Undergraduate Research Posters

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  Characterization of Metal Transport by the Streptococcus sanguinis Endocarditis Virulence Factor SsaB

  Sarah Brusko

  Streptococcus sanguinis, present in the biofilm colonizing human tooth surfaces, may be beneficial in the oral cavity, though it also serves as a causative agent of an extra-oral disease, infective endocarditis. Previous mutagenesis of lipoprotein genes from S. sanguinis strain SK36 identified the SsaB gene as necessary for virulence in a rabbit model of endocarditis. Based on homology, we suspected that SsaB was a metal transporter. A procedure utilizing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry was optimized and implemented for determination of the concentrations (μg metal per mg of cellular protein) of 17 metals in SK36 and ssaB mutant cell lysates. Data revealed that the ssaB mutant reproducibly accumulated lower concentrations of both manganese and iron, but showed no significant difference in accumulated concentrations of magnesium, or any of 14 additional metals for which there were standards, or in signal intensities for 60 other elements analyzed for which there were no standards. This data suggested that SsaB binds both manganese and iron to facilitate transport. When grown in brain-heart infusion (BHI) broth, both strains accumulated more iron than manganese. To assess whether this was due entirely to the higher concentration of iron relative to manganese in BHI broth, SK36 and the ssaB mutant were grown in all-purpose tween (APT) broth, rich in both metals. Both strains accumulated more manganese than iron in APT broth. Higher accumulation of manganese in APT broth compared to BHI broth for both strains suggested that manganese is accumulated through both SsaB-dependent and SsaB-independent mechanisms. Relative cellular abundance of iron and manganese in S. sanguinis varies dramatically depending on relative abundance in the growth medium, highlighting the importance of using physiologically relevant media in future studies. This data also implies that S. sanguinis is flexible in its metal requirements and is rather efficient in sequestering iron, which would otherwise react with cellular hydrogen peroxide to produce DNA-damaging hydroxyl radicals.

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  Epilepsy: Distinguishing Symptoms from the Divine

  Alexa Buchin

  Epilepsy is historically connected with divine or psychotic factors, discouraging epileptics from seeking or receiving the proper medical treatment. Uncovering neurological correlates of religious experience is aimed at separating normal religiosity from hyper-religiosity as a symptom. Finding an answer to this problem would have larger implications on the separation of medicine and religion, giving patients the treatment they deserve. What neurological correlates with supernatural experience are suggested by studies involving temporal lobe epilepsy, and how does this research help to separate normal religiosity from hyper-religiosity as a symptom? It is important to draw a line between medicine and religion, and while this line cannot yet be definitely drawn, brain imaging has begun to locate supernatural experience within the brain. Studying temporal lobe epilepsy can help to distinguish between normal religiosity and hyper-religiosity. I examined the history of epilepsy, finding that the progress of science was hindered by epilepsy through the lens of the church and magical medicine. Other studies found parts of the brain associated with religious/supernatural experience; the temporal lobe, frontal lobe, parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus, and limbic system have been found to play key roles in this phenomenon. These findings helped to define Geschwind syndrome, a personality disorder in a subgroup of temporal lobe epilepsy patients. Treatment for epilepsy has become more medically based, but because of stigmas surrounding hallucination and seizures some patients still don’t get the treatment they need. The implications of this research are leading to new ways to separate medicine and religion, which will be positive for the progress of science.

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  The Republic of The Philippines: Epidemiology and Epigenetics

  Alexander A. Burkard

  A brief, yet concise investigation was conducted on the Republic of the Philippines, with a keen interest in the epidemiology of the current urban areas of the nation (+150,000 inhabitants), as well as possible epigenetic change that may be induced from disease or environmental stressors upon these same groups of people. G6PD deficiency, a common disorder among persons in urban dwellings within the Republic of the Philippines (Hsia 1993) was found to have a strong correlation of incidence with members of other nations in localized proximity to the equator. Additionally, low birth weight in infants has been identified as a potential epigenetic cue in those of the emerging, current population (Kuzawa 2012).

