Digital Commons Network^™

Fireworks And Wood Combustion Impacts On Air Quality, Iris Keller

DePaul Discoveries

Fire is used as a land management tool to improve ecosystem health and to reduce wildfire risk by lowering tree and litter density. However, prescribed fire as a management practice has faced difficulties with public perception, because of increased awareness of air pollution. Understanding the way that prescribed burns impact air quality and how beneficial they are for ecosystems can help the public to recognize their necessity. This study measured particulate matter (PM) emissions from prescribed burns but also considered other PM sources: fireworks and bonfires. The measurements were conducted in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Chicagoland area in the summer …

Factors Motivating Clothing Choice: Environmental Impact Of T-Shirts, Lauren Hunt

DePaul Discoveries

Second only to oil, the fashion industry is one of the most pollutive industries globally. Due to the rise of fast fashion, this environmental issue is continually growing. The level of production has dramatically increased while quality of apparel has decreased, causing shorter garment lifespans. This research utilizes life cycle assessment to identify the environmental impacts of various textiles used in the production of t-shirts, including cotton, polyester, viscose, and elastane. The research scope focuses from material extraction through garment disposal. The life cycle assessment research is paired with a community survey to determine consumer behavioral patterns surrounding clothing consumption …

Environmental Justice And Soil Lead Contamination: Spatial Analysis Across Seven Community Areas, Arsene Lionel Apabaga

DePaul Discoveries

Pb is a pervasive metal with toxicity linked to numerous human health issues. Urban soil is a well-documented environmental sink for Pb, persisting as a legacy pollutant decades after the phaseout of leaded gasoline. This study measured, mapped, and analyzed the spatial distribution of total soil Pb concentrations across seven Chicago Community Areas (CCAs). The objectives were to: (1) assess the relationship between mean soil Pb concentration and mean Community Environmental Justice Index (CEJI) score per CCA, (2) determine the relationship between soil Pb levels and the percentage of industrial land use, and (3) quantify and compare the percentage of …

Values And Barriers: A Multidimensional View Of College Students’ Motivations To Volunteer, Gavin Warner, Quang Anh Nguyen, Ansuk Jeong

DePaul Discoveries

University students tend to have ample access to many resources for volunteering and so are in a unique position among Americans. With all the benefits of volunteering outlined in past research, the students training to become leaders in their fields may have the most to gain from volunteerism. It is surprising, then, to note that young people are less likely to volunteer than other age groups. Why is it that college students tend to volunteer at such low rates? The current study seeks to answer this question through a mixed-methods survey. A qualitative section clarified which specific barriers students felt …

“Put Me In Coach!”: The Impact Of College Sport Team’S Mentorship In Chronically Ill And Disabled Children And Adolescents Adherence To Medical Regimen, Jameela Askira

DePaul Discoveries

The purpose of this study was to see if participation in TeamIMPACT, a program which matches ill children with college sports teams, aided chronically ill children and adolescents in adhering to their treatment regimen. This research is a part of a larger study where 25 child participants were interviewed via Zoom to answer questions regarding their time in the program, peer and family relationships, coping and resilience and other factors. The current study solely analyzed answers to questions regarding adherence to medical treatments. There were three measures: Child vs Parent Response, Treatment Regimen Components and Care Responsibility. Through a descriptive …

Using Synchrotron Wide-Angle X-Ray Scattering To Study Collagen Degradation In Second Metacarpal Bones, Zeel Sheth, Misha Romanov, Ruby Schwieger

DePaul Discoveries

The study examines female human second metacarpal (mc2) bones from early medieval cemetery at Greding, Germany, using high-energy Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) at beamline 1-ID of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. Rietveld refinement showed that carbonated apatite lattice parameters did not correlate with estimated age-at-death. For six of the mc2, widths of 00.2 and 00.4 diffraction peaks were substantially narrower than those of a modern (non-diagenetically altered) mc2 and of the other four ancient mc2. The peak width results are interpreted as indicating that four of the ten ancient mc2 retain substantial collagen and six of …

