Salmon was critical to the Indigenous populations of the Pacific Northwest, and the variation in Pacific salmon species has played a vital role in the behavior of fisher-hunter-gatherer societies. This project involves using ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis to identify salmon species in order to test varying evolutionary models. These models include the Diet Breadth Model of Human Behavioral Ecology (HBE), cultural transmission theory, and the parameters of social rank among members at the Housepit 54, Bridge River archaeological site in British Columbia. In essence, these models help understand the social and economic impacts on the fishing behavior of members at Housepit 54. aDNA analysis is conducted on thoracic vertebrae sampled from a sequence of 15 stratigraphic floors. The samples of salmon vertebrae vary in size, and the spatial distribution is considered before selection to eliminate the risk of sampling from the same individual fish specimen. Furthermore, the sequence of floors can be separated by two occupational periods: Bridge River 2 (1600-1300 cal. B.P.) and Bridge River 3 (1300-1000 cal. B.P.). This provides a better understanding of the temporal distribution of each salmon species.

The Fraser River was the primary watershed accessed by Housepit 54 occupants. There are five Pacific Salmon species that spawn within the Fraser River and its tributaries: sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka), Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and chum (Oncorhynchus keta). Salmon species are not morphologically distinct; thus, aDNA analysis is necessary to determine species variability. Determining which species were consumed based on socio-economic value helps archaeologists understand cultural bias and optimal foraging theory. Furthermore, given that each species exhibits different spawning behaviors, environmental impacts on salmon populations, such as changes in climate and watershed temperatures, may also be inferred from this data.

In 2018, only about half of Americans (49%) agreed that “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals,” and 38% that “the universe began with a big explosion” (Besley and Hill, 2020). These basic facts may be well understood by the scientific and academic communities, but how do we go about disseminating this sort of knowledge to the general public? What about more nuanced and detailed information that may affect people’s understanding of our human heritage or health? Social media has great potential for increasing the reach and broadening the understanding of individuals. However, it must be done effectively and be mindful of the platform’s methods. This poster asks a question: how can we use social media to talk about anthropology and archaeology? We will explore different social media platforms and how to use them. Platforms covered will include Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. It will also discuss best practices on social media and include examples of academia and scholarship on social media and hashtags to use. The content of this poster is intended to serve as a starting point for those interested in using social media as a form of public outreach.

In 1903, Butte opened the doors of the Butte Industrial School for truant children. Following the guidelines of truancy schools in places such as Chicago and Cleveland, the school was an attempt to deal with Butte children who habitually skipped school and hold them accountable for their actions. Quickly after opening, juvenile court proceedings became a fixture in The Butte Miner. Scholarship on the school centers around the children's experiences and their treatment in the juvenile courts that sentenced them there. Very little is said about the parents of these children. According to a 1915 U.S. Bureau of Education report on truancy schools, ninety percent of the children in the Butte Industrial School had foreign-born parents. A cursory glance at newspaper coverage of the juvenile court cases reveals that many of the children being confined in the school came from large families and were responsible for supplementing family income or helping mothers run the house. Using newspapers, school reports, and court proceedings, this research seeks to understand the Butte Industrial School and its politics through the parents and families whose lives it touched. This is an issue of state power, parental rights, and the politics that govern working-class, immigrant families in Western Montana.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has been a target for type II diabetes treatment through the thiazolidinediones (TZDs) drug family. Unfortunately, TZDs exhibit side effects such as weight gain, congestive heart failure, and increased bone fractures, limiting their use and urging the need for safer alternatives.

This study employs Free Energy Perturbation (FEP), a computational technique used to predict binding affinities for novel compounds to a drug target. With FEP, we screened various compounds, identifying those with high binding affinity to PPARγ. Selected compounds with high binding affinities were synthesized, and their binding affinities were experimentally determined using Time-Resolved Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (TR-FRET) assay.

Comparing FEP-predicted binding affinities with experimental TR-FRET data revealed a notable correlation, suggesting the efficacy of FEP in predicting ligand binding. These findings contribute to the identification and development of safer alternatives for treating type II diabetes.

Determining Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of using the ACL- Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI) scale to measure an athlete’s psychological readiness to return to sport post-ACL reconstruction.

Data Sources: PubMed and Cochrane Library were used to search ACL-RSI, psychological readiness, athlete, return-to-sport, ACL surgery, athlete, or rehabilitation in combination. These articles were accessed in November 2023.