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  The USSR's Role in Imbalanced Sex Ratios at Birth and Human Trafficking in the South Caucasus

  Abigail Burns and Abigail Burns

  Since 1990, the population of the South Caucasus has exhibited abnormally high sex ratios at birth (SRB), with male births exceeding female births. In the same period of time, human trafficking in South Caucasus has also increased, particularly in the capitals and major cities of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. While the two phenomena have been compared and researched together in other regions of Asia, there is a lack of research on the relationship between imbalanced SRBs and human trafficking in the South Caucasus. After analyzing the relevant research, the two phenomena were discovered to be distinctly correlated. By means of economic collapse and reinforced traditionalism, the withdrawal of the USSR became the key link between human trafficking and imbalanced SRBs in the three countries. Specifically, the conditions created caused a deepening of discriminatory practices against women, which fuel both imbalanced SRB and human trafficking. The evidence for this strong correlation between human trafficking and imbalanced SRBs suggests a greater relationship between the two, which, with more research, may prove that imbalanced SRBs cause increases in human trafficking. If this is the case, the discovery will not only change how local governments address both issues but also how other nations affected by the same phenomena handle them.

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  Susurrations of the CCC

  John Bush

  The purpose of my research is to explore the use of anecdotal evidence and primary sources to locate and explain deviations from official records. For this study, I chose to look for a boxing ring constructed at the behest of the Commanding Officer of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 2386 at Camp SP-24V in Chester, Virginia.

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  Have I Made My Point?

  John Bush and John Bush

  The purpose of my research is to use Experimental Archaeology to explore how individuals relate to, and behave in, their environment. For this study, I chose to use materials and techniques that would have been available to pre-contact populations in what is now the Commonwealth of Virginia, to manufacture lithic tools, or projectile points and knives (PP/Ks).

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  Enhanced Single Molecule Mass Spectrometry Via Charged Metallic Clusters

  Amy Chavis

  Water-soluble metallic clusters have been used for a number of important applications. One of the most stable clusters is Au25(SG)18, which are negatively charged in solution and highly monodisperse making them ideal for characterization and analysis applications. We present here a new application where these clusters are shown to increase the mean residence time of polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules within an alpha hemolysin (αHL) nanopore. The effect appears over a range of PEG sizes and ionic strengths. This increases the resolution of the peaks in the single molecule mass spectrometry (SMMS) current blockade distribution and suggests a means for reducing the ionic strength of the nanopore solute in the SMMS protocol.

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  History of the Patient’s History: Exploring Origins, Developments, and Debates of the Art of Clinical Case-Taking

  Joanne Chiao

  The development of patient-centered and narrative medicine in the late modern era transformed interactions between western medical doctors and their patients. The healing process now involved treating not just the illness, but interacting in more complex ways with the whole individual. This limited study focused on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) publications in the 20th century and examined various historical relationships between and among patient medical history-taking and the patient narrative. Relationships included medical education reforms, diagnostic technology, information technology, and medical science knowledge. These categories and variables, when compared to various historical contexts, provide greater insight on both past and contemporary patient-doctor interactions of the U.S. practice of medicine. For the physician, personal “illness narratives” initially were treated as the gathering of “raw data,” in the form of the patient’s medical history, but later came to be viewed as facilitated by the quintessential medicinal art—the “art” of medical history-taking.

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  Politics of the Cigarette: Smoking, Health, and the Surgeon General (1960-1969)

  Joanne Chiao

  Cigarette consumption reached an all-time national high in the early 1960s. With scientific articles linking cigarettes with cancer, the public questioned whether the personal choice was a hazardous one. As a result, the federal government began investigating the health effects of cigarette smoking and regulating the tobacco industry's labeling and advertising. Under the direction of United States Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry (1961-1965), the Public Health Service (PHS) issued one of the first large-scale initiatives to curtail the power of American Tobacco, the 1964 Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. The events involving the report’s origins, findings, and the debate that preceded the passing of the 1965 Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (FCLAA) were greatly influenced by the political context of the 1960s. This project sought to evaluate and construct an overview of the historical narrative of Dr. Terry’s political efforts, successes, and failures in his leadership of the smoking and health debate of the 1960s.

