Media violence literature often emphasizes the media effect of desensitization which is an emotional response towards violent stimuli that can lead to reduction of empathy, lower physiological reactivity, and increased aggression. However, there is a lack of research distinguishing violent media from traumatic media and in turn a limited understanding of how they might seemingly produce differing media effects. This study aims to address this by investigating the effects of traumatic media and how it is conceptualized, and seen by specific digital communities. This interview-based study recruited 38 social media activists who are consistently engaged with social media and hold marginalized racial/ethnic identities. These interviews were conducted online and were asked questions about their experiences with traumatic media, psychological and physical well-being, and social media activism. The data was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns of meaning. We created two themes on which this paper will focus 1.) (De)sensitization, indicating a complex media effect where activists simultaneously experience desensitization and sensitization to traumatic media, and 2.) Physical Impact, Resilience, and Coping, highlighting not only the negative physical consequences (e.g., stress, fatigue, tension) but also the physical practices activists use to maintain their social media engagement. This research contributes to a growing body of research focusing on traumatic media in social media and how specific groups like social media activists are learning to navigate and manage this type of media.

[English] The Underdogs (1915) by Mariano Azuela is one of the most representative and remembered stories of Mexican Literature produced during the Revolutionary War. As a medical doctor educated during the conflict, Azuela uses his analytic journalistic eye on bloody combat and the trench to describe the sudden changes in the marginalized people who participated in the Mexican Civil War. In my research, I locate The Underdogs as an element of a group of texts that are simultaneously part of mainstream Mexican literature and a form of literature that critics have long classified as relegated. Moreover, because it belongs to the group of exile literature, the journey of The Underdogs to a central position in Mexican Literature can be explained, among other reasons, because it possesses some timeless characteristics.

Therefore, to understand this permanence in the collective memory in Mexican Culture, I will study Azuela’s novel as one constructed with the possibilities that the exile topic's narratological time can offer to a literary text. Such treatment of the literary time can keep the value of the perception of the narration unchanged and timeless for readers of all generations due to the nostalgia and empathy it can evoke. Moreover, I will finally add how the change in the perception of the popular culture in Mexico during the XX century also supports this everlasting nostalgia style in the novel and, above all, on the narrativity and the handling of story time.

[Español] Los de abajo (1915) de Mariano Azuela es una de las historias literarias más representativas y recordadas de la literatura mexicana producida durante los años de la Revolución Mexicana. Como médico educado durante el conflicto, Azuela usa su mirada analítica y periodística sobre el combate sangriento y la trinchera para describir los repentinos cambios in las poblaciones marginalizadas que participaron en el combate civil de México.

En mi investigación, ubico ‘Los de abajo’ como un elemento en un grupo de textos que son al mismo tiempo una parte de los textos más conocidos de la literatura mexicana y como una forma de literatura que los críticos han relegado en sus estudios por mucho tiempo. Además, debido a que pertenece al grupo de literatura del exilio, el camino de ‘Los de abajo’ a una posición central en la literatura mexicana puede ser explicada, entre otros elementos, por tener características que van más allá del tiempo. Por lo tanto, para entender esta permanencia en la memoria colectiva de la cultura mexicana, estudiaré la novela de Azuela como un texto creado con las posibilidades narratológicas temporales que el tema del exilio puede ofrecer a un texto literario. Este tratamiento del tiempo literario puede guardar el alto valor de la percepción de una narrativa intacto e invariable para los lectores de todas las generaciones debido a la nostalgia y la empatía que puede evocar. Además, finalmente agregaré cómo el cambio de la cultura popular en México durante el siglo XX también apoyó este estilo intemporal de nostalgia en la novela sobre todo en la narrativa y el manejo del tiempo.

This paper explores the intersection between hip-hop culture in the Americas and magical realist literature from Latin America. This research was born out of my fieldwork in the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, and Brazil for the CIPHER Hip Hop Interpellation project during summer 2023. It analyzes the appearance of oneiric and fantastic narratives in the lyrics, sounds and music videos of Latin American and African American rappers, from Calle 13’s hit “Latinoamerica” to Kendrick Lamar’s anthem “Alright”. The indigenous musical works of Colombian groups such as Motilonas are also considered in this presentation extending the lenses of ecomusicology (Allen, et. al.) to incorporate what Juan José Bautista Segales terms “transmodernism”; articulating the two important concepts to approach this intersection between magic realism and hip-hop culture. The talk concludes with a look at Dr. Marques’s recent indigenizing musical collaborations with the pioneering Mexican artist, MC Luka.

Topological metamaterials are known for their distinctive topological properties, dispersion characteristics, lightweight nature, and thereby have been considered as promising solutions for impact mitigation. In this work, we introduce a type of polarized Kagome lattice and explore its potential for impact mitigation. The polarized lattices exhibit an asymmetric localization of boundary modes towards one edge of the structure, and thus offering a mechanism for spatial attenuation of elastic waves and opportunities for enhanced impact mitigation when combined with optimal selections of visco-elastic materials, as well as geometric dimensions. We employ a multi-step optimization approach, integrating finite element analysis and experimental validation via impact tests, to investigate the optimal polarization, slenderness ratio, and visco-elastic material properties with the aim of achieving simultaneous maximum reduction in peak force and impulse dissipation. Our results highlight the effectiveness of our optimization strategy as well as the polarized Kagome lattice in impact mitigation, suggesting its potential as a solution for next-generation protective equipment.

[English] Organic waste, such as food waste, sewage sludge, and manure, poses a significant environmental challenge in the US and Latin America. They generate greenhouse gas emissions such as methane and carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change, particularly in developing countries, due to the presence of non-covered landfills or dumps. This study explores the use of anaerobic digestion, a technology where microorganisms convert them into biogas, rich in methane, as a solution for waste management and energy recovery. We investigate the integration of food waste into working anaerobic digesters at Water Resource Recovery Facilities to achieve carbon and energy neutrality. We characterized waste streams, collected data from a digester for three months, and used the Anaerobic Digestion Model 1 (ADM1) to calibrate the model which predicts that the slow addition of food waste is the best strategy to minimize digester upsets. A sensitivity analysis explored the lipid content in the feed to assess the impact of adding energy dense substrates like fats, oil, and grease. Future work includes the real-life implementation of this strategy for further validation of the model, aiming to generate a digital twin for digesters. This would allow utilities to increase their energy generation without affecting their capacity to treat sewage sludge, contributing to climate change mitigation.

[Español] Los desechos orgánicos como desechos de comida, lodos activados, y estiércol son una preocupación ambiental por su impacto en los EE.UU. y America Latina. Dado que estos desechos son enviados a rellenos sanitarios o botaderos abiertos (particularmente en países en desarrollo), contribuyen al cambio climático con la generación de gases de efecto invernadero como dióxido de carbono y metano. El presente estudio explora el uso de digestion anaerobica, una tecnología en donde los microorganismos convierten desechos en biogas, rico en metano, como una solución para el manejo de desechos y la recuperación de recursos. Investigamos la integración de desechos de comida en digestores anaeróbicos operacionales en plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales para lograr neutralidad en huella de carbono y uso de energía. Caracterizamos muestras de desechos orgánicos, recolectamos datos de un digestor por tres meses, y usamos el Anaerobic Digestion Model 1 (ADM1) para calibrar un modelo que predice que la adición progresiva de desechos de comida es la mejor estrategia para minimizar los efectos adversos. Un análisis de sensibilidad exploró el contenido de lípidos de los desechos que son densos en energía como grasas y aceites. El siguiente paso consiste en implementar estos cambios en la vida real para validar el modelo con mas datos, con la aspiración de generar un gemelo digital. Esto permitiría a las plantas de tratamiento de agua incrementar su generación de energía sin afectar sus operaciones para tratar lodos activados, contribuyendo a la mitigación del cambio climático.

