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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2024)

Seeking help and support on social media platforms is common for individuals experiencing stressful life challenges. By disclosing personal difficulties and stress, individuals can potentially receive helpful social support and improve mental health. This study aimed to examine users’ experience of seeking support on social media, particularly on Reddit, to cope with stressful life events. Sixteen individuals with support-seeking experience were interviewed to understand their intentions for sharing personal difficulties and stress, their strategies for seeking support, and the nature and perceived helpfulness of support they sought and received on Reddit. The findings revealed the personal and psychological impacts of online support, as well as the benefits and potential downsides of using Reddit for support-seeking in managing stressful life challenges. This study contributes to the HCI literature by providing an empirical understanding of users’ experiences of seeking support on social media platforms. It also discusses the implications for platform designers and users for improving the effectiveness and responsiveness of online support to better serve the diverse needs of those seeking help online.

    Cover page: Navigating Stress and Seeking Support on Reddit: A User-Centered Study of Online Support-Seeking BehaviorsCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2019)
    DNA modification is known to regulate experience-dependent gene expression. However, beyond cytosine methylation and its oxidated derivatives, very little is known about the functional importance of chemical modifications on other nucleobases in the brain. Here we report that in adult mice trained in fear extinction, the DNA modification N6-methyl-2'-deoxyadenosine (m6dA) accumulates along promoters and coding sequences in activated prefrontal cortical neurons. The deposition of m6dA is associated with increased genome-wide occupancy of the mammalian m6dA methyltransferase, N6amt1, and this correlates with extinction-induced gene expression. The accumulation of m6dA is associated with transcriptional activation at the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) P4 promoter, which is required for Bdnf exon IV messenger RNA expression and for the extinction of conditioned fear. These results expand the scope of DNA modifications in the adult brain and highlight changes in m6dA as an epigenetic mechanism associated with activity-induced gene expression and the formation of fear extinction memory.
      Cover page: The DNA modification N6-methyl-2’-deoxyadenosine (m6dA) drives activity-induced gene expression and is required for fear extinctionCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
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