Modified 2-Quinolinones For Photocatalysis: The Fluorescence Quantum Yield (Φf) Of Novel 2-Quinolinone Derivatives, Reggina Moreno Trevino, Graham Griffin

DePaul Discoveries

The photophysical properties of novel 2-quinolinone derivatives were examined to evaluate their potential as photocatalysts using fluorescence and UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy. The fluorescence quantum yields were determined via the relative comparative method, using target absorbance values at a specific wavelength to prepare solutions and comparing these measurements to the reference molecule carbostyril-124. Molar absorptivity values were also calculated to assess the light absorption properties for each compound. Among the derivatives, PAV-3 presented with the highest molar absorptivity and fluorescence quantum yield values (ε= 15297.3 M-1 cm-1, ΦF= 17.1%), while PAV-5 showed the lowest (ε= 4796.2 M-1 cm-1, ΦF= 2.3%). The …

Race/Ethnicity, Living Arrangements, And Access To Healthcare Among Older Adults With Alzheimer’S Disease In The United States: Multiple Systematic Reviews In Relation To Health Outcomes, Chela Reiss, Grace Vethacke

DePaul Discoveries

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition primarily affecting older adults. It is a growing public health crisis that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. The number of adults aged 65 and older is projected to reach 98.2 million by 2060, leading to a continued rise in the prevalence of AD. Understanding the socioeconomic factors that influence health outcomes in patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) is essential in addressing the disparities within patient care and quality of life. This systematic review examined three socioeconomic factors - race/ethnicity, living arrangements, and access to healthcare - and their related health …

Depaul Discoveries Volume 14 Cover Art, Reggina Moreno Trevino

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.

Life Of Moo Deng, The Internet Sensation Pygmy Hippopotamus: An Overview Of The Biology And Conservation Breeding Program In Thailand, Ampika Thongphakdee, Atthapon Nundee, Umaporn Maikeaw, Narongwit Chodchoy, Chainarong Punkong, Kaywalee Chatdarong

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

The hippopotamus, commonly known as the hippo, is classified into two extant species: the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) and the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis). Pygmy hippos are fascinating creatures native to the forests and swamps of West Africa. Their survival is increasingly threatened by habitat loss resulting from agricultural expansion and urban development. As the population declines, zoological institutions play a crucial role in conservation by acting as genetic reservoirs and promoting public awareness of wildlife and environmental protection. “Moo Deng”, a pygmy hippo, whose name in Thai has gained international recognition, represents a notable success …

Computational And Imaging Approaches For Precision Characterization Of Bone, Cartilage, And Synovial Biomolecules., Rahul Kumar, Kyle Sporn, Vibhav Prabhakar, Ahab Alnemri, Akshay Khanna, Phani Paladugu, Chirag Gowda, Louis Clarkson, Nasif Zaman, Alireza Tavakkoli

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Degenerative joint diseases (DJDs) involve intricate molecular disruptions within bone, cartilage, and synovial tissues, often preceding overt radiographic changes. These tissues exhibit complex biomolecular architectures and their degeneration leads to microstructural disorganization and inflammation that are challenging to detect with conventional imaging techniques. This review aims to synthesize recent advances in imaging, computational modeling, and sequencing technologies that enable high-resolution, non-invasive characterization of joint tissue health. Methods: We examined advanced modalities including high-resolution MRI (e.g., T1ρ, sodium MRI), quantitative and dual-energy CT (qCT, DECT), and ultrasound elastography, integrating them with radiomics, deep learning, and multi-scale modeling approaches. We …

Hemp Cultivation Under Off-Season High Tunnel Growth Chamber Environments In South Louisiana, Gabriel Lococo

LSU Master's Theses

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) production in Louisiana began in 2020 with 932 acres cultivated for fiber and cannabidiol (CBD) extraction. By 2024, production had declined to just 58.4 acres (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, personal communication). During the 2020–2021 season, over 40% of field-grown hemp was lost due to tropical storms, insect pressure, and diseases associated with warm, wet conditions. To mitigate these challenges, hemp was planted and harvested between November and January, a cooler period with reduced environmental stress.

