Elon University Research Articles

Examining the Role of the Gut-Brain Axis in Alcohol Use Disorder in Zebrafish

14.5 million people struggle with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), characterized by uncontrolled drinking and withdrawal. Both chronic and acute alcohol use are known to disrupt the intestinal microbiome and are associated with mood disorders. The gut-brain axis is a bidirectional communication pathway between the brain and the intestines. Probiotic modulation has already been shown to alter brain chemistry in zebrafish. Recent research indicates the gut-brain axis is involved in the behavior modifications associated with AUD, however the mechanism by which it does so remains unknown. The objective of this study is to examine the impact that alcohol has on the gut-brain axis. We hypothesize that a reduced intestinal diversity will lead to heightened behavioral responses and alter biomarkers associated with chronic alcohol exposure. In order to examine this hypothesis, zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to amoxicillin and erythromycin for fifteen days to clear their microbiome. Following treatment, fish were immersed in 0.50% ethanol for one hour and in escalating dosage up to 0.25% for two weeks to mimic acute and chronic alcohol exposure. Fish were recorded for 10 minutes following treatment to analyze behavioral patterns. Bacterial populations were significantly knocked down following treatment in both groups (n= 6, p < 0.05). Behavioral results from the acute ethanol treatment indicate fish exposed to ethanol displayed reduced vertical and horizontal transitions in both antibiotic and control groups, with more pronounced shifts in antibiotic-ethanol- treated group (n= 6). This reduction was not observed in the chronically treated fish, suggesting an adaptation effect. In order to further assess cognitive function, levels of NMDA Glut1 receptor mRNA were assessed, we observed no significant changes in receptor gene expression in the brains of zebrafish in the treatment groups relative to control groups. Collectively these results indicate that acute alcohol induced behavior correlates to changes in the microbiome, though this correlation is not observed in chronic alcohol exposure. Future studies are needed to better understand what role the gut brain axis plays in alcohol mediated-behavioral observations. Glen Raven Endowed Grant, Elon University. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Why Living in a Sport Management Learning Community Matters

Living learning communities (LLCs) improve students’ social connection and involvement through intentional planning and relationships with faculty and peers. This case study explored student experiences in a living learning community known as the Sport Management and Media Living Learning Community (SMM LLC) at Elon University. Informed by the research about best practice for living learning communities (Inkelas, et al., 2018) and the mattering of relationships (Felton & Lambert, 2020), the study explored students’ perceptions of living in the SMM LLC. The focus group and interviews revealed students’ experiences focused on the importance of relationships with faculty and peers that matter. The findings revealed two themes - the SMM LLC as a place to develop community and friendships and catalyst for involvement. The study offers implications and opportunities for future research and practice for why sport management faculty should implement LLCs at their university to enhance the student experience through an intentional engaged learning design.

The gut-microbiome and anxiety in male and female zebrafish

Recent research from the CDC indicates that 41.5% of adults in the US classify themselves as anxious or depressed. Interestingly, anxiety disorders are disproportionately more prevalent in women than men. It is well established that the microbiome greatly influences stress responses, mood states, and other aspects of brain health including anxiety disorders. It is also known that the microbial composition differs in males and females. This study aims to determine the similarities and differences between the male and female zebrafish microbiome and identify if these differences impact anxiety. Zebrafish were treated with amoxicillin to decrease the total intestinal bacterial abundance. The zebrafish were then subjected to an acute stress protocol or a chronic stress protocol. For acute stress, fish were net stressed for three minutes, followed by 3 minutes of acclimation. Chronic stress was induced over 8 days with fish being stressed daily prior to the three minute net stress. Fish behavior and anxiety were assessed using the EthoVision tracking system and software. We observed a 48% and 67% decrease in bacterial abundance in males and females respectively treated with amoxicillin (p<0.05, n= 5). Interestingly both males and females treated with antibiotics showed significantly fewer right and left crosses following acute stress exposure- no significant differences were observed between male and female fish (p<0.05, n=10). In chronically stressed fish, no differences were seen in anxiety-like behavior in control or antibiotic-treated fish regardless of sex. These results support current research indicating the overall role of the microbiome in anxiety and depression however, the differences between intestinal bacteria in males and females behavior remains unclear. Elon University This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

The Impact of a Vegan Diet on Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Men and Women Through the Gut Microbiome

