Digital Commons Network^™

True Silver: A Story Of Skin Coining With Silver In Traditional Asian Medical Practice, Trang Nguyen

Osmosis Magazine

Silver, one of the most precious metals on Earth, has captivated humans since prehistoric times for its natural shimmer, which has found its way into coins, jewelry, and ornaments (The Natural Sapphire Company, 2025). In traditional Asian medicine, silver’s significance extends beyond jewelry or currency; it is a key component in a practice called “cạo gió”, which involves releasing energy blockages and restoring balance to the body using a smooth metal tool to scrape the skin. Although it has been passed down through generations as a remedy for various ailments, a question remains: what makes silver the material of choice?

The Impact Of Food Insecurity On The Physical And Mental Health Of Food Service Workers And Their Households, Pedro Andrade

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Food insecurity in the United States continues to be a persistent problem, as this household stressor has worsened in the past decade. The prevalence of food insecurity varies by demographic; however, income is a key factor when discussing food security status. One group experiencing food insecurity, but often overlooked when talking about solutions, is food service workers. This research sought to understand the impact of food insecurity on food service workers and their households. A literature review was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the associations between food insecurity and physical health, mental health, household health, and occupational and …

Design And Validation Of A Bilateral, Multi-Site 3d-Printed Neuronal Implant For Rodent Electrophysiology, Homero Phelps, Jonathan V. Trinidad, Talha Soluoku

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Neuronal electrophysiology implants are essential tools in neuroscience for recording brain activity and investigating neurological disorders. Our lab’s previous 3D-printed implant designs centered around a single-site, recording platform that was limited in adaptability, precision, and lacked in vivo validation due to lingering engineering malfunctions. To combat limitations and expand recording capabilities, this project aimed to design and validate a new implant capable of multi-site, bilateral recordings across both brain hemispheres, specifically targeting the hippocampus (CA1 and CA3) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), regions critical for learning and memory. Building on the Open Ephys ShuttleDrive model, the implant was redesigned using …

The Fitness Cost Of Rifampicin-Resistant Rpob Mutations On Mfd-Mediated Processes In Stationary Phase Bacillus Subtilis, Amber Callaway, Jessica Grifaldo

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Rifampicin is a potent antibiotic that tightly binds to the ꞵ-subunit of RNA polymerase and blocks initiation of transcription. Bacillus subtilis cells that acquire rpoB mutations that confer resistance to rifampicin also exhibit decreases in transcription and fitness. Mutation frequency decline (Mfd) is a global transcription regulator that interacts with the ꞵ-subunit of RNA polymerase, and our RNA-seq showed that it had profound effects on the expression of motility genes. We hypothesize that the rifampicin-resistant rpoB: I681T mutation alters Mfd-mediated gene regulation of motility in Bacillus subtilis. Therefore, we will construct mfd- rpoB: I681T double mutants via natural competence and …

Dorsal/Ventral Orientation Of Dentate Granule Cells And Its Impact On Electrophysiology In Mice, Jacob Prince, Savannah Sampson, Alyssa Marron

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

The hippocampus has known roles in memory formation, learning, and spatial mapping. There are defined physiological differences between CA1 neurons based on their dorsal to ventral position within the 3D hippocampus (Malik et al., 2015). Given the varying functions of the dorsal and ventral hippocampus in cognitive processing and the role of the dentate gyrus as the entry point for information into the hippocampus, it will be interesting to determine if there are differences in the properties of granule cells across the dorsal and ventral axis. We explore the potential topographic specialization of dentate granule cells. This study examines the …

Associations Between Gad-7 And Phq-9 Scores And Willingness To Seek Treatment, Josephine Shaw

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

In recent years, mental health concerns among college students have increased significantly. This study aims to analyze data on student willingness and frequency to seek counseling services, such as UNLV CAPS (Student Counseling and Psychological Services), and the appeal of utilizing alternative interventions such as exercise and meditation. This study collected data from UNLV students, faculty, and staff through distribution of a scannable QR code. It included whether they were in therapy, the PHQ-9 and GAD-7, their respective functional impairment questions, and willingness to consider therapy alternatives. Based on respondents’ answers to the PHQ-9, the highest proportion peaked at 36% …