‘Sour Citron’, a day-neutral cultivar, was selected for its insensitivity to photoperiod, enabling flowering during shorter days. …

From Novice To Expert: Preparing Your Peer Review, Diana M Proctor, Rachy Abraham, Shannon Esher Righi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Peer review is the process by which the quality of scholarly work is assessed prior to being published, presented, or funded. The consequences of flawed research entering the public domain in the "post-truth" era highlight the need to improve peer review quality, which we believe can be achieved by standardizing training. Here, we aim to enhance the quality of published literature by presenting a systematic guide to train new reviewers (and aid experienced ones) in the art of peer reviewing the rigor of scientific manuscripts.

Wdr2 Regulates The Orphan Kinesin Kin-G To Promote Hook Complex And Golgi Biogenesis In Trypanosoma Brucei, Qing Zhou, Huiqing Hu, Ziyin Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The flagellum in Trypanosoma brucei plays crucial roles in cell locomotion, cell morphogenesis, and cell division, and its inheritance depends on the faithful duplication of multiple flagellum-associated structures. One of such cytoskeletal structures is a hairpin-like structure termed the hook complex, composed of a fishhook-like structure and a centrin arm structure, whose cellular functions remain poorly understood. We recently identified KIN-G, an orphan kinesin that promotes hook complex and Golgi biogenesis. Here we report a WD40 repeat-containing protein named WD40 Repeat-containing protein 2 (WDR2), which interacts with and regulates KIN-G. WDR2 co-localizes with KIN-G at the centrin arm, and knockdown …

Systematic Analysis Of Nonsense Variants Uncovers Peptide Release Rate As A Novel Modifier Of Nonsense-Mediated Mrna Decay, Divya Kolakada, Rui Fu, Nikita Biziaev, Alexey Shuvalov, Mlana Lore, Amy E Campbell, Michael A Cortázar, Marcin P Sajek, Jay R Hesselberth, Neelanjan Mukherjee, Elena Alkalaeva, Zeynep H Coban-Akdemir, Sujatha Jagannathan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The phenotypic impact of nonsense variants is determined by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), which degrades transcripts with premature termination codons (PTCs). Despite the clinical importance of nonsense variants, transcript-specific and context-dependent variations in NMD activity remain poorly understood. Here, we show that the amino acid preceding the PTC strongly influences NMD activity. Glycine codons promote robust NMD efficiency and show striking enrichment before PTCs but are depleted before normal termination codons. Glycine-PTC enrichment is particularly pronounced in genes tolerant to loss-of-function variants, suggesting efficient elimination of truncated proteins from nonessential genes. We further demonstrate that the peptide release rate during …

Modulation Of Redox-Sensitive Cardiac Ion Channels, Rawan S. Orfali, Al Hassan Gamal El-Din, Varnika Karthik, Elisanjer Lamis, Vanna Xiao, Alena Ramanishka, Abdullah Alwatban, Osama Alkhamees, Ali Alaseem, Young-Woo Nam, Miao Zhang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Redox regulation is crucial for the cardiac action potential, coordinating the sodium-driven depolarization, calcium-mediated plateau formation, and potassium-dependent repolarization processes required for proper heart function. Under physiological conditions, low-level reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated by mitochondria and membrane oxidases, adjust ion channel function and support excitation–contraction coupling. However, when ROS accumulate, they modify a variety of important channel proteins in cardiomyocytes, which commonly results in reducing potassium currents, enhancing sodium and calcium influx, and enhancing intracellular calcium release. These redox-driven alterations disrupt the cardiac rhythm, promote after-depolarizations, impair contractile force, and accelerate the development of heart diseases. Experimental models demonstrate …

Acute Effect Of A Multi-Ingredient Pre-Workout Supplement On Pacing And Kinetic Expression During Shorter And Longer Bouts Of High Intensity Functional Training, Gerald Mangine, Christopher Staples, James W. Henley, Ashley Hines, Kristyn C. Mcgeehan, Wysmark Chaves, Wil King, Tiffany A. Esmat, John R. Mclester, Jacob L. Grazer

