This study was conducted in order to examine the differences in how themes pertaining to culture are represented in the disciplines of anthropology and psychology. Leading psychological and anthropological databases, PsycINFO and AnthroSource, were used to randomly select and collect 1,018 article abstracts from those published between 2008 and 2018, stemming from the key search term culture. Utilizing the language and data analysis software, Raven’s Eye, a quantitative phenomenology was conducted to explore the overrepresentation and comparison of terms in both psychology and anthropology as they relate to culture. The results identify a substantial difference in terminology associated with culture among the two disciplines. The most frequently overrepresented terms from the PsycINFO database were health, study, mental and immigration. The most frequently overrepresented terms from the AnthroSource database were politics, violence, knowledge and discourse. Both databases demonstrated a difference in gender terms associated with culture. In PsycINFO database abstracts, the term men’s was considerably more overrepresented than any of the terms utilized to refer to women. Abstracts discovered in AnthroSource used gender terms much less often when compared to PsycINFO, with the most frequent gender term being women’s. The implications of this study inform the culturally competent practice of healing and are integral to the understanding of potential prejudice and culture bound terms used to identify gender. The results can inform the science of psychology and anthropology by increasing social awareness of culture and gender representation and decreasing disciplinary biases.

Acoustic signals are essential for communication, advertisement, and reproduction in a variety of organisms. However, their successful transmission is limited by the environment in which they are produced. My research investigates the acoustic adaptation hypothesis, which proposes that to maximize transmission efficiency, animals evolve vocalizations with characteristics that minimize degradation and attenuation (loss of volume) in their native habitat. This hypothesis predicts that birds of open habitats will exhibit vocalizations with higher frequencies and larger frequency ranges than birds of forest understory habitats, because fewer obstructions and more low-frequency ambient noise in open areas favor successful transmission of higher-frequency signals. I tested this prediction by recording and analyzing the vocalizations of 63 bird species living in open and forested habitats around Monteverde, Costa Rica. I found that on average, bird species of open habitats vocalized at significantly higher and broader ranges of frequencies than birds of forested habitats, suggesting that vocalization transmission efficiency helps shape avian communities and their response to habitat transformations.

Non-coding regions account for approximately 98% of the genome and play a significant role in regulating and maintaining levels of gene expression via transcriptional and translational control mechanisms. Our lab focuses on the functional characterization of non-coding regulatory regions in the human retina and identifying mutations within these elements that contribute to inherited retinal diseases. In pursuit of this long-term goal, my aim is to establish an in vitro model to dissect non-coding regulatory elements in the human retina. Retinal organoid cultures are a promising new system for studying the development of the human eye, however it is currently unknown if organoids recapitulate all of the features of the adult human retina. Based on similarities of cell types and gene expression, we hypothesized that retinal organoids recapitulate some non-coding regulatory features of the normal human retina. To identify both shared and specific non-coding regulatory elements, I profiled the epigenetic landscape of developing human retinal organoids using a genome-wide sequencing approach (ATAC-Seq) to quantify chromatin accessibility - a feature of non-coding regulatory elements. I then used bioinformatics techniques such as genome track assembly, peak calling, and gene ontology to compare my organoid dataset to adult human retina data we previously generated and to a published dataset on the developing human retina. We found distinct sets of non-coding regulatory elements that were shared between retinal organoids and the human retina, as well as elements that were unique to each system. These comparative data have yielded additional insight on which non-coding elements may influence retinal disease phenotypes. Furthermore, these data will potentially give us a clearer understanding of the epigenetic landscape of the developing and adult retina in a context that will drive progress towards regenerating damaged photoreceptor cells in the future.

Risk taking is strongly associated with many disordered behaviors. Many studies implicate the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in such behaviors, though its modulation yields inconsistent results. This could be due to possible contrasting effects of intratelencephalic (IT) and pyramidal tract (PT) neurons, which have distinct morphologies and projections. Despite this, specific functionality differences are unknown. Given that 5-HT2A and D1 receptors have predominant expression in IT neurons over PT neurons, and antagonism of these receptors decreases risk-seeking, it was hypothesized that inhibition of all IT neuron activity in the OFC would also result in risk aversion. IT neurons in rats were inhibited during a risky-decision making task (RDT). To modulate IT neurons, an inhibitory designer receptor exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADD) was injected into lateral OFC bilaterally, conjugated to CRE and FLP drivers injected into contralateral nucleus accumbens. In the full RDT, animals were presented with two levers: The “safe” lever delivered one pellet reward per press, while the “risky” lever delivered four pellets, with descending probability of reward administration (100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%). Two test sessions were conducted whereby animals received intraperitoneal injections of clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) or a vehicle (DMSO) 30 minutes prior to task onset. Animals receiving CNO the first time received vehicle the second time. To determine if IT neurons were involved in perseverative responding, animals underwent a reversal task. They were presented with an active lever -which administered a food pellet per press -, and an inactive lever. Five consecutive responses on the active lever switched the inactive lever to the “active” lever. Results showed no significant changes in decision-making or reversal learning upon receiving CNO or vehicle. IT neuron modulation may need to be more temporally specific; future studies will focus on monitoring IT activity during decision-making paradigms to further elucidate their contributions within OFC.

Many psychiatric disorders, including substance abuse, have been linked to risky decision-making, but the mechanisms underlying these pathologies remain unclear. Cortical intratelencephalic and pyramidal tract (PT) neurons have distinct projections, morphology, and firing properties, but their role in behavioral regulation remains unknown. PT neurons have been identified in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is known to be heavily involved in the cognitive process of decision making. Based on previous studies in our lab demonstrating that inactivation of PT neurons increases reward preference, we hypothesized that PT neuron inhibition would increase risky decision-making. To test this hypothesis, rats were trained on a risky-decision task (RDT) in which they were trained to lever press for a food pellet reward. In order to target PT neurons in the OFC, CAV2-CRE virus was bilaterally injected into the pontine reticular nucleus (PnC), and an inhibitory Designer Receptor Exclusively-Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD; DIO-hM4Di) was injected bilaterally into the OFC; this strategy allows selective expression of DREADDs in PT neurons. In the RDT, two options were presented: a “risky” choice associated with descending probability of administration (100%, 50%, 25%, and 12.5%) for delivery of four food pellets, or a “safe” lever that always delivers one food pellet. To evaluate response flexibility, rats underwent a reversal task whereby five consecutive responses on the active lever switched the “active” lever to the previously inactive one. In both tasks, rats underwent two sessions: in the test session, animals received an injection clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) to activate DREADDs, and in the control session, animals received an injection of vehicle (DMSO). Interestingly, we found that inhibiting PT neurons did not significantly alter decision-making or reversal-learning. Future studies will monitor activity of PT neurons using in vivo calcium imaging to determine the contribution of this cell population to decision-making tasks.

Economics connects to our daily lives. It is not only about the money in the market but also people in the society. Wealth and income inequality is one of the examples. In some countries, such as in the United States, differing levels of income lead to varied benefits. This phenomenon impacts not only the quality of people’s lives but also their happiness. However, having a large amount of money is not the most important reason to increase their happiness. In this literature review, economic principles can help to understand the relationship between happiness and money. Examining Jeremy Bentham’s idea of the greatest happiness of the greatest number, the paper explores the impact of utilitarianism. There is also recent economic research related to money and happiness that is considered. One significant finding is that people’s happiness can be increased by sharing their excess income and wealth. The study of happiness and money is complex, and there are many factors not included in this paper. But, the idea above is still important to be considered and can be one way to improve economic inequality. The solutions to the problems of economic inequality may be found in this research.