Publications by authors named "Michael L Howell"

Misinformation regarding vaccine science decreased the receptiveness to COVID-19 vaccines, exacerbating the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society. To mitigate the negative societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, impactful and creative science communication was needed, yet little research has explored how to encourage COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and address misconceptions held by non-Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics majors (referred to as non-majors). We have previously demonstrated that including expert guest lectures in the vaccine module in the non-major introductory biology course helps combat students' vaccine hesitancy.

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As evidence mounted that existing prevention methods would be insufficient to end the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that vaccines would be critical to achieve and maintain reduced rates of infection. However, vaccine-hesitant sentiments have become widespread, particularly in populations with lower scientific literacy. The non-STEM major (called non-major) college students represent one such population who rely on one or more science classes to develop their scientific literacy and thus, become candidates of interest for the success of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign.

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"That's so gay," a popular expression on campuses, is a sexual orientation microaggression that can contribute to a hostile environment for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students. Using data from a campus climate survey conducted at a large urban university, we investigated use of the phrase among heterosexual male undergraduates who are emerging adults (18-25 years). Multiple regression analysis suggested that saying the phrase is positively associated with hearing peers say it and with holding negative perceptions of feminine men, whereas having LGB acquaintances was negatively associated with use of this expression.

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Objective: The investigators examined the health and well-being correlates of hearing the popular phrase "that's so gay" among gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) emerging adults.

Participants: Participants were 114 self-identified GLB students aged 18 to 25 years.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to students at a large public university in the Midwest during winter 2009.

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Protection from NO gas, a toxic byproduct of anaerobic respiration in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is mediated by nitric oxide (NO) reductase (NOR), the norCB gene product. Nevertheless, a norCB mutant that accumulated approximately 13.6 microM NO paradoxically survived anaerobic growth.

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The recent sequencing of a large number of Xenopus tropicalis expressed sequences has allowed development of a high-throughput approach to study Xenopus global RNA gene expression. We examined the global gene expression similarities and differences between the historically significant Xenopus laevis model system and the increasingly used X.tropicalis model system and assessed whether an X.

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