Hawaiian Drosophila Host Plant Preferences, Kyrus Huang, Rodomir Stark

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Understanding how host plant availability influences behavior in Drosophila species provides valuable insight into ecological specialization and speciation. This study examines the effects of different host plants on the reproductive and oviposition behavior of Drosophila silvestris and Drosophila grimshawi. The primary objective of this project is to determine whether females exhibit host-plant preferences during egg-laying. A secondary aim is to assess whether sex and mating status influence host plant preference, specifically comparing male, unmated female, and mated female behavior with two host plants. To test these hypotheses, newly emerged flies were divided into three treatment groups: male-only, female-only, and mixed …

Assessing How Early Vs. Late Exercise Influences Whole Body Glucose Tolerance And Insulin Signaling Pathways In Quadriceps During Social Jetlag, Ariana Khzarjyan, Austin Cooper, Paula Martinez, Joshua Corpuz, Srushti Wagh, Elias Malek, Todd Schrubb

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

BACKGROUND: Circadian rhythms regulate our physiological and metabolic processes throughout a 24-hour cycle. Disruptions to this rhythm with modern lifestyles creates irregular patterns. One of the most common forms of circadian rhythm disruptions amongst humans happens during the weekends, when people tend to stay up later and sleep in later compared to weekdays. This phenomenon is referred to as social jetlag (SJL).

PURPOSE: To determine whether timed exercise (early vs. late) can reduce the negative effects of social jetlag in mice. More specifically, determining whether exercise conducted in the early or late active phase of mice will impact the effects …

Effect Of Neuroinflammation On Exploratory Behavior In Mice, Gage Pompa, Ariana Mitic, Yader Gomez, Lilian Hagos, Orlando Montiel

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Introduction: Mice have been observed in both laboratory and field settings to exhibit a tendency to remain near corners and walls. This trait is known as positive thigmotaxis. Thigmotaxis has been recognized as a fundamental aspect of rodent behavior and used extensively as an anxiety index in mice. Although this characteristic has been recognized as a fundamental aspect of rodent behavior, thigmotaxis has been extensively studied in rectangular and circular environments. However, there is a notable lack of understanding of how alternative geometric configurations can influence this behavior.

Methods and Approach: Using a grid overlaid on the environment the mice …

Synthesis Of Disulfide Triazole Phosphorus Fire Retardant Via Photochemical Conditions, Jason Liu

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

The development of fire retardants is critical to enhancing fire safety and advancing fire science. The novel synthesis of a disulfide triazole phosphorus thiolacid fire retardant under photochemical conditions, along with relevant testing on plume generation performance, aims to answer our research goals.The proposed specific synthesis and conditions provide for a more efficient and environmentally greener route compared to conventional methods, utilizing photochemical click reactions. Furthermore, the addition of sulfur element to conventionally sole phosphorus-based FR reduces the chance of leaching by increasing the molecular weight of the compound and overcoming the obstacle of low molecular weight problems while also …

Liver-Directed Base Editing Of Abcc6 Prevents Ectopic Calcification In A Variant-Humanized Mouse Model Of Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum, Lauren C. Testa, Dora Obiri-Yeboah, Hooda Said, Ping Qu, Michael A. Levine, Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, Kiran Musunuru, Qiaoli Li, Xiao Wang

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an autosomal recessive connective tissue disorder characterized by ectopic calcification of elastic fibers throughout the skin, retina, and arteries. It is caused by pathogenic variants in ABCC6 , which encodes a transmembrane transporter that primarily localizes to hepatocytes. Loss of ABCC6 function in hepatocytes leads to systemic deficiency of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), a potent inhibitor of calcification; such depletion of PPi from the circulation is responsible for multisystemic ectopic calcification seen in PXE. Therefore, liver-targeted variant correction by genome editing and subsequent restoration of systemic PPi may offer a one-and-done therapeutic approach for PXE. The ABCC6 …