Study Selection: Studies were included if they were peer-reviewed, published in a journal, written in English, and evaluated ACL-RSI effectiveness following unilateral ACL reconstructions on patients between ages 14-65. Participants had to be involved in preinjury levels of competition equal to 8 on the Marx Activity Rating Scale (MARS), 6 on the Tegner Activity Scale (TAS), or levels 1/2 on the Cincinnati Sports Activity Scale (CSAS), or in competitive sports that involved cutting, pivoting, or jumping.

Data Extraction: The initial search yielded 254 articles. Articles that were not peer-reviewed, a published journal, and written in English were excluded. The remaining 38 full-text articles were reviewed. Of these 38 articles, 4 examined the effectiveness of the ACL-RSI. An evaluation of the bibliographies of those 4 articles revealed 0 additional articles due to being previously identified or did not meet the inclusion criteria. In total, 4 articles were included in this review.

Data Synthesis: Articles were categorized based on an investigation of the effectiveness of using ACL-RSI to measure an athlete’s psychological readiness to return to sport.

Conclusion: An athlete’s psychological readiness is based on numerous factors that contribute to their mental health. The ACL-RSI scale is an effective measurement tool that assesses an athlete’s psychological readiness for RTS and can predict outcomes for RTS at certain phases of the rehabilitation process.

Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, ACL-RSI, psychological readiness, athlete

To gauge implicit bias in communication sciences and disorders (CSD), the proposed study aims to understand how identity as racial/ethnic or linguistic minority affects individuals’ diagnoses with speech-language disorders. In addition, we aim to see whether clinicians’ identities as black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) or non-standard language speakers affect their biases. Prior work has shown that clinicians' explicit racial biases affect patient care, matching expectations, but little work has examined bias of language variety spoken by patients or clinicians’ implicit biases. Many institutions fail to mandate cultural competency training, contributing to systemic issues. Our planned research explores and assesses current cultural competency to justify additional training on inclusivity racial disparities in CSD, improving overall patient care.

In the United States, little is known about second language learning in the context of public preschools. However, we do know that dual immersion programs have for the most part been limited to private or charter schools, with fewer than 3600 programs available nationwide. This raises the question of whether it’s even possible for public educators to facilitate second language learning through small group activities. Additionally, is the language input received during this small group enough language input for children to acquire a feature absent from their first language, like grammatical and lexical gender? Research has shown that opportunities where children can respond to open-ended and challenging questions, such as in small group activities, and leads to better vocabulary retention which can be beneficial for reading development. Moreover, research on monolingual English language development has shown a direct correlation between the amount of language heard and acquisition. In the acquisition of French grammatical gender, children (either 1st or 2nd language learners) typically acquire gender on determiners ( for example le, la, and les) before other gender-marked features like adjectives.

Nonetheless, in an environment like circle time, little time can be focused on these determiner-noun pairs, therefore successful acquisition might only occur with form-focused instruction/pedagogical intervention. In this projected proposal, I outline a possible approach to testing the question: Is circle time enough language input to learn grammatical gender in determiner-noun pairs? I present a hypothesis, and a potential methodology, with criteria for participants, materials, and how circle time would be performed. The circle time activity would use a rotation of stories, songs, and vocabulary cards to ultimately execute the pedagogical intervention. Furthermore, I suggest several posttests that would be beneficial in understanding if second language acquisition has occurred regarding lexical and grammatical gender, as well as number agreement.

As climate change impacts the severity and frequency of drought, knowledge of hillslope-to-watershed scale ecohydrology is becoming increasingly necessary to inform appropriate conservation, restoration, and management of forested ecosystems. In mountain environments, spatial patterns of water and energy organize forest productivity at plot, hillslope, and watershed scales. These microclimatic patterns are impacted by gradients in elevation, aspect, and local topographic convergence and divergence. In water-limited systems, such patterns of moisture may be first-order drivers of intra-annual tree growth. However, there is limited field-based research characterizing how seasonal limitations of forest growth may vary across complex terrain. In 2016, continuous soil moisture, vapor pressure deficit, temperature, and radial growth were collected at 27 Douglas-fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii) sites within the Lubrecht Experimental Forest, MT. Using these data, we assessed the influences of topographic position, elevation, and aspect on hillslope-scale microclimates. These landscape and microclimatic predictors were then compared to the observed timing of tree growth cessation. Trees located in convergent topographic positions, high elevations, and north-facing aspects were correlated with decreased temperature and greater moisture, which generally led to later growth cessation. However, we also observed that perennially saturated soil conditions in some hillslope hollows resulted in earlier cessation. Overall, average microclimatic measures predicted the complex timing of growth cessation across the watershed better than static landscape proxies. These findings contribute to critical knowledge of landscape scale vegetation responses to changes in water availability, important for predicting the ramifications of climate change on forest growth.

