PMAT is a cation transporter that primarily takes up serotonin and dopamine. Our hypothesis was that mice with reduced or no functional levels of PMAT would have enhanced D-amphetamine sensitization in comparison to wildtypes. Over the course of 5 injection days of D-amphetamine, locomotion in males and females was recorded. Sensitization was calculated relative to locomotor activity on the first injection day. In female mice, those with lower functional PMAT displayed less sensitization to D-amphetamine than their wildtype counterparts. In males, those with reduced functional PMAT showed greater sensitization to
D-amphetamine in comparison to same-sex knockouts. Our findings indicate PMAT may contribute to the dopamine efflux caused by D-amphetamine.

Microglia are the innate immune cells of the central nervous system. They also act as the primary phagocytes of the brain, clearing pathogenic material to ensure brain health and homeostasis. Microglia exhibit a variety of morphological states. These states are related to the activation and the functionality of microglia. Our focus uses beta-amyloid peptides to better understand the role of morphology in Alzheimer's disease. This research poses to demonstrate the capabilities of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to assist in making a distinct and measurable analysis of microglia characteristics in variable inflammatory conditions. The measurable alterations of microglia will assist in both our understanding of microglia’s morphological response in neurodegeneration as well as constructing therapeutics that could assist in the recovery of microglia homeostasis.

Automated control systems can be designed for oxygen therapy to adjust the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) to meet the percentage of total hemoglobin bonded with oxygen (SaO2). The goal of this summer research was to establish a computer model of neonatal oxygen transport systems to be later used as a patient model in the development of automated oxygenation control systems. The model was previously reported in the literature and was reproduced in this work in Simulink, a graphical programming environment in MATLAB. The simulated model consisted of a respiratory sub-model and a cardiovascular submodel linked together using an oxygen dissociation curve, a nonlinear curve relating the oxygen measurement in the arterial blood with SaO2. Simulation results were in agreement with those reported in the literature.

Purpose:  To determine survey reliability on the presence and impact of menstrual symptoms within collegiate athletes. Methods: Athletes completed an electronic VAS anchored with “not at all” / “often” regarding presence and “not at all” / “severely impacted” regarding the impact of menstrual symptoms twice in one day. Data were analyzed using two-tailed dependent samples ttests and ICC3,1. Results: There was a correlation
without a difference between surveys in the presence of mood swings, loneliness, headaches, backaches, and bloating. There was a correlation without a difference between surveys in the effect of cramps, breast pain, and bloating on training. Surveys differed in how often athletes felt anxious and restless, and the effect of anxiety and backaches on training. Conclusion:  Results suggest that some survey items are reliable.

With the growing obesity epidemic, we investigate mechanisms to increase caloric expenditure in mice by including muscle thermogenesis. Muscle thermogenesis can be acutely induced by predator odor; however, other stimuli may more potently activate thermogenesis. We investigated the potential multimodal activation of muscle thermogenesis in mice, hypothesizing that a greater thermogenic activation will be seen when exposed to the multimodal stimulus. After habituation to experimental conditions, mice were presented with three stimuli in randomized order: control, ferret odor, and the multimodal stimuli. We observed a trend toward a similar effect with the multimodal predator and rat odor toward muscle thermogenesis. Later studies explored different predator odors individually. Cat fur showed no significant enhancement of response, though rat odor may show significance with additional statistical power.