Climate change has resulted in environmental changes that pose direct and indirect challenges to marine organisms. One such organism that has been widely studied is the common murre (Uria aalge), which has experienced decreased reproductive success and adult survival in response to climate change-induced ocean warming. Because common murres molt flight feathers relatively synchronously, they may be especially vulnerable to environmental stresses, such as the challenge this may pose on obtaining food. In this study, we explore the degree to which shifting environmental conditions impact adult survival of common murres at a physiologically sensitive point: flight feather molt. The data we used for this study include: monthly expert-verified observations of bird carcasses from the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) citizen science program collected from the outer coast of Northern Washington south down to Humboldt, California; significant wave height data from the National Data Buoy Center (as a proxy for storminess); spring transition date (from the Columbia Basin Research website) as an indication of annual production potential; and Bakun upwelling index (from the Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory website) as a measure of upwelling strength and production potential. We annualized both the bird and environmental data over the years 2003-2021. For this project, my role was to conduct statistical analyses using the statistical program R. I employed generalized additive mixed models to determine the relationship between the proportion of adult carcasses in molt and the environmental variables. To select models, I used Akaike Information Criterion corrected for small sample size (AICc). Our research will give insights into how the combined effects of physiological and environmental stressors may impact upper trophic seabirds as climate change continues to intensify.

Starting in European folklore, antisemitism has gone largely unnoticed in fairy tales. Antisemitism present within our modern fantasy standards stems in large part from European folklore, further manipulated by rising antisemitic propaganda in the late nineteenth century, coalescing in Nazi propaganda, and internalized as stereotypes by storytellers, thus leading to a double standard of otherizing and assimilation in Western culture. As folklore evolved into the current fantasy genre, these stories transferred antisemitic and stereotypical of villainous Jewish characters into our modern-day media. Antisemitic caricatures populate our media, and gentiles, or non-Jews, often don’t realize it because of how pervasive these stereotypes have become in the main body of Western culture developed over the millennia. Drawing connections to the villainized images of a Jewish-coded character throughout fantasy stories and films, this paper uncovers the systemic and institutional problems Western media pushes onto an indifferent public, where thinking critically about our media doesn't extend to antisemitism. From case studies including Tolkien's work, Barbie movies, and the Harry Potter series, this paper identifies antisemitic stereotypes that have become impossible to avoid in media. Through widespread acceptance of these stereotypes, we perpetuate the misconceptions of our predecessors and otherize the Jewish body. Through perpetuation of hateful stereotypes in modern media and a lack of acknowledgement of ongoing antisemitism, we normalize the person of Jewish descent as the villain. Spotting these stereotypes is the first step in overcoming this imagery. Subversion becomes the next step to undo the damage to Western culture and modern media; reinterpreting and rewriting antisemitic stories as aspirational stories is a way to subvert the ideas of what a hero and a villain can look like.

Following the enactment of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act (2022), the country is faced with an increase in anti-LGBTQIA2+ bills in state legislatures (e.g., SB 30; MO SB134). With this onset of hostile policy, it has become increasingly important that members of the LGBTQIA2+ community are supported in their identity. Given this climate, our research team has aimed to understand how we can further support LGBTQIA2+ youth in school environments. Research shows that LGBTQIA2+ affirming sex education can support a variety of health outcomes for young people (e.g., Snapp et al., 2015). What is less agreed upon is the active ingredients of what makes sex education affirming for LGBTQIA2+ youth. Therefore, our research team is examining the question: What are the necessary components involved in delivering LGBTQIA2+ affirming sex education? To answer this question, we will conduct a comprehensive literature review (CLR: Onwuegbuzie & Frels, 2016) to assess sex education curricula that affirm LGBTQIA2+ identities. An integrative framework that employs both narrative and systematic styles will be applied to ensure a reflective research lens. Our primary research modes consist of empirical articles and educational policies influencing LGBTQIA2+ sex education. Preliminary findings show a necessity for more comprehensive preservice teacher training that resists heteronormativity and cisgenderism (Goodrich & Barnard, 2019; Naser et al., 2022) and covers a larger range of topics (Naser et al., 2022). Results from this study could inform teachers in presenting a sex education that affirms LGBTQIA2+ identities along with educational policies that creates curriculum standards for inclusion. Discovering elements of sex education that affirm LGBTQIA2+ identities could create a foundation for educators to utilize, which could enhance the mental and physical health of youth with these identities. Additionally, sex education that affirms LGBTQIA2+ identities can combat anti-queer public policy through consciousness-raising and ultimately grassroots organizing.
 