This research challenges the ongoing underrepresentation of Latine students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with a focus in the space science field. This presentation discusses the racialized experiences of Latine students studying and researching space topics. This can include various disciplines in the STEM field that encompass space science such as space engineering, planetary science, astrophysics and astronautics. In this research we begin answering the question, “What strategies can be implemented to reduce barriers and increase Latine student representation in space science, while nurturing an inclusive and equity-focused field?” By adopting a problem-solving and asset-based approach, I illustrate through autoethnographic case studies how K-12 education outreach programs, mentorship, DEI and community building can draw on cultural wealth and communal strength to develop paths to support and encourage Latine students to pursue space science degrees and careers. By highlighting Latine experiences and initiatives the presentation offers key insights and strategies to bolster diversity in the space science field. This presentation is for academics, educators, scientists, engineers and researchers in the field of space science and engineering. It will also benefit those working in broader areas of STEM and whose interests align with the advancement of minorities in the field inside and outside of academia.

In the post-Dobbs era, the U.S. reproductive public policy landscape has dramatically shifted; there has been an increasing trend of restrictive abortion reproductive policies. The pro-life movement is made up of a large number of anti-abortion Latinos. However, it is important to recognize that Latinos are not a monolith—many are misunderstood on their stance on abortion and believe the decision should be a personal one.

Simultaneously as the U.S. has been passing more restrictive abortion laws, in Latin America a movement known as el Marea Verde or the Green Wave has moved reproductive policies away from criminalization closer toward legalization. This movement highlights how Latinos can be strong supporters of abortion. Previous literature has highlighted Hispanic Women are disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of reproductive policies. This study aims to understand Hispanic women and their nuanced perspectives on reproductive policies to elevate their voices in public policy. In a correlational and experimental study, my research explored factors that are predictive of Hispanic women’s support of progressive reproductive policies.

Historically, racial identification has been believed to be a time invariant construct such that one’s ethnic or racial group membership cannot and will not change overtime (Ellemers & Haslam, 2012; Johnston et al., 2014; Morning, 2011; Rockquemore et al., 2009). However, for multiracial persons, salience of their ethnic-racial identities may fluctuate across the lifespan as they encounter critical moments that prompt reflection on their ethnic-racial group memberships (Renn, 2000; Root, 1990, 2003). Thus, multiracial individuals’ ethnic-racial reference group orientations may shift over time, along with the boxes they choose to indicate their ethnic-racial identity.

The multiracial population In the United States (U.S.) Is rapidly growing, now comprising over 10% of the country’s population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). However, research has not kept pace with this growing demographic, resulting in a dearth of literature exploring ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development in multiracial adolescents and even fewer studies that utilize quantitative methods, particularly longitudinally. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by leveraging a multilevel logisticregression model to uncover what factors might influence the odds of changing one’s ethnic-racial identification across multiple waves of data collection in a sample of multiracial high schoolers (n = 685).

Our analyses revealed that the probability of changing one’s forced-choice response decreases as the proportion of same-race friends increases. These findings suggest that multiracial adolescents with established friend groups that share their racial identity feel more secure in their ERI and are thus less likely to change their selection. Furthermore, multiracial-Native American and multiracial-“other” students were more likely to change their forced choice responses at later waves of data collection. Descriptively, multiracial-Native-American students were selecting a white ethnic-racial identity in later waves, aligning with hyperdescent literature stating that Native-American people are socially and legally motivated to distance themselves from their Native-American identities and instead claim a white ERI (Gullickson and Morning, 2011). The clarification of these processes dispels the myth that race is a time invariant construct and provide insight into what factors predict later changes to racial self-identification for multiracial adolescents.

Radical healing is the process of becoming whole in the face of ethno-racial trauma by institutional systems rooted in white supremacy, patriarchy, and xenophobia. Grounded in Radical Healing frameworks and Chicanx Feminist epistemologies, my research develops a holistic learning space that embodies healing for Latinx immigrant-origin youth, who have matriculated through U.S. educational systems and who experience legalized violence. Specifically, my study explores the following three questions: 1) How do Latinx, immigrant origin young people learn about healing, and conceptualize it for themselves? 2) How do Latinx immigrant origin young people draw on cultural and ancestral practices to embody their healing? How can we leverage educational and community spaces to serve as sanctuary spaces that disrupt trauma and facilitate the healing process? Using photovoice, narratives, and pláticas, we interrogate our personal experiences in the U.S. school systems, the trauma experienced, as well as potential sites for healing. This study triangulates three sources of qualitative data in the form of: (1) Photographs, artifacts, and narratives created by research-collaborators (2) Peer and communal pláticas, and (3) my reflexive journal entries, field notes, and memos. Through this work we will draw on community practices to facilitate individual healing as well as identify how we can transform educational and community learning spaces to facilitate the healing process for Latinx immigrant-origin youth.

This novel study examines the neural basis of bilingual language development and its relationship to dual-language competence and experiences among Spanish heritage language (HL) learners in the U.S. Midwest. This context highlights select bilingual children’s experience who are able to develop linguistic and literacy skills in both the Spanish HL and the majority language, English. Unlike monolingual research, the variability across HL children poses challenges in establishing clear connections between emerging neural circuits for language and the home literacy environment (HLE). This exploratory study is the first to address this complexity using a naturalistic listening paradigm with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the neurobiology of language development in young HL learners.

Thirty-eight children (ages 7-10) participated in the study. During fNIRS neuroimaging, the children listened to a fictional story in English. The analytical method uses surprisal effects, focusing on words that are difficult to predict based on the previous context. The children also completed standardized tests, including the BESA-ME for morphosyntax and TOWRE for word reading efficiency. We then analyzed children's linguistic and literacy competence in relation to neural predictive coding during story listening and HLE factors.

The new brain-behavior approach revealed activation in left frontal and temporal regions associated with language processing, which provides proof of concept for the neuroimaging method. Findings showed positive associations between brain activation and dual-language morphosyntactic competence, with stronger within-language than between-language associations. Additionally, results from Pearson partial correlations showed that HL children with more Spanish-language books at home scored higher in English morphosyntax and word reading, even after controlling for English books. The findings: (i) suggest links between bilingual HL environments and brain development for language; (ii) advance leading theoretical perspectives on brain, language, and literacy development; and (iii) support conceptual frameworks such as Simple View of Reading.

This presentation describes the development of a measure capturing how nonparental adults (e.g., mentors) influence Latinx youth's sociopolitical development (SPD) by creating opportunities for social issue exploration and action. Nonparental adults, embedded in youth's daily environments, can serve as critical supports, particularly for minoritized youth facing structural barriers to SPD (Checkoway, 2011; Sterrett et al., 2011). While youth-adult partnerships can empower young people, they may also perpetuate adultism, reinforcing power imbalances (Checkoway, 2011; LeFrançois, 2014; Watts & Flanagan, 2007). To capture this complexity, we designed a measure contextualized by Latinx immigrant-origin youth, incorporating youth voices at various stages.

Our work, in partnership with a national mentoring organization, began with qualitative interviews (N = 23; M age = 20) to understand Latinx youth's experiences with nonparental adults regarding social issues. Findings were refined through collaboration with a youth research advisory council (n = 6; M age = 21), who provided feedback and helped develop measure items. Faculty experts and community partners offered additional insights to refine the measure. Next, cognitive interviews with Latinx youth (n = 9; M age = 21) pretested the items, ensuring clarity and contextual relevance. Finally, we collected survey data (N = 500) to test the psychometric properties of the measure.

This multidimensional measure captures how nonparental adults support or hinder Latinx youth's SPD. Our presentation concludes with a discussion of the measure’s implications for mentoring practices and research.