Investigating proteins involved in driving cancer progression is crucial for advancing therapeutic strategies. PRDM3 (PR/SET domain-containing 3) has emerged as a key player in sustaining ovarian tumors. To facilitate an in-depth study of PRDM3, obtaining the protein in substantial quantities with a high-level purity through recombinant expression is imperative.

The methodology comprises a series of steps: integrating the PRDM3 gene fused with an affinity tag into a plasmid; transferring the engineered plasmid into bacterial cells; expressing the affinity-tagged protein (fusion protein) within the bacterial cells and harvesting them. Cell lysis and protein extraction are then conducted, followed by affinity chromatography for fusion protein purification and subsequent cleavage of the affinity tag. Gel filtration chromatography is used for additional purification, resulting in a homogeneous PRDM3 protein for detailed structural analyses.

Achieving maximum purity and a high yield in the purification of PRDM3 poses challenges in protein extraction, tag cleavage and homogeneity attainment. This can significantly impact the feasibility of subsequent protein studies, necessitating optimization strategies.

This study aims to address these challenges by refining the protein purification methods for PRDM3, facilitating a more precise understanding of its interactions with other proteins and its role in oncogenic processes. Standard chromatographic separations, such as affinity and gel filtration chromatography, combined with an affinity tag and the use of detergent, have been utilized to optimize protein extraction. Simultaneously, changes in cleaving conditions have been introduced to minimize protein precipitation post-tag cleavage. The introduction of these combined enhancements distinguishes this study from conventional methods and demonstrates a novel strategy for optimizing PRDM3 protein extraction and purification, ultimately ensuring its isolation with optimal purity and yield.

In conclusion, this study lays the groundwork for more in-depth investigations into the molecular interplay between PRDM3 and other proteins- potentially leading to advances in therapeutics for ovarian cancer.

The Humla District, situated in high-elevation Western Nepal, is acutely affected by climate change. Harsh topography and erratic weather adversely impact subsistence farming, food insecurity, water scarcity, and nutritional outcomes for children and adults. Due to constrained livelihood opportunities, socio-economic inequalities, and compromised food security, some seek work opportunities abroad and remittance income. In 2021, the Nepali team of the Adara Group, an NGO focused on increasing access to education and healthcare in Humla and other low-resource settings, surveyed over 800 households across the district to specify characteristics that can address food insecurity, climate stress and increase access to maternal care and education.

The current project uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the relationship between food insecurity, climate change, and migration in Humla. Quantitative methods are currently employed in a secondary data analysis of Adara’s household survey using R studio software. Resulting descriptive and inferential statistics will establish the severity of food insecurity in the region. A literature review examines available innovations and projects in South Asia to support food systems resilience. A food insecurity intervention will be developed, modified, and piloted in Humla alongside measurement of the extent to which community members embrace the approach. Qualitative methods, including focus groups and semi-structured one-on-one interviews, will reveal how feasible, doable, appropriate, and scalable the food insecurity intervention is. The current research project presents a new approach to addressing food insecurity by implementing precision public health methods that tailor interventions to the household level. Additionally, the outcomes from the research will add to the existing global health research literature by identifying risk factors for adverse health outcomes of out-migration and factors for strengthening food systems and climate resilience at the community and household level in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region.

Montana largest race/ethnic non-While population is Native Americans (NAs) - 8.2% of the population compared to 1.7% nationally (American Community Survey 2017; U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). Montana, known for its expansive Native American reservation territories, is also home to a significant number of tribal colleges.

While tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) play a crucial role in preserving cultural heritage and fostering academic growth, Native American students face distinctive challenges when they graduate from a TCU and transfer to a 4-year institution outside their reservations. These challenges include maintaining a sense of community connection, encountering a lack of cultural competence in support services, and confronting stereotypes. Factors that influence their academic performance in four-year institutions include financial difficulties, family responsibilities, and the level of academic preparedness. However, the specific experiences of Native American students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have not been adequately examined. The purpose of this study is to explore the STEM course taken patterns of transfer students from a tribal college.

The project, spearheaded by Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC), a tribal community college in eastern Montana, has been launched with the support of a collaborative agreement with the Montana Office of Commissioner of Higher Education. Student data from CDKC was merged with data from the Montana university system, creating a comprehensive dataset covering the years 2001 to 2019. This dataset was thoroughly compiled, undergoing rigorous protocols for data merging and cleansing to ensure its accuracy and reliability. The majority of CDKC transfer students are Native American, representing 83.9% (208 out of 248 students), with a significant female representation of 66.5%. Preliminary analyses have started to uncover patterns of academic achievement in mathematics and other STEM courses among these students. Further analysis has been conducted on those who successfully earned a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field. Results of the study provides implications to better support transfer students’ persistence and success at 4-year institutions.

