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Final topic Proposal

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I had originally planned on doing my paper on PTSD. In light of recent of events this week I have shifted my ideas in a different direction. After participating in organized sports for the past 20 years, my formal athletic career has come to an abrupt end. The NCAA has cancelled all championships for the winter and spring of 2020, ending my senior year and collegiate track career. As much positivity has can stem from athletics and participating in sports, the rate of eating disorders in female athletes, and specifically track and field athletes, is disproportional to the general population. Reflecting on my experiences in this sport and watching so many of my friends and teammates struggle with their relationship with food has inspired me to look into eating disorders for this research project.
I am interested in learning about the onset and cause of eating disorders as well as the common co-morbidities. I have often wondered about whether it is a manifestation of anxiety or if anxiety is secondary to the relationship with food. I am curious about the genetic component and predisposition to eating disorders and the spectrum on which they can manifest. As I have explored this topic in the context of animal research am interested to learn about the limitations as well as the applications to human studies and clinical work. This is a topic I know very little about from a scientific stand point, which is largely why I want to explore a new subject in my final weeks of undergrad in BNS.
With this topic being new to me I have been reading some review articles about the fundamentals of eating disorders as well as how they can be studied in animals. I plan to narrow my focus as I learn more about the topic, for now some of my sources include the following articles:
1.  https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/science/article/pii/S0306452212002606
2. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/science/article/pii/S0018506X10002916
3. https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/article/10.1007/s13679-017-0265-8
4. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/science/article/pii/S0028390811004898
5. https://www.dovepress.com/genetics-and-epigenetics-of-eating-disorders-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AGG


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