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are lipophilic environmental pollutants previously used in industrial and consumer products that are being found in fatty compartments of many aquatic species consumed by humans today. The gut microbiome is increasingly recognized to influence the metabolism and biotransformation of many substances including those linked to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) such as PCBs. To test the hypothesis that the gut-brain axis mediates PCB neurotoxicity, we studied how maternal PCB exposure modulates gut microbiome in offspring. C57BL/6 mouse dams were randomly assigned to receive either vehicle (peanut butter and peanut oil mixture) or the Fox River PCB mixture at a daily oral dose of 0.1, 1.0, or 6.0 mg/kg body weight. To study changes in the gut microbiome, shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to sequence the DNA of the large intestinal contents of male and female pups collected at postnatal day (PND) 28 and PND 35 (n>5 per group). The sequences were then aligned against a curated database (includes RefSeq, cell-cultured, and mouse-specific high-quality metagenomically assembled genomes) used for downstream analysis, and also the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Orthology groups (KEGG KOs) to predict functional changes of the microbiome. The analysis confirmed that maternal PCB exposure produce gut dysbiosis in the offsprings. Female pups were found to be more susceptible than males at both ages and for both sexes, PND 28 groups were more susceptible than PND 35 groups. Functional predictions of the microbiome also showed PCB-mediated increase in pathways involving ammonia production and cytochrome oxidases, but a decrease in sugar transport systems (which all may negatively influences the brain) in an age-, sex-, and PCB dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, maternal exposure to PCBs produced gut disruption in gut microbiome and may be implicated in developmental neurotoxicity through the gut-brain axis.

Werner Syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by premature aging and heightened susceptibility to cancer. The condition is caused by a loss of function in the Werner protein (WRN), a helicase that is essential for maintaining genomic stability by assisting in DNA replication and repair. While much is known about WRN's role in the cell, the mechanisms underlying the acceleration of aging in its absence remain unclear. Recent studies have suggested that aging is associated with a reduced ability to maintain heterochromatic silencing of repetitive DNA sequences in the pericentromeric regions of the genome, also known as satellite repeats. Abnormally high expression of pericentromeric satellites can have a wide range of consequences on the cell, including DNA damage and changes in global gene regulation. Moreover, DNA damage can result in the appearance of satellite DNA fragments in the cytoplasm, leading to pro-inflammatory responses. This study seeks to determine whether WRN-deficient cells transcribe higher levels of satellite RNA and have elevated levels of satellite DNA in the cytoplasm. I focus on SAT II DNA, a class of pericentromeric satellites, using a pair of human fibroblast cell lines, with or without WRN. I isolate, purify and reverse-transcribe RNA from these cells and use qPCR to quantify the levels of SAT II RNA. Additionally, I fractionate WRN-deficient and control cells into cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions, isolate their DNA, and use qPCR to quantify the levels of SAT II DNA in the cytoplasm versus the nucleus. Preliminary results suggest that WRN absence leads to increased expression of SAT II RNA in Werner-depleted cells compared to controls, which may indicate that satellite heterochromatin is not being properly maintained. These findings may impact our understanding of aging and cancer predisposition, along with the mechanisms by which heterochromatic silencing regulates gene expression and cellular function.