Continuously changing and always present, style appears in an individual’s life in more ways than one. Along with the clothes you wear and the way you do your hair, style is seen all throughout language every day. The way someone speaks to one person may differ from the way they speak to another. The environment a speaker is in may also influence how they speak. The way we speak to our close friends in private differs from the way we speak to others in more formal and professional settings. We choose the way we speak depending on who is around us and what the environment is. Among the linguists who have researched and contributed to the discussion of style are William Labov and Judith Irvine. Labov’s landmark 1966 study on ‘r’ production in New York City department stores and the stratification among social classes, introduced this idea of style in language and how an individual speaker chooses between these different styles. Labov’s definition of style limits the speaker to two choices: the vernacular style or standard speech variety (Labov 1972). While Irvine recognizes vernacular and standard speech styles, her definition broadens Labov’s with her inclusion of ideological and social mediation, distinctiveness, aesthetics, and consistency (Irvine 2002). Although both linguists have provided crucial definitions of style, I will argue in favor of Irvine’s definition of style because it delves deeper into the sociolinguistic variation of style beyond just the vernacular and standard speech variety.

Title: Successful Nonoperative Treatment Methods for Athletic Pubalgia: A Systematic Review

Purpose: To describe the nonsurgical treatment methods for athletic pubalgia identified in literature. To establish a compiled protocol of nonsurgical interventions for return to sport after diagnosis of athletic pubalgia.

Methods: PubMed and Cochrane Library databases were accessed in November 2023 using the search terms: athletic pubalgia, rehabilitation, nonsurgical, sports hernia, conservative, and return to sport. Only randomized control trials, case reports, and case series written in English were included resulting in six articles. Articles that met inclusion criteria were analyzed for the population treated, interventions listed, intervention length, and return-to-sport outcomes. Generalized key concepts and specific exercises were analyzed.

Originality: Current literature supports surgical treatment as the superior treatment method in respect to long-term symptom alleviation and return-to-sport outcomes, however, studies state that a period of conservative treatment should be attempted prior to surgical intervention. Even so, limited successful nonsurgical protocols are provided. Often, conservative treatment methods reported have poor long-term results or ultimately result in surgical intervention. With conservative care as the preferred first step of treatment, there is need for a compilation of successful nonsurgical care methods.

Significance: It remains to be seen if any exact protocol could work for every implied or confirmed athletic pubalgia case. Successful nonoperative cases within current literature support a multidisciplinary treatment approach involving joint mobilization, soft tissue work including trigger point therapy and instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic exercises emphasizing the strengthening of hip and abdominal musculature, core stabilization, and balance.

There is a growing concern that adolescents are experiencing an escalation in depression, anxiety, and suicidality. The 2021 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey says that 1 in 3 students reported that their mental health was ‘not good’ always or most of the time. It also reported that in the previous 12 months 42.3% of high school students felt sad or hopeless and 22.2% seriously considered suicide. Now, more than ever, adolescents are in need of easily accessible mental health supports in order to bolster positive mental health. Positive Psychology helps individuals focus on strengths and behaviors to create a meaningful life. It offers a framework to help individuals understand mental health and develop coping skills when encountering overwhelm and stress.

School counselors are often the first referrals that students receive for acute mental healthcare. School counselors often provide counseling services for students who may not have access to outside mental health services, whether due to financial barriers, stigma, or physical access. The American School Counseling Association’s position statement clearly outlines that one of the ways that school counselors advocate for student mental health is to provide psychoeducation in schools. Strength-based school counseling aligns with Positive Psychology’s emphasis on noticing what individuals do well instead of dwelling on weaknesses.

The poster will highlight the experience of a school counseling intern currently running Happiness Groups based on the curriculum from the Montana Happiness Project, which uses Positive Psychology interventions. Additionally, it will describe future considerations and recommendations for other counselors interested in using Positive Psychology in a school setting.