Studies highlight many benefits of a vegan diet on the composition of the gut microbiome, however little is known how and if these changes contribute to heart health. Trimethylamine (TMA) is a metabolic product produced from the breakdown of choline and L-Carnitine both found abundantly in red meat. TMA is converted to toxic trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in the liver via flavin monooxygense 3 (FMO3). The objective of this study was to examine if vegan diets impact TMA levels thus supporting cardiovascular health. We hypothesize that a vegan diet will foster bacterial diversity that favors decreased TMA/TMAO levels. Zebrafish were initially placed on antibiotics to clear their microbiome, following treatment, fish were fed a control, high fat (HF), or vegan diet for 3 weeks. Fish were sacrificed and intestinal, liver and heart tissue were harvested for analysis. Surprisingly, we observed the most significant increase in bacterial abundance in the HF diets relative to the vegan and control diets (n= 5-6, p< 0.05). Interestingly, when separated by sex, the highest change in bacterial abundance was seen in female fish on a HF diet. We next examined mRNA levels of FMO3. We saw the greatest increase in FMO3 levels in female fish on a HF diet, which corresponds to higher bacterial abundance (n= 5-6, p< 0.05). FMO3 levels were also increased for fish on a HF diet relative to the control diet with no significant differences between male and female fish. These results indicate that vegan diets may alter male and female bacterial composition differently and the impacts of these differences on CV health remain unknown. Funding thus far has come from Elon University. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa, By Jocelyn Hendrickson

Journal Article Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa, By Jocelyn Hendrickson Get access Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa By Jocelyn Hendrickson Harvard University Press, 2021. 424 pages. $50.00 (hardcover). Ariela Marcus-Sells Ariela Marcus-Sells Elon University amarcussells@elon.edu Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, lfad009, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfad009 Published: 07 June 2023

Pandemic Scholars Circle: Deepening Community during Isolation

Pandemic Scholars Circle: Deepening Community during Isolation

Anthropocene and the Gothic: An Interview with Justin Edwards


 Justin Edwards is a professor in the Division of Literature and Languages at the University of Stirling. Previously Chair of English at the University of Surrey and professor and head of English at Bangor University, he was elected by-fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge in 2005. Between 1995 and 2005, he taught at the University of Montreal and the University of Copenhagen, where he was appointed as an associate professor in 2002. He holds an Affiliate Professorship in U.S. Literature at the University of Copenhagen and in 2016-2017 he was a Fulbright scholar at Elon University, North Carolina. He is also a member of the Peer Review College for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and a Trustee of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA). Justin’s contribution to the study of Gothic literature started with Gothic Passages: Racial Ambiguity and the American Gothic, which examines the development of U.S. Gothic literature alongside 19th-century discourses of passing and racial ambiguity. In Gothic Canada: Reading the Spectre of a National Literature, he continued in the area by examining how collective stories about national identity and belonging tend to be haunted by artifice.

De quoi aimer vivre by Fatou Diome

Reviewed by: De quoi aimer vivre by Fatou Diome Rosemary Haskell Fatou Diome De quoi aimer vivre Paris. Editions Albin Michel. 2021. 240 pages. “AH, LOOK AT all the lonely people!” The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” refrain captures the essence of Senegalese writer Fatou Diome’s 2021 short-story collection De quoi aimer vivre (Enough to make us love life). It is peppered with characters on the edge of society, longing for human connection and fulfillment. Their lonely exclusion is frequently explained through their remembered pasts, while the book’s title unites the stories’ characters: we must all have something that makes us want to live. Bread alone is not enough. Disabled Andy, D. D. the washed-up boxer, divorced Octave, refugee Samira, the poor Senegalese fishing family: all frequent the typically Diomien liminal or marginal spaces, such as the café, the empty apartment, the mountain cabin, and the coastal fringe. Varying her trademark focus on the Black woman migrant, Diome still pursues her key themes of the quest for personal fulfillment and social integration. All but two of the stories are set in Europe, the exceptions returning us to Senegal with “La Marmite du Pêcheur” (The fisherman’s stewpot) and to the beloved navigator grandfather, represented here by “Le Vieil Homme sur la Barque” (The old man on the boat), a 2010 story. The two opening pieces stamp the collection’s identity. “Une Fenêtre pour les Anges I – Présence, II – Absence” (A window for angels: I – presence, II – absence) richly configure the fragile relationship between Andy, a disabled white French man and the Black Senegalese woman narrator, charting the ultimately successful achievement of unconventional friendship while illuminating Andy’s experiences of disability as he counters others’ repulsion with resilience and forgiveness. “Le Bleu de la Roya” (Roya’s blue) and “Le Vieil Homme sur la Barque” explore the figure of the man-savior: the Italian shepherd shelters the Libyan refugee, and the fisher-grandfather guides the little Senegalese girl—in the present and in memory. A welcome reprint of a 2002 story, “Ports de Folie” (Ports of madness), traces a woman’s obsessive dramatization of places where her absent lover is traveling. “Indémodable!” (Timeless), whose talking dress recalls the speaking objects of Diome’s novel Kétala, also enacts the longing for the absent beloved. De quoi aimer vivre reminds us of the strengths of Diome’s earliest work, the 1990 short-story collection La Préférence Nationale (National preference). This 2021 volume illustrates how the novelist flourishes within the story genre’s tighter formal framework. Rosemary Haskell Elon University Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

A Tale of Seven Cases – Faculty Unions in the United States – From Yeshiva To Elon: Is It Time to Review Yeshiva and the Positions of Church-Sponsored Colleges and Universities As Well?