Integrative Profiling Strategies To Guide Personalized Therapy In Mantle Cell Lymphoma: A Pilot Study, Yang Liu, Holly A Hill, Yijing Li, Joseph Mcintosh, Vivian Jiang, Fangfang Yan, Yixin Yao, Yue Fei, Jared Zhang, Lawrence Qu, Jun Yao, Preetesh Jain, Ken Chen, Michael Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) responds to frontline therapy but is susceptible to relapse. While Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi) achieve high response rates, most patients eventually experience disease progression. Predicting responses to subsequent treatments remains challenging due to the lack of an established platform. Heterogeneity in gene alterations and cellular pathways contribute to resistance, complicating treatment approaches. Here, we present a multi-modal profiling platform, targeting key pathways rather than focusing on singular DNA-associated lesions. We identified dysregulated signaling pathways by performing gene expression profiling on 20 MCL samples using a custom MCL MATCH gene set and analyzed the data with …

Shp2: A Redox-Sensitive Regulator Linking Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy To Cancer Treatment And Vascular Risk, Silvia Fernanda López Moreno, Stefania Assunto Lenz, Bernardo Casso-Chapa, Angelica Paniagua-Bojorges, Jung Hyun Kim, Nicolas L Palaskas, Kevin T Nead, Venkata S K Samanthapudi, Gilbert Mejia, Oanh Hoang, Jonghae Lee, Steven H Lin, Joerg Herrmann, Guangyu Wang, Syed Wamique Yusuf, Cezar A Iliescu, Noah I Beinart, Charlotte Manisty, Masuko Ushio-Fukai, Tohru Fukai, Pietro Ameri, Roza I Nurieva, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Keri Schadler, Efstratios Koutroumpakis, Sivareddy Kotla, Nhat-Tu Le, Jun-Ichi Abe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Src homology 2-domain containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (SHP2), encoded by the Ptpn11 gene (Tyrosine-protein phosphatase non-receptor type 11), is a key downstream effector of PD-1/PD-L1 signaling and is likely important, in addition to immune modulation, in tumor development and vascular homeostasis. SHP2 conveys PD-1 mediated inhibitory signaling in T cells, and is emerging as a therapeutic target. Importantly, there is an association between immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and cardiovascular complications, underscoring the need to understand SHP2’s role in these processes. This review aims to summarize current knowledge on SHP2/PTPN11 biology, its role in immune …

Valorization Of Rice Bran For Functional Bioplastic Fabrication Using Plasma-Activated Water, Saydul Md Safwa, Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Keisha B. Walters, Md Mahfuzur Rahman

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

While plasma has been used for decades for the surface modification of packaging films, in this study, rice bran (RB) and rice bran protein (RBP) films were developed using plasma-activated water (PAW), and the chemical composition, surface structure modifications, surface properties, and thermal properties of these films were characterized. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of the bran and protein films showed that the reactive species in PAW improved hydrogen bonding, as evidenced by the increase in the O-H stretching band at 3300 cm-1 and reduced peak intensity at 2940-2925 cm-1 (C-H stretching), suggesting oxidation of the aliphatic side chains. For the …

First Report Of A Bat Guano Fire From A Cave In Southeast Asia, Sopark Jantarit, Martin Ellis, Pruet Kalasuwan, Neeranuch Phusunti, Pimonsri Mittraparp-Arthorn, Jiranan Pattano, Arnon Chukamnerd, Turdtun Tong-In, Natthawut Khrueaaunruean

International Journal of Speleology

Fires occurring in cave guano are a rare and unusual phenomenon and the occurrence of such events in Southeast Asia is particularly novel. In this study, we document the first recorded instance of a bat guano fire in a tropical cave at Tham Chao Ram in Sukhothai province, northern Thailand. A bacteriological analysis was made of the guano at the fire site and from a control site within the cave. We give a comprehensive review of global reports on bat guano fires in caves, conduct an initial investigation of the physical factors at the fire site and discuss the potential …

Navigating Structure, Function, And Stability: Bridging Immunotherapy And Protein Engineering In The Era Of Machine Learning, Christopher J. Haynie

