Latine people constitute the largest minority in the US, yet the prevalence of diabetes within the Latine community is nearly twice that of White Americans. Latine populations also experience food insecurity at higher rates than the national average, which heightens their risk for chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes (T2D). While nutritional counseling is critical for T2D care, there is limited research on the barriers to effective counseling, especially for minoritized identities. Understanding how Latine patients relate to counseling and barriers to adherence is an urgent health concern with significant implications for addressing health disparities. This study investigates both micro (e.g., provider pathologization of culturally relevant foods) and macro (e.g., food access) barriers to following nutritional guidance for Latine people with T2D. Previous research in South Asian communities shows providers pathologize culturally relevant foods, leading to poor metabolic control, increased complications, higher healthcare costs, and lower quality of life. Food insecurity exacerbates outcomes, with food-insecure diabetic patients reporting less control over their diets despite understanding dietary requirements. However, these barriers remain unexplored for Latine people with diabetes in the US healthcare context. Through a qualitative study in Greater Seattle, we seek to understand the experiences of Latine people managing T2D by conducting structured interviews on barriers to following nutritional counseling. Content analysis uncovers themes related to micro and macro barriers. We aim to enhance culturally competent healthcare to overcome barriers preventing Latine people with T2D from following nutritional guidance. By amplifying the voices of Latine patients, we can inform providers on more effective ways to interact with this population and develop tailored care plans.

In their books Pihkal and Tihkal, Dr. Alexander and Ann Shulgin describe their experiences ingesting 234 psychoactive compounds, most of them newly synthesized by Dr. Shulgin. The goal of this project is to use natural language processing techniques to map the semantic space of the Shulgins’ qualitative comments and determine what commonalities, if any, exist between compounds of similar molecular structures. I first created a TF-IDF matrix to determine the importance of each word for each compound. I then applied three clustering techniques (k-means, DBSCAN, and affinity propagation) to group compounds based on their meaning and used UMAP after each technique to graph the clusters in two dimensions. Unfortunately, despite attempting different combinations of pre/post processing and hyperparameter tuning, each method resulted in only weakly associated clusters. My next analytical method is using Sentence-BERT modeling to compare the semantic meanings at the sentence level. Since sentences hold more meaning than single words, I anticipate that this technique will differentiate the compounds to a greater extent, therefore leading to more visibly divided clusters. I also have the compounds clustered by similarity in molecular structure and determined the most common words associated within each group. By quantifying the subjective experiences of these psychoactive compounds and mapping them to molecular structures, this knowledge could allow us to synthesize molecules to obtain a desired effect on a patient’s consciousness. This could in turn aid in synthesizing new medications to treat mental health disorders.

Diabetes mellitus is a rapidly growing metabolic disease, marked by abnormal functioning and inability to adequately regulate insulin production, which is responsible for the conversion of glucose into energy. The pathology of diabetes has been extensively investigated in the biomedical literature, but biosocial factors have yet to be explored with equal significance. A small body of emerging genetic and biosocial studies of South Asians with diabetes suggests that specific biomarkers, shaped by negative environmental influences, may heighten risk factors and lead to a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus in South Asians. South Asians, in particular, exhibit profound susceptibility to developing diabetes relative to other ethnic groups. This remains a small body of literature, signifying a need for more culturally competent research and raising awareness of the topic itself. The first half of the oral presentation will briefly highlight the main themes and findings of current biosocial literature regarding South Asians with diabetes, exploring possible factors, including genetic and environmental influences through South Asian history (e.g., famine, malnutrition, and chronic stress). The second half of the presentation will reference the literature, highlighting statements from South Asians with diabetes on their lived experiences navigating healthcare spaces. Following this, an open dialogue will generate ideas on how to implement initiatives that could lead to better outcomes, such as improved South Asian patient satisfaction. This research presentation aims to launch a necessary dialogue on diabetes within South Asians, while establishing a critical overview of the existing data and current cultural perceptions. Keywords: diabetes, epigenetics, genetic expressions, cultural perceptions, famine, environmental stressors, South Asians, Indian Asians. 

Recent research suggests an association between comprehensive sex education and improved sexual health–demonstrated by lowered rates of STIs and teen pregnancy and higher rates of contraceptive use in states with comprehensive sex education as compared to states without comprehensive sex education. However, there is still an overall dearth of literature regarding the association of sex education legislation and relationship health. Some data suggests that education programs can have effects on relationship health, such as gender equality education programs that predict lower levels of intimate partner violence. Our project aimed to provide insight into how sex education legislation is associated with relationship health indicators by examining the relationship between legislative requirements and relationship health outcomes. We ran a series of t-tests and point biserial correlations, comparing states with comprehensive sex education and those with abstinence only education requirements, and found significant group differences in teen birth rates and STI rates. We also analyzed the association between legislation requiring medically accurate sex education and sexual health outcomes, and found no significant associations. We similarly did not find any significant associations between the requirement of consent in sex education legislation and intimate partner violence rates. Our significant results align with prior literature indicating that comprehensive sex education is associated with lower rates of sexual health outcomes like teen pregnancy and STI rates. Our non-significant findings are more difficult to interpret and could be influenced by limitations in our research, including inadequate sample size and a lack of publicly available databases on variables that accurately operationalize relationship health. Future research might conduct new surveys on relationship health indicators such as happiness, trust, and satisfaction within each state to better operationalize relationship health. These results can inform policy development around sex education in a direction that promotes higher-quality public health outcomes.