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  Ruling Theory Applied at the Beaufort Inlet Shipwreck

  Carson Collier

  Ruling theory is when a hypothesis is so attractive that researches may consciously or unconsciously record data in favor of the hypothesis. “Ruling Theory can be applied in many fields, including archaeology” (Railsback, 1990). An example of an archaeological site applying the Ruling Theory is the Beaufort Inlet Shipwreck. On November 21, 1996 a team of investigators from Intersal Inc. discovered an 18th century shipwreck about a mile and a half off of the coast of Beaufort Inlet. Shortly after discovering this ship the question of this ship being the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s flagship, started to arise. Today many communities on the Outer Banks, like Ocracoke Island, use the Queen Anne’s Revenge to attract tourist. Is the Beaufort Inlet Shipwreck really the Queen’s Anne’s Revenge? Or have researches been too hasty when gathering their information about the Beaufort Inlet Shipwreck?

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  Synthesis of Cisplatin & biological testing of the complex, compared to Triplatin (BBR3464)

  Heba Dawood

  Two chemotherapeutic drugs were studied; one of them is Cisplatin that is currently used to fight cancer and the other is Triplatin (BBR3464) that was developed by Dr. Farrell. Cisplatin was synthesized and many different experiments were conducted such as: Recrystallization, Infrared Spectroscopy, UV-VIS, Melting Point, and Fluorescence experiment. After synthesizing the drug, it was tested in biology lab; we tested the effects of the drug on ovary cancer cells and its ability to kill cancer cells. A Cisplatin MTT ASSAY experiment was done and another MTT for Triplatin was done. Results from both of the experiments were compared and it was concluded that Triplatin is able to kill cancer cells more effectively and at lower concentrations than Cisplatin.

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  Disordered Eating from Interpersonal Relationships and Body Comparisons

  Taylor L. Dawson

  The purpose of this paper is to discuss how women's relationships (with sisters, mothers, female friends and significant others) along with thin ideal media shape beauty ideals and contribute to eating disorders. I studied scholarly articles pertaining to exposure to underweight and healthy weight models and its effect on women. I also examined articles that discussed different types of comparisons that women made on themselves against the female figures in their lives. I examined studies on parental disordered eating and perceived body image. My preliminary conclusion is that women's comparisons in their interpersonal relationships have more of an effect on disordered eating and beauty ideals than thin ideal media. To help with the low self-esteem that creates these negative comparisons, girls should be raised and encouraged to develop a high image of self, but more research is needed on body comparisons to find a way to affectively and successfully correct these negative comparisons with accuracy.

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  Alternative Spinal Fusion Fixation Rod Materials: Polyetheretherketone, Nitinol and Silicon Nitride

  Erik Dekelbaum

  Titanium and its alloys are the most commonly used fixation rod materials in spinal fusion surgery because of their biocompatibility, stability, and endurance. However, titanium may not be the best rod material for patients as it can cause adjacent segment degeneration (ASD), in which the spinal segments adjacent to the instrumented segment or segments experience increased force loading and begin to deteriorate. Through analysis of various studies, polyetheretherketone (PEEK), nitinol, and silicon nitride were found to be possible alternative spinal fusion fixation rod materials. To determine which of these materials is best suited for use as a spinal rod material, the osteointegration, current availability, stiffness, durability, corrosion resistance, and clinical efficacy of each material was analyzed. Although silicon nitride had strong osteointegrative properties, no testing could be found evaluating the material as a spinal fusion rod, indicating its current unavailability. Even though nitinol was determined to have better osteointegrative properties than PEEK, PEEK has an elastic modulus close to bone, a reinforcing material, carbon fiber, that allows for customization of the elastic modulus, no risk of corrosion, and strong clinical results. By implementing PEEK fixation rods in spinal fusion surgeries instead of titanium rods, the incidence of ASD may decrease as well as the risk of rod corrosion.

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  Cultural Rights and Political Authority in Maya Guatemala

  Dylan DeWitt

  Following a civil war that engulfed the nation for thirty-six years, the Guatemalan state has taken steps to integrate previously remote territories into its broader political and economic system. This has led to the increased political inclusion and economic integration of Mayan communities that had remained on the outskirts of Ladino society. Unfortunately, not much attention has been given to understanding the effects of this process on indigenous political institutions. After traveling to the Western Highlands region in December 2013 and surveying research from political science, anthropology, and environmental science, I have concluded that the 1996 Peace Accords have not helped to empower local Mayan political institutions. In fact, this process of political and economic integration has delegitimized indigenous political authority through the state institutionalization of private property rights and democracy. Thus, the state has both violated cultural rights afforded to these communities after the civil war and taken away a platform for indigenous communities to constructively engage with the social change that will come with increase economic inclusion and development. This conclusion can lead us to question or refine any understanding of the proper balance between individual political inclusion and local institutional autonomy when discussing cultural rights.