While cognitive and academic benefits of maintaining heritage languages (HLs) are well-documented (Kremin et al., 2016), social benefits—such as fostering cultural identity, strengthening familial bonds, and enhancing overall well-being—are equally significant (Arredondo et al., 2016). This study seeks to leverage these social assets through a 5-step co-design approach (Cultivate, Engage, Design, Research, Produce; CEDReP (Leanlab Education, n.d)), which involves active collaboration with families having lived experience in the minority language. Co-design frameworks have proven effective in STEM education (Bermudez et al., 2023). We novelly extend the approach to HL child literacy, creating co-designed Spanish eBooks that engage HL families in developing culturally sustaining/meaningful content. The current pilot study documents the initial phases of CEDReP, involving N=16 native Spanish-speaking immigrant parents (Female-9, Male-7) and representing families across Southeast Michigan. All study participants have children enrolled in the area Spanish HL Saturday school. In Phase 1, we cultivated conditions for carrying out the co-design process, including recruiting participant families, defining roles and identifying opportunities/obstacles. Phase 2 involved co-creating commitments with biweekly collaborative sessions where participants shared storytelling experiences in Spanish. Research team members participated and facilitated these sessions, collecting observational data and audio recordings. Data was transcribed using the platform ‘GRAIN’ and member-checked in following sessions. While our study employs mixed-methods analysis, in the early qualitative component we identify emerging themes related to: (1) how community-based co-design practices support HL retention; and (2) the role cultural and personal attitudes play in parents' interactions with co-design projects. Phase 1 and 2 co-design insights suggest that immigrant Spanish-speaking families seek community and family-centered resources to support HL retention. Our preliminary findings raise important questions concerning how families navigate HL practices and cultural identities amidst pressures to assimilate, particularly when their HL is marginalized/invisibilized.

This study seeks to understand how a pre-service teacher’s ideas, plans, and enactments centering shared experiences and first-hand investigations in elementary science connect to anti-racist teaching practices. As elementary educators are pushed to prioritize instructional time on mathematics and reading, children who have been marginalized are likely to lose science instruction altogether (Davis & Haverly, 2024), limiting children’s opportunities for making sense of and experiencing the wonder of the natural world. Thus, it is crucial that pre-service teachers are prepared and willing to create spaces where children who have been marginalized can experience scientific phenomena. This study identifies how one pre-service teacher draws on the use of anti-racist teaching practices during elementary science lessons in ways that honor children’s brilliance.

Eight pre-service teachers participated in the study and we chose one focal participant, Elise, who identifies as a biracial woman, both Mexican and White, and the sole member of her cohort to intentionally choose to work within a community school that serves a majority Black student population. Elise made intentional choices in her lesson planning that led to the enactment of anti-racist teaching practices. These choices challenged the dominant narrative about children who have been marginalized and positioned them as brilliant science learners. This study highlights how evidence-based supports within teacher preparation programs can encourage pre-service teachers to “pay attention to the tacit bigotry that is often under the surface in schools” (Darling-Hammond, 2017, p. 135) and to implement anti-racist teaching practices as they engage children with scientific phenomena.

Puerto Rico’s postsecondary system continues to be cast to the periphery of federal priorities despite having more colleges and universities than 36 states (NCES, 2023). This “second-hand” treatment is a product of over a century of United States’ colonial oversight and austerity measures, which has substantially crippled the fiscal stability of these institutions and the educational opportunities of their students. Federal grant funding represent a one mechanism through which institutions in Puerto Rico can improve their long-term fiscal stability—particularly through the Title V, Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions program. However a recent study by Aguilar and Yun (2023) found that institutions in Puerto Rico are substantially less likely to apply for Title V funding compared to Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the states, despite receiving the funding at comparable rates when they do apply. This suggests that institutions in Puerto Rico may encounter challenges within the application process that may preclude them from seeking this form of funding. As such, this study examines the challenges institutions in Puerto Rico encounter when applying for competitive grant programs.

Puerto Rico’s postsecondary system continues to be cast to the periphery of federal priorities despite having more colleges and universities than 36 states (NCES, 2023). This “second-hand” treatment is a product of over a century of United States’ colonial oversight and austerity measures, which has substantially crippled the fiscal stability of these institutions and the educational opportunities of their students. Federal grant funding represent a one mechanism through which institutions in Puerto Rico can improve their long-term fiscal stability—particularly through the Title V, Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions program. However a recent study by Aguilar and Yun (2023) found that institutions in Puerto Rico are substantially less likely to apply for Title V funding compared to Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the states, despite receiving the funding at comparable rates when they do apply. This suggests that institutions in Puerto Rico may encounter challenges within the application process that may preclude them from seeking this form of funding. As such, this study examines the challenges institutions in Puerto Rico encounter when applying for competitive grant programs.

Allentown, Pennsylvania is a majority-Latine city that suffered greatly from deindustrialization and White flight but is currently experiencing a "renaissance" of development funded through public-private partnerships. This qualitative case study examines how Whiteness as Property and anti-Blackness operate to prevent coalition-building and solidarity between Latine and Black populations being pushed out by gentrification. Through critical ethnographic methods, including participant observation at school board meetings, city council meetings, and community events, along with critical discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews and archival materials, discourses among Latine educational advocates and community leaders are analyzed to identify possibilities for and barriers to inter-racial/ethnic coalition building that could benefit youth and communities of color.

Latinx youth are at high risk of health and health care disparities. They are particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges due to the interplay of racism, health, and health care, which can be overwhelming for Latinx youth and their families to navigate. In this article, we provide an overview of the socio-demographics of Latinx youth living in the United States. Next, drawing on Borrell’s framework for the effect of self-racial categorization, we review health disparities commonly experienced by Latinx youth with a more detailed description of mental health. We also explore the impact of racism and colorism on Latinx youth mental health and health care. Finally, we propose multiple strategies across levels to reduce the aforementioned disparities.

With nearly 26% of LGBTQ youth (ages 13-24) identifying as non-binary (Diversity of Nonbinary Youth, 2021), it is increasingly important to understand how gender identity shapes behavior, cognition, and child outcomes. To do so, we need newer measures that capture the true diversity of gender identities. Hence, we propose the Continuous Gender Identity Measure (CGIM) for Children.

The CGIM assesses how much children “feel like” 1) a girl, 2) a boy, and 3) another gender on three independent, continuous scales—one for each gender option. Answers range from “I do not feel like a girl/boy/another gender at all” (coded as 0) to “I definitely feel like a girl/boy/another gender” (coded as 100). We do not define what “feeling like” a girl, boy, or another gender means to allow the measure to capture variability in children’s interpretation of societal gender norms. We also keep these three scores separate to acknowledge that a child could, for example, self-report high (or low) scores on all scales, and that the scales need not sum to 100.

With 6- to 12-year-olds (N = 139), we tested the CGIM by looking at how children’s self-reported CGIM scores related to traditional parent-reported categorical gender identity labels. Unsurprisingly, we found that children’s self-reported “girl score” on the CGIM was higher for parent-identified girls than for parent- identified boys (p < .001) and non-binary children (p < .001). The same pattern was true for the other self- reported scores, where parent-identified boys had the highest “boy score” and parent-identified non- binary children had the highest “other gender” score (all p’s < .001).

However, there was significant variability on our continuous scores for each parent-identified gender category. For example, not all parent-identified girls indicated that they felt “100% like a girl.” Rather, many children appeared to be embracing the nuances of gender identity—only 33 of the 139 children in the sample indicated that they were fully in agreement with a single gender identity. Therefore, the CGIM opens up the possibilities of investigating new questions about how the strength of particular gender identities might relate to cognition, behaviors, and child outcomes.

Viperin is an ancient radical-SAM enzyme with antiviral activity and multiple protein-protein interactions (PPIs) related to innate immune signaling. TRAF6 is an important signaling adaptor protein and ubiquitin E3-ligase that requires two E2 conjugating enzymes to ubiquitinate a target and enhance signaling activity. Previous literature has established that Viperin and TRAF6 interact in vitro, increasing TRAF6’s ubiquitination activity by 2.5-fold. However, the exact details of the interaction remain unclear. Using crosslinking-mass spectrometry in vitro experiments, the domains and residues mediating the interaction between Viperin and TRAF6 are probed and used to inform predictive models of interaction. These experiments contribute to our overall understanding of how viperin’s PPIs contribute to the innate immune system.

