Digital Commons Network^™

Cardiometabolic Indicators Of Cognitive Impairment In The Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, Fadi I Musfee, Seema Agarwal, Vahed Maroufy, Chelsea Liu, Joseph B Mccormick, Susan Fisher-Hoch, Sean I Savitz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background

Objective

Methods

Can Patients With Recurrent Or Primary Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of The Anus In A Previously Irradiated Pelvis Receive Definitive Reirradiation, Jordan Mcdonald, Ethan P Damron, Prajnan Das, Eugene J Koay, Ethan B Ludmir, Bruce D Minsky, Sonal S Noticewala, Grace L Smith, Craig Messick, Van K Morris, Emma B Holliday

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Although salvage surgery is the standard of care for locoregionally recurrent anal cancer, few local options exist for inoperable pelvic recurrences. Newly diagnosed anal cancer arising in a previously irradiated field also provides a unique treatment challenge, as delivery of standard doses would result in unsafe cumulative dose to pelvic structures. We aimed to evaluate efficacy and toxicity of a hyperfractionated accelerated reirradiation (reRT) regimen for such patients.

Methods and materials: Patients treated with hyperfractionated accelerated reRT at a single institution between 2005 and 2024 for nonmetastatic inoperable locoregionally recurrent anal cancer or primary anal cancer in a previously …

Decellularized Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds To Engineer The Dormant Landscape Of Microscopic Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis, Sabrina N Vandenheuvel, Lucia L Nash, Abigail J Clevenger, Claudia A Collier, Oscar R Benavides, Sanjana Roy, Brinlee Goggans, Aelita Salikhova, Anvitha Tharakesh, Svasti Haricharan, Amber N Stratman, Scott Kopetz, Alex J Walsh, Shreya A Raghavan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Recurrent liver-metastatic colorectal cancer contributes to high mortality. Recurrence occurs when dormant, microscopic residual disease survives initial treatment to escape dormancy. In their dormant, microscopic state within the liver, these metastatic lesions are undetectable by clinical diagnostic imaging until they form overt, chemoresistant metastases. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying dormancy in colorectal cancer liver metastases is a significant knowledge gap, motivating the engineering of nuanced in vitro models of disease. The current work presents an engineered model of liver-metastatic colorectal cancer dormancy. Decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) scaffolds are used to provide microscopic colorectal cancer cell clusters with a biomimetic, …

Local Delivery Of Mir-27a* Using Ultrasound-Targeted Microbubble Cavitation Inhibits Squamous Cell Carcinoma Growth, Nikhil S Chari, Cheng Chen, Thiruganesh Ramasamy, Xucai Chen, Geetika Wadhwa, Anurag N Paranjape, Stephen Y Lai, Flordeliza S Villanueva

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Ultrasound-targeted microbubble (MB) cavitation (UTMC) is an image-guided therapeutic oligonucleotide delivery platform utilizing intravenously injected gas-filled ultrasound contrast agents, which carry the therapeutic on the MB shell. During transit of MBs in the microcirculation of target tissue, ultrasound causes MB oscillation, facilitating endocytosis-independent payload uptake within insonified cells. Here, we tested the hypothesis that UTMC-mediated miR-27a* delivery will reduce tumor growth rate and