This article is a summary discussion of the main issues faced by faculty at private, often church-sponsored, universities who sought to be represented by a union in collective bargaining with their employers. The discussion begins by tracing the origins of the rule that faculty at private universities are managers and not employees under the aegis of the National Relations Act in the Supreme Court case of Yeshiva University. The summary then follows developments over the years up to the most recent decision of the National Labor Relations Board that sanctioned the efforts of adjunct professors at Elon University to seek union representation. In examining these two book-end cases, the article discusses issues relating to the effect of the religion clauses of the First Amendment in the context of the National Labor Relations Board’s shifting views on the topic. Last, the authors discuss unionization in the context of church-sponsored colleges and universities. Is it now time for the Supreme Court to review its seminal decision in Yeshiva University and for church-sponsored colleges and universities to rethink their positions as well?

Try these strategies to boost summer course enrollment

About three out of four students who have graduated from Elon University since 2018 have taken a summer class. But getting that number of students to commit to taking summer courses didn't just happen overnight. And no one knows this better than Alexander Taylor.

Lessons Learned from a Virtual Summer Undergraduate Research Program

In summer 2020, North Carolina A&T State University and Elon University were poised to debut their Research Experiences for Undergraduates program in mathematical biology funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The directors decided to hold the program virtually so that students would have the opportunity. Although the directors did not have experience running a virtual program, they learned from the experience and have recommendations for program directors in similar situations.

Developing meaningful and practical global experiences through student-faculty-community partnerships

The student co-teacher and co-mentor model introduced in this article seeks to promote learning, reflection, and critical thinking and to nurture students’ intellectual curiosity through high academic standards and experiential learning, including community engagement and study abroad. Similarly, scholarship of teaching and learning research on pedagogical partnerships demonstrates improved learning, self-awareness, and engagement with the educational material as a result of students’ partnership and collaboration with faculty and staff. Limited existing research combines the student-faculty partnership model with the development of students’ intercultural competencies in experiential learning contexts, such as practicums, internships, and study abroad. This article focuses on approaches to engaging Elon University students as partners in a practicum course in Guatemala. The study provides evidence of the model fitness as well as the potential for replication of higher education approaches, such as the emerging global learning model for practicum instruction.

Regarding the Dead: A Model for Anatomical Gifting Outside the Traditional Medical School Setting.

In 2017, Elon University became one of very few universities in the United States without a medical school to have an in-house Anatomical Gift Program (AGP). The program accepts first-person-consenting individuals only and within 2.5years has become self-sufficient, supporting anatomy curricular needs of its physical therapy, physician assistant, and undergraduate biology and anthropology programs (n=21 donors annually). This paper describes the timeline, costs, and benefits of developing an in-house AGP at a university without a medical school. Policy development, public outreach, equipment needs, and cost benefits are discussed. Within 2.5years of program opening, the AGP Director delivered 161 educational outreach presentations at 86 different venues across the state providing information on anatomical gifting. The program registered 320 individuals (60% female, 40% male) and enrolled 41 deceased donors (69% female, 31% male; average age of 74.6 at time of registration and 74.8 at donation). During the first seven months of the program, donor preparation costs (with outsourcing for transport/donor preparation/document filing/serology testing/cremation) averaged US$ 2,100 per donor. Over the past 23months, donor preparation has been completed on site, lowering the cost per donor to US$ 1,260. Other costs include personnel salaries, legal fees, and outfitting of the anatomy laboratory and preparatory room. Program benefits include support of anatomy education on campus, assurance that all donors have given first-person consent, and faculty/student access to donor-determined health, social, and occupational information. Faculty, staff, and students contribute to the daily operations of the AGP.