While all Puerto Rican colleges and universities are considered part of the United States' postsecondary system, Puerto Rican institutions are placed as the periphery of federal priorities as "second-class" institutions. This "second-class" status is represented by the cascade of disasters and crises that haveplagued the archipelago. This is particularly illustrative of recent years in which Puerto  Rican institutions have encounter severe infrastructure damages, austerity measures, unpredictable leadership changes, campus consolidations, and other challenges within a relatively short period of time. This study examines how these recent challenges have impacted institutions in Puerto Rico and how they inform these institutions' pursuit of federal funding. Specifically, we seek to examine the following research questions: how have the recent challenges Puerto Rico has encountered in the last 5-10 years (e.g., PROMESA Act, hurricanes, earthquakes, COVID-19) affected institutions in Puerto Rico? and how do the aforementioned challenges inform these institutions’ pursuit of external funding, specifically Title V grants?

[English] Marine microbiomics research has increased exponentially in recent years due to the now-known importance of microorganisms for marine invertebrates such as corals, sponges, and some bioluminescent cephalopods. Although we know that the microbiome is involved in specific functions such as nutrient cycling, development, or antimicrobial activity, we still need to uncover eco-evolutionary interactions between reef invertebrates and their microbiome as they co-evolve as a holobiont. Using two groups of marine invertebrates as study systems, octocorals from shallow and mesophotic environments (Muricea from the Caribbean Sea, Eastern Tropical Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico) and venomous snails (Conus sponsalis from the Indo-Pacific), we investigated how the host can adapt to different environments with different microorganisms, but also how certain microorganisms can adapt to certain microenvironments within the host. This approach helps us understand different ecological and evolutionary processes over time such as phylosymbiosis, codiversification, and convergent evolution; in addition to contributing to the biological knowledge of host-microbiome symbiosis in multiple marine organisms.

[Español] La investigación en microbiómica marina ha aumentado exponencialmente en los últimos años debido a la importancia ahora reconocida de los microorganismos para invertebrados marinos, como los corales, las esponjas y algunos cefalópodos bioluminiscentes. Aunque sabemos que el microbioma está involucrado en funciones específicas para invertebrados como el ciclado de nutrientes, su crecimiento y desarrollo, o en actividad antimicrobiana, todavía estamos descubriendo las interacciones eco-evolutivas entre invertebrados arrecifales y su microbioma a medida que evolucionan como un holobionte. Utilizando dos grupos de invertebrados marinos como sistemas de estudio —octocorales de ambientes someros y mesofóticos (Muriceas del Mar Caribe, el Pacífico Tropical Oriental y el Golfo de México) y caracoles venenosos (Conus sponsalis del Indo-Pacífico)— investigamos cómo los hospedadores pueden adaptarse a diferentes entornos con distintos microorganismos y también cómo ciertos microorganismos pueden adaptarse a microambientes específicos dentro del huésped marino. Este enfoque nos ayuda a comprender diferentes procesos ecológicos y evolutivos a lo largo del tiempo, como la filosimbiosis, la codiversificación y la evolución convergente; además de contribuir al conocimiento biológico de la simbiosis entre huésped y microbioma en múltiples organismos marinos.

Habitat loss is among the primary drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. These impacts vary with scale, species, populations, and regions, with local patterns being influenced by regional processes and vice versa. However, it remains unclear how small-scale habitat changes accumulate to shape biodiversity at broader scales. In fragmented landscapes, the amount of forest habitat is crucial for anurans, both forest and open-area species, as it provides essential resources for reproduction, foraging, refuge, and suitable microclimates that protect against desiccation. The Atlantic Forest is an ideal model for studying habitat loss, as it is a highly threatened and deforested biodiversity hotspot. This biome is divided into four ecoregions, each with distinct geological and evolutionary histories, resulting in different species compositions and ecological processes. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between forest habitat amount/forest habitat loss and anuran species richness across the Atlantic Forest ecoregions, investigating whether this relationship is consistent across biogeographic regions and whether it varies according to species' preferred habitat type (forest, open area, or both - generalist). We compiled anuran distribution data from the Atlantic Forest, and species' preferred habitats from available literature. For each sampling location, we will create 2,500-meter radius buffers and estimate species richness within each buffer. Forest cover percentage between 1985 and 2023 was derived from land cover maps provided by the MapBiomas project. For statistical analysis we employed generalized linear mixed models (GLMM).

Primates, as endotherms, regulate internal body temperature irrespective of external conditions. This directly influences mammalian evolution by limiting the temperatures they can tolerate. Adaptations to the climate can vary among species based on their evolutionary history. Morphological adaptations tend to adhere to principles such as Allen’s rule, which states that species in cold environments have smaller limb-to-body ratios. However, neotropical primate thermoregulation research mainly focuses on behavior, overlooking non-behavioral adaptations like possible differences in body and limb sizes. As a step towards bridging this gap, I compared the limb-to-body ratios between two sister howler monkey species (Alouatta pigra and Alouatta palliata, diverged ~3 MYA). Since A. pigra has thicker fur and has been found in higher altitudes than A. palliata, I expect A. pigra to be more adapted to colder climates and therefore have smaller limb-to-body ratios. The Cortés-Ortiz lab has previously measured the limbs (arms, legs, hands, feet, and tails) of several individuals of both species via capture and release between the years 1998 and 2019. I analyzed the limb-to-body ratios of 31 A. palliata and 80 A. pigra individuals using generalized linear models. The results of these analyses indicate that A. pigra individuals have smaller limb-to-body ratios (p<0.05) than A. palliata. These morphological differences may suggest adaptation to differing climates between A. pigra and A. palliata. This is consistent with our expectations given that A. pigra and A. palliata have different hair types and altitudinal thresholds.

The Critical Multiracial Ethnic-racial Identity (CMERI) project aims to create a measure to quantify the shared experience of Multiracial youth and young adults, including Latine Multiracial youth, from across the United States to examine how they come to understand both who they are and systemic oppression during adolescence and young adulthood. Although those of a Multiracial background are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the country (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021), our society was created to accommodate monoracial people. Our socially constructed monoracial categories cause many Mulitracial people to be made aware of their racial identity and the racist structures in our society starting at a young age. Thus we posit that these conditions create a motivation in Multiracial youth to change the monoracial social constructions that we have formed as a society. To approach this problem from a research perspective, the CMERI team is pulling information from literature in ethnic-racial identity development (ERI; youths’ understanding of their ethnic/racial backgrounds; Rivas-Drake & Umaña-Taylor, 2019), Multiracial theory (Harris, 2016), and critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2020) to form a strong theoretical grounding from which the measure will be rooted. Critical Multiracial Theory, or MultiCrit, was developed by Harris (2016) and challenges the monoracial society we have created and aims to bring focus to the people of Multiracial backgrounds and their experiences in hopes of enacting social justice. Critical consciousness, (CC; Diemer et al., 2020) is a person's capacity to reflect on racialized oppression and motivation to take action. With these guiding theories and the completion of focus groups with Multiracial young people, the CMERI team will embark on a research endeavor that will revolutionize how psychology conceptualizes Multiracial identity.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is known to impair bone quality and elevate fracture risk, yet current fracture risk assessment tools often fail to accurately diagnose diabetic patients due to an incomplete understanding of T1D's impact on bone integrity. While spatial variations in bone quality are recognized in healthy bone, the specific spatial effects of T1D on stress and strain distribution — key contributors to heightened fracture risk — remain unexplored. This study aims to address this gap by developing a Finite Element Model (FEM) of mouse femora to analyze how T1D-induced architectural changes in bone affect stress and strain. We analyzed femora from 22-week-old, Streptozotocin-induced diabetic male mice (n=7). Micro-Computed Tomography (μCT) with a 12-micron resolution was employed to precisely capture bone architecture. The μCT images were processed into 3D models using Materialise Mimics, and meshed with Hypermesh before creating the FEM in Abaqus. Simulations of stress and strain under physiological loading conditions were conducted using material properties obtained via nanoindentation testing. This innovative approach successfully developed an FEM for both diabetic and control groups, allowing detailed evaluation of stress and strain across any region of interest and under various loading conditions. Our findings offer insight into the mechanical consequences of T1D on bone, providing a valuable tool for assessing fracture risk.