Faculty Articles

Background: High-intensity functional training (HIFT) varies daily workout programming, and trainees are often tasked with completing “as many repetitions as possible” (AMRAP) within a set time. Successful performance depends on fatigue management skills and maintaining a consistent expression of force and velocity when performing and transitioning between exercises over the duration of the workout. Multi-ingredient preworkout (MIPS) supplement formulations often contain ingredients shown to facilitate energy availability and mitigate fatigue, and therefore, might positively affect HIFT performance. This study aimed to assess a multi-ingredient pre-workout supplement’s acute effect on pacing and the expression of kinetics throughout a 5- and 15-minute …

Towards Fair Decentralized Benchmarking Of Healthcare Ai Algorithms With The Federated Tumor Segmentation (Fets) Challenge, Maximilian Zenk, Ujjwal Baid, Sarthak Pati, Akis Linardos, Brandon Edwards, Micah Sheller, Patrick Foley, Alejandro Aristizabal, David Zimmerer, Alexey Gruzdev, Jason Martin, Russell T Shinohara, Annika Reinke, Fabian Isensee, Santhosh Parampottupadam, Kaushal Parekh, Ralf Floca, Hasan Kassem, Bhakti Baheti, Siddhesh Thakur, Verena Chung, Kaisar Kushibar, Karim Lekadir, Meirui Jiang, Youtan Yin, Hongzheng Yang, Quande Liu, Cheng Chen, Qi Dou, Pheng-Ann Heng, Xiaofan Zhang, Shaoting Zhang, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Ayyaz Azeem, Mojtaba Jafaritadi, Esa Alhoniemi, Elina Kontio, Suleiman A Khan, Leon Mächler, Ivan Ezhov, Florian Kofler, Suprosanna Shit, Johannes C Paetzold, Timo Loehr, Benedikt Wiestler, Himashi Peiris, Kamlesh Pawar, Shenjun Zhong, Zhaolin Chen, Munawar Hayat, Gary Egan, Mehrtash Harandi, Ece Isik Polat, Gorkem Polat, Altan Kocyigit, Alptekin Temizel, Anup Tuladhar, Lakshay Tyagi, Raissa Souza, Nils D Forkert, Pauline Mouches, Matthias Wilms, Vishruth Shambhat, Akansh Maurya, Shubham Subhas Danannavar, Rohit Kalla, Vikas Kumar Anand, Ganapathy Krishnamurthi, Sahil Nalawade, Chandan Ganesh, Ben Wagner, Divya Reddy, Yudhajit Das, Fang F Yu, Baowei Fei, Ananth J Madhuranthakam, Joseph Maldjian, Gaurav Singh, Jianxun Ren, Wei Zhang, Ning An, Qingyu Hu, Youjia Zhang, Ying Zhou, Vasilis Siomos, Giacomo Tarroni, Jonathan Passerrat-Palmbach, Ambrish Rawat, Giulio Zizzo, Swanand Ravindra Kadhe, Jonathan P Epperlein, Stefano Braghin, Yuan Wang, Renuga Kanagavelu, Qingsong Wei, Yechao Yang, Yong Liu, Krzysztof Kotowski, Szymon Adamski, Bartosz Machura, Wojciech Malara, Lukasz Zarudzki, Jakub Nalepa, Yaying Shi, Hongjian Gao, Salman Avestimehr, Yonghong Yan, Agus S Akbar, Ekaterina Kondrateva, Hua Yang, Zhaopei Li, Hung-Yu Wu, Johannes Roth, Camillo Saueressig, Alexandre Milesi, Quoc D Nguyen, Nathan J Gruenhagen, Tsung-Ming Huang, Jun Ma, Har Shwinder H Singh, Nai-Yu Pan, Dingwen Zhang, Ramy A Zeineldin, Michal Futrega, Yading Yuan, Gian Marco Conte, Xue Feng, Quan D Pham, Yong Xia, Zhifan Jiang, Huan Minh Luu, Mariia Dobko, Alexandre Carré, Bair Tuchinov, Hassan Mohy-Ud-Din, Saruar Alam, Anup Singh, Nameeta Shah, Weichung Wang, Chiharu Sako, Michel Bilello, Satyam Ghodasara, Suyash Mohan, Christos Davatzikos, Evan Calabrese, Jeffrey Rudie, Javier Villanueva-Meyer, Soonmee Cha, Christopher Hess, John Mongan, Madhura Ingalhalikar, Manali Jadhav, Umang Pandey, Jitender Saini, Raymond Y Huang, Ken Chang, Minh-Son To, Sargam Bhardwaj, Chee Chong, Marc Agzarian, Michal Kozubek, Filip Lux, Jan Michálek, Petr Matula, Miloš Ker Kovský, Tereza Kopr Ivová, Marek Dostál, Václav Vybíhal, Marco C Pinho, James Holcomb, Marie Metz, Rajan Jain, Matthew D Lee, Yvonne W Lui, Pallavi Tiwari, Ruchika