College students (usually between the ages of 18 and 24) are in a transitional period in their lives in which they are expected to adapt to many overwhelming and sudden changes. Mental health problems that college students experience most commonly arise from extreme academic, relationship, financial, and psychosocial strains. Despite these high rates of stressors and mental health problems, these same college students demonstrate a persistently low level of perceived need for help and actual service utilization which leads to non-treatment seeking behaviors. This study examined common barriers that prevent college students from seeking mental health treatment by using standardized measures. Two hundred and fifty college students in the Psychology Subject Pool (PSP) at the University of Washington volunteered to participate in the study which was conducted by using online survey software. Information collected included past/current mental disorder diagnoses and mental health treatment, duration of the treatment, and knowledge of on-campus resources (e.g., Counseling Center, Hall Health). Further, participants answered seven questionnaires about attitudes toward, barriers to, and fear of treatment, in addition to participants’ ambivalence concerning emotional expressiveness. The results are primarily descriptive in nature and focused on exploring common barriers, attitudes, and issues that interfere with reaching out to and receiving mental health treatment. By identifying the barriers we hope to bring the target consumer audience closer to effective treatments via distributing our findings to local counseling centers. We also examined how demographic variables relate to college students’ attitudes toward mental health treatment which will help local universities and colleges to tailor advertising efforts with greater specificity to ensure that college students in need of mental health services are aware of and engaged in available services.

Cancers contain large numbers of mutations. This reservoir of genetic variation can be used by cancer to produce new phenotypes in response to environmental barriers. In order to accumulate these mutations we have proposed that cancers express a mutator phenotype, i.e. an increased rate of mutation. Previous results in the lab demonstrate that sequential selection of cancer cell lines (colon cancer cells HCT116 and SW620) for novel phenotypes enriches for cell lineages with elevated mutation rates. After three rounds of sequential selection for resistance to non-mutagenic drugs (diphtheria toxin, puromycin, staurosporine), both cancer cell lines exhibit an increase in mutation rate. Specifically a 3-fold for HCT116 and 6-fold for SW620 was measured. I will extend these experiments using additional selection conditions (e.g., elevated temperature, hypoxia and nutrient deprivation) and will determine mutation rate of the resulting cell lines using the PIGA gene mutation assay. The random mutation load will be characterized using Duplex Sequencing. We believe the process of sequential selection favors mutator lineages as has been observed in bacteria. However, because an increased rate of mutation is potentially deleterious to a cell, we propose the existence of a mutation limit beyond which cells are no longer viable, i.e. the cells undergo apoptosis. I will screen mutagenic nucleosides for their potential to increase the mutation rate of cancer cells beyond this threshold. Targeting cancer’s error threshold may represent a novel and innovative therapeutic strategy for the treatment of human malignancies.

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare sleep quality and emotional behavioral functioning in children with and without Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). JIA is an inflammatory disease with unknown cause and one of the most common rheumatologic chronic conditions in children. Common disease symptoms include joint pain, inflammation, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. In a previous study, we found poor sleep quality (difficulty falling asleep, daytime sleepiness, sleep disordered breathing (SDB)) associated with JIA. Forty-six children (6-to-11 years) participated in the study, 23 were diagnosed with JIA and 23 were age-matched controls. Parents completed the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), a 45-item measure of their child’s sleep habits and quality over the previous week. The CSHQ yields a total sleep disturbance score (higher scores indicative of more disturbed sleep) and eight subscales: bedtime resistance, sleep-onset delay, sleep duration, sleep anxiety, night awakenings, parasomnias, SDB, and daytime sleepiness. Parents completed the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL), a 113-item retrospective report of their child’s behavior. CBCL yields scores for internalizing problem (i.e. somatic complaints) and externalizing problem (i.e. hyperactivity). Scores were summed and converted to age and gender adjusted T-scores (M = 50, SD = 10), higher scores suggesting greater behavior problems. Descriptive analyses were calculated on demographics, clinical characteristics, sleep disturbances, and behavior. T-test and X² procedures were used to examine study group differences (JIA and controls). We compared the proportion of children above the CSHQ clinical cutoff score (>41) to those below (<41) for overall sleep disturbance. Bivariate correlations and linear regressions were used to examine relations among age, medication, sleep variables, and CBCL behavior problems. Behavioral problems may stem from poor sleep quality in children with JIA. Findings from this study may heighten clinician awareness to assess sleep in children with JIA.

Falling remains a major cause of depression and mortality among the elderly due to both physical (e.g. hip fractures) and emotional (i.e. lack of exercise due to fear of falling) injuries. For seniors with a greater propensity to accidental fall, a common solution is to move to a nursing home, which many regard as a loss of privacy, individuality, and dignity. Remote patient monitoring using stand-alone sensors that alert medical workers when a patient has sustained a life-threatening fall presents an alternative solution that allows patients to reside in their own homes. Unfortunately, the cost of responding to false positives or failing to respond to false negatives makes it difficult to commercialize such a system. Our research focuses on creating a real-time, high accuracy, and low cost fall detection system that employs a detection algorithm based on tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope data. We begin by adopting motion detection and inference techniques used by other research groups to better understand their advantages and limitations. Examples include tilt sensing for posture recognition, filtering and periodic signal detection for step recognition, and context sensing. We examine the accuracy of these techniques, weigh in computational cost, and explore how the techniques could complement or interfere with each other. From these results, a fall detection algorithm is created based on an amalgam of both established and novel techniques such as device self-calibration for determining threshold acceleration and angular velocity values. We then evaluate the final product against other commercially available fall detection systems.

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is an autoimmune disease with an unknown cause. Children experience joint inflammation, pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances such as sleep disordered breathing and insufficient amounts of sleep may contribute to lower quality of life and poor health outcomes in JIA. In a recent study from our laboratory 40% of a sample of children with JIA showed signs of sleep disordered breathing. The aim of this study is to describe and compare sleep disturbances in JIA and age, sex matched control children, and its relation to quality of life (QoL). Forty-six children (6-to-11 years) participated in the study. Of the 46 children, 23 were diagnosed with JIA and 23 were age-matched typically developing children. Parents completed the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaires (CSHQ), a 45-item measure of their child’s sleep habits and quality over the previous week. Children underwent 1 night of polysomnography in the UW School of Nursing sleep laboratory, and completed the Pediatric Quality of Life (PedsQL) questionnaire, a 23-item report that assesses health-related QoL (day-to-day activities) and disease specific symptoms. The specific domains include physical, emotional, social, and school function during the month prior to completion of the questionnaire. The PedsQL 4.0 yields a total score for overall health-related QoL, physical and psychosocial function and 4 subscales: physical, emotional, social, and school function. Data will be analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 18.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Ill). Data analyses will be blocked into conceptual categories and then analyzed for group differences. Findings from this study may provide new knowledge about sleep disturbances and QoL in JIA children. Missed days from school and lower QoL in JIA often are attributed to pain and fatigue, but untreated sleep disturbances and sleep disorders may be an important etiology that is unrecognized by both clinicians and parents.