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  Yoshitoshi Tsuikoka’s New Forms of Thirty Six-Ghosts—Visual Tradition in Art as a Cultural Critique on Japan’s Modernization

  Kate Duggan

  Yoshitoshi Tsukioka’s traditional woodblock prints in the series New Forms of Thirty Six-Ghosts use yōkai, supernatural spirits, as a political critique about the loss of the Japanese tradition due to the Meiji State’s homogenizing modern ideology, which emphasized Western scientific and rational thought over traditional Japanese beliefs about the supernatural. Yoshitoshi Tsukioka’s 1888-1892 ukiyo-e, traditional woodblock prints, in the series New Forms of Thirty Six-Ghosts expresses a subtle cultural critique on the Meiji State’s scientific ideology through a use of traditional folklore. This series displays a connection between yōkai, supernatural spirits, and the identity of rural Japanese populations. The Meiji State’s attempts at cultural homogenization were a threat to traditional Japanese folk beliefs. Although the Meiji State was interested in preserving visual Japanese tradition, the government worked to remove beliefs that contradicted Western science and rationality. Through the examination of peer-reviewed scholarly journals and academic books, the hypothesis may be made that folklore is more prevalent among rural lower-class populations in times of political strife and cultural change because folklore offers a platform for anonymous social and political critique and represents unique cultural identities.

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  Behavioral Inhibition and Anxiety

  Alexis Exum

  Behavioral inhibition is the relationship between the tendency to experience distress, and the level of withdrawal from unfamiliar situations, people, or environments (Fox et al., 2004). The Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) measures one of the underlying systems of behavior. The goal is to gauge one’s reactions to aversive motive, or the movement away from something unpleasant. Previous studies have examined the relationship between inhibition levels and anxiety or nervousness. Results have shown that adults who suffer from higher levels of anxiety or nervousness as measured by self-reports of nervousness (Carver et al., 1994) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (Newman et al., 1997) also report higher scores on the BIS. In the current study, juvenile twins aged 9-13 were asked to complete a variety of self-report surveys about their personality, interests, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. At this time they completed the Screen for Childhood Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED), which assesses various anxiety-related cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. They also completed the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) questionnaire, which measures behaviors/thoughts away from something unpleasant (inhibition) and behaviors/thoughts toward something desired (activation)(Carver et al., 1994). We will examine the relationship between scores on the SCARED and on the BIS portion of the BIS/BAS measure. We hypothesize that higher levels of anxiety or nervousness on the SCARED will positively correlate with higher scores on the BIS. This implies that children who have higher levels of inhibition are like to be more anxious overall. This has implications for further adjusting treatment and education when interacting with children who have higher levels of anxiety and inhibition, as opposed to those with lower levels of anxiety and inhibition.

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  The Spoiler Effect: How spoilers affect our perceptions of film and TV