Verma, Rohan Bareja, Ipsa Yadav, Jonathan Chen, Neeraj Kumar, Yuriy Gusev, Krithika Bhuvaneshwar, Anousheh Sayah, Camelia Bencheqroun, Anas Belouali, Subha Madhavan, Rivka R Colen, Aikaterini Kotrotsou, Philipp Vollmuth, Gianluca Brugnara, Chandrakanth J Preetha, Felix Sahm, Martin Bendszus, Wolfgang Wick, Abhishek Mahajan, Carmen Balaña, Jaume Capellades, Josep Puig, Yoon Seong Choi, Seung-Koo Lee, Jong Hee Chang, Sung Soo Ahn, Hassan F Shaykh, Alejandro Herrera-Trujillo, Maria Trujillo, William Escobar, Ana Abello, Jose Bernal, Jhon Gómez, Pamela Lamontagne, Daniel S Marcus, Mikhail Milchenko, Arash Nazeri, Bennett Landman, Karthik Ramadass, Kaiwen Xu, Silky Chotai, Lola B Chambless, Akshitkumar Mistry, Reid C Thompson, Ashok Srinivasan, J Rajiv Bapuraj, Arvind Rao, Nicholas Wang, Ota Yoshiaki, Toshio Moritani, Sevcan Turk, Joonsang Lee, Snehal Prabhudesai, John Garrett, Matthew Larson, Robert Jeraj, Hongwei Li, Tobias Weiss, Michael Weller, Andrea Bink, Bertrand Pouymayou, Sonam Sharma, Tzu-Chi Tseng, Saba Adabi, Alexandre Xavier Falcão, Samuel B Martins, Bernardo C A Teixeira, Flávia Sprenger, David Menotti, Diego R Lucio, Simone P Niclou, Olivier Keunen, Ann-Christin Hau, Enrique Pelaez, Heydy Franco-Maldonado, Francis Loayza, Sebastian Quevedo, Richard Mckinley, Johannes Slotboom, Piotr Radojewski, Raphael Meier, Roland Wiest, Johannes Trenkler, Josef Pichler, Georg Necker, Andreas Haunschmidt, Stephan Meckel, Pamela Guevara, Esteban Torche, Cristobal Mendoza, Franco Vera, Elvis Ríos, Eduardo López, Sergio A Velastin, Joseph Choi, Stephen Baek, Yusung Kim, Heba Ismael, Bryan Allen, John M Buatti, Peter Zampakis, Vasileios Panagiotopoulos, Panagiotis Tsiganos, Sotiris Alexiou, Ilias Haliassos, Evangelia I Zacharaki, Konstantinos Moustakas, Christina Kalogeropoulou, Dimitrios M Kardamakis, Bing Luo, Laila M Poisson, Ning Wen, Martin Vallières, Mahdi Ait Lhaj Loutfi, David Fortin, Martin Lepage, Fanny Morón, Jacob Mandel, Gaurav Shukla, Spencer Liem, Gregory S Alexandre, Joseph Lombardo, Joshua D Palmer, Adam E Flanders, Adam P Dicker, Godwin Ogbole, Dotun Oyekunle, Olubunmi Odafe-Oyibotha, Babatunde Osobu, Mustapha Shu'aibu Hikima, Mayowa Soneye, Farouk Dako, Adeleye Dorcas, Derrick Murcia, Eric Fu, Rourke Haas, John A Thompson, David Ryan Ormond, Stuart Currie, Kavi Fatania, Russell Frood, Amber L Simpson, Jacob J Peoples, Ricky Hu, Danielle Cutler, Fabio Y Moraes, Anh Tran, Mohammad Hamghalam, Michael A Boss, James Gimpel, Deepak Kattil Veettil, Kendall Schmidt, Lisa Cimino, Cynthia Price, Brian Bialecki, Sailaja Marella, Charles Apgar, Andras Jakab, Marc-André Weber, Errol Colak, Jens Kleesiek, John B Freymann, Justin S Kirby, Lena Maier-Hein, Jake Albrecht, Peter Mattson, Alexandros Karargyris, Prashant Shah, Bjoern Menze, Klaus Maier-Hein, Spyridon Bakas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Computational competitions are the standard for benchmarking medical image analysis algorithms, but they typically use small curated test datasets acquired at a few centers, leaving a gap to the reality of diverse multicentric patient data. To this end, the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) Challenge represents the paradigm for real-world algorithmic performance evaluation. The FeTS challenge is a competition to benchmark (i) federated learning aggregation algorithms and (ii) state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms, across multiple international sites. Weight aggregation and client selection techniques were compared using a multicentric brain tumor dataset in realistic federated learning simulations, yielding benefits for adaptive weight aggregation, and …

