Early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (EOAD) patients have a greater risk of developing seizures. Consequently, EOAD patients who develop seizures have worsened comorbidities, including mortality and behavioral outcomes. The causal relationship between chronic seizures and AD is still unknown. Neuroinflammation has been postulated as one of the links between these two disorders. Our lab has previously demonstrated that young mice with a presenilin 1 (PS1) genetic variant and amyloid precursor protein (APP) overexpression, mimicking an EOAD phenotype and genotype, subjected to chronic seizure are at high risk of mortality. This behavior was not observed in young mice with an EOAD-associated presenilin 2 (PS2) genetic variation. We hypothesize that chronic kindled seizures evoked in 2 months-old APP/PS1 mice worsen neuroinflammation and other neuropathological hallmarks of EOAD, including β-amyloid (Aβ) accumulation in the brain. To address this, 2-month-old male and female APP/PS1 and PS2 mice were subjected to seizures through a corneal kindling model of chronic seizures. The right brain hemisphere was collected before and after mice achieve the kindled criterion (five consecutive 5 Racine scale scores). Brains were harvested and cryopreserved for immunohistochemistry. My role in the project was to process tissues for immunohistochemistry. 20-µm thick sections of hippocampus from each mouse were sectioned on a cryostat and slide-mounted before processing with commercially available antibodies for molecular markers of neuroinflammation and neuropathology. Photomicrographs were collected and images were analyzed as the number of immunoreactive cells for each molecular and protein marker. We anticipate increased neuroinflammation and Aβ accumulation in kindled APP/PS1 mice versus their respective wild types and non-kindled littermates. We do not expect differences in PS2 variant animals. These results add to a larger research study in the laboratory to suggest that targeting seizures, and its inflammatory response, may be a potential therapeutic strategy to mitigate the behavioral and neuropathological burden of AD.

Large predators are particularly sensitive to human disturbance due to their slower life histories, large home ranges, and persecution by humans. Previous research shows that top predators have the ability to alter trophic relationships from their positions at the top of food webs. Therefore, anthropogenic-mediated behavioral changes in large predators could exert indirect and direct impacts on the entire ecological community. In Washington, cougars (Puma concolor) inhabit landscapes with increasing human disturbance, making this state an ideal place in which to explore how anthropogenic activity shapes their behavior. In this study, we examined cougar feeding behaviors in response to road, trail, and building density. We used camera traps deployed at fifty-five cougar kill sites to detect carcass visitation, and GPS collars on cougars to assess the total time spent at a carcass. A hurdle model was used to predict the probability of observing a cougar on a camera trap in relation to road, trail, and building density. Cougars were found to spend significantly less time feeding in areas of higher road density (p < 0.001) and building density (p < 0.001). This indicates that human infrastructure (proxied by road density) and human presence (proxied by building density) reduce cougar feeding opportunities. Our study shows that as the human footprint continues to expand into cougar habitats, cougars may experience further disruptions to their feeding dynamics. Understanding the behavioral response of large predators to disturbance is critical in the management of intact ecosystems and in mitigating human-wildlife conflict. 

Teacher burnout is a historical issue plaguing schools, but instead of school leadership focusing on decreasing teacher burdens, many teachers experience increased rates of burnout due to their focus being shifted to the added responsibilities to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs). Existing literature has shown that principals’ leadership type (i.e., transactional vs. transformational) and the implementation climate present (i.e., perceptions that EBP use is rewarded, expected, and supported) can impact teacher burnout. My research analyzes teacher burnout rates as they relate to leadership type and implementation climate when implementing Tier 1 (i.e., universal social, emotional, and behavioral programs and practices) services. As part of a larger ongoing study of a leadership-focused implementation strategy (i.e., strategies designed to improve adoption, fidelity, and impact of EBPs), principals, teachers, and school staff from 10 elementary schools within the same district completed a survey battery at the beginning of the school year. Data collected by the research team included things such as leadership type, implementation leadership, teacher burnout, and implementation climate. Preliminary analyses are ongoing to identify trends amongst school-building implementation leadership, leadership types, implementation climate, and teacher burnout when implementing Tier 1 EBPs, which can reveal how key implementation aspects relate to one another.