Accreting black holes in X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei constitute some of the most luminous objects in the universe. Model fits to reflection spectra from such systems have predicted unreasonably high Fe abundances, inconsistent with stellar evolutionary theory. This has revealed a need for increased scrutiny of the models. The Z machine at Sandia National Labs has a unique capability to probe the relevant physics. On the photoionized expanding foil platform, X-rays from the Z-pinch irradiate a foil target which reaches temperature, density, and photoionization conditions found in black hole accretion disks. It provides a means to benchmark astrophysical photoionized plasma codes (such as XSTAR) by measuring high resolution absorption and emission spectra, which can be used to test the underlying atomic physics in the models. We present the experimental setup and spectral data collected on the platform. Furthermore, we show initial results of simulations performed with the 1-D radiation hydrodynamics code HELIOS-CR to address questions of density and temperature gradients, evolving charge state distributions, and plasma expansion in the foil. Results from these simulations will help validate assumptions made in the spectroscopic analysis of data and facilitate more effective data-model comparisons.

[English] High-performance computing (HPC) has revolutionized scientific discovery, from capturing the first-ever picture of a black hole to designing new medicines. These supercomputers, powered by modern graphics processors (GPUs) – the same technology originally used for video games – help scientists tackle increasingly complex challenges. One such challenge is simulating combustion in rocket engines and airplanes, where we need to track both the movement of high-speed gases and their ever-faster chemical reactions. However, running these advanced simulations efficiently remains difficult. Engineers must carefully balance computational resources and energy usage while maintaining accuracy. Our research addresses this challenge by developing new ways to predict how well these simulations will perform on different supercomputer configurations. Using detonation waves as a test case, we built physics software that automatically adapts its calculations to focus computing power on the portions of the simulation that need it most. We then created separate computer models to predict the software’s performance across various setups. Our results revealed important insights about managing computer memory and distributing work efficiently across GPUs. When including detailed chemistry calculations, performance dropped by as much as 5 times, highlighting areas needing optimization. Analysis showed that most of our calculations were limited by how fast we could move data in computer memory rather than process it. Looking ahead, we're developing more sophisticated prediction tools that consider power consumption, helping make scientific computing more energy-efficient and accessible to researchers worldwide.

[Español] La computación de alto rendimiento (HPC, por sus siglas en inglés) ha revolucionado el descubrimiento científico, desde capturar la primera imagen de un agujero negro hasta diseñar nuevos medicamentos. Estas supercomputadoras, impulsadas por procesadores gráficos modernos (GPUs) – la misma tecnología originalmente usada para videojuegos – ayudan a los científicos a enfrentar desafíos cada vez más complejos. Uno de estos desafíos es simular la combustión en motores de cohetes y aviones, donde necesitamos rastrear tanto el movimiento de gases a alta velocidad como sus reacciones químicas ultrarrápidas. Sin embargo, ejecutar estas simulaciones avanzadas de manera eficiente sigue siendo difícil. Los ingenieros deben equilibrar cuidadosamente los recursos computacionales y el consumo de energía mientras mantienen la precisión. Nuestra investigación aborda este desafío desarrollando nuevas formas de predecir qué tan bien funcionarán estas simulaciones en diferentes configuraciones de supercomputadoras. Usando ondas de detonación como caso de prueba, construimos software de física que adapta automáticamente sus cálculos para concentrar la potencia de cómputo en las partes de la simulación que más lo necesitan. Luego creamos modelos computacionales separados para predecir el rendimiento del software en varias configuraciones. Nuestros resultados revelaron importantes hallazgos sobre la gestión de la memoria de la computadora y la distribución eficiente del trabajo entre GPUs. Al incluir cálculos químicos detallados, el rendimiento disminuyó hasta 5 veces, destacando áreas que necesitan optimización. El análisis mostró que la mayoría de nuestros cálculos estaban limitados por la velocidad a la que podíamos mover los datos en la memoria de la computadora en lugar de procesarlos. De cara al futuro, estamos desarrollando herramientas de predicción más sofisticadas que consideran el consumo de energía, ayudando a hacer que la computación científica sea más eficiente energéticamente y más accesible para investigadores en todo el mundo.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is indicated in a multitude of chronic diseases, including ones that contribute to severe vision loss. During development and formation of the blood retinal barrier (BRB), the signaling molecule norrin acts necessarily to promote barrier formation and vascularization. Previous literature has proven the role of casein kinase-dependent phosphorylation of the protein Disheveled-1 (DVL1) in recruiting Claudin-5 to the tight junction. However, the exact way in which norrin may influence this interaction has yet to be elucidated. This has led to our hypothesis that norrin binding to its receptor complex contributes to the phosphorylation of DVL1. To this aim, analysis of DVL1 via western blot was utilized to visualize band separation of phosphorylated (pDVL) and unmodified DVL1 under various treatment conditions. Cells were treated with norrin, VEGF, or both for time points up to 48 hours. We found that treatment with norrin or VEGF alone did not result in significant change in DVL1 phosphorylation. However, it was observed that co-treatment of both Norrin and VEGF treatment yielded significant differences in the ratio of pDVL/DVL at multiple time points (12hr, 24 hr, 48 hr), suggesting the potential need for the likely cooperative role of VEGF in recruitment of TSPAN12, a co-receptor to norrin’s receptor Fz4, for restoration of BBB conditions. Further, these results present potential for making informed inferences regarding the specific occurrences underlying BBB recovery following ischemic events. Our results suggest a role for norrin-signaling via receptor binding in contributing to the phosphorylation of DVL1, which would allow for subsequent recruitment of Claudin-5 toward the tight junction to restore barrier properties.

[English] Hydraulic conductivity (Ks) provides insight into a plant's ability to supply water to photosynthetic and growing tissues and has been proposed as a central trait in the hydraulic safety-efficiency trade-off. However, its position within the multidimensional plant strategy in Tropical Dry Forests remains unclear. In these ecosystems, where water strongly shapes plant strategies, hydraulic conductivity is expected to be closely linked to traits across multiple plant dimensions. In this study, we measured Ks in tree seedling species across three different Tropical Dry Forests in Colombia. We aim to link Ks to 12 other traits—4 anatomical, 6 morphological, and 2 chemical traits—to clarify the relationship between carbon economics and plant hydraulics with water conductivity. Additionally, we aim to test whether Ks determines plant growth and survival in these ecosystems. We found that Ks is correlated with vessel diameter, providing direct evidence of the role of this anatomical trait in water conductivity. Moreover, Ks covaries with a water-efficiency axis when assessing anatomical traits. Surprisingly, we found that Ks is independent of morphological and chemical traits. These results suggest that plant carbon economics and water conductivity are decoupled, supporting previous research that has proposed this desynchronization. Furthermore, we found no correlation between Ks and plant performance. Overall, this synthesis uncovers novel insights into how plant hydraulic conductivity correlates with more commonly measured functional traits and reveals a decoupling from carbon acquisition strategies. It highlights more efficient approaches for assessing plant-drought relationships in Tropical Dry Forests.