Opposing Roles For Myeloid And Smooth Muscle Cell Sting In Pulmonary Hypertension, Ann T Pham, Shiza Virk, Aline C Oliveira, Matthew D Alves, Chunhua Fu, Yutao Zhang, Jimena Alvarez-Castanon, Brian B Lee, Keira L Lee, Radwan Mashina, Katherine E Ray, Patrick Donabedian, Elnaz Ebrahimi, Harsh Patel, Reeha Patel, Duncan Lewis, Zhiguang Huo, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Li Chen, Lei Jin, Andrew J Bryant

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

There is an emerging role for stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling in pulmonary hypertension (PH) development. Related to this, prior research has demonstrated the relevance of immune checkpoint protein programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression by immunoregulatory myeloid cells in PH. However, there remains a need to elucidate the cell-specific role of STING expression, and the STING/PD-L1 signaling axis in PH, before readily available disease-modifying therapies can be applied for patients with the disease. Here, through generation of bone marrow chimeric mice, we show that STING-/- mice receiving WT bone marrow were protected against PH secondary to chronic hypoxia. …

Pi(4)P Recruits Cide Proteins To Promote The Formation Of Unilocular Lipid Droplets During Adipogenesis And Hepatic Steatosis, Jin Wu, Mingming Gao, Xiaoqin Wu, Yang Liu, Taiping Zhang, Yan Liang, Haixia Yang, Chengxin Ma, Youpi Ye, Chunmei Chang, Peng Li, Feng-Jung Chen, Hongyuan Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lipid droplets (LDs) are evolutionarily conserved organelles that play important roles in metabolism. Each LD is enclosed by a monolayer of phospholipids, distinct from bilayer membranes. The composition of LD surface phospholipids and their impact on LD growth and function remain to be defined. Phosphoinositides mark cellular organelles and regulate organellar function. Here, we demonstrate that PI(4)P decorates a subset of LDs to recruit and activate CIDE proteins. Enhanced expression of ORP2 and ORP5, LD-associated lipid transfer proteins that remove PI(4)P from LDs, abolished the localization and function of CIDE proteins. Blocking the synthesis of PI(4)P on the LD surface …

Nivolumab Plus Relatlimab For Patients With Relapsed Or Progressed B-Cell Malignancies In Relativity-022, Ajay K Gopal, Philippe Armand, Sattva S Neelapu, Nancy L Bartlett, Stephen E Spurgeon, John Kuruvilla, Kerry J Savage, John P Leonard, Arnold B Gelb, Nasir Ahmed, Shiqi Dong, Sai Praneeth Bathena, Rasika Suryawanshi, Jenny Qun Wu, Sheen Wang, Douglas E Gladstone

