Metastasis, or the spread of cancer to a secondary site, is responsible for most cancer-related deaths. The tissue-specific environment that disseminated tumor cells experience influences whether they will proliferate and colonize the tissue, remain dormant, or die. Skeletal muscle (SkM) is one of the rarest sites for metastasis, despite making up nearly half of human body mass. What makes SkM so resistant to metastasis? We set out to test the hypothesis that the mechanical nature of SkM is responsible for the lack of metastases at this site. To do so, we used the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy to probe if the destruction of SkM structure and function would make it a more hospitable host to disseminated tumor cells. Wild type and mdx mice were intramuscularly injected with EO771 murine mammary tumor cells and monitored for tumor outgrowth using bioluminescent imaging. Preliminary results suggest that tumor growth is increased in dystrophic (e.g. dysfunctional muscle) versus wild-type mice. A complementary and more reductionist approach to test whether mechanics influences tumor colonization of muscle is to employ a culture model that allows tumor cells seeded on top of a SkM layer to experience mechanical stretching akin to the contraction/relaxation movements of muscle. To accomplish this, we constructed a device that applies a cyclic stretch to a 3D organotypic SkM culture model on a flexible silicone plate. We predicted that stretching would reduce tumor cell survival, when compared to no stretching. While these experiments are in progress, we believe that these data may elucidate a relationship between mechanical activity and suppression of tumor outgrowth in SkM. This work will contribute to a more complete understanding of how SkM avoids tumor colonization and could inform future approaches that leverage tissue mechanics to treat or prevent metastasis.

Amidst the turn of the twentieth century, few women were accounted for witnessing the advancement of archaeology, later known as the "Golden Age'' of Egyptology. In fact, much of the source material by women in this period have been misplaced or yet to be published. Mrs. Emma B. Andrews wrote nineteen volumes of diaries while observing the unearthing of over twenty tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The Emma B. Andrews Diary Project seeks to introduce Mrs. Andrews's works—and other unpublished historical documents composed by women during the time—to modern platforms, such as an online reader and social media. The transcribed texts are encoded into XML, using Text Encoding Initiative Guidelines, and the structural and contextual elements are denoted. The TEI documents are currently being used to create a comprehensive database for scholars and students alike to read the compositions of the lesser-known women of Egyptology. Accompanying the transcribed texts are biographies to equip the readers with additional context. However, we interns stepped further into this project by attempting to answer a fundamental question—how did Mrs. Andrews's accounts of her day-to-day interactions reflect the manner she viewed her life, and therefore herself? Guided by this question, we used research methods involving an analysis of Mrs. Andrews's language and identification via XML-TEI of the various contextual elements referenced—the people, places, hotels, and boats she encountered. These components were also cross-evaluated with further sources, including a sentimental analysis tool, to provide supplemental information to our study. After converging Mrs. Andrews's life history with recognized research in memory retrieval, we have noted observations on how her writing reveals her distinct perspective of the world and how her past may have influenced that point of view.

Debates about the causes and consequences of gentrification for urban poor have been active for decades, but inconclusive due to methodological constraints and inconsistent definitions. However, gentrification research in the context of transit oriented development (TOD) allows scholars to overcome these issues, because of its clear definition. While studies generally theorize that populations change through low-income, often non-white, residents moving out of an area, research finds that urban poor are far less mobile than higher income groups. At the same time, metropolitan cities are currently experiencing technology booms and rapid population growth that reveal puzzling racial trends. In Seattle, Black and Hispanic populations are declining, while White populations are increasing in a way not explained by existing theory. The present study attempts to explain this pattern by suggesting that middle and upper income groups are shifting the racial composition of neighborhoods because of their capacity to move. Using descriptive statistics and difference-in-difference estimates, I examine the effect of Light Rail transit on population race and socioeconomic status compositions of Seattle census tracts between 1990-2019 with a unique time-series dataset composed of American Community Survey estimates and Census data. My study has implications for theories of urban demographic change, as it will illuminate how race and class interact in this context. The study is also relevant to urban planning and public policy professionals interested in how local government policy affects existing residents.