Theses and Dissertations

The immune system is a remarkably adaptive network, yet it often fails to function optimally due to evasion strategies of pathogens or mutated cells. Many of these evasion strategies involve alterations in protein expression and function. Protein design is an area of computational biology with potential applications in improving protein function and therapeutic protein engineering. This thesis explores methods to enhance immune function and protein design across multiple scales, from molecular engineering of antibody fragments and chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to cellular immune responses, and computational approaches for protein structure optimization. We characterize Thymidine Kinase 1-specific single-chain antibodies, highlighting both …

Genome-Wide Association Study Of 398,238 Women Unveils Seven Loci Associated With High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, Daniel R Barnes, Jonathan P Tyrer, Joe Dennis, Goska Leslie, Manjeet K Bolla, Michael Lush, Amber M Aeilts, Kristiina Aittomäki, Nadine Andrieu, Irene L Andrulis, Hoda Anton-Culver, Adalgeir Arason, Banu K Arun, Judith Balmaña, Elisa V Bandera, Rosa B Barkardottir, Lieke P V Berger, Amy Berrington De Gonzalez, Pascaline Berthet, Katarzyna Białkowska, Line Bjørge, Amie M Blanco, Marinus J Blok, Kristie A Bobolis, Natalia V Bogdanova, James D Brenton, Henriett Butz, Saundra S Buys, Maria A Caligo, Ian Campbell, Carmen Castillo, Kathleen B M Claes, Sarah V Colonna, Linda S Cook, Mary B Daly, Agnieszka Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Miguel De La Hoya, Anna Defazio, Allison Depersia, Yuan Chun Ding, Jennifer A Doherty, Susan M Domchek, Thilo Dörk, Zakaria Einbeigi, Christoph Engel, D Gareth Evans, Lenka Foretova, Renée T Fortner, Florentia Fostira, Maria Cristina Foti, Eitan Friedman, Megan N Frone, Patricia A Ganz, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj, Gord Glendon, Andrew K Godwin, Anna González-Neira, Mark H Greene, Jacek Gronwald, Aliana Guerrieri-Gonzaga, Ute Hamann, Thomas V O Hansen, Holly R Harris, Jan Hauke, Florian Heitz, Frans B L Hogervorst, Maartje J Hooning, John L Hopper, Chad D Huff, David G Huntsman, Evgeny N Imyanitov, Louise Izatt, Anna Jakubowska, Paul A James, Ramunas Janavicius, Esther M John, Siddhartha Kar, Beth Y Karlan, Catherine J Kennedy, Lambertus A L M Kiemeney, Irene Konstantopoulou, Jolanta Kupryjanczyk, Yael Laitman, Ofer Lavie, Kate Lawrenson, Jenny Lester, Fabienne Lesueur, Carlos Lopez-Pleguezuelos, Phuong L Mai, Siranoush Manoukian, Taymaa May, Iain A Mcneish, Usha Menon, Roger L Milne, Francesmary Modugno, Jennifer M Mongiovi, Marco Montagna, Kirsten B Moysich, Susan L Neuhausen, Finn C Nielsen, Catherine Noguès, Edit Oláh, Olufunmilayo I Olopade, Ana Osorio, Laura Papi, Harsh Pathak, Celeste L Pearce, Inge S Pedersen, Ana Peixoto, Tanja Pejovic, Pei-Chen Peng, Beth N Peshkin, Paolo Peterlongo, C Bethan Powell, Darya Prokofyeva, Miquel Angel Pujana, Paolo Radice, Muhammad U Rashid, Gad Rennert, George Richenberg, Dale P Sandler, Naoko Sasamoto, Veronica W Setiawan, Priyanka Sharma, Weiva Sieh, Christian F Singer, Katie Snape, Anna P Sokolenko, Penny Soucy, Melissa C Southey, Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Rebecca Sutphen, Christian Sutter, Yen Y Tan, Manuel R Teixeira, Kathryn L Terry, Liv Cecilie V Thomsen, Marc Tischkowitz, Amanda E Toland, Toon Van Gorp, Ana Vega, Digna R Velez Edwards, Penelope M Webb, Jeffrey N Weitzel, Nicolas Wentzensen, Alice S Whittemore, Stacey J Winham, Anna H Wu, Siddhartha Yadav, Yao Yu, Argyrios Ziogas, Andrew Berchuck, Fergus J Couch, Ellen L Goode, Marc T Goodman, Alvaro N Monteiro, Kenneth Offit, Susan J Ramus, Harvey A Risch, Joellen M Schildkraut, Mads Thomassen, Jacques Simard, Douglas F Easton, Michelle R Jones, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Simon A Gayther, Antonis C Antoniou, Paul D P Pharoah

