Welcome to SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository!
SOAR is the institutional repository of Wichita State University. Its primary purpose is to make the University’s digital scholarship available to a global audience and to serve as a reliable digital storage solution. SOAR functions dually as both a publication platform and a digital archive. University faculty and staff are encouraged to publish their research works, data, or documents in SOAR. For student submissions, a recommendation from their professors is required.
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Item Forward Together: A monthly newsletter, May 2025(Office of the President, 2025-05)Item Patterns of brain Ferritin expression in the Drosophila divalent cation transporter mutant Malvolio(Wichita State University, 2025)Malvolio (Mvl) is the Drosophila ortholog of the mammalian Solute Carrier Protein Slc11a2, which transports divalent metals, including iron. The function of Mvl in the developing Drosophila brain is unclear and the developmental anomalies of the brain in Mvl mutant, if any, have not been investigated. Our objective was to determine potential physiological defects, if any, in the brain of Mvl mutants. We tested iron availability in the brain of Mvl loss-of-function mutant, Mvlexc1. We used the Ferritin 1 HCH GFP protein trap fly line as the control. Brain tissue from both the control and mutant animals were dissected and the Ferritin GFP levels at both the larval and adult stages were recorded. Ferritin 1 GFP intensity was used as the marker of iron availability for comparison between the mutants and controls. We confirmed that the loss of Mvl results in lack of iron storage in the midgut iron cells. Contrary to our expectation, we observed differential and sharply contrasting regions of Ferritin expression in the Mvl mutant brains compared to controls. The optic lobes expressed high levels of Ferritin (high GFP) in the Mvl mutants compared to the central brain lobe in a pattern that persisted during both larval and adult stages. Our finding that Mvl mutant brain tissue (optic lobe) has higher Ferritin expression compared to the control suggests one or more of the following scenarios: (i) Despite the loss of Mvl, brain tissue can access iron, via non-Mvl dependent cellular uptake of iron, and/or (ii) Ferritin expression in brain tissue is uncoupled from cellular iron availability. We are testing the latter hypothesis by implementing dietary iron restriction during Drosophila development.Item Decreased pain sensitivity after exercise with blood flow restriction: 24-hours(Wichita State University, 2025)Exercise induced hypoalgesia (EIH) is the observed effect of lowered pain sensitivity following high-intensity or long-duration exercise. Blood flow restriction (BFR) is the procedure of using inflatable cuffs to partially reduce blood flow to the extremities. When BFR is combined with low-intensity exercise, it mimics the effects of high-intensity exercise; this makes it easier for populations that cannot tolerate high-intensity exercise, such as recovering patients, to relieve their pain. Recent studies have shown that the effects of BFR exercise can last up to one hour post-exercise. However, little evidence has been gathered studying the duration and magnitude of EIH due to BFR exercise across a 24-hour period. Therefore, this study aims to assess pain sensitivity in a 24-hour period following exercise to gain an understanding of the EIH response following BFR exercise. The change from pre-exercise values for pain pressure tolerance of the biceps brachii and quadriceps muscle group was calculated 4-, 8-, and 24-hours post-exercise. Within the control intervention, where patients remained seated with no exercise, the average change in quadricep pain pressure tolerance was 0.25 kg of force (Δkgf) at 4-hours, 1.14 Δkgf at 8-hours, and 1.26 Δkgf at 24-hours. The average change in biceps brachii pain pressure tolerance during the control intervention was 0.37 Δkgf at 4-hours, 0.68 Δkgf at 8-hours, and 0.52 Δkgf at 24-hours. Within the BFR intervention, where patients completed leg extensions at 30% maximal strength with the cuffs inflated to 60% maximum occlusion pressure, the average change in quadricep pain pressure tolerance was –0.07 Δkgf at 4-hours, 0.34 Δkgf at 8-hours, and 1.28 Δkgf at 24-hours. The average change in biceps brachii pain pressure tolerance during the BFR intervention was 0.12 Δkgf at 4-hours, 0.11 Δkgf at 8-hours, and 1.07 Δkgf at 24-hours. While a small sample size (n=4) means inconclusive data, more data is being collected and analyzed. With larger numbers, this study could help develop more accessible pain management in rehabilitation settings.Item Fighting pain with pain: Pain modulation through resistance exercise(Wichita State University, 2025)Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is the inhibitory bodily response to a secondary painful stimulus delivered at a different region of the body. It has been hypothesized that pain during exercise may be one of the mechanisms resulting in exercise induced hypoalgesia (EIH). Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship between CPM and EIH following blood flow restricted (BFR) exercise. During the first visit, participants completed an ischemic pain task which involved occluding blood flow during submaximal isometric hand grip exercise until a pain rating of 7/10 was achieved. Pain pressure threshold (PPT) of the non-exercising biceps brachii was completed pre- and post-exercise. The difference between the two values was used to quantify CPM. During intervention visits, participants complete 4 sets of leg extensions using high load (70% of one repetition maximum [1RM]), low load (30% of 1RM) with BFR, or a control (no load) intervention. PPT was assessed pre-exercise and 0-, 30- and 60-minutes post-exercise. The current sample is small so no statistical analysis were completed, however current trends suggest that CPM may explain initial changes in PPT but may not be related to prolonged increases in PPT. These data suggests that different mechanisms may be associated with acute versus prolonged EIH responses. Results of present investigation suggest that resistance exercise can be an effective pain management modality and that the strongest responses occur immediately after the exercise intervention.Item The effects of binaural beats on driving performance(Wichita State University, 2025)Listening to binaural beats in the gamma range (around 40 Hz) is thought to affect alertness. Binaural beats are a naturally occurring phenomenon in which two sound frequencies presented at the same time to each ear create the perception of a third tone that is the difference between the two frequencies. Recent studies have shown that binaural beats can affect attention and cognition (e.g., alert versus relaxed) depending on the frequency. However, results are inconclusive – likely due to a wide range of methodological issues such as the use of different base frequencies, entrainment durations, and the type of sound used to mask the binaural beat. We hypothesized that listening to binaural beats of 40 Hz embedded in engine noise (relative to a control condition of only engine noise) would increase alertness and improve performance in a simulated driving task. Participants listened to the 40 Hz or control stimuli for a total of 30 minutes (10-minute practice drive, plus 20-minute experimental drive). Data collected to date provides little support for this hypothesis. We found that individuals in the 40 Hz condition made more simulated driving task errors relative to those in the control condition. Data collection is on-going as the current results are preliminary with a sample size of only eight (four in each condition). Further research is needed to examine the validity of using binaural beats to alter attentional state.
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