Despite research supporting the efficacy of certain mental health practices, many mental health care providers in community mental health clinics are not utilizing evidence-based practices (EBPs) consistently when treating patients with mental health needs. Clinical supervisors play a critical role in EBP implementation given that they have regular oversight with clinicians and can gauge how often clinicians use EBPs and how effective they are at delivering them. The purpose of our project is to examine the feasibility and self-reported usefulness of case-based consultation for clinical supervisors at child-serving community mental health clinics to support the implementation of EBPs. In our pilot study, nine clinical supervisors and two supervisor consultants were recruited from community mental health clinics to participate in supervisor consultation calls. The purpose of these calls was to improve clinical supervision skills and perceived competencies for clinical supervisors. These calls consisted of: (1) a brief 15-minute didactic lead by the supervisor consultant that covered various content areas relevant to their roles as supervisors; and (2) 45 minutes of case-based consultation among the consultant and the clinical supervisors where they discussed real-life supervision scenarios, barriers and challenges that they faced, and proposed solutions or strategies. Pre and post surveys with clinical supervisor participants showed the consultation calls resulted in greater self-reported supervision competency. To build on the quantitative analyses, my mentors and I have been conducting a qualitative thematic analysis of eleven of the case-based consultation calls, which were recorded and transcribed. We will analyze the qualitative data to identify reoccurring themes discussed on the calls coded as barriers or solutions to supervision and clinical challenges to EBP implementation. This thematic analysis will help us gain insight into one potential support strategy to improve EBP implementation and sustainment to increase the quality of behavioral health care for youth.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top ten causes of death globally. Although it is mostly curable, the antibiotic treatment is long, challenging, and carries dire consequences if discontinued. Patients face many known barriers to treatment adherence, such as traveling to TB clinics, lack of TB knowledge, stigma, and the medication's adverse effects. In response, the TB Treatment Support Tools (TB-TSTs) intervention has been iteratively developed with patients and TB teams to improve treatment outcomes. TB-TSTs is a two-part system. The patient-facing mobile application allows patients to report taking the medication daily, potential medication side effects, submitting a photo of a test strip that detects a TB drug metabolite, asking questions, and interacting with a treatment supporter. The other part of the system is for treatment supporters who can be, for example, social workers, physicians, or nurses to review the daily reports, encourage and support patients through treatment. As part of this larger study, the aim is to improve the treatment supporter interface by analyzing and synthesizing interview transcripts with treatment supporters to provide recommendations for the design team. Interviews were conducted with actual or potential Argentinian treatment supporters and transcribed for qualitative analysis of main themes using Atlas.Ti. In collaboration with research team members, we iteratively developed a codebook. The team identified five main themes and seven sub-themes. Main themes include limitations of the system, what works, design recommendations/features to improve, and subthemes include usability/UI feedback and cultural adaptation. Expanding on patient events (e.g., appointments) and quickly visualize adverse effects are the main recommendations. The main findings were presented to the design team to influence the treatment supporter interface of the TB-TSTs for the next stage of testing. This study will improve the TB-TST, and the larger project presents the usability of future treatment supporter tools for chronic diseases.

Exposure to arsenic (As) through contaminated drinking water is a far-reaching problem in Washington State, as well as the entire United States. There is a demand for novel approaches to arsenic remediation as current technologies prove to be either too expensive or ineffective at lower arsenic concentrations. Periphyton is a community of different organisms, including blue-green algae, bacteria, fungi, plant detritus and animals. In addition to providing dissolved oxygen and soil to its environment, periphyton has been shown to accumulate arsenic at far higher concentrations than the water around it. Our lab aimed to discover if bacteria were in fact responsible for the uptake of arsenic observed in periphyton. So far, we have isolated several species of the Pseudomonas and Janithobacterium genera that are resistant to high levels of arsenic. We further isolated species contained within the periphyton, and then determined that these organisms are metabolizing arsenic. We investigated the genetic basis of the arsenic resistance in our isolates by generating targeted deletions of known arsenic metabolism genes and through a genetic screen of a pool of transposon insertional mutants for gain of arsenic sensitivity. With these identified genes linked to arsenic transformation and resistance of arsenic toxicity, it will then become possible to alter, repress, or enhance these processes. In the future this data may provide utility in arsenic remediation.