[Español] La conductividad hidráulica (Ks) mide la capacidad de una planta para suministrar agua a tejidos fotosintéticos y de crecimiento, y se ha propuesto como un rasgo central en el trade-off entre seguridad y eficiencia hidráulica. Sin embargo, su papel dentro de la estrategia multidimensional de las plantas en los Bosques Secos Tropicales sigue siendo poco claro. En estos ecosistemas, donde el agua determina las estrategias de las plantas, se espera que la conductividad hidráulica esté vinculada a rasgos a lo largo de múltiples dimensiones de las plantas. En este estudio, medimos Ks en especies de plántulas de árboles en tres Bosques Secos Tropicales en Colombia. Nuestro objetivo es vincular Ks con otros 12 rasgos: 4 anatómicos, 6 morfológicos y 2 químicos, para aclarar la relación entre las distintas dimensiones de las plantas y la conductividad del agua. Además, buscamos probar si Ks está correlacionado con el crecimiento y desempeño de las plantas en estos ecosistemas. Encontramos que Ks está correlacionado con el diámetro de los vasos, lo que proporciona evidencia directa del papel de este rasgo anatómico en la conductividad del agua. Además, Ks covaría con un eje de eficiencia hídrica al evaluar los rasgos anatómicos. Sorprendentemente, encontramos que Ks es independiente de los rasgos morfológicos y químicos. Estos resultados sugieren que la economía de carbono de las plantas y la hidráulica de las plantas están desacopladas, lo que respalda investigaciones previas que han propuesto esta desincronización. Por último, no encontramos correlación entre Ks y el desempeño de las plantas. En general, esta síntesis aporta nuevas perspectivas sobre cómo la conductividad hidráulica de las plantas se correlaciona con rasgos funcionales más comúnmente medidos y revela un desacoplamiento de las estrategias de adquisición de carbono, destacando enfoques más eficientes para evaluar las relaciones planta-sequía en los Bosques Secos Tropicales.

Lipid metabolism is essential for cellular function and organismal homeostasis. Among lipid classes, plasmalogens—a unique subclass of glycerophospholipids—are distinguished by their structure, which features a long-chain fatty alcohol at the sn-1 position linked via a vinyl ether bond. These lipids are found throughout the animal kingdom and in anaerobic bacteria but are absent in aerobic bacteria, fungi, and plants. In mammals, plasmalogens make up 20–60% of total phospholipids, with the highest concentrations in the brain, skeletal muscle, and cardiac tissue. Despite their prevalence, their specific intracellular roles and metabolic pathways remain poorly defined. A genome- wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screen in our lab revealed that the peroxisomal enzymes FAR1, AGPS, and GNPAT—key components of plasmalogen biosynthesis—are critical for lysosomal homeostasis, indicating a previously unknown link between plasmalogen metabolism and lysosomal function. Preliminary data further suggest that reduced plasmalogen levels enhance lysosomal exocytosis, partially restoring lysosomal function. SNARE proteins, which mediate vesicle docking and fusion during lysosomal exocytosis, are central to this process. Dysregulated plasmalogen levels may disrupt SNARE activity, altering vesicle fusion and cellular trafficking. By bridging the gaps in plasmalogen visualization and understanding their role in lysosomal dynamics, this research has the potential to advance the field of lipid biology and inform therapeutic strategies for lysosomal storage disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and other conditions associated with lipid dysregulation.

This mixed methods study aims to explore how Hispanic children (ages 7–9) in Southeast Michigan navigate developing Spanish language use, ethnic-racial identities and social biases based on their perceptions of varying Spanish dialects. Considerable sociolinguistic research has focused on adults’ perceptions of English language varieties (as explored by Labov, 2006; Baugh, 2006), and studies focus on language within the Hispanic community, where Spanish (or its absence) is often seen as a defining racial/ethnic marker (Rosa, 2019). The present study follows Méndez & Satterfield (2024) in novelly centering US Spanish-speaking children. Specifically, we analyze Hispanic children's social value judgments using AI-generated audio recorded Spanish dialects and stereotypical visual representations of Latin American children to investigate US Latino children’s biases and associations with speaker intelligence, fluency, and authenticity within the Latino community. Audio recordings feature the Spanish-language story “Querido Primo, Una carta para ti (Tonatiuh, 2017),” which was chosen for key lexical items distinguishing dialectal varieties, along with its cultural relevance for many US Hispanic children. The study participants, representing a range of Spanish-language proficiencies, are presented with a dialect and an image of a child and then asked questions regarding the photographed child’s friendliness, intelligence, and race/ethnicity. Study methods include reaction time analysis, Yes/No responses, and focus groups. We hypothesize that higher proficiency Spanish-speaking children: (i) identify distinct Spanish dialects (ii) connect the dialectal speech traits to phenotypic characteristics. Furthermore, we predict that regardless of Spanish proficiency level, study participants will recognize their family’s/community’s own dialect due to having a level of exposure to that variety, and will have preconceived notions of whether a certain Spanish variety is “better” or “worse”. The findings will address linguistic, sociocultural and educational challenges faced by both bilingual and non-Spanish-speaking Hispanic children.

Legionnaires' Disease is a type of bacterial pneumonia affecting tens of thousands of citizens annually in America, with a 10% fatality rate[1]. It’s transmitted by inhaling aerosolized water containing Legionella pneumophila, which infects lung macrophages via a Type IV secretion system (T4SS). Over 300 effector proteins hijack various cellular pathways, including the immune response, facilitating bacterial replication[2]. Among these effectors are the SET domain lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) Regulator of Methylation A (RomA) and its highly conserved strain ortholog LegAS4. The KMTs possess a nuclear localization signal (NLS), a catalytic SET domain, and an Ankyrin repeat domain, distinct from eukaryotic SET domain KMTs. Through their NLS motifs, the KMTs enter the nucleus and trimethylate Lysine14 on histone H3 (H3K14). This post-translational modification is not observed in human chromatin and was found to repress gene transcription, enabling bacterial replication in host cells[3]. To elucidate the specificity of the L. pneumophila KMTs for H3K14, I determined the crystal structure of a LegAS4-H3 peptide complex. This structure illustrates a binding mode where H3R2 and H3K4 are read by the Ankyrin repeats domain, whereas the SET domain recognizes and methylates Lysine14. Structure-guided mutagenesis and methyltransferase assays revealed that a specific point mutation in the H3K4 pocket of the Ankyrin repeat domain abrogated H3K14 methylation. Corroborating these findings, electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that this RomA mutant is defective in nucleosome binding. The KMTs activities were characterized towards modified nucleosomes containing either H3K4 modification or mutation. The KMTs Lysine4 pocket sterically occludes any modification other than H3K4me0/me1. Together, the structural and biochemical results yield new insights into how the L. pneumophila KMTs specifically recognize H3K4 and methylate Lysine14 in nucleosomes at the molecular level.

Child heritage language bilinguals are children who speak one language at home and their community, the heritage language, and another language at school, their academic language. During the school years, the academic language becomes especially important. Yet heritage language proficiency remains essential for children’s communication with their families and community and their connection with their culture. Most schools in the U.S. provide language instruction only in English, leading to a more significant increase in English language development, while heritage languages such as Spanish plateau or attrite. This lack of access to Spanish instruction contributes to the language dominance shift observed in the Hispanic population despite being the second most spoken language. How do we best support children’s bilingual growth when language input in their heritage language is disproportionately lower than in the majority language? To best support heritage language maintenance in English-only environments, this study sought to identify the relationship between Spanish proficiency and contextual factors, such as home literacy variables and bilingual attitudes, by examining the elicited Spanish production of 25 Spanish-English bilingual children attending English-only instruction for measures known to be correlated with language development, such as mean length of utterance (MLU), subordinate index (SI), and number of different words (NDW).

As of 2022, estimates show that 55 million individuals live with dementia, and the number is expected to rise as the population grows, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International. Furthermore, Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia than non-Hispanic Whites (Alzheimer’s Association). To address this growing concern, funding from the Department of Defense allows us to implement a group class intervention that targets long-term wellness for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their caregivers, who are often referred to as "hidden patients". The Wellness Study compares the effects of two group treatment arms that address stress management, self-efficacy, and communication skills for individuals with dementia and their caregiver. However, Latines remain underrepresented in dementia-related wellness interventions and clinical trials even despite the higher prevalence of dementia diagnoses and the growing population. Here, we discuss the possible effect of the lack of culturally sensitive interventions that reflect familial culture and clinical education of ADRD within the Latine community. Although Latine support persons view caregiving as an expectation of intergenerational reciprocity, internalized negative feelings, such as guilt and shame, contribute to stress and a lack of self-care. Latine women also primarily take on the caregiving role, which may extend to larger family contexts rather than institutionalizing loved ones. Modifications to existing interventions to better align with Latine cultural expectations and worldviews could help address the disparity in care for Latine caregivers, provide resources for in-home care, and promote enhanced health literacy. I will discuss possible modifications to The Wellness Study's intervention to better incorporate Latine-informed care, while also leaving space for individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultural experiences to contribute to the discussion.