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nineteen genomic regions have been associated with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). We meta-analyzed >22 million variants for 398,238 women from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), UK Biobank (UKBB) and Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/BRCA2 (CIMBA) to identify novel HGSOC susceptibility loci. Eight novel variants were associated with HGSOC risk. An interesting discovery biologically was TP53 3’-UTR SNP rs78378222-T’s association with HGSOC (per-T-allele relative risk (RR) = 1.44, 95% CI:1.28–1.62, P = 1.76 × 10−9). Polygenic scores (PGS) were developed using OCAC and CIMBA data and trained on FinnGen data. The optimal PGS included 64,518 …

Acute Myeloid Leukemia With T(10; 17)(P15; Q21)/ Zmynd11::Mbtd1: A Subtype With Minimal Differentiation, Cd7/Cd56 Expression, And Generally Poor Outcomes In Adults, Qing Wei, Naveen Pemmaraju, Sa A Wang, Shimin Hu, Courtney Dinardo, Ghayas C Issa, Carlos E Bueso-Ramos, Jie Xu, Shaoying Li, Jeffrey L Medeiros, Guilin Tang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Five-Year Follow-Up Analysis Of Zuma-5: Axicabtagene Ciloleucel In Relapsed/Refractory Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Sattva S Neelapu, Julio C Chavez, Alison R Sehgal, Narendranath Epperla, Matthew L Ulrickson, Emmanuel Bachy, Pashna N Munshi, Carla Casulo, David G Maloney, Sven De Vos, Ran Reshef, Lori A Leslie, Olalekan O Oluwole, Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha, Rashmi Khanal, Joseph D Rosenblatt, Jacob Wulff, Rhine R Shen, Wangshu Zhang, Soumya Poddar, Harry Miao, Olga Nikolajeva, Caron A Jacobson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) is an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy approved for relapsed/refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL). Here, we report updated clinical outcomes from ZUMA-5 in 159 enrolled patients with R/R indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL; 127 with FL and 31 with marginal zone lymphoma) after a median follow-up of 64.6 months. Patients underwent leukapheresis and received lymphodepleting chemotherapy and axi-cel (2 × 106 CAR T cells/kg). The overall response rate was 90% (75% complete response rate). The median duration of response was 60.4 months, and the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 62.2 months; median time to next …

Early Tumor Volume Reduction By Breast Dce Mri Predicts Pathologic Complete Response To Neoadjuvant Therapy In Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Mary S Guirguis, Beatriz E Adrada, Clinton Yam, Debu Tripathy, Rosalind Candelaria, Wei Yang, Miral Patel, Tanya Moseley, Frances Perez, Gary J Whitman, Jessica W T Leung, Huong Le-Petross, Deanna L Lane, Lei Huo, Jennifer K Litton, Vicente Valero, Kelly K Hunt, Banu Arun, Rania Mohamed, Jia Sun, Anil Korkut, Zhan Xu, Sanaz Pashapoor, Jason White, Jong Bum Son, Alastair Thompson, Peng Wei, Jingfei Ma, Stacy Moulder, Gaiane M Rauch

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease with variable response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST). Patients with pathologic complete response (pCR) following NAST have improved survival. Our goal was to establish readily accessible imaging biomarker to identify which TNBC patients will have pCR. Building on prior favorable results in the literature, we hypothesized that manually measured tumor volume changes at DCE-MRI may predict pCR early during NAST. This prospective study included 287 stage I-III TNBC patients who underwent DCE-MRI at baseline, after two and four cycles of NAST, with pCR accessed at surgery (NCT02276443). Tumor volume and percentage tumor …

Evaluating Policy And Industry-Based Interventions For Healthier Online Food-Away-From-Home Choices: A Scoping Review, Vincenzina Caputo, Jiayu Sun, Ellen J. Van Loo