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a bacterium that is often present in the gum pockets of people who have gum disease. Research has indicated that P. gingivalis is able to avoid detection by a host’s immune system by modifying the lipid A structure on its outer membrane. Our research has examined the effect of lipid A modifications on outer membrane vesicle production. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are formed when the outer membrane of the bacterium bends out into a tight bubble-like shape and pinches off from the membrane completely. As this happens, contents within the membrane space can be packaged inside of the vesicle. OMVs may contain toxins or misfolded proteins for expulsion from the bacterium, or they can package DNA which enables horizontal gene transfer. It is known that OMVs are common in Gram-negative bacteria, but the exact mechanism of how they are formed is not yet well understood. To better understand OMV production, I have performed assays to quantify the OMV production of several different strains of P. gingivalis. Mutant strains provided to our lab had their lipid A protein mutated as follows: dephosphorylated and tetra-acylated (wild type), phosphorylated at the C4 position (Δ1587), phosphorylated at the C1 position (Δ1773), and penta-acylated (Δ1123). Assay results indicated that when compared to wild type, phosphorylation of the C4 position (present in Δ1587) inhibits OMV production, and yet phosphorylation of the C1 position (present in Δ1773) enhances OMV production. Whether lipid A has 4 or 5 acyl chains (Δ1123), the difference appears to have no significant effect on OMV production. The logical next step is to identify which proteins are causing these differences by their varying interactions with lipid A. Identifying these proteins will contribute to the larger scientific quest of understanding how outer membrane vesicles are formed.

HSV-2 is a sexually transmitted disease of global importance, with an estimated infected global population of over 500 million people, as estimated by the WHO. HSV-2 is a lifelong infection which results in painful, recurrent lesions in the genital area. Previous research has shown that high numbers of regulatory T cells (suppressive immune cells important for maintaining tolerance) are present in the mucosal tissue alongside traditional CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (T cells important for an adaptive immune response), and their role is not fully understood. The reporter strain “Nedel” is a strain of HSV-2 with an inserted mNeonGreen fluorescent marker, allowing us to visualize HSV-2 infection. Our current project is to characterize the viral kinetics of the reporter strain of HSV-2 and compare it with WT HSV-2, as well as visualize the virus in infected cells via immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. We have infected mice intravaginally with both strains of virus, collected vaginal washes for plaque assays (to determine viral load) and harvested their vaginal tracts for flow cytometry. Our first round of experiments have shown that while the general frequency of immune cells were comparable, there was significantly lower activation of these cells in the Nedel-infected mice as compared with the WT-infected mice. In ongoing experiments, we have infected the mice with a higher dose of Nedel virus in an effort to make infection more comparable to WT, and we will be harvesting vaginal tracts for flow cytometry analysis to see whether we can visualize the mNeonGreen. Our overall goal is to utilize the Nedel HSV-2 strain to investigate the role of regulatory T cells in modulating anti-viral immune response, with a broader goal of finding treatments and an effective vaccine for HSV-2.

