Tag: Poster 9

An Analysis of Temporal Distance, Executive Function, and Reaction Time Following Concussion

Presenter: Matthew Crocker

Mentor: Li-Shan Chou

AM Poster Presentation

Poster 9

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the gait of high school concussed subjects changes from the time of injury to 2 months post-concussion as well as assessing their reaction times to a Stroop reaction task in static and dynamic conditions. During the auditory Stroop task, the participant was required to listen to a computer generated word (“high” or “low”) that was spoken in either a high or low pitch. The goal for the participant was to answer the pitch of the word rather than the actual word produced by the computer. Twelve concussed subjects were identified by an athletic trainer and then matched by age, height, and weight with 12 controls. They performed 3 tasks: single task walking (walking in a straight line as normal as possible), dual task walking (walking in a straight line while performing an auditory Stroop task), and an auditory Stroop task while seated. Temporal distance parameters (stride length, stride width, and gait velocity) were calculated using a 10 camera motion analysis system. It was hypothesized that concussed subjects would prioritize when performing a dual-task; their gait would become more conservative in order to respond to the Stroop task. When the concussion subjects responded to the Stroop task, their gait velocity and stride length decreased and stride width increased in relation to single-task walking trails. This study is significant in that people of ages 15-19 years old are more prone to suffering a concussion than any other age group.

N/A

Presenter : Michaeli Francisco

Poster 9

Tetraethylammonium (TEA) abolishes a large portion of the vasodilation observed with both cutaneous thermal and reactive hyper- emia by blocking calcium-sensitive potassium (KCa) channels. Some studies have shown effects of TEA on other potassium channels such as inward-rectifying potassium (KIR) channels, which are activated by increases in extracellular K+ and blocked by barium (Ba2+). Our primary goal was to test the specificity of TEA to KCa channels by ensuring TEA had no effect on KIR-mediated vaso- dilation to KCl. Furthermore, the effects of KIR channels in the skin has not previously been explored. Recent research suggests KIR channel activation to be the predominant contributor to ATP-mediated dilation in the forearm. Therefore, our secondary goal was to assess KIR-mediated vasodilation in response to ATP. The following drugs were continuously infused via microdialysis: 1) Control; 2) 50mM TEA; 3) 0.1mM barium chloride (BaCl2; KIR channel blocker). KCl was infused for 2 min at each site at 1mM and 10mM doses. Following KCl infusions, a single dose of 30mM ATP was infused for 1 min at each site. Dilation was characterized as Δ peak from baseline, and presented as % maximal cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC). KCl mediated vasodilation at the control site (1mM: 11.0±2.7%, 10mM: 10.4±2.3%) indicated 1mM KCl is sufficient to achieve complete activation of KIR channels, which is only ~ 10% of max. TEA had little effect on KCl-mediated vasodilation (1mM: 7.2.0±2.2%, 10mM: 9.2±3.1%) suggesting TEA does not affect KIR and/or Na+/K+ATPase pumps. Dilation to KCl was attenuated but not blocked by 0.1mM BaCl2 (1mM KCl: 6.0±1.7%, 10mM KCl: 4.9±2.0%). This indicates Na+/K+ATPase could also be responsible for a large portion of KCl-mediated vasodilation in the skin. ATP-mediated vasodilation was largely independent of KIR channel activation (Control: 43.7±14.0%, BaCl2: 41.0±11.4%). However, TEA blocked a large portion of ATP-mediated dilation (TEA: 11.6±4.5%) implicating KCa channels as a primary mechanism in ATP- mediated vasodilation in the skin.

An Opportunity for Comfort: Temperature and Humidity Control in Portable, Low-Income Housing

Presenter: Charles Ekblad

Co-Presenters: Clare Stockwell, Andrew Ashby

Mentor: Alison Kwok

Poster: 9

Major: Architecture

This project called for an investigation of a testable thermal condition, and our group decided to take the project one step further. We seized the opportunity, and attempted to use the experiment to benefit someone else’s life. This philanthropic ideal ultimately directed our team to the Conestoga huts at Opportunity Village Eugene to conduct our research and gain enough insight to develop a method to passively heat the huts. Opportunity Village’s use of a consistent module, the Conestoga hut, was an optimal condition with regards to the testing process. Through interactions and interviews with residents, we found that Conestoga Huts are a fleeting mode of housing. Therefore, a temporary solution, as opposed to a retrofit solution, seemed to be the most efficient and beneficial method of increasing thermal comfort for the occupants. By manipulating temperate and humidity, we will develop two different ways (the Terracotta heating system and the Salt Rock dehumidifier) to create a more comfortable living environment. We will test three different huts, all under different thermal conditions, and collect quantitative data for one week. At the end of the week, we will interview the occupants for qualitative data and compare the results between the two types of data. Due to the assumption that a heating source will both increase temperature and decrease humidity, addressing two issues simultaneously, we hypothesize that introducing a heating solution into the Conestoga hut will create an environment that is closer to the comfort zone, as defined by ASHRAE (an association that defines quantitative standards regarding thermal comfort), than a dehumidifying solution. We arrived at this hypothesis because as the temperature of the interior of the hut increases, humidity levels will fall bringing the interior condition closer to the thermal comfort zone.

From Household to Empire: the Zooarchaeology of Diouboye

Presenter: Auschere Caufield

Mentors: Stephen Dueppen and Daphne Gallagher, Anthropology

Poster: 9

Major: Anthropology

The purpose of this research is to understand the economic and cultural processes that created the unique assemblage of animal remains at the archaeological site of Diouboye in the Upper Senegal region of West Africa. Diouboye is a late Iron Age site occupied from AD 1000 to 1300. The faunal record from this site shows a focus on wild resources from the riverine environment. Overall, Diouboye produced a large faunal assemblage with particularly high frequencies of medium bovids and reptiles. In addition, pottery decoration indicates the inhabitants were closely related to the Mande society to the south. Long distance trade was a major part of the economy of the Mande state. This included trade in secondary animal products such as leathers and skins. Oral histories and ethnographies also document the spiritual importance hunting held in Mande society. Through an analysis of taxa distribution, element representation, burning, and cut marks conclusions were drawn from the archaeological record. It appears as though the inhabitants of ancient Diouboye were actively involved in trading secondary animal products with the large trading empires of the region. This research adds an entirely new dimension to the role that small, decentralized villages, such as Diouboye, may have had in the dynamic economic system of Medieval West Africa.

Hook-up Culture: How the Idea of Everyone “hooking up” Influences and Continues the Cycle of Sexual Assault on College and University Campuses

Presenter: Kelsey Dunne

Co-Presenters: Erika Stanford, Dayna Silvani

Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan

Presentation Type: Poster 9

Primary Research Area: Social Science

Major: Educational Foundations

On today’s college campuses, there is a sensation created around “hooking-up.” Created and enforced by mass media, the idea of everyone taking part in casual sex is commonly believed as a true practice occurring on college campuses. Through the book, Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions (Wade & Ferree, 2015) we come to understand that those with the most influence and power, “…white, wealthy, heterosexual, conventionally attractive, able-bodied, and socially adept,” validate and perform these actions that shape the sexual culture. However, this image of sexual activity is disproportionately presented, as the majority of students do not take part. With the research of many others, the realizations of pressures to take part in these practices become apparent. This can cause a dangerous atmosphere as we regulate the sexual actions of others, ensuring that it falls within the lines of the sexual script, the guidelines that rule sexual interaction. This makes way for a dynamic in which men are assumed to initiate sexual contact and the acceptance or denial is up to the woman. However, this makes space for miscommunication or mixing of signals, producing the opportunity of unwanted sexual interaction.

Fossils of Oregon: Mammalian Body Mass Communities in the Miocene

Presenter(s): Dylan Carlini − Geology

Faculty Mentor(s): Samantha Hopkins, Dana Reuter

Poster 9

Research Area: Earth and Biological science

Funding: Presidential Undergraduate Research Scholarship
UROP Mini-Grant

The size of an organism relates to a host of other characteristics about a species such as diet, metabolism, and trophic level. Changes in body mass through deep time are often the result of changing environments and climates. Previous research has examined how the patterns of mammalian body size at a community scale are shaped by the environments the organisms inhabit. However, the fossil record of Eastern Oregon has never been investigated through that lens. The extensive fossil record and well-studied long-term environmental shifts in Eastern Oregon make it an ideal location to study the effects of environmental changes on mammalian body masses. This study intends to classify and quantify the effects of the spread of grasslands on body size structure of mammals in the Miocene. I estimated body mass for Miocene mammals using measurements from fossil teeth as a proxy. These estimates derive from measurements taken with digital calipers and from the computer program Image J. I then organized the body masses into size categories and compared the changes in size structures as Oregon developed from a closed woodland in the middle Miocene to a more open, grassland environment in the late Miocene. If a pattern is discovered, it could help inform biologists and ecologists which varieties of mammal are at the greatest risk of climate-change related extinction in the near future.

Exploring the Role of Lrig3 In the Colon

Presenter(s): Ryan Sayegh

Faculty Mentor(s): Annie Zemper & Janelle Stevenson

Poster 9

Session: Sciences

The colon is a vital organ for digestion. Its inner epithelial lining has tubular invaginations known as colonic crypts. These crypts contribute to a dynamic system containing stem cells necessary for colonic repair and maintenance (Barker et al. 2014). Disruption of the colonic crypt system is a symptom of diseases like Irritable Bowel Disease, colitis, and colorectal cancer. The protein EGFR plays an important role in the cell proliferation necessary for maintaining homeostasis within the colon. Leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin like domains 1 (Lrig1) is a protein that plays an antagonizing role to Egfr (Wang et al. 2013). LRIG3, a homolog of LRIG1 was shown to positively regulate EGFR in a cell culture model (Rafidi et al. 2013). However, its role in the colon remains unknown. I hypothesize that mice lacking Lrig3 (Lrig3-/-) will have smaller epithelial tissue areas with lower expression of Egfr. I used immunofluorescence to analyze the expression of Egfr in the absence of Lrig3 and found no difference compared to control mice. I then analyzed colonic epithelial area using Hematoxylin and Eosin staining and found that Lrig3- /- mice had a larger area of epithelial tissue when compared to control mice. These data show that Lrig3 may be playing a different role in the Egfr pathway than what other models would suggest.