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

The rapid digital transformation of the food-away-from-home (FAFH) sector has redefined how consumers access and select meals. Digital delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Meituan have become influential market intermediaries, shaping the nutritional landscape of food environments and raising concerns about their healthfulness. This study reviews empirical evidence on policy-based and industry-led interventions aimed at improving dietary outcomes in digital FAFH environments. Following PRISMA guidelines and using machine-learning–assisted screening (ASReview), 37 peer-reviewed studies were identified across four domains: nutritional labeling, fiscal measures, food-assistance programs, and digital nudges or decision-support tools. Findings indicate that although traditional food-policy instruments designed …

Tca Cycle Mode Switch Determines The Fate Of Pirtobrutinib-Tolerant Persister Cells In Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Wei Wang, Qingsong Cai, Yang Liu, Lei Nie, Heng-Huan Lee, Fangfang Yan, Yue Fei, Yixin Yao, Yijing Li, Lin Tan, Philip L Lorenzi, Ying-Nai Wang, Jun Yao, Zhihong Chen, Joseph Mitchell Mcintosh, Cheng-Tai Yu, Preetesh Jain, Vivian C Jiang, Jovanny Vargas, Xiaolin Li, Tianci Zhang, Shaoying Li, David Santos, Selvi Thirumurthi, Erin Heather Seeley, Lukas Mikolaj Simon, Christopher Flowers, Chi Young Ok, Michael Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKis) and cell therapy have successfully been used to treat mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). However, therapy resistance inevitably emerges. Cancer cells can progressively develop stable resistance by traversing through a transient drug-tolerant persister (DTP) state. The mechanisms enabling DTP cells to reversibly adapt to therapies and evolve to acquire heterogeneity remain poorly understood, and characterizing DTP cells in MCL continues to pose a challenge for clinic translation. Here, using pirtobrutinib, a recently US Food and Drug Administration-approved noncovalent BTKi, we identified pirtobrutinib-tolerant persister cells exhibiting morphological variability by presenting a unique population of enlarged cells (giant …

Conjunctival Melanoma Genomic Analysis Reveals Intermediate Tumor Mutation Burden And Genomic Overlap With Cutaneous Melanoma, Florentia Dimitriou, Xiaogang Wu, Priyadharsini Nagarajan, Isabella C Glitza, Li Zhao, Jing Ning, Sapna P Patel, Jennifer A Wargo, Andrew Futreal, Scott Woodman, Jennifer L Mcquade, Bita Esmaeli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Conjunctival melanoma (CJM) is a rare and aggressive malignancy. Mainly attributed to its rarity, the genomic features of CJM have not been well characterized. In the present study, we sequenced the exomes of primary and metastatic CJM tumors with the aim to unravel their genomic landscape. The results of the study suggest that CJM is a molecularly distinct melanoma subtype with mixed genotype and targetable mutations. Notably, there were features overlapping with both mucosal, and mainly cutaneous melanoma. Of note, some genetic alterations were found in association with specific subsets of CJM, such as bulbar anatomical localization. CJM tumors had …

A Bioarchaeological Study Of The Individuals From The Városfalva Burial Mound In Transylvania, Romania (15th-19th Century), Vanessa C. Reeves

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the lives and deaths of the Szekler people recovered from a burial mound in the Transylvanian village of Városfalva. The Transylvanian plateau is located in present day Romania, and is protected on the east and the south by the Carpathian Mountains. The Szekler people arrived in this area around 1000 CE, and were a nomadic group originating in the Asian Steppes region who later intermarried with various migratory groups as they moved across the Eurasian plains. The Szeklers eventually banded together with the proto-Hungarian Magyar peoples and settled in the Carpathian Basin, the easternmost frontier of the …

Allergenai: A Deep Learning Model Predicting Allergenicity Based On Protein Sequence, Jiajia Liu, Surendra S Negi, Chengyuan Yang, Xiaobo Zhou, Catherine H Schein, Werner Braun, Pora Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Innovations in protein engineering offer promising solutions for redesigning allergenic proteins to minimize adverse reactions in sensitive individuals. Earlier models for predicting allergenicity have relied on the knowledge of physicochemical properties and sequence homology to assess the potential risk. However, to better understand the allergenic proteins’ sequence features, we need a novel sequence-based deep learning model for predicting allergenicity.