Extreme precipitation events have the potential to threaten physical infrastructure, property, and human lives, and are predicted to become heavier due to climate change. Understanding past, present, and future precipitation is important in analyzing how precipitation risks change spatially and temporally. The observational record, from which point precipitation frequency estimates such as NOAA Atlas-14 are derived, is limited by its lack of spatial coverage and it represents just one realization of past climate. When using a high-resolution large ensemble global climate model, we have multiple realizations of climate, consistent spatial coverage, and the added benefit of being able to incorporate climate change scenarios into precipitation risk analysis. Here, we use the GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) 50-km horizontal atmospheric resolution global SPEAR (Seamless System for Prediction and EArth System Research) 30-member ensemble to analyze how U.S. 24-hour precipitation extremes at various return periods change over the 1921-2100 time period. We quantify extreme precipitation risks across the U.S. and locally under different climate change scenarios (SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5, and natural forcings alone). With the large ensemble, we are also able to explore methodology and uncertainties in characterizing extreme precipitation risks.

Antibiotic treatment often fails in chronic bacterial infections; many resistant bacteria no longer respond to antibiotic treatments once designed to eliminate them. The chronic infections of bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) that afflict people with cystic fibrosis (CF) are a prime example. In CF, standard antibiotic susceptibility testing does not accurately predict treatment efficacy, and genetically unstable resistance is one potential explanation. Genetically unstable resistance occurs when resistance-producing mutations are rapidly lost or compensated for in the absence of antibiotics. Clinical susceptibility testing likely fails to detect unstable resistance as many bacterial growth generations (in the absence of antibiotics) are used in preparing isolates for testing. We hypothesized that Pa cultured from the lungs of tobramycin-treated CF patients exhibit unstable antibiotic resistance that rapidly reverts upon growth in the absence of antibiotic pressure. To test this, we cultured Pa isolates from patients who are being treated with antibiotics in a manner that maintains antibiotic selection during growth steps. We then measured their resistance levels before and after growth in the absence of antibiotics to identify isolates with unstable resistance. Whole genome sequencing of sensitive and resistant isolate pairs identified the genetic mechanisms causing unstable resistance. Our data shows that individual isolates from many patients exhibit a wide range of instability. Some isolates exhibited as much as an over a hundred-fold decrease in inhibitory concentration after antibiotic-free growth, while other isolates from the same sample had stable resistance. This work could lead to new sequenced-based methods to detect unstable resistance in patients, new approaches to select antibiotics for treatment and a greater understanding of antibiotic efficacy in chronic infections.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors. Symptoms can vary widely in type and severity between individuals, but approximately 23% of children show clinical levels of aggression. Considering evidence for other racial disparities in healthcare, race/ethnicity is also a factor of interest in ASD research on disparities in diagnosis rates and severity. Previous studies have found ASD symptom severity, but not race, to be a significant predictor of physical aggression, though they investigated race alone and not as a moderator. This project aims to look at the relationship between measures of aggression and symptom severity, and the moderating effect of race/ethnicity on that relationship. 145 participants between the ages of 8-17 years with an autism diagnosis from an NIH-funded study were included in the analysis. Symptom severity was determined based on clinician observation of and interaction with the participant using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Calibrated Severity Score (ADOS CSS). Parents of the participants completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), rating their child’s level of emotional/behavioral problems. Questions were grouped together to yield scores in different “syndrome scale” categories, including aggressive behaviors. We will use multiple linear regressions to do predictive analysis on the relationships between symptom severity, aggression, and race. We expect that children with greater ASD symptom severity will display more aggressive behaviors. We also predict that there will be a moderating effect of race/ethnicity, with this relationship being stronger in white, non-Hispanic children than others. This study will provide insight into the diversity of ASD presentation, and it may help illuminate (biological or socially constructed) differences in ASD presentation between races/ethnicities and further efforts for equitable treatment.

