2018 Abstracts

Christian Kodele, Lian Li, Jane Yang, University of Utah Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is an immune disease mostly of B-cell origin (eighty-five percent of the time) as well as the ninth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Although treatments for NHLs greatly improved following the FDA approval of Rituximab (RTX), refractive malignancies still occur that are nonresponsive and/or resistance to current therapies in at least a third of all patients. This has been attributed both to the inability of immune effector cells (eg., macrophages, natural killer cells) to hypercrosslink ligated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and to Fc receptor (FcR)-mediated endocytosis or ÛÏtrogocytosisÛ of CD20 antigens. In order to address these clinical obstacles, we designed a novel paradigm in macromolecular therapeutics that can specifically kill cancer cells without a drug. This paradigm is based on the use of anti-CD20 Fab’ fragments in a multivalent system. Crosslinking of CD20 receptors leads to receptor clustering, transfer to lipid rafts, opening of a calcium channel, and ultimately apoptosis. Additionally, the removal of the Fc fragment resulted enticingly in both the rendering of the system to be immune dependent and in decreasing the numerous adverse effects. In this study, we have used human serum albumin (HSA) as the multivalent carrier of RTX based Fab’ fragments. We have covalently attached multiple Fab’ fragments to HSA, characterized the nanoconjugate’s physiochemical properties, and evaluated its efficacy to induce apoptosis of Raji B cells in vitro. The efficacy of the nanoconjugate to induce apoptosis was determined with Annexin V assay and flow cytometry. The interaction of the nanoconstruct with Raji cells was characterized using confocal microscopy of Cy5 labeled conjugates. As predicted, the HSA-(Fab’)x conjugate was able to induce cell death in vitro. The results of the Annexin V apoptosis assay showed that 38.9 percent of the cell population treated with the conjugate became apoptotic, while 13.6 and 15.7 percent of the cell populations untreated and treated with whole RTX mAb became apoptotic respectively. Furthermore, images recorded by use of confocal microscopy suggest that the attachment of HSA-(Fab’)x conjugate to the cell membrane is CD20 specific. While not conclusive, the combination of these results suggest that the mechanism of action involves cross-linking of the CD20 receptor, which subsequently induces apoptosis. We believe these results warrant further investigation of the mechanism of action of HSA-(Fab’)x, as well as the treatment potential of this nanoconjugate.

A majority of the population in North America endorses religious/spiritual beliefs, with the highest levels of endorsement occurring among ethnic minority groups. Despite this important cultural trend, previous psychological research looking at religion and psychological well-being has been focused on White (European American) populations. There is a growing need to further understand the psychological effects of religiosity among minority groups. Given that ethnic minorities are also at an elevated risk of suffering from mental illness, it is in the best interest of both patients and providers to note any factors that may serve as therapeutic support. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to assess the relationship between religious or spiritual beliefs and psychological well-being. We also hypothesized that a number of moderating factors will be revealed through our data analysis. Through our intensive literature review we extracted data from 120 research studies which reported 42,972 individuals’ psychological well-being as a function of their self-reported religiosity/spirituality. Inclusion criteria were studies from 1980 to 2008 that reported correlational data on constructs of religiosity (religious activities and spiritual beliefs) with constructs of mental health, conducted in North America, with populations that self-identified as being racial, ethnic, or cultural minorities. Retrieved studies were coded twice and verified for accuracy. The modal study involved cross-sectional (correlational) data obtained by convenience sampling from community samples of middle-aged adults. All age groups except children were adequately represented in the literature. Notably, most studies (78%) reported African American participants. On average, across all types of measures of well-being, the random effects weighted correlation with participant religiosity/spirituality was .14 (se = .01, 95% CI = .12 to .16, p < .0001). These results show low to moderate correlations between religion/spirituality and mental health among ethnic minority groups. The range of correlations was from -.11 to .55. These associations held up across racial groups. The association was stronger among older populations and samples with greater percentages of female participants. Mental health professionals need to consider client beliefs when providing treatment. Research may need to further assess the degree to which religion and spirituality affect positive psychological functions rather than distress. Likewise, the nature of psychopathology may be such that it alters the very construct of religion that we were attempting to assess. Formulating an empirical basis for these relationships constitutes a major step forward in the implementation of validated spiritually adapted interventions in mental health care for ethnic minorities.

Heidi Herrera, Brigham Young University Remarkable in both subject and execution, Los Desastres de la Guerra (Disasters of War) is exceptional in Goya’s oeuvre and in artistic representations of wartime rape. Filled with scenes illustrating the consequences and violence of war, Goya offers an insightful yet ambiguous commentary, particularly in the plates in which rape is presented as a first-hand account; plate 9, No quieren—“They don’t want it”—, plate 10, Tampoco—“Nor do these”— and plate 11, Ni por ésas—“Nor those.” Indicting the French soldiers for the rape of women during the French occupation, the Disasters of War offers offering a brutal and deceptively truthful view on the inevitable and horrible consequences which war and looting wage on women, transforming both viewer and artist into witnesses of the gruesome scenes, implicating both as detached, though unwitting, participants in the sexual violence enacted against these women; the artist in his creation of these rapes and the viewers in their reception of the images. By making the viewer a first-hand witness to these rape scenes, Goya accomplishes greater empathy for the women than other artistic portrayals of rape, however, he also unintentionally sheds a spotlight on the callousness of the viewer, and by extension, the artist himself. Both created and publicly received my men, the scenes of sexual violence shown in plates 9-11 display and discuss the rape of women as a means to an end in which the lives and suffering of these women, fictional or real, are periphery to what acts of sexual violence say about the men who wage war. Although art historians and critics today may consider the beauty of the plate’s compositions, is it at all possible for scenes which portray violence against women, as in the Disasters of War, to be considered beautiful? I would like to address how these images were received when The Disasters of War was released in 1863, considering the plate’s reception by contemporaneous art critics such Enrique Mélida within the context of how rape was understood in the nineteenth century. By comparing They don’t want it, Nor do these, and Nor those to portrayals of rape by Goya and other nineteenth-century artists, in addition to portrayals of rape by female artists, I hope to clarify where Goya’s rape scenes reside on a spectrum of artistic representations of rape, ranging from exploitative to empathetic.