As the life expectancy for global populations rises, the prevalence of people affected by age-related morbidity has also increased. Although therapies and treatments are available to alleviate such diseases, they do not effectively address the fundamental cause of all such diseases age. One hallmark of age is cellular senescence. Senescence refers to the state of a cell in which it cannot divide anymore due to factors such as stress or damage to DNA. Although this mechanism is naturally preventative there can be many undesirable consequences. As senescent cells accumulate within aging tissues, inflammatory responses are promoted and may even spread senescence to neighboring cells. This causes more inflammation and elevates the risk of illnesses. Targeting these cells with therapeutics such as senolytic drugs presents a potential solution. A combination of senolytic drugs, Dasatinib + Quercetin (D+Q), has been shown to target and lyse senescent cells, thus increasing lifespan and reducing frailty in mice. This research study involves two groups of mice: old and old treated with D+Q, where D+Q was administered for 24 months. Mandibles were collected to evaluate levels of senescence (CDKN1A and CDKN2A, genes coding for p21 and p16, respectively) through RNA extraction and QRTPCR. Inflammation markers, IL1a and IL1b, were also examined as inflammation is frequently associated with senescence. Preliminary observations have shown decreased transcription of CDKN1A and CDKN2A in treated male mice in comparison to controls (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively) within aging alveolar bone. In addition, IL1a and IL1b were shown to have decreased expression in the treated male mice in comparison to the controls (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, respectively). This project was funded by the SenNET Grant (AG079753) and funded in part by the Dr. Douglass L. Morell Dentistry Research Fund.

Are human rights non-governmental organizations (HRNGOs) incorporating climate-based rhetoric and actions in their overall agenda, to what extent, and what is driving any shift in that direction? I focus on three main explanations. First, protectionary theory suggests that given the global democracy recession, NGOs have incentives to market themselves as environmental organizations to protect against the persecution faced by human rights groups. Second, financial theory suggests that NGOs could be motivated to incorporate the climate agenda to appeal to larger donor pools for funding. Third, need-based theory suggests that NGOs must solve quality of life challenges (of which climate change is an integral part) before human rights challenges. I hypothesize the transition over to climate rhetoric and action is negatively associated with NGOs’ revenue, and more likely among NGOs working in countries that restrict human rights work. To test my hypotheses, I utilize the Charity Navigator Data set to randomly select a sample of NGOs, both advocacy and service delivery, across four levels of revenue. I then create an original dataset where I code the mission and activities of these organizations as published on their websites using the Wayback Machine for 2010, 2015, 2020, and 2025.  Finally, I test whether this transition is more likely among NGOs working in poor countries with serious quality of life challenges. My preliminary findings provide some evidence in support of my hypotheses, with variation in climate rhetoric uptake based in part on organization size and region of action.

Democratic backsliding has become a prominent and undeniable feature of contemporary world politics while greatly affecting international criminal law. This raises a question of what elements of the justice system and global politics have the most effect on incentivizing international cooperation in pursuit of global justice. This thesis answers this dilemma through analysing case studies of significant past international criminal tribunals, namely the International Military Tribunal and the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. Through examining the nature and effect of complementarity, criminal procedure, and political motivations, on the level of international cooperation, this research provides policy and reform recommendations for the International Criminal Court to enhance its ability to serve justice with the stable and continuous support of the international community amid the many challenges that come with the global rise of authoritarianism.

Sulfate aerosols cause pollution and affect climate by influencing cloud properties and incoming solar radiation. Emissions and abundances of sulfur-containing aerosols are one of the largest sources of uncertainties in global climate modeling. The largest biogenic and most uncertain emission source of sulfur aerosols is from phytoplankton in the form of dimethyl sulfide (DMS). In the atmosphere, DMS is oxidized to methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and other compounds that can form sulfate. Historical emissions of DMS are studied by measuring MSA concentrations in ice cores as a proxy for DMS oxidation. Declining levels of MSA have been found in ice core records, implying that production of DMS has also been decreasing; however, anthropogenically driven changes in atmospheric chemistry have altered the ratio of MSA to sulfate produced from DMS over time. To better understand DMS oxidation mechanisms and its relationship to the production of MSA and sulfate aerosols, we need more recent ice core records of MSA and sulfur isotopes of sulfate (δ³⁴S(SO₄^2–)) at higher temporal resolution. To measure δ³⁴S(SO₄^2–) at seasonal resolution in an ice core, rather than an annual resolution, the measurement size is smaller than previously measured by an order of magnitude, at about 1 µg S per sample. We will develop a new method to isolate samples containing less than 1 µg of sulfur from an ice core sample by separating SO₄^2– from other major ions in the sample using an ion chromatograph. We will quantify the isotopic ratio of sulfur in our samples by using an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Quantifying sulfur isotopes at this resolution will provide information about the seasonality and change in phytoplankton sulfate production.