Using an Asparagine Synthetase Inhibitor to Reverse Chemotherapeutic Resistance in Leukemic Cell Lines

Asparaginase (ASNase) is one of the first‐lines of chemotherapy used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It breaks down asparagine in the body forcing the cell to undergo apoptosis. Yet, some patients develop resistance to ASNase treatment. Asparagine is produced in the cell by the enzyme asparagine synthetase (ASNS). One explanation for resistance could be increased ASNS expression leading to the production of more asparagine than can be broken down. Here, we investigated whether using a competitive ASNS inhibitor, albizziine (Alb), to decrease ASNS activity would reverse ASNase resistance in leukemic cell lines. Two human leukemic cell lines with varying ASNS expression were utilized, Jurkat and HL‐60. Real time‐PCR analysis showed an 8.9‐fold higher level of ASNS mRNA in HL‐60 relative to Jurkat. In addition, that HL‐60 was resistant and Jurkat sensitive to ASNase‐induced apoptosis; as determined by staining the cells with Annexin V‐FITC and flow cytometric analysis. After 24 hours, 0.1 IU ASNase treatment resulted in a 43.27% increase in apoptosis in Jurkat cells, but no significant increase in HL‐60 cells. The addition of the ASNS inhibitor, Alb, in combination with ASNase resulted in increased apoptosis in both cell lines. HL‐60 apoptosis increased 6‐fold when treated with a combination of 0.1 IU ASNase and 1mM Alb. Alb also increased Jurkat sensitivity to 0.1 IU ASNase from 43.27% apoptosis with ASNase alone to 67.15% in combination with ASNase. Alb alone did not induce any significant death. These results suggest that the ASNS inhibitor, Alb, can restore sensitivity to ASNase induced death in leukemic cell lines and therefore warrants further investigation into its role in reversing ASNase chemotherapeutic resistance.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by the Honors Program at Elon University, Elon Undergraduate Research Program, and Glen Raven grant.

Judge rules in favor of university

Case name: Shaw v. Elon University, No. 1:18CV557 (M.D. N.C. 07/18/19).

Build a relationship‐rich institution for increased student success

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “The most important factors in any student outcome that we [as administrators] care about are the quality of peer and faculty and staff relationships,” said Peter Felten, Executive Director at the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University. Felten was speaking at a session on the importance of creating relationship‐rich institutions for student success at the Association of American Colleges and Universities annual meeting.

Judge rules in favor of university

Case name: Shaw v. Elon University, No. 1:18CV557 (M.D. N.C. 07/18/19).

Ambition at Nine

Ambition at Nine Kevin Boyle (bio) for Margaret M. and Margaret V. After my mother's death we discovered her journalof disease, ailments, fractured legs, birthsand I held a slight grudge because all of my siblingshad their weights, times of birth besidetheir names, the dates of christening, the godparentsand I just had my date born, my full name, since I was the lastand everyone was spent, it seems, and I was surprisedto find I split my lip at four—does this finally explain whyI am a poor kisser?—the same month my grandmotherhad her breast removed, malignant is all it says for November,and I think who needed Medicare for All in '58when Dr. Santilli removed a fibrous tumor from my mother's shoulderfor $15! But my oldest brother's "wrist hurt him—left"is in line with deaths by stroke in Ireland and heart attacksin the Bronx where my parents met, dated (not in journal),but the surprise for Narcissus was realizing my torturingof green Army men, my rage at their silence despitemy threats, and then the severing of their necks withmy brother's penknife that, yes, decapitated the enemybut also sliced my index finger—right—occurredwhile my father was at work for decasr in Kwajaleinwhich wasn't on our globe, and my mother was in the hospitalfor ten days, Dr. Santilli again, acute thrombophlebitis.At nine, I couldn't be left alone without reenacting war,oftentimes matching up the Civil War soldiers with their packsand bayonets, the blue, the gray, the green, with WWII [End Page 85] GIs whose guns were all flamethrowers or bazookas,and if my older brothers knocked and asked what I was doing,I'd say, Just playing, leave me alone, and I'd go backto the battles of the bed, the taking of pillows as if pillboxes,the terrain so varied in the covers and sheets,and the knife to the throats of seven men before the finalcut to the self. Five stitches. Holy Redeemer. January 14th.My father would be home in five days, my mother in six,so I cried to my sister and showed her the blood,and she, who had just returned from the hospital with infectious hepatitis,drove me back there—the suture sounds I can still hear—and back home for my humiliation at my brothers' perfect hands. [End Page 86] Kevin Boyle Kevin Boyle's book Astir (Jacar) was a finalist for the 2016 Brockman-Campbell Prize. His first collection, A Home for Wayward Girls, won the New Issues Poetry Prize, and his chapbook, The Lullaby of History, was selected for the Campbell Award. His poems have appeared widely in journals, including Hollins Critic, North American Review, Pleiades, and Virginia Quarterly Review. He grew up in Philadelphia and now teaches writing and literature at Elon University. Copyright © 2020 University of Nebraska Press