  Alex Falls

  In today’s world of social media people evaluate modern film making more scrupulously than ever before. Months before a film even enters production there are people evaluating the screenplay online; hours after it premieres hundreds of reviews are accessible, and exponentially more if you include the countless bloggers, twitter posters, and discussion boards all over the internet; and every one of them attempt to make their own unique point. When there’s such a large amount of discussion occurring a problem arises. A problem that’s been characterized by the same social media culture that accentuated it in the first place, and that is the problem of “spoilers.” Let me get my personal view out of the way: I take great measures to avoid spoilers of any kind. I’m the type of person that takes great pleasure in experiencing what a film, or TV show, has to offer in real time; experiencing the journey of the characters along with them, as opposed to just observing their world from an outside perspective. My love of film stems from my desire to expand my imagination. Premature disclosure of plot points only serves to limit our imaginations. Everyone is familiar with the idea of spoilers today, but the effect they have on viewership is a topic not often discussed. The “spoiler effect” has been articulated by Alex S.L. Tsang and Dengfeng Yan (2009), who summarized: “The spoiler effect denotes a phenomenon that a consumer’s interest in consuming a particular narrative is reduced after exposure to a spoiler” (para. 1). They go on to say: “Spoiler exposure creates a satiation effect and an explanation effect that hinder favorable affective forecasting” (para. 2). When a major plot twist is revealed out of context, it causes people to become disinterested in seeing the work in question in its entirety. When it comes to great film or TV the best things to take away are not the plot twists, but the craftwork that is applied by the people involved. All the very best films and shows are made by artists, and all the best artists form their work as one whole story. Plot twists are used to further the progression of the story; they’re not the whole reason for it to exist. But people continue to allow out of context revelations of what happens in one moment of an entire piece of art to rule their desire to see what else that work may have to offer. Look at a TV show like Breaking Bad, every episode is filled with plot twists, any of which revealed ahead of time would outright diminish the qualitative experience of such a show; but every episode is also filled with some of the most beautifully shot sequences and terrifically acted performances ever captured. Allowing yourself to miss out on such cinematic quality just because you heard one of your favorite characters is going to die is an outrage. Contrarily, there are examples of those shocking death scenes that are some of the most acclaimed scenes in the history of television. Spoilers can come in many forms; most commonly from discussion over the internet, but the next most prominent offender is much more innocuous, trailers. Trailers are made to hook the viewer ahead of time, but in order to do so exciting parts of the film need to be exhibited. Making a trailer is all about selling, “and [they] include pandering or condensed scenes of the entire film so that the viewer has essentially seen the movie by watching the trailer” (Adams, 2011, para. 4). When the movie The Avengers was getting ready to release the hype had built up tremendously. Once the trailer hit the internet millions of people watched it within the first day (Lowhensohn, 2012); and it was full of the usual exciting moments action movie trailers highlight. But by watching the trailer it’s easy to see the culmination of a major moment in the third act. The scene was a major development of the Tony Stark/Iron Man character; Marvel Films spent years, through a whole series of films, building up to this very emotional moment when Stark appears to be fulfilling his fate as a superhero, but just as it’s revealed what Stark is going to attempt, the impact of the potentially impactful scene was completely distinguished. While the whole sequence was quite graceful, and the trailer only showed a few seconds from it, because it was obvious what was going to happen before it finished unfolding, it became impossible to feel genuine. That trailer caused the scene to be shoved in the forefront of reality and imagination no longer needed to work on its own. After all, isn’t the whole point of watching a movie to escape from reality for a short time? It could be a trailer, a review, a commercial, or even just a picture of the film set; potentially anything could spoil a movie experience. That then begs the question: how do you know the significance of a spoiler when you’re seeing it? To use Breaking Bad as an example again, many of the show’s greatest moments are the spoiler-prone plot twists because Breaking Bad is excellent at maximizing what’s known as the “shock value.” The most eloquent argument for the validity of shock value I could find reads as: “If by shock, we mean what Proust called surprise — something that so jolts our habit-encrusted perceptions that we see things with a startling new vividness — then, yes, shock is an essential component of all great art” (Brantley, 2012). The ability for a piece of art to surprise us as we watch is essential to making it great. The works that can really do an effective job of shocking people are the ones that generally have the most longevity. Even if the quality isn’t along the lines of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, a TV show can run for years on effective shock value alone. Just look at how many Law & Order and NCIS episodes there are. A common argument by people who can somehow base opinions entirely on spoilers is if shock value is all something has to keep you watching, than is there any real value there? When you’re talking about Law & Order, it could be said that statement holds water. When all a show can do is repeatedly throw one plot twist and shocking moment after another, that show cannot automatically be called a well done show; but when those twists are used in just the right spot, in the right context, with the right intent, they can be some of the most memorable moments of all time. The cognitive dissonance towards our generation’s greatest modern achievements in filmmaking that has swept over the social media landscape is extremely prevalent. Every day people will read spoilers and decide to skip watching, rationalizing, “I know how it ends” or “I know the best part.” While there are films and shows that when you find out those facts ahead of time it does make them somewhat irrelevant to watch, but the times where that’s the case, the work itself is what’s irrelevant. Films and TV series are artistic expressions meant to transport the viewer into a world where things outside the realm of possibility happen right in front of their eyes; only in that world, those implausible things make perfect sense. To have such a potentially potent experience spoiled is reprehensible.