Objective: Attention and visuospatial performance deficits are early clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that often co-occur with memory impairments and may predict disease progression. Such deficits have been linked to functional alterations in the dual-network architecture of attentional control, comprising the dorsal attention network (DAN), mainly implicated in goal-directed attention, and the ventral attention network (VAN), associated with stimulus-driven attention. Here, we investigate the relationship between functional distinctiveness (i.e., network segregation) of DAN and VAN and visuospatial performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT).

Participants and Methods: We analyzed data from 138 individuals (M age = 72.72 years, SD = 6.96 years) enrolled in the “Stimulation to Improve Memory” study (NCT03875326; PI Hampstead) diagnosed with MCI (N=100; 47 women) or DAT (N=38; 21 women). Participants completed neuropsychological assessments, including the Benson Complex Figure Test (BCFT) and the Benton Judgement of Line Orientation (JoLO), to assess “higher” and “lower-level” visuospatial performance, respectively. To evaluate network-level function of DAN and VAN, we calculated brain network segregation during resting- state fMRI. We focused on the overall segregation of DAN and VAN from the other association networks, as well as from each-other. Linear regression assessed the effect of network segregation on visuospatial performance. We accounted for diagnostic and the interaction between diagnostic and network segregation, as well as for sex, age, education, grey matter atrophy, and in-scanner motion in our analyses.

Results: The overall segregation of VAN from the other association networks predicted BCFT performance (β = 0.29, p = 0.003), whereas the overall segregation of DAN from the other association networks marginally predicted BCFT performance (β = 0.18, p = 0.072). Critically, the pairwise segregation between VAN and DAN also predicted BCFT performance (β = 0.28, p = 0.004), and follow up analyses showed that this effect was driven by the strength of functional connectivity within the two networks (β = 0.17, p = 0.08) rather than the strength of connectivity between them (β = -0.14, p = 0.13). Moreover, the effect was driven by the strength of connectivity within VAN (β = 0.19, p = 0.05) rather than within DAN (β = 0.10, p = 0.29). There were no significant effects for JoLO.

Conclusions: Functional distinctiveness of VAN, and the interaction between VAN and DAN, are associated with “higher-level” visuoconstructional performance deficits in older adults with cognitive impairments due to presumed AD. Our results highlight the importance of focusing on network-level alterations in attentional systems when considering cognitive decline and suggest that interventions targeting the functional equilibrium between DAN and VAN might offer potential benefits for individuals at risk of AD.

Leaving groups are central to organic chemistry, facilitating a wide range of substitution reactions. Despite the many available options, the design of new leaving groups remains a dynamic area of research. By developing groups with enhanced selectivity and faster reaction rates, we can enable previously unattainable transformations and broaden the scope of organic synthesis. In this work, we demonstrate that attaching an electrophilic aminocyclopropenium adduct to nitrogen-containing groups enhances their nucleofugality, enabling efficient deamination. Using nucleophilic fluorination of various nitrogen-containing electrophiles as a model, the versatility of this approach was demonstrated.

Our target electrophile is the secondary sulfonamide, particularly N-(hetero)aryl sulfonamides which are prevalent in bioactive molecules and widely commercially available. Despite their ubiquity, breaking the S(VI)–N bond in sulfonamides remains challenging, especially for secondary and tertiary sulfonamides. We demonstrate that attaching an aminocyclopropenium group to the NH of a secondary sulfonamide creates an electrophilic SO2? surrogate, which can undergo further functionalization to generate sulfonyl fluorides and cyclopropenimines. This method tolerates a wide range of N-alkyl and N-(hetero)aryl secondary sulfonamides, including drug-like compounds. Notably, the conditions developed for secondary sulfonamides also enable deamination of secondary amides, yielding acid fluorides. Overall, this work aims to provide a modular functional handle for the deaminative functionalization of nitrogen-containing molecules.

In Michigan, Latine mothers–or birthing persons– and their infants experience significant health disparities, such as increased rates of postpartum hemorrhaging (excessive bleeding after childbirth), infant mortality, preterm births, and low birth weight compared to non-Hispanic/Latine White mothers and their infants. These disparities are largely driven by structural barriers and systemic inequities within the healthcare system, which often results in poor prenatal and postpartum care for Latine women/birthing people. Many of these women/birthing persons face challenges including language barriers, limited access to culturally appropriate health care, lack of support during labor and delivery, and few postpartum resources. In response to these challenges, clinics/hospitals are connecting patients with doulas–trained community health workers who provide physical assistance, emotional, and educational support throughout pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum–to bridge gaps in care and meet the unique needs of their patients. Our community-based collaborative explores how current care delivery and resources, such as doulas, addresses maternal and infant health disparities among the Latine community in Detroit. This presentation focuses on the impacts of doula services and the role they play in mitigating language barriers for Latine women/birthing people in Detroit.

Desmoplakin Cardiomyopathy is a genetic disease that compromises the sub-cellular structure responsible for mechanically linking cardiomyocytes. Unlike other cardiomyopathies, patients with this disease present a unique pattern of fibrosis that focalizes in the subepicardial layer of the left ventricle (LV). The heterogeneous mechanical loading of the left ventricular wall is thought to be responsible for this pattern. To investigate this hypothesis, we use image-based biomechanical modeling to build a virtual cohort of patients (n=17) with different levels of disease severity. We implemented a computational pipeline to merge data from different magnetic resonance image (MRI) modalities and generate patient-specific geometries that include the fibrotic location of the hearts. By analyzing the virtual cohort, we define the trends of LV wall thinning, fibrotic patch increasing, and the changes in heart pressure and volume.

To understand how mechanics are related to the observed disease progression, we used a healthy patient geometry as a baseline and simulated the mechanics for five stages of disease severity. Mechanical quantities such as strain, strain rate, and stress are quantified and correlated with the spatial maps of fibrosis. We observe that strain and strain-rate values are exacerbated in the subepicardium, especially during isovolumic contraction, and the presence of fibrosis exacerbates the mechanical loading of neighboring areas. This study provides a comprehensive investigation of how mechanics are related to the progression of Desmoplakin Cardiomyopathy and provides key knowledge that can help clinicians design better treatments for these patients.

DNA and histones in chromatin can be reversibly chemically modified. These chemical modifications are often associated with distinct transcriptional states. Among the most widely studied chromatin mark is the tri-methylation of lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3). H3K27me3 is associated with silenced states of gene expression and is believed to be catalyzed solely by the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2). PRC2 methyltransferase activity requires the presence of its core subunits, which together with H3K27me3 are essential for mouse embryonic development. Loss of PRC2 function, however, results in the derepression of only a small subset of PRC2 target genes. To investigate why only some PRC2 target genes require PRC2 for silencing, we generated and examined a series of mouse extra-embryonic endoderm (XEN) stem cell lines devoid of the PRC2 core subunit EED (Eed-/-) or the PRC2 methyltransferases EZH2 and EZH1 (Ezh2-/-; Ezh1-/-). In the Eed-/- and Ezh2-/-; Ezh1-/- XEN cells, we unexpectedly found significant levels of H3K27me3 by both western blot and mass spectrometry (MS). Intriguingly, the replication-independent histone H3 variant, H3.3, displayed almost complete retention of K27me3 in Eed-/- and Ezh2-/-;Ezh1-/- XEN cells. Together, these results suggest that PRC2-independent catalysis of H3K27me3 keeps PRC2-target genes silenced in the absence of PRC2. Our work aims to identify the protein(s) responsible for the catalysis of non-PRC2 H3K27me3, and to determine the transcriptional effects of non-PRC2 H3K27me3.

