased response in which the respondent answers the survey question in a way that would be generally accepted and favored by society rather than being truthful. We hypothesize that if we account for social desirability, the correlation between color blindness and allophilia will be stronger because we predict that social desirability masks the real relationship between the two variables. Thus, people with higher social desirability will be more untruthful, resulting in a higher score of allophilia, when in reality their allophilia score should be lower. Our study explores the relationship between color blindness and allophilia and the role in which social desirability plays.

Current drug testing methods are unable to accurately predict and study the effects of drugs on human myocardial tissue. These methods are unable to accurately mimic the physiology and maturity of native cardiac tissue, and as a result, the tissues are unable to react to cardiotoxic drugs the same way that native cardiac tissue. Therefore, there is a need for physiologically accurate and mature tissue constructs in order to test clinical drugs for effectiveness, cardiotoxicity, and arrhythmic effects. To fulfill this need, we will use an electroconductive bioink containing decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) from porcine cardiac tissue, reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and incorporated human induced-pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes to develop a more physiologically accurate cardiac tissue construct. This will result in more adequate cell maturation, and therefore, more accurate preclinical drug screening. The success of this project would lead to the development of high throughput production of biomimetic cardiac tissue models for use in accurate drug screening, along with improving the understanding of cardiac maturation.

Nuclear coercion rests on the threat of force to compel a demand. Some strategists contend that nuclear coercion does not work between nuclear adversaries. The theory of the nuclear revolution posits that military victory is not possible in the nuclear era, and therefore military power cannot advance political ends. Others maintain that nuclear coercion is indeed possible, and the nuclear balance of power between adversaries shapes political outcomes. This study explores whether strategic superiority generates coercive leverage in crisis bargaining. It employs a qualitative case study analysis of Soviet decision making during the Cuban Missile Crisis to test rival theories of nuclear strategy.

Plasma, the fourth state of matter, is created by introducing a gas - in this case, helium - to an electric field. This field ionizes the helium atoms, which in turn ionize other molecules, creating a wide variety of highly reactive species. Previous work at Edmonds Community College demonstrated the efficacy of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in killing endospores of Bacillus atrophaeus for the purpose of spacecraft sterilization for NASA (Bernard et al., 2017). With increasing rates of antibiotic resistance, there is interest in using an APPJ in healthcare settings to eliminate harmful pathogens and therefore promote wound healing. However, given its destruction of endospores, it is unclear if the APPJ would damage living tissue. The purpose of this research was to analyze the effect of an APPJ on multicellular eukaryotic organisms. The impact of different exposure times of the APPJ upon both germinated and ungerminated Zinnia elegans seeds, and the effects on plant growth, was studied. The optimal exposure time for germinated seeds was between one and two minutes, while treatments greater than 2 minutes may increase germination rate.

 In the United States, Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder are among the most prevalent of mental health disorders. There are, however, disparities in the prevalence of depression and anxiety between racial and ethnic groups. Generally, whites have higher rates of depression and anxiety than blacks, but blacks have a higher rate of persistent depression than whites. One potential factor relevant to this disparity in depression and anxiety rates is ethnic identity. This study therefore sought to investigate how ethnic identity predicts depression and anxiety differentially between blacks and whites. Based on past literature, we hypothesized that higher ethnic identity would predict lower depression and anxiety in blacks, in that having a strong black identity would inoculate individuals from the harmful and depressogenic effects of discrimination, a known risk for depression in blacks. We hypothesized that ethnic identity would have no effect in whites. The study recruited black (n=54) and white (n=64) participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete a battery of self-report questionnaires including measures of ethnic identity, depression, and anxiety. A linear regression analysis was computed predicting depression and anxiety from measures of ethnic identity, with race as a moderator variable. Results indicated that higher ethnic identity had no significant effect on depression and anxiety in whites, but predicted higher depression and anxiety in blacks. Therefore our hypothesis was not supported. These data contradict previous findings that strong ethnic identity can be a protective factor against depression and anxiety. It is possible that, in today’s political climate of increased white nationalism and violence against blacks, ethnic identity may in fact be becoming a risk factor. Future studies would explore how ethnic identity corresponds to heightened sensitivity to discrimination, thereby predicting higher depression and anxiety in blacks.