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite high response rates, anti-programmed death 1 (anti-PD-1) monotherapy eventually fails in most patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and is ineffective in most other B-cell malignancies. The lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) cell-surface receptor represents another immune checkpoint that can be targeted to induce remissions in these diseases; dual inhibition of PD-1 and LAG-3 is approved in advanced melanoma. We performed a multicenter phase 1/2a open-label study of the anti-LAG-3 antibody relatlimab (RELATIVITY-022) administered as monotherapy or in combination with nivolumab in patients with R/R B-cell malignancies. We treated 106 patients and no dose-limiting toxicities were observed during …

Extracellular Vesicles In Cancer: From Isolation And Characterization To Metastasis, Drug Resistance, And Clinical Applications, Ancuta Jurj, Doru Paul, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer progression, along with other hallmarks of cancer, is sustained through bidirectional cell-to-cell communication. This function is primarily facilitated by lipid-rich nanoparticles expelled into the extracellular matrix by stromal and/or malignant cells. These entities, known as extracellular vesicles, contain a vast repertoire of bioactive molecules and hold promise as potential biomarkers and nanovehicles for drug delivery. Intriguingly, the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the functions of extracellular vesicles remain poorly understood. In the present manuscript, we highlight the intracellular and intercellular journey of extracellular vesicles, from their inception to the present day, their implications in various hallmarks of cancer, and …

Food Noise: Definition, Measurement, And Future Research Directions, Emily J Dhurandhar, Kevin C Maki, Nikhil V Dhurandhar, Theodore K Kyle, Sydney Yurkow, Misty A W Hawkins, Jon Agley, Emily H Ho, Lawrence J Cheskin, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Xi Rita Wang, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The term food noise has been recently popularized by individuals managing their weight or adhering to specific diets for health reasons. Anecdotal evidence from patients and clinical observations suggests that food noise involves constant preoccupation with food-related decisions-such as which foods to eat, caloric intake, macronutrient balance, and meal timing-which can become intrusive and unpleasant. Food noise also appears to affect cognitive burden and quality of life, and is being cited as one reason weight-loss attempts fail. The increase in public discourse about food noise has highlighted its potential significance, yet a formal clinical definition and method of measurement of …

Dr Kinase: Predicting The Drug-Resistance Hotspots Of Protein Kinases, Shaofeng Lin, Chao Tu, Ruifeng Hu, Haiji Wang, Zongcheng Dong, Hui Luo, Lan Kuang, Tao Wang, Liming Wang, Zhongming Zhao, Zhihong Li, Haodong Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Protein kinases (PKs) regulate various cellular functions, and are targeted by small-molecule kinase inhibitors (KIs) in cancers and other diseases. However, drug resistance (DR) of KIs occurs through critical mutations in four types of representative hotspots, including gatekeeper, G-loop, αC-helix, and A-loop. KI DR has become a common clinical complication affecting multiple cancers, targeted kinases, and drugs. To tackle this challenge, we report an upgraded web server, namely Dr. Kinase, for predicting the loci of four DR hotspots and assessing effects of mutations on DR hotspots for PKs in our previous studies, by utilizing multimodal features and deep hybrid learning. …

Aspen Impedes Wildfire Spread In Southwestern United States Landscapes, Matthew P. Harris, Jonathan D. Coop, Jared A. Balik, Jessika R. Mcfarland, Sean A. Parks, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests are generally thought to impede fire spread, yet the extent of this effect is not well quantified in relation to other vegetation types. We examined the influence of aspen cover on interpolated daily fire spread rates, the relative abundance of aspen at fire perimeters versus burn interiors, and whether these relationships shifted under more fire-conducive atmospheric conditions. Our study incorporated 314 fires occurring between 2001 and 2020 in the southwestern United States and a suite of gridded vegetation, topography, and fire weather predictor variables. We found that aspen slows fire progression: as aspen cover …

