RSS 1.0Welcome to the SUNY Open Access Repository
The SUNY Open Access Repository (SOAR) is a centrally managed online digital repository that stores, indexes, and makes available scholarly and creative works of SUNY faculty, students, and staff across SUNY campuses. SOAR serves as an open access platform for those SUNY campuses that do not have their own open access repository environments.
Access to SUNY campus communities in SOAR are available below under SUNY sectors and also listed alphabetically under the Campus Communities in SOAR on the navigation bar on the left.
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Biologically normal sleep in the mother-infant dyadObjectives: We examine infant sleep from evolutionary, historico‐cultural, and statistical/epidemiological perspectives and explore the distinct conceptions of “normal” produced by each. We use data from the “Sleeping Like a Baby” study to illustrate how these perspectives influence the ideals and practices of new parents. Methods: The “Sleeping Like a Baby” study investigated maternal–infant sleep in north‐east England. Sleep data for exclusively breastfeeding (EBF) and formula‐feeding (EFF) dyads were captured every 2 weeks from 4 to 18 weeks postpartum through actigraphy and maternal report. Mothers also reported their infant sleep ideals and practices. Results explore objective and maternally‐reported infant sleep parameters, and concordance of maternal ideals and practices with public health guidance. Results: Comparison of sleep measures showed that mothers overestimate infant sleep duration compared with actigraphy; EFF mothers' reports were significantly more inaccurate than those of EBF mothers. For infants moved to a separate bedroom, maternally‐reported sleep increases were not borne out by actigraphy. Across the study period, concordance of maternal ideal sleep location with public health recommendations occurred on average for 54% of mothers, while concordance in practice fell from 75% at 4–8 weeks to 67% at 14–18 weeks. Discordance for EBF dyads occurred due to bedsharing, and for EFF dyads due to infants sleeping in a room alone. Conclusions: Beliefs about “normal” infant sleep influence parents' perceptions and practices. Clinical and scientific infant sleep discourses reinforce dominant societal norms and perpetuate these beliefs, but biological and evolutionary views on infant sleep norms are beginning to gain traction with parents and health practitioners.
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Residential immersive life skills programs for youth with disabilities: a case study of youth developmental trajectories of personal growth and caregiver perspectivesBackground: Professional support in pediatric and rehabilitation care environments has been recommended as a means to build youth competence in life skills during their transition to adulthood. Life skills are the essential psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills needed to manage one’s life. Residential immersive life skills (RILS) programs offer youth with physical disabilities enriched learning environments to acquire these skills. This study explored trajectories of personal growth in life skills and positive psychological outcomes among youth participating in a RILS program and related caregiver perspectives. Method: Delivered by a multidisciplinary healthcare team, The Independence Program is an intensive summer program housed in a college residence that provides realistic experiences of living away from home for small groups of youth between 17 and 21 years of age who have congenital and/or acquired physical disabilities. Using a longitudinal case study and qualitative descriptive design, four youth and their parents/guardians participated in semi-structured interviews prior to, and then 1 month, and 3 to 4 months after the program. A conventional content analysis yielded chronological narratives for each youth and caregiver dyad of their experiences, perceptions and outcomes over time. These narratives were further summarized using a ‘line of development’ perspective to describe individual developmental trajectories of personal growth. Results: All four of the youth returned from the program with positive reports about the new life skills acquired and new behaviours they engaged in. These positive reports generally continued post-program, albeit with differing trajectories unique to each youth and varying levels of congruence with their caregivers’ readiness to support, accommodate and facilitate these changes. Caregivers differed in their capacity to shift in their parenting role to support consolidation of youth life skill competencies following program participation. Conclusions: RILS programs can be transformative. Varied youth trajectories identified significant personal growth through enhanced self-determination, self-efficacy and self-advocacy. Congruence in youth and caregiver perceptions of post-program changes was an important transactional factor. Professional support addressing caregiver needs may be beneficial to facilitate developmentally appropriate shifts in parenting roles. This shift is central to a model of shared management whereby adolescents take on greater responsibility for their own care and life choices.
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Plandemic, Propaganda & Politics: Scientific Misinformation During COVID-19Is COVID-19 misinformation spread by one political affiliation more than others? Misinformation – whether scientific, historical or on social topics – has devastating and fatal consequences. Whether the misinformation is disseminated during a public health crisis or a war, whether it is in the United States or another nation, propaganda has long been a tool to exploit people’s motivations and trust. A deeper understanding of the spread and acceptance of misinformation will help science communicators – and possibly others – to earn the public’s trust. Only then can scientists prevent another heavily polarized public health crisis that could result in thousands more of needless deaths. By using a multidisciplinary and mixed methods approach, this research dissects the roots of misinformation and why some people are more susceptible than others. For example, some Americans find that mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic are against their constitutional rights to choose. Combining this with Dr. Anthony Fauci once saying that there was no reason to be wearing one, these Americans find themselves more susceptible to believing anti-mask misinformation. An analysis of 1000 tweets containing misinformation shows that proponents of then-U.S. President Donald Trump are significantly more likely to believe and therefore spread misinformation, as opposed to opponents and those without a clear political affiliation. Various topics of misinformation encountered during the data collection are researched to find their possible origins. Many, such as fake cures and anti-mask claims, are linked to comments made by President Trump and/or his most notorious allies.
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Characterization of Hic-5 in Cancer Associated Fibroblasts: A Role in Extracellular Matrix Deposition and RemodelingHic-5 (TGFβ1i1) is a focal adhesion scaffold protein that has previously been implicated in many cancer-related processes. However, the contribution of Hic-5 during tumor progression has never been evaluated, in vivo. In Chapter 2 of this thesis, I crossed our Hic-5 knockout mouse with the MMTV-PyMT breast tumor mouse model to assess the role of Hic-5 in breast tumorigenesis. Tumors from the Hic-5 -/-;PyMT mouse exhibited an increased latency and reduced tumor growth. Immunohistochemical analysis of the Hic-5 -/-;PyMT tumors revealed that the tumor cells were less proliferative. However isolated tumor cells exhibit no difference in growth rate. Surprisingly, Hic-5 expression was restricted to the tumor stroma. Further analysis showed that Hic-5 regulates Cancer Associated Fibroblast (CAF) contractility and differentiation which resulted in a reduced ability to deposit and reorganize the extracellular matrix (ECM) in two-and three-dimensions. Furthermore, Hic-5 dependent ECM remodeling supported the ability of tumor cells to metastasize and colonize the lungs.The molecular mechanisms by which CAFs mediate ECM remodeling remains incompletely understood. In Chapter 3 of this thesis, I show that Hic-5 is required to generate fibrillar adhesions, which are specialized structures that are critical for the assembly of fibronectin fibers. Hic-5 was found to promote fibrillar adhesion formation through a newly characterized interaction with tensin1, a scaffold protein that binds to β1 integrin and actin. Furthermore, this interaction was mediated by Src-dependent phosphorylation of Hic-5 in two and three-dimensional matrix environments to prevent β1 integrin internalization and subsequent degradation in the lysosome. This work highlights the importance of the focal adhesion protein, Hic-5 during breast tumorigenesis and provides insight into the molecular machinery driving CAF-mediated ECM remodeling.