RESULTS: We present a novel AI-based tool, AllergenAI, to quantify the allergenic potential of a protein’s sequence without using any other known features. Our study utilized allergenic protein sequence data archived in the three well-established databases, SDAP 2.0, COMPARE, and …

Using Machine Learning For Early Prediction Of In-Hospital Mortality During Icu Admission In Liver Cancer Patients, Zhuo Zheng, Jinhong Xia, Jiawei Luo, Lei Du, Xiaobo Zhou, Xiaoyan Yang, Yan Xia, Mengyao Liu, Shixin Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Liver cancer has a high incidence and mortality rate globally, particularly in patients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Early prediction of in-hospital mortality for these patients is crucial, yet lacking reliable tools. This study aims to develop and evaluate machine learning (ML) models for predicting in-hospital mortality in critically ill liver cancer patients admitted to the ICU. This retrospective study used data from the MIMIC-III and MIMIC-IV databases, including 862 patients from MIMIC-III (training cohort) and 692 patients from MIMIC-IV (validation cohort). The study focused on patients diagnosed with liver cancer, identified by specific ICD codes. Four ML algorithms, …

Prognosis And Treatment Response Stratification According To Loss Of Proofreading (Lop), Giulia Maddalena, Fadl A Zeineddine, Saikat Chowdhury, Mohammad A Zeineddine, Abdelrahman M Yousef, Francesca Bergamo, Sara Lonardi, Timothy A Yap, Michael Geoffrey White, Michael J Overman, Scott Kopetz, John Paul Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Only a subset of polymerase epsilon (POLE) mutations is associated with hypermutant phenotype; we hypothesized that only loss-of-proofreading (LOP) POLE mutations are associated with favorable immunotherapy response.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included a pan-cancer cohort of 69,223 patients from cBioPortal and a cohort of patients with 41 POLE mutant metastatic colorectal (CRC) treated with immunotherapy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center between January 2017 and May 2023. We evaluated prognosis according to POLE mutation functionality.

Results: In the pan-cancer cBioPortal cohort (n=69,223) POLE was mutated in 2.8% (1,965) of tumors; of these, only 7.5% (n=148) had …

Voices: Future Directions In Targeting The Tumor Microenvironment, Tanja De Gruijl, Catherine Sautès-Fridman, Daniela S Thommen, Michael A Curran

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

What do you envision as the most promising future directions for therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating the tumor microenvironment?

Autostent: A Semi-Automated Approach To Designing Customized 3d-Printed Oral Radiation Stents For Patients With Head And Neck Cancer, Anshuman Agrawal, Rance B Tino, Mohamed Zaid, Millicent Roach, Lianchun Xiao, Mark S Chambers, Anna Lee, Eugene J Koay

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Oral stents may reduce toxicities during radiation therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC). Customized 3D-printed oral stents offer faster production and achieve comparable patient-reported outcomes to conventionally fabricated stents. However, their design process remains time-consuming, lacks standardization, and relies heavily on skilled technicians. We hypothesized that semi-automating the design process for 3D-printed, mouth-opening, tongue-depressing (MOTD) stents could standardize the design workflow and decrease design time.

Methods: Using oral stent design principles established over decades by oral oncologists, we created a customized computer program (Autostent) using MATLAB to semi-automate the design process of MOTD stents. We subsequently compared Autostent …

Turfgrass Weed Control For Professionals, 2024, Aaron J. Patton, Matthew T. Elmore

Purdue University Press Books

Turfgrass is used on everything from athletic fields, golf courses, and parks, to lawns, sod farms, and roadsides. Unfortunately, information on weed management for professionals maintaining these areas has often been inaccurate or out of date, and applicators are frequently unaware of the most effective methods for controlling weeds in turf. Written by experts in the field and featuring insights from contributors from sixteen states across the US, the 2024 edition of Turfgrass Weed Control for Professionals was developed to provide science-based information for those working in the field. It contains information about turfgrass management, weed biology and management, more …