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  The Health Ramifications of Poorly Ventilated Cooking Areas in the Indigenous Populations of Guatemala

  Bushra Ferdous and Elizabeth Keenan

  Guatemala is a Latin American country with a high level of social and economic inequality, which makes life in rural areas very difficult. 40% of the population is composed of indigenous groups that currently cook in unventilated brick lodgings, which prevent thick smoke from being released. Consequently, indigenous people suffer from severe respiratory health complications compounded by their lack of access to minimum health care facilities. Organizations such as the Highland Support Project (HSP) work to improve the livelihood of indigenous Guatemalans through transformational development by modifying social, economic, political and cultural systems. These new stoves that include chimneys can decrease the risk of having acute lower-respiratory illnesses. Improved-stove projects mitigate the negative effects of smoke on health and accommodate the different ethnic and cultural backgrounds of indigenous people.

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  Common Motivations and Personality Types of Cyber Terrorists

  Amanda Floyd

  According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, “The CSIS has defined it (cyber terror) as the use of computer network tools to shutdown critical national infrastructures or to coerce or intimidate a government or civilian population” (Tafoya, 2011). Cyber terrorism is on the rise and costs the government and large corporations millions and millions of dollars in both manpower and technology. The United States has seen both their military programs be hacked along with the most trusted systems of our defense contractors. The risk of another large scale cyber-attack is imminent and there’s only a question of when, where and how much sensitive information will be compromised. The ways of carrying out these terrorist attacks are just as diverse as the reasoning behind carrying them out. Who are these people behind this new age form of terrorism and what are their motivations for causing such technological destruction? This research will delve further into this question by exploring the personality types of known hackers and virus writers. Are their certain characteristics that are commonly displayed by these criminals? Is there a criminal profile that can be looked at in seeking out these criminals for prosecution? It is essential for our nation’s economy and security that the United States’ government keeps ahead of these criminals and their ever-evolving tactics. It is also increasingly more and more important to learn about these cyber terrorists and to learn from our past security breaches. References Tafoya, William L. Cyber Terror. November 2011. http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/november-2011/cyber-terror (accessed March 13, 2014).

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  Feather Reflectance Predicts Reproductive Success in Female Prothonotary Warblers

  Miranda Foster

  In many avian species, both females and males display colorful feather ornaments that in males are known to often signal individual quality and serve as the basis for mate choice. We do not know however, if the same applies for female birds. In this study, we investigated whether carotenoid content in female Prothonotary Warblers (Prothonotaria Citrea) feathers, a measure of feather quality, was correlated with annual reproductive success. Feathers from 130 female individuals over a period of four breeding seasons were collected and their reflectance was measured, along with data on annual reproductive success. We found a significant positive relationship between carotenoid content and number of young fledged, after accounting for the effect of nest initiation date, which is known to significantly influence annual reproductive success. We found that earlier and older females tend to fledge more young, but that all early arriving females are not the same. Among early breeders, the ones that go on to produce the greatest number of young have higher carotenoid content in their feathers. This same relationship was not found in later breeding females. This could indicate that males use female plumage as a signal to select higher quality females during the early portion of the breeding season when selection pressure is highest to choose a high quality mate.

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  Simulation as an Assessment of Core Critical Skills for First Year Medical Interns

  Charlene Gaw

  The transition from undergraduate medical education to graduate medical education is one that new interns are often underprepared for. Simulation scenarios offer a novel tool to develop and assess core critical skill areas that are imperative towards maximizing patient safety and patient care. This study evaluates an intern conference to develop and assess teamwork, consultation, escalation, informed consent, and handoffs using simulation. The “Walk the Walk” intern conference was held to establish a common culture of patient safety by training and evaluating intern skills in core critical skill areas. Interns were assessed on their performance in the aforementioned critical areas, and then provided with individualized feedback. In addition, pre-conference and post-conference self-efficacy in the areas of interest was recorded. Interns returned six months later, and were evaluated on the same fundamental competencies during a simulation performance. Results suggest that interns have considerable experience working in teams, but not as much experience with formal education to guide them on how to best work as a team. Self-reported ability in 4 out of the 5 core skill areas support the conference training was effective. Although there was no significant improvement in teamwork, interns reported feeling very confident in teamwork skills on average.

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  Child Anxiety Sensitivity in Juvenile Adolescent Twins

  Laura E. Hazlett and Dever M. Carney

  Child Anxiety Sensitivity in Juvenile Adolescent Twins. Researched by Laura Hazlett from the VCU Psychology Department. Help from faculty mentors Dr. John Hettema, Psychiatry and Dr. Roxann Roberson-Nay, Psychology. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a dispositional trait where one is fearful of anxiety symptoms, and is distinguishable from the trait of anxiety itself. (Eke & McNally, 1996). These fears of anxiety-related sensations are an important factor in predicting the emergence and severity of panic symptoms (McNally, 2002). The Child Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) is the child version of an 18-item self-report questionnaire commonly used to measure anxiety sensitivity. Zinbarg et al. (1997) demonstrated that the ASI has three first-order factors: Physical Concerns (i.e. “It scares me when my heart beats fast “), Mental Incapacitation Concerns (i.e. “When I am afraid, I worry that I might be crazy”), and Social Concerns (i.e. “Other kids can tell when I feel shaky “). The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between scores on the CASI and responses during a low-dose carbon dioxide breathing task designed to induce panic-related sensations. The participants in our study were monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs ranging from ages nine to thirteen. Twins’ responses throughout the task were measured using the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) and the Diagnostic Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ), which measures cognitive and physical panic symptoms. We hypothesize that there is a positive relationship between the CASI and anxious responding during the carbon dioxide breathing task, such that as CASI scores increase, so do scores on the DSQ and SUDS. The results support the hypothesis and show significant evidence of a relationship between the CASI and subjectively experienced distress and panic symptoms. So, the more fearful an individual is of panic symptoms, the more severely they experience those symptoms, which in turn causes greater subjective distress. This study contributes to identifying the overall relationship between the CASI, DSQ, and SUDS scores when looking at physical, mental, and social concerns that contribute to the fear of experiencing subjective anxious symptoms.

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  A Look at Tuberculosis and Multi-Drug Resistant TB in the United States & China

  Megan K. Healy

  There are many things plaguing the world today, one of them is Mycobacterium tuberculosis otherwise known as Tuberculosis (TB). Since it’s origin TB has become more virulent against antibiotics and became multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB). Two countries come to mind for comparison, China and the United States. China is having severe problems with the disease while the United States is managing it a bit better. Each country has unique circumstances and the statistics show that both may be doing better with just TB but MDR-TB is sticking around and gradually becoming more and more of an issue.

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  Printing the Past to Engage the Public

  Vivian Hite

  Public involvement and engagement is a key aspect of George Washington’s Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ferry Farm is a public archaeology site that allows volunteers and the public to participate in the actual field research. Three dimensional printed artifacts provided through a partnership with the Virtual Curation Lab at VCU help non-archaeologists understand the kind of artifacts found previously at the site. The ability for physical models to be used in the field allows the public to connect with the past inhabitants of the landscape. Creating this connection and involving the public in the history of their community helps raise people’s awareness of the importance of cultural heritage locations such as George Washington’s Boyhood Home.

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  Integrating Phage Therapy into Western Medicine

  Jacob B. Jaminet

  The World Health Organization has described the rise of antibiotic use as a “global heath security emergency” (who.int). With the growing concern about antibiotic resistant bacteria, there has been an increased interest in bacteriophages. Bacteriophages are high-specific viruses that only infect bacteria. The use of bacteriophages medicinally to treat bacteria is called phage therapy. Research in phage therapy gained momentum until the introduction of antibiotics. While the USA and other Western countries accepted antibiotics, the Soviet Union and their satellite nations still continued to research phages. Since the funding for research was supplied by the Soviet military, the results of their studies were deemed top secret. With the fall of the Soviet Union, data that were previously unavailable to the USA and other nations became available to the larger research community.

  Articles were reviewed from the discovery of phages to current clinical trials that have been done. The papers about the history of phages explored why phage therapy did not gain the popularity in the USA they have today in Easter Europe. As phage therapy was a standard of care during their study, the studies done were not double-blind, placebo controlled and are not applicable to the standards set out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). Current clinical trials are being conducted under the purview of the FDA and EMA.

  While phage therapy has the advantages of being highly specific, there is concern that phages could potentially exchange DNA between bacteria and actually cause bacteria to become more virulent. Although there are concerns with phage therapy such as DNA exchange and possible viral mutations, phage therapy should be investigated through clinical trials under the purview of federal regulatory agencies because while the large body of research is not the standard double-blind placebo controlled study as required by the FDA, they do show promise as novel form of treatment of bacterial infections.