In addition to the ongoing and anticipated destruction of the environment, climate change threatens the mental well-being of humanity on a global scale. Climate change has been conceptualized as a form of existential anxiety due to its acute, chronic, and expected (yet uncertain) effects (Zotova & Karapetyan, 2018). Younger generations will be more directly impacted by the long-term effects of climate change and have been burdened with a greater responsibility to minimize its destruction (Hausfather, 2020). Furthermore, young people are at an increased risk of psychological impacts from climate change and have reported high levels of climate-related anxiety and distress (Hickman et al., 2021). Climate change also acts as a reminder of one’s own mortality. Researchers have previously demonstrated the extensive impacts of mortality salience on identity development and maintenance (e.g. defense of cultural worldviews, degradation of outgroup members, attempts to enhance self-esteem). Research also suggests that reminders of mortality can decrease pro-environmental attitudes/behaviors. However, to the researcher team’s knowledge, there are no studies published on the impact of climate change reminders in a college-student population. In this study, we aim to examine the impact of exposure to peer vignettes related to climate change anxiety, death anxiety, and social anxiety (control) on psychological well-being, identity, and environmental attitudes in the context of a college-student population.

Research has consistently shown that sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth experience higher rates of mental health issues. One protective factor against these issues is the presence of Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) in schools. The presence of a GSA at school has been associated with lower rates of depression and higher levels of academic achievement, self-esteem, and belonging for SGM youth. Though the benefits of GSAs are well-documented, less research exists about the practices of GSAs and the advisors leading them. This study is based on data from a survey of 170 GSA advisors, 86 of whom self-identified as SGM. Noting the overrepresentation of SGM GSA advisors, this study aims to examine how SGM status may affect the role of GSA advisors.

While SGM advisors were signficantly more likely to rank education about LGBTQ+ issues, (p=.015), advocacy and awareness-building activities, (p =.023), and helping students explore their identities, (p=.028) as the most important functions of their role, cisgender heterosexual advisors were significantly more likely to rank providing a space for students to connect with their peers (p=.003). Additionally, SGM advisors reported significantly higher self-efficacy in their roles as GSA advisors than their cisgender heterosexual counterparts, t(166) = -3.442, p

GSAs are uniquely situated as a simple, school-based intervention to improve the lives of SGM youth. To best utilize this opportunity, the results of this study should be considered in how to best support GSA advisors in their roles. Particularly, findings suggest that GSA advisors may have different priorities in their role based on SGM status and that cisgender heterosexual GSA advisors may benefit from interventions to improve self-efficacy in their roles.

Outside of military contexts, limited research explores who experiences trauma/stress related to causing harm to others, the frequency of this type of potentially traumatic event (PTE), and the most relevant symptoms. The current study includes an online global sample who reported experiencing a difficult or frightening event. In reference to the identified PTE, participants completed the Global Psychotrauma Screen (GPS). The GPS is a self-report measure offered in 21 languages and consists of 22 yes/no items related to the experience of 17 psychological symptoms within the past month (items cover subdomains of PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, self-harm, dissociation, substance abuse, and other stress-related problems). The five remaining items assess lack of support, psychiatric history, other stressful events, childhood trauma, and resilience. 345 out of 8992 described their PTE as involving “causing harm to others”. Compared to those reporting non-perpetration PTEs, those with perpetration-related PTEs reported significantly higher GPS total score (t(8992) = 7.60, p < .001, d = 0.42). More specifically, those in the causing harm group reported significantly higher scores on several symptom domains including PTSD (t(8992) = 6.82, p < .001, d = 0.38). Characteristics of those reporting perpetrator-related PTEs and specific symptom profiles were also explored. Present findings provide further insight to the potential impacts of a PTE that relates to harming others.

Background: Hip dislocations tend to be an uncommon injury. The most common mechanism of injury is a motor vehicle accident, causing up to 70% of all hip dislocations. While these traumatic injuries are uncommon in sports, American football tops the list for highest occurrence rate. In the event of a posterior hip dislocation, the patient presents with the corresponding leg in dramatic internal rotation, adduction, and slight knee flexion, comprising the majority of reported hip dislocations, around 70-80%.

Patient: This case report discusses a 15-year-old male football athlete who sustained a posterior hip dislocation while being tackled during a football game. He immediately stated that he was unable to move his leg and was experiencing immense pain.

Intervention or Treatment: The patient was taken to a local hospital where a 3D CT was performed and ruled out a fracture. The joint was then reduced under general anesthesia. The athlete was discharged and told to schedule a follow up appointment for an MRI, which revealed minimal soft tissue damage. Conservative management was recommended and the athlete was prescribed physical therapy.

Outcomes: Complete resolution of signs and symptoms occurred following reduction of posterior hip dislocation. Immediate recognition by the athletic trainer of a posterior hip dislocation following a high-energy collision resulted in appropriate on field management. Acutely evaluating neurovascular status of the limb following traumatic hip dislocation is critical for limb preservation.

Conclusions: Posterior hip dislocations rarely occurs in sports; however, due to adequate preparedness, timely activation of the emergency action plan allowed for the best possible outcome for this patient.