An Integrative Genomics Approach For The Discovery Of Potential Clinically Actionable Diagnostic And Prognostic Biomarkers In Colorectal Cancer, Mark Fertel, Duaa Mohammad Alawad, Chindo Hicks

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Background: Despite remarkable progress in clinical management of patients and intensified screening, colorectal cancer remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the United States. The recent surge of next generation sequencing has enabled genomic analysis of colorectal cancer genomes. However, to date, there is little information about leveraging gene expression data and integrating it with somatic mutation information to discover potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Here, we integrated gene expression data with somatic mutation information to discover potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and molecular drivers of colorectal cancer. Methods: We used publicly available gene expression and somatic …

Low Premorbid Iq May Exacerbate The Cognitive Effects Of Apolipoprotein Ε4 (Apoe Ε4): A Multi-Ethnic Cross-Sectional Study From Habs-Hd, Lubnaa B. Abdullah, Zhengyang Zhou, Ney Alex Alliey, Robert Barber, James Hall, Sid O’Bryant

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Apolipoprotein allele 4 (APOE ε4) is associated with lower IQ scores during childhood and adolescence, but the influence of APOE ε4 and low IQ on late-life cognition is unknown. This study examines the association between APOE ε4 and cognitive outcomes based on premorbid intellectual ability (pIQ) and ethnic background.

Methods: Participants were drawn from the Health & Aging Brain Study–Health Disparities (HABS-HD), categorized by low (z ≤ −2.00) or average (z = 0.00 ± 1.00) pIQ based on word reading scores. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate whether APOE ε4 was associated with the cognitive domains of …

Convergent Reduction Of Olfactory Genes And Olfactory Bulb Size In Mammalian Species At Altitude, Allie M Graham, Elysia Saputra, Bogdan Kirilenko, Jason S Presnell, Arianna Harrington, Chad Huff, Michael Hiller, Nathan Clark

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The invasion of specialized ecological niches can cause drastic changes to selection regimes, resulting in genomic and phenotypic transformation.

Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer In Glycemically Defined New-Onset Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study, Suresh T Chari, Bechien Wu, Camden Lopez, Eva Lustigova, Qiaoling Chen, Stephen K Van Den Eeden, Amethyst D Leimpeter, William Fisher, Amy Wood, Ashley S Alexander, John Valenta, Santhi Swaroop Vege, Erin E Carlson, Kari G Rabe, Phil A Hart, Lu Qian, Ying-Qi Zhao, Nadia Yosuf, Lynn Matrisian, Barbara Kenner, Jo Ann Rinaudo, Anirban Maitra, Ziding Feng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background & aims: The increased 3-year incidence of pancreatic cancer after new-onset diabetes observed in retrospective studies needs prospective validation. It is unknown whether incidence varies by race and ethnicity.

Methods: In a prospective, observational study using active real-time surveillance of electronic health records, we identified 18,838 adults 50 years or older with glycemically defined new-onset diabetes (GNOD). In this interim analysis, we report 3-year Kaplan-Meier estimates of the proportion diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after GNOD (absolute incidence [95% CI]) and associated standardized incidence ratio (SIR) by race and ethnicity, overall 3-year incidence of pancreatic cancer adjusting for racial distribution …

Sex-Specific Effects Of Early-Life Unpredictability On Hippocampal And Amygdala Responses To Novelty In Adolescents, Elysia Poggi Davis, Bianca T. Leonard, Robert J. Jirsaraie, David B. Keator, Steven L. Small, Curt A. Sandman, Victoria B. Risbrough, Hal S. Stern, Laura M. Glynn, Michael A. Yassa, Tallie Z. Baram, Jerod M. Rasmussen

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Unpredictable childhood experiences are an understudied form of early-life adversity that impact neurodevelopment. The neurobiological processes by which exposure to early-life unpredictability impact development and vulnerability to psychopathology remain poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated the sex-specific consequences of early-life unpredictability on the limbic network, focusing on the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Methods

Participants included 150 youths (54% female). Early-life unpredictability was assessed using the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC). Participants engaged in 1 or more task–functional magnetic resonance imaging scans between the ages of 8 and 17 (223 total observations) measuring blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) …