Executive function (EF) and social functioning are areas of challenge for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research shows that social function is associated with EF in children with ASD, even when controlling nonverbal IQ. The current study investigates whether this relationship extends to FASD. Participants were children with FASD (n=23; 10 girls) or ASD (n=18; 4 girls), ages 4 to 11 years old (FASD: M=84 months; SD=19; ASD: M=89 months; SD=24). Nonverbal IQ was assessed using the Leiter International Performance Scale (Leiter-3). Nonverbal IQ scores ranged from 67 to 133 (M=100 for both FASD and ASD). The groups were matched on chronological age and nonverbal IQ and did not significantly differ on either. Parent-report questionnaires assessed EF and social functioning: the Behavioral Rating of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), respectively. Both the BRIEF and SRS-2 yield T-Scores, with higher T-Scores corresponding to greater impairment. I calculated Pearson’s bivariate correlations, followed by partial correlations controlling for nonverbal IQ, to test the association between BRIEF and SRS-2 scores. For both children with FASD and ASD, BRIEF composite and SRS-2 T-scores were significantly positively correlated, r(21) = .74 for FASD; r(16) = .56 for ASD. The same held when controlling for nonverbal IQ: r(20) = .74 for FASD; r(15) = .72 for ASD. Thus, parent ratings of challenges with EF were associated with challenges with social function, even when controlling nonverbal IQ. Future research should consider the potential role of EF in contributing to social functioning among children with FASD or ASD and how comparisons between FASD and ASD may yield insights into ways to support these children’s development.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by deficits in communication and social skills, and increased repetitive behaviors. These deficits also have the potential to impact executive functioning (EF). EF refers to the important mental processes of working memory, flexible thinking, and inhibitory control in order to reach a goal or complete a task. Language development centers around the ability to communicate, understand, and problem solve through verbal communication. Previous studies in typically developing (TD) children have found a moderately strong relationship between language ability and EF in children, as language allows for individuals to communicate more effectively, leading to higher EF ability when it comes to completing a task. The aim of this study is to analyze the correlation between language development and EF in individuals with and without ASD. As language and verbal communication requires recall and focus, it is likely that the two areas of EF most impacted by language development will be working memory and the ability to shift between tasks. Participants (ASD= 60, TD = 60) ages 8-17 years participated in a four-site study looking at sex differences in autism and completed the CELF-4, a clinician administered language measure. Parents of children completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning Questionnaire (BRIEF), an 86 item EF questionnaire that results in a global executive composite score. We expect (1) that ASD youth will have greater impairments in language and EF compared to TD youth, (2) to see correlations between EF and language across both groups. Additionally, we predict higher EF and language scores for females than males. This study will provide a better understanding of language and EF that may be used to guide treatments, such as speech therapy for EF improvement.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in communication, cognitive, and social impairments (Morgan et al., 2019). Earlier diagnosis has been shown to have a positive language trajectory for children with ASD. Delays in language development is one of the earliest signs of autism, and the more severe the child's early language delays are, the more likely they will have impaired language functioning (Mody & Belliveau, 2013). This project aims to evaluate if early language behavioral concerns raised by parents (age at first concerns of language) predict later language ability in youth with and without ASD. Participants included 68 children with ASD (males=34) between the ages of 8 and 17 years from the four site NIH funded study looking at sex differences in autism. All participants included met ASD criteria via standardized measures and had a verbal IQ >70. Parents of participants completed the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R), including questions related to when they observed the first signs of language and behavioral concerns and if concerns started at certain milestone ages (before 12 months, 18 months). Child participants completed a clinician-administered language task (CELF-IV), including answering questions related to recalling and formulating sentences. We predict that ASD children, whose parents identified concerns at an earlier age, have better language skills later in childhood. Previous research has indicated that females with ASD have a better language trajectory and have more vital verbal skills (Banks, 2020). Considering this research, we will explore sex differences, age of concerns, and later language development. This research can shed light on the importance of providing training to parents to recognize language delays early in children.