Phonemic proficiency refers to the ability to manipulate the phonemes, or unit of sounds, in a word. Speech perception deficits has been linked to lower phonemic proficiency, as children have difficulty isolating, manipulating, and blending sounds that they cannot perceive. Autistic children commonly report difficulty perceiving speech in noisy real-world environments where many people are talking at the same time, such as a classroom or playground. Thus, in this study, we investigate the relationship between phonemic proficiency and multitalker speech perception in autistic children. We hypothesized that we would observe a stronger correlation between speech perception and phonemic proficiency in autistic children compared to the neurotypical comparison group. Moreover, we expected that autistic children will have worse multitalker speech perception thresholds overall, suggesting difficulty perceiving speech under complex conditions. We tested 19 7-to-10-year-old autistic children and a comparison group of 19 age- and biological sex-matched neurotypical children. The Phonemic Proficiency subtest of the Weschler Individual Achievement Test – Fourth Edition was administered to assess phonemic awareness. Multitalker speech perception thresholds were obtained under 2 conditions: Co-located Noise and Segregated Noise. In the Co-located Noise condition, the target speaker spoke sentences from 0° azimuth with two additional distracting talkers, referred to as maskers, co-located from the same location. In the Segregated Noise condition, the distracting talkers were spatially segregated to ±90° azimuth, while the target talker remained at 0°. Preliminary analyses suggest that a relationship between phonemic proficiency and multitalker speech perception is observed. These results will advance our understanding of the difficulty autistic children have perceiving speech and have the potential to lay the groundwork for novel assessment and intervention strategies to improve how children with and without autism listen and learn in a noisy classroom. All authors participated in data acquisition, analysis, and preparation of this presentation.

 Children are tasked with listening and learning in noisy environments where many people are talking at the same time every day. Conceptual models of listening under complex conditions posit that working memory plays a role in the ability to extract the target speech from the distracting noise. Hard-of-hearing (HoH) children, in particular, do worse listening in noisy environments. Thus, in this study we investigate the relationship between working memory and multitalker speech perception in HoH children. We hypothesized that we would observe a correlation between working memory and speech perception in both HoH and the typical hearing comparison group. Moreover, we expected that HoH children will have worse multitalker speech perception thresholds overall, suggesting difficulty perceiving speech under complex acoustic conditions. We tested 7-to-18-year-old HoH children and an age- and biological sex-matched typical hearing (TH) comparison group. Working memory was assessed in both visual and auditory domains; participants were asked to recall either a sequence of visually presented letters or auditorily presented numbers. Multitalker speech perception thresholds were obtained under 2 conditions: Collocated noise and Segregated noise. In the Collocated Noise condition, the target speaker spoke sentences from 0° azimuth with two additional distracting talkers, referred to as maskers, collocated from the same location. In the Segregated Noise condition, the distracting talkers were spatially segregated to ±90° azimuth, while the target talker remained at 0°. Preliminary analyses suggest that a relationship between working memory and multitalker speech perception is observed. These results will advance our understanding of why HoH children experience difficulty perceiving speech under noisy conditions and have the potential to lay the groundwork for novel assessment and intervention strategies to improve how TH and HoH children listen and learn in a noisy classroom. All authors participated in data acquisition, analysis, and preparation of this presentation.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are used to treat blood cancers; however, neurotoxicity is a common complication that can be life threatening. The neurotoxicity patients may experience includes language and cognitive disorders, seizures, and cerebral edema and hemorrhage. In our previous research on a mouse model of CAR T cell toxicity, we found that leukocytes plugged 11.9% of brain capillaries in CAR T cell treated mice along with an increase of Intracellular Adhesion Molecule (ICAM-1) on brain capillary endothelial cells. We hypothesized the effects of capillary plugging may contribute to neurotoxicity, hence to better understand the mechanism, I am exploring the effects of different cytokines we observe in patients with neurotoxicity on ICAM-1 expression on human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs). I treated cultured HBMECs in 10, 100, and 1000 picograms/mL of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-15, CXCL10, GM-CSF, TNF-α, and IFN-γ for 24 hours. Then, I used flow cytometry to measure the amount of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expressed by HBMECs. Vehicle controls are included, and isotype control, single stains, and live dead stains are used for flow cytometry. I am comparing the change in the median brightness of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression on HBMECs in response to each cytokine. Interestingly, we found IL-1β significantly increases ICAM-1 expression even with doses slightly above normal blood levels (2.5pg/mL). There were significant increases with TNF-α and IFN-γ only at doses reflecting highly elevated levels in the blood (1000 pg/mL), whereas there was no response to high doses of IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10, CXCL10, and GM-CSF. Further studies blocking cytokines that greatly induced ICAM-1 expression in a mouse model and test if that will reduce neurotoxicity without affecting effectiveness of CAR T treatments would help us understand the underlying mechanisms of what causes neurotoxicity.