A Curmudgeon’s View of The Multi-Generational Teaching of Legal Writing

This essay is an effort to open a discussion about some aspects of the academic legal writing world that have been increasingly troubling me for several years. In January 2020 Professor Sue Liemer of Elon University School of Law put together a diverse panel of legal writing professors for a session titled “The Multi-Generational Teaching of Legal Writing.” The proposal called for participants “to keep an informal journal of experiences relevant to the discussion group’s topic” to “serve as springboards for the participants’ written presentation summaries.” The proposal noted that the “overall goal of the discussion group is to articulate and explore pedagogical issues that bubble beneath the surface as legal writing professors from four generations are now teaching at United States law schools.”

Nancy MorejónBefore a Mirror, the City by David Frye

baby daughter, and a daughter to her own mother, whose loving care for her bereft daughter typifies the matrilineal strengths of the Sérère culture on the Senegalese coast, where a shipwreck triggered not only personal, but national, grief. Rosemary Haskell Elon University Nancy Morejón Before a Mirror, the City Trans. David Frye. Buffalo, New York. White Pine Press. 2020. 111 pages. NANCY MOREJÓN HAS LONG been synonymous with Cuban poetry (see WLT, Summer 2002, Autumn 2019). In this succinct collection of poems, introduced by Juanamaría CordonesCook and beautifully translated by David Frye, Morejón is synonymous with Havana, embodying that dignified and downtrodden, anachronous place blessed with spirit and light; it feeds her soul, inspires her poetry, and breaks our hearts with its struggles and its rubble. Morejón was the first Black Cuban woman poet to publish widely and be accepted as a professional writer, critic, and translator. The twenty-four poems here range over five decades, from some of her earliest collections, Amor, ciudad atribuida (1964) and Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos (1967), and poems from more recent collections, Paisaje Celebre (1993), La Quinta de los Molinos (2000), and Pierrot y la luna (2005). The selection herein reflects the city’s sounds, smells, and textures , in verses devoted to Parque Central in Old Havana, the Quinta de los Molinos, the port, and the emblematic Malecón. Presumably, when she stands before her reflection, we see the city and the city sees her (this city . . . will begin to stalk you / haunting your footsteps). Morejón’s ode to Central Park (“Parque Central, alguna gente”) ends with a battle cry to her fellow countrymen. She describes a park passerby and beseeches him, and us, to “walk slowly and breathe deeply . . . / and give his whole life / with all his fervor / comrades.” In one of her earliest poems, “Love, City Attributed,” from her eponymous second book, the dedication reads: “al lector, compa ñero” (to the reader, comrade), invoking a sense of selflessness and unity demanded and spurred on by the revolutionary times. In the poem she asks repeatedly, “who am i” and then: “does anyone hear the dream from my cursed mouth / who am i talking to.” To this reader’s mind, there’s no doubt about who Morejón is, or to whom she is speaking—she embodies all the elements of the city and the collective experiences of its inhabitants, and Havana and its residents are listening, now in English through these poems in her exquisitely translated voice. Comrades, indeed. Erin Goodman Arlington, Massachusetts C. T. Rwizi Scarlet Odyssey Seattle, Washington. 47North. 2020. 546 pages. AFROFANTASY. It’s a largely unsung literary tradition in the making, one that grapples with the whiteness and westernness of mass-market genre fantasy and is exemplified by recent work by N. K. Jemisin , Marlon James, Rivers Solomon, and the present novel, C. T. Rwizi’s Scarlet Odyssey. In the best tradition of epic fantasy, Scarlet Odyssey is the first in a trilogy, a sprawling tale populated by dozens of characters exploring a complex world while taking on a dramatic, empire-sprawling quest, using magic, wielding swords and spears, and encountering legendary creatures. Historically, fantasy fiction has looked like some version of medieval or early modern Europe. The last three decades, however , have seen an increasing number of fantasy novels set in worlds based on the histories and mythologies of non-Western cultures, so that it’s virtually impossible to name any world culture and not find a fantasy novel based on it, from the Aztecs to, now, the Xhosa and Zulu. Rwizi’s novel is very much in this tradition, taking Swazi cultures, languages, and folktales as the basis for a wonderfully realized secondaryworld fantasy. Not only is Scarlet Odyssey a novel treat in terms of its imagining a world that looks and feels very much like southern Africa prior to the arrival of Europeans, but Rwizi also goes beyond the norm to create an incredibly complex magical system that intermingles computer programming, environmental stimuli, a totem system, animal spirits, mecha, and so much more. Rarely does a first-time novel, let alone a firsttime epic fantasy...