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social, communicative, and behavioral impairments. Some individuals with ASD attempt to conceal their social impairments in a coping strategy known as camouflaging. Camouflaging includes (1) masking or suppressing instinctive autistic behaviors, and (2) compensating by memorizing and following social-communication norms. Even though camouflaging can help individuals with ASD secure jobs, avoid rejection, and form meaningful relationships, individuals with ASD qualitatively report that camouflaging is socially exhausting and can cause undue stress, anxiety, and feelings of inauthenticity. Given the qualitative reports of anxiety related to camouflaging, this study includes a quantitative investigation of the correlations between social camouflaging, mental health, and autistic traits across ASD and typically developing (TD) youth and young adults. Twenty ASD participants (Male=11) and 30 TD participants (Male=12) from the ACE GENDAAR network, a five site NIH funded project investigating gender differences in individuals with autism are included in the study. ASD diagnosis was confirmed via gold-standard diagnostic measures. Camouflaging was assessed using the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire, a self-report measure of camouflaging behaviors. Mental health was assessed via the Adult Self Report or Youth Self Report, self-report behavioral checklists of co-morbid mental health symptoms. Social impairments associated with ASD were measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale, a parent-report questionnaire on their child's autistic traits. We hypothesize a positive correlation between the degree of camouflaging and the severity of depression/anxiety for both ASD and TD participants. We also predict camouflaging to be a better predictor of depression/anxiety severity than autistic traits. Data from this study can provide a better understanding of the prevalence of camouflaging in ASD and TD participants. It can also help create earlier mental health interventions for participants who camouflage their autistic traits.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder that causes developmental delays and difficulty in communication. Previous research shows children's communication skills may vary with parents' level of education. Children with parents who completed college are more verbal and show stronger communication skills in comparison to children with parents who have not completed college. This could potentially be due to an increased awareness of the importance of communicative skills among parents who have a higher education. Our goal is to explore this relationship in the GENDAAR sample, a four-site NIH funded study looking at sex and gender differences in autism. In addition to parental education, other socioeconomic factors (SES) such as household income and household structure and their relation to language skills will be explored in order to investigate the impact of SES on language development. Participants included 125 youth, ages 8-17 years with and without ASD. ASD diagnosis was confirmed via standardized assesments such as ADOS-2 and ADI-R and all participants included had a verbal IQ>70. Participants completed the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF-4) measure that focused on language skills in areas including word structure and recalling sentences. Parents completed the ACE Demographic questionnaire containing questions about SES. Based on previous data, we hyothesize that children with parents of higher education will have stronger language skills that children with parents of lower education levels. We also expect to see children in multimember households and children with higher family income to have better language outcomes. Knowledge of this information could lead to a deeper understanding of language skills in children, which would allow care to be directed towards individuals who are not recieving access to resources necessary to imporove language skills. 

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder that is characterized by persistent challenges in social, behavioral, and communication functioning. The various challenges posed by ASD-related symptoms may result in lower quality of life (QoL) (Burgess & Gutstein, 2007). Previous research has focused on the relationship between others’ reports of autism traits (parent or clinician) and self- report of QoL for individuals with ASD (Mason et al., 2018), and only few reports have used self-report of autism traits and self-report of QoL. Self-report measures provide direct self-assessment rather than other’s interpreting a behavior from observation. The use of self-report provides a better understanding of how individuals with ASD evaluate autism traits and QoL without others’ bias. The present study aims to evaluate the relationship between self-reported autism traits and self-reported QoL in youth with and without ASD. Participants (ASD = 35, TD= 56) ages 16-34 year from a four-site NIH funded study on gender differences in autism were included. All participants met inclusionary criteria on standardized measures and had an IQ>70. Participants completed self-report assessment of autism traits (SAAT), a 58 item questionnaire on autism traits, and quality of life (Peds-QL) questionnaire, where questions about physical health, functioning, and emotional health were answered. We expect individuals with autism to report a lower QoL than TD peers replicating previous findings, and self-report of autism severity to be a predictor of QoL. We will additionally explore gender differences across these relationships to evaluate if females report lower autism traits considering more males are clinically diagnosed with ASD than females. These results will provide insight into the importance of timely recognition of QoL challenges in individuals with autism so supports can be developed and provided to young adults with autism.

The Southeast Asian American population disproportionately experiences mental health disorders due to histories of war and violence leaving home and coming to the U.S., however, their mental health needs are understudied. This study explores how parental involvement among Southeast Asian parents is associated with adolescents’ self-esteem. We also examine how gender might play a role in parental involvement and self-esteem. We analyzed data from the 1995 wave of surveys from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study. We focused our analyses on adolescents who identified as Vietnamese, Laos, Hmong and Cambodian and whose parents completed the parent survey (n = 382 pairs of parents and adolescents). We first calculated descriptive statistics for sociodemographic characteristics (age, education level, income), parental involvement measures (frequency of communication about school & clashing) and self-esteem (Rosenberg scale). We then used chi-square tests or t-tests to determine whether characteristics, including self-esteem, differed significantly by adolescent gender. We also assessed the relationships between parental involvement measures and adolescent self-esteem. Results demonstrated that clashing between parents and adolescents were significantly associated with adolescent self-esteem (p<.05) While results indicated that there were no significant gender differences in self-esteem scores, self-esteem scores were low overall in the sample. Our results point to the importance of expanding holistic and culturally relevant mental health services for Southeast Asian adolescents, regardless of gender, especially considering the importance of family involvement in service delivery. Additionally, results call for practitioners to deliver culturally sensitive services and to gain a stronger understanding of cultural and gender norms when working with Southeast Asian populations. Future research should seek to better understand the mental health of Southeast Asian adolescents.

This paper is intended as a critique and development of morality in literature, seeking to prove that literature can have deep effects on a reader’s moral character. The stakes for such research are rather high: especially during the pandemic, our culture is heavily informed by social and mass media, and it is hard to imagine a good future for the world if these mediums cannot shake the status quo. Though this paper takes a narrower scope of investigation than moral progress itself, the reader should keep in mind that all of our practices of communication can and should be informed by literary tradition, among other practices. For art is our name for the most refined and deliberate artifacts of human expression, capable of great scale, subtlety, and mass dissemination. Morality in communication is explored here through literature, but I hope the reader will make an attempt to apply any knowledge gleaned to as diverse a range of their practices as is possible. The basic issue of my research is that conventional calls to action, for example Sarah McLachlan’s famous (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) SPCA commercials, are not terribly effective. This is obvious insofar as there is a saturation of these calls to action, and a shocking lack of action or concern from many, but I will also seek to justify this in the theories of Immanuel Levinas, then develop a solution from a more philosophical framing of the problem, with Louis Althusser’s writings on ideology, as well as case studies from literature. Eventually, this all leads to the question: how do we address ideology in art? Which will hopefully be somewhat answered by the development of the question, and further addressed by the case studies comprising the latter half of this writing.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that is characterized by impairments in social, communication, and behavioral skills. One particular characteristic commonly seen in individuals with ASD is the presence of repetitive behaviors which include motor movements such as hand flapping or more ritualistic behaviors such as needing to touch objects in a particular order. Repetitive behaviors in ASD are similar to those seen in certain anxiety disorders, and the presence of a comorbid anxiety disorder in an individual with ASD has been shown to increase symptom severity, such as in social and communication impairments. Given the similarity between repetitive behaviors seen in ASD and anxiety disorders and the tendency for anxiety disorders to exacerbate ASD symptoms, this research aimed to assess the severity of repetitive behaviors between those with ASD and those with ASD + anxiety. Children between the ages of 8 and 17 participated in an NIH funded study (ASD only = 145) (ASD + anxiety = 67). Parents completed the ACE Medical History interview about their child and completed the Repetitive Behavior Scale - Revised (RBS-R) which is a 44-item questionnaire that assesses repetitive behaviors on 6 different subscales. We predict that the ASD + anxiety group will have a higher severity score (total and subscales) when compared to the ASD only group. Additionally, we will explore sex differences across these relationships. Overall, the information gained in this study will shed further light on symptom severity in subsets of the ASD population, thus better informing the development of treatment for individuals.