When it comes to cognitive decline in aging populations, research emphasizes the importance of early detection and intervention in preserving cognitive function and neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt to stimuli. The earlier an intervention is introduced, the more effective it will be. Neuromodulation-based interventions, especially intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), have shown promise as a tool for promoting long-term potentiation (LTP)-like neuroplasticity in mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the extent to which iTBS can induce LTP-like neuroplasticity in cognitively unimpaired and mild cognitively impaired (MCI) older adults remains underexplored and, as a result, is the primary focus of this project.

Participants include older adults of both sexes, any racial/ethnic group, aged 50 or older, and who are MRI compatible. All participants must be stable on relevant medications for approximately 4 weeks prior to study enrollment. Each participant undergoes a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment to establish cognitively unimpaired or MCI diagnosis. In addition, they also undergo a 3T MRI scan, and a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) session that includes iTBS.

During each TMS session, we identify the area of the motor cortex to be stimulated using a T1-weighted MRI sequence on neuronavigational software. We then provide single TMS pulses to create motor evoked potentials (MEP) that are measured via electromyographic recordings of the right first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle. Subsequently, we determine the resting motor threshold (RMT), which is the lowest stimulus intensity to elicit a MEP of at least 50μV. Finally, we acquire twenty-four MEPs at baseline and at multiple time points (i.e., 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 minutes) after a 3-minute session of iTBS (2 second train of TBS repeated 20 times, every 10 seconds for a total of 190 seconds) delivered at 70% of RMT. The outcome measure is the change in MEP amplitude after iTBS relative to baseline (higher values represent stronger LTP-like cortical neuroplasticity). Enrollment began in June 2024 and is ongoing. We will present preliminary results, including comparisons within each group (i.e., cognitively unimpaired and MCI) and between-group comparisons (i.e., cognitively unimpaired vs MCI), with an emphasis on inter-individual variability regardless of cognitive phenotype.

[English] Hair cortisol measurements have been used as informative of long-term exposure to stressful conditions for decades, but its accuracy is still under discussion. A well-known source of chronic stress is low socioeconomic status, as it can impact access to resources and services and explain higher chronic disease rates within this group. Negative health outcomes have been reported as possibly driven by a chronic activation of the biological stress response (HPA axis). Our research question is: How does socioeconomic status correlate with cortisol levels and the incidence of chronic disease in women? Our data includes 400 adult women from Iztapalapa, Mexico City. SES scores were obtained from the NSE- AMAI questionnaire, and hair cortisol data was generated using a modified version of the Meyer et al. 2014 immunoassay protocol. 

This study will provide an evaluation of hair cortisol measurements as a reliable proxy for biological stress. We are also interested in furthering our investigation through the applications of our findings to the topic of chronic illnesses as a whole. Our results could add evidence to support the use of hair cortisol measurements as a simple, low-cost method to the study of inequality, stress, and negative health outcomes. Ultimately, this work aims to advance our understanding of how structural inequalities contribute to health disparities among women in Latin America, offering insights into the biological impact of socioeconomic injustice.

[Español] Las mediciones de cortisol en el pelo han sido utilizadas durante décadas para evaluar la exposición prolongada al estrés, aunque su precisión sigue en debate. Un conocido factor de estrés crónico es el bajo nivel socioeconómico (SES), que afecta el acceso a recursos y servicios, y se asocia con mayores tasas de enfermedades crónicas. Este fenómeno podría estar relacionado con una activación crónica del eje hipotalámico-hipofisario-suprarrenal.

Nuestra investigación explora la relación entre el SES, los niveles de cortisol y la incidencia de enfermedades crónicas en 400 mujeres adultas de Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México. Los puntajes de SES se calcularon con el cuestionario NSE-AMAI, mientras que los niveles de cortisol capilar se midieron usando un protocolo adaptado de Meyer et al. 2014.

Los resultados podrían respaldar el uso del cortisol en el pelo como un indicador confiable para estudiar el estrés biológico. Este enfoque permitiría analizar de manera más accesible el impacto del estrés crónico en la salud pública y contribuiría a comprender cómo las desigualdades estructurales influyen en las disparidades de salud entre mujeres en América Latina. Por último, buscamos generar evidencia para abordar la relación entre desigualdad, estrés y salud, promoviendo intervenciones más equitativas en la región.

Understanding the behavior of structural elements in steel seismic frames is critical to ensuring their reliability during a seismic event. As such, rational approaches to predicting their performance under typical earthquake loads are required. These approaches, such as evaluating the seismic compactness of structural members to meet ductility demands under cyclic loads associated with an earthquake, serve as the basis for ensuring the performance of the structure under seismic loading. These approaches also need to be utilized across a wide variety of steel section types. To address these challenges, this research looks at understanding the performance of steel members and connections in steel seismic force resisting systems to then utilize this understanding to develop rational design limits and requirements.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake in the United States and the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake in Japan, resulted in the study of seismic steel moment frames due to the occurrence of fracture in welded beam-to-column connections. The results of this research led to design restrictions and more stringent drift limits for newly designed steel moment frame systems. To meet these new demands, structural designers shifted from using stockier wide flange columns to using deep, slender wide flange columns with a large moment of inertia about their strong axis. However, the shift to deeper sections led to a decrease in the radius of gyration about the weak axis thereby increasing susceptibility to global buckling. The deeper section also had larger element slenderness ratios for the flange and web leading to increased susceptibility to local buckling. As a result, unexpected synergistic behavior between these two limit states were shown to potentially lead to lower acities than expected under large cyclic bending and axial compressive loads. To better understand this behavior and explore rational seismic compactness limits for deep, slender wide flange columns, finite element models of cruciform subassemblies were calibrated and validated against experimental results and used to conduct a parametric study to consider a wide range of parameters. Sub-assemblies were considered to focus on the influence of column end conditions and the role that non-column elements played on the behavior of first-story deep, slender wide flange columns.

Moreover, the seismic compactness limits for hollow structural section (HSS) columns are largely based on the behavior of HSS brace members under cyclic axial load and not an understanding of actual HSS column behavior. To address this concern and develop a rational approach to evaluating the seismic compactness limits for HSS columns, a large-scale finite element study was undertaken to determine the behavior of HSS columns under a variety of axial load levels and cyclic bending moments. The finite element models were calibrated and validated against experimental tests of beams and large-size HSS beam-columns. The results led to a better understanding of the local buckling behavior of HSS columns in seismic moment frames and recommended changes to the AISC Seismic Provisions to better capture their actual performance.

Spinocerebellar Ataxias (SCAs) are progressive neurodegenerative disorders caused by mutations in specific genes, primarily driven by CAG repeat expansions leading to polyglutamine proteins. These mutations primarily affect the cerebellum and brainstem, resulting in motor deficits and premature death. Currently, there is no cure for SCAs, and research into potential therapies remains limited. However, growing evidence in humans suggests that cardiovascular exercise may slow neurodegeneration, though the exact parameters for optimal benefit remain under investigation. Identifying the neuronal targets and mechanisms by which exercise exerts these effects could reveal biological pathways that mimic its benefits. Using a transgenic mouse model of SCA2, which is caused by a mutation in the ATXN2 gene, we aim to further define the neuroprotective mechanisms of exercise in ataxia. This model, which exhibits early motor and learning deficits, provides an opportunity to assess the impact of exercise on both peripheral and central nervous system tissues. Our study will compare low- and high-intensity aerobic exercise protocols to determine whether cardiovascular intensity correlates with neuronal benefits. Given the protective effects of cardiovascular exercise on neuronal activity, we hypothesize that exertion triggers the release of peripheral signaling molecules. To identify these, we will conduct proteomic analyses of blood plasma and cerebellar tissue to detect proteins differentially regulated by exercise. Additionally, we will evaluate cerebellar cell loss and protein aggregation, pathological hallmarks of SCAs, to assess whether aerobic exercise specifically modulates disease progression. Although this study focuses on SCA2, the insights gained may have broader implications for other neurodegenerative conditions.

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