2018-2019 Senior Honors Theses
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/4111
This collection contains theses produced by Class of 2019 Honors students
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Browsing 2018-2019 Senior Honors Theses by Author "Asmussen, Jennifer"
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Item THE ROLE OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN EARLY LIFE STRESS AND INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS(2019-05) Ramos, CatherineEarly life stress exposure has significant deleterious psychological effects that can put youth at risk for internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression. In this study, we examined how early life stress shapes physiological correlates of emotional and stress regulation, as predictors of increased depression and anxiety risk in early childhood. Data were drawn from a preliminary sample of preschool-aged children, between 4 to 6 years of age. In a laboratory session, parents reported on several domains of early life stressors: family income, lack of family resources, lack of family support, and exposure to domestic violence. Children participated in an emotional induction task, where autonomic nervous system (ANS) variability was assessed. Parents also reported on child internalizing symptoms. Results indicated that among risk factors, lack of family resources and exposure to domestic violence, were associated with heart rate (HR) reactivity to sad and scary emotional stimuli. Results also supported links between RSA and HR reactivity to sad emotional stimuli and risk for depression symptoms in early childhood. In summary, findings suggest that early life stress may increase physiological reactivity to negative stimuli, and this may be a predictor internalizing symptoms risk. This study emphasizes the importance of studying these constructs in highly diverse samples to further the understanding of ANS activity with emotion dysregulation.Item Triple resonance nuclear magnetic resonance backbone assignment of the ax I Domain integrin protein(2019-05) Abousaway, OmarThe I-domain of the ax integrin subunit binds extracellular ligands, such as iC3b, a complement factor in the innate immune system. The expression of the axb2 integrin on immune cells, such as dendritic cells, macrophages, and monocytes, suggests an in important role in the immune system. Integrin proteins are able to bind ligands when in the "open" conformation, but not and if so with limited affinity in the "closed" conformation. NMR experiments are able to probe molecular motions at the nanosecond timescale, and are thus ideal for studying the transition between the open and closed states in integrins. Here, we report the triple resonance NMR backbone assignment of the ax I-domain integrin, as a preliminary experiment for future structural and dynamic studies.