Prostate cancer is the most common type of male malignancy in the Western world. Patient death often occurs when treatments which decrease circulating levels of male reproductive hormones are no longer effective. This lethal stage is termed castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Under normal conditions, androgens function through androgen receptors (ARs) to cause AR activation. The recently identified androgen receptor splice variants (AR-Vs), which lack part or all exons coding for the AR-ligand binding domain, are believed to cause the continuous AR activation found in androgen-independent conditions such as CRPC. Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 C (UBE2C) is an oncogene expressed in many types of solid tumors and has a function of marking proteins for degradation. Uncontrolled cell growth can be caused by overexpression of UBE2C which targets proteins that serve as cell-cycle check points to be degraded. Overexpression of UBE2C is reported to be positively correlated with AR-V expression. The transcription activation of UBE2C requires chromatin-looping through a phosphorylated transcription factor, mediator of RNA polymerase II transcription subunit 1 (p-MED1). My project investigates the relationship between AR-V and p-MED1 in mediating UBE2C gene expression. We used LnCaP and M12 human prostate cancer cell lines and transfected them with AR-Vs. Expression assays were carried out to measure the UBE2C gene expression levels and the presence of p-MED1 in response to AR-V expressions. We also performed functional assays such as co-immunoprecipitation to determine the functional interplay between AR-V and p-MED1 in mediating UBE2C transcription. We hypothesized that p-MED1 is required in AR-V-directed UBE2C expression. Our data suggest that, through a distinct transcriptome, the presence of p-MED1 as a mediator is required in AR-V-directed UBE2C expression and cancer cell proliferation. The importance of AR-V, p-MED1 and their mechanisms underlying CRPC progression might provide a new therapeutic approach for targeting AR-independent CRPC.

Since the introduction of DNA testing in 1989, post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated over 300 individuals in the United States who were wrongly convicted (Innocence Project, 2013). Evaluations of these cases have revealed that the single greatest contributor to these errors has been mistaken eyewitness identification (Garrett, 2011). Recommendations proposed to improve eyewitness decision-making in identification procedures include the use of unbiased instructions, the “appearance change instruction” (ACI; reminding the witness that the perpetrator may look different now than s/he did during the crime), and sequential presentation of lineup members. Past research on unbiased instructions and sequential presentation has shown that these procedures encourage more conservative decision processes which lead to fewer false identifications, but also fewer correct identifications. In contrast, recent research in our lab has indicated that the ACI appears to have the opposite effect; the instruction generates more liberal choices that lead to more correct, but also false identifications. Given the effects of these recommended procedures, the present research examines the relative influence of these three procedures on witness decisions in photographic lineups. A 2 (unbiased instructions: yes/no) x 2 (ACI: yes/no) x 2 (lineup presentation: simultaneous/sequential) between-subjects factorial design was used. Participants (N=121) viewed photographs of individuals and later had their memory tested with both target-present and target-absent photoarrays. Preliminary analyses indicate that, as expected, sequential presentation resulted in more conservative decision-making whereas the ACI produced less conservative decisions. There was no effect of unbiased instructions on decisions. This poster will present complete results on all participant data in relation to the main effects of and interactions amongst the ACI, unbiased instructions, and sequential presentation on witness’ decisions. These results will provide further information regarding the use of the ACI and its’ relative contribution to improving the collection of eyewitness evidence.

Although eyewitness testimony is a critical element in criminal investigation, decades of research have demonstrated the fallibility of eyewitness memory. Among the reforms proposed to minimize eyewitness errors is the recommendation that investigators instruct eyewitnesses that “individuals depicted in lineup photos may not appear exactly as they did on the date of the incident”. Although expectations were that this appearance change instruction (ACI) would enhance the quality of the eyewitness decision, recent research suggests that the instruction may actually result in more mistaken identifications. Two theories were proposed to account for this finding.  The first suggests that the increase in mistaken identifications caused by the ACI is a result of witnesses mental transforming the individuals in the lineup to imagine what they would look like if they were more similar to the perpetrator.  The second theory proposes that the increased mistaken identifications are a product of witnesses simply becoming more willing to choose someone from the lineup as a result of being told that the true perpetrator may not look the same as their memory. The present study was designed to test the first hypothesis using a novel secondary recognition task paradigm. Relying on data collected from 120 college students, we evaluated whether the ACI encouraged witnesses to engage in a “mental transformation” of the lineup members when viewing a lineup. Part 1 of the study involved showing participants photographs of individuals and then testing their memory for those individuals with simultaneous lineups. In Part 2, witness’s memory for the lineup members themselves was tested. Overall, results did not support the “mental transformation” hypothesis.  However, given that participants performed at chance levels in the Part 2 task, it is possible that the null results are due to task difficulty.

Experimental studies have suggested that pain and dyspnea (shortness of breath) may involve the same affective experience. This association has not been explored in large community samples. We analyzed data from Cohort 12 of the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey, which measured subjective health status in 275,000 Medicare Managed Care recipients in 2010 and 2012. Dyspnea was defined by aggregating three questions (shortness of breath at rest, while walking one block, and while climbing stairs). Pain was measured by a question about how much pain interfered with normal work inside and outside the home during the last month. Both measures were dichotomized as high and low / none. We produced descriptive statistics to characterize the overlap of pain and dyspnea at baseline. We created regression models to measure the strength of the association of pain with dyspnea, adjusting for age, sex, race, education, and three potential medical causes of dyspnea (CHF, obesity and asthma). We estimated the likelihood of dyspnea and pain co-occurring at the two measurement points two years apart. 22.2% of participants without dyspnea had pain and 69.9% of those with dyspnea had pain. In an adjusted regression model, participants with dyspnea were 8.3 times more likely to have pain than those without dyspnea. Pain was strongly associated with the onset and the persistence of dyspnea. In this large sample of Medicare recipients, pain and dyspnea were very strongly associated, to the degree that they may represent different facets of the same experience. These results confirm experimental studies about the affective experience of both symptoms. These findings might help clinicians to appreciate better how patients experience pain and dyspnea. Additional research is needed to understand the exact mechanisms by which pain and dyspnea co-occur, and other risk factors for them.

Our research study investigates if covert visual attention (knowing something visual will appear in your periphery) affects sensitivity to binaural cues (sound localization with both ears). The peripheral visual system has an area called the fovea that is used when sharp attention to detail is required, and this study hopes to see if there is a similar “fovea” in the auditory system. While a subject’s eyes are tracked, they are asked to fixate on a dot displayed on a screen. Once they are fixated, a sound occurs that appears to move a small distance either from right to left or from left to right. In half of the trials, a diamond also appears on the screen and it is informative of where the sound will occur. The subject is then asked to identify which way the sound moved. I ran the subjects, did statistical analysis on the data, and will be compiling that data into a meaningful result. In a previous study, an overt informative visual primer significantly increased binaural sensitivity, and we believe that a covert visual primer will help similarly. This suggests that the two modalities work together to contribute to a unified map of our environment. The short term goal of this research is to understand how the gaze control system modulates auditory attention. The twenty-year goal of the lab is to help create hearing aids and cochlear implants that can imitate a functioning hearing system’s ability to follow an auditory signal, eliminating a difficulty that pervades hearing devices today called the “cocktail party problem” which arises when attempting to understand speech in a noisy environment. Whether covert visual attention has a significant effect on hearing is as yet unknown, but it may have a valuable long-term impact on the lives of those living with hearing loss.

On Mars, the properties of CO₂ radiation frost formed in a CO₂ atmosphere are basically unknown, but are important to understanding the polar caps, atmosphere, and climate of Mars. The broad-band solar albedo and infrared emissivity of Martian seasonal frost deposits dominate the annual polar heat balance, which controls a significant amount of seasonal variation in atmospheric mass as well as the potential for atmospheric collapse at the extremes of Mars epochal obliquity variations. Our goal is to perform realistic laboratory simulations of the thermal and radiative environment on the surface of Mars and produce the first-ever samples of carbon dioxide frost formed the same way it does on Mars, by radiative cooling in a nearly-pure CO₂ atmosphere. To create and analyze simulated Mars CO₂ frost, we have been constructing a Radiation Frost Chamber (RFC). The outer shell of the chamber has already been constructed so my specific role in the research and development process is to help acquire, design, build, and test components to be used for measurements and experiments in the RFC; specifically, a fiberscope, a calibration cup, quartz beads, and other Martian soil analog materials. The fiberscope will be used to view and record the physical morphology and texture of the CO₂ frost. Also, its output light will help measure the broadband and spectral albedo of the frost. The quartz beads are being used for testing a theoretical model for thermal conductivity of planetary soils and the calibration cup is going to be used for testing techniques to measure ice content of soil. The base will contain the Mars analog soil at about 600 Pa of pressure of CO₂ in order to simulate the Martian environment. Once the RFC has been built it is our goal to finally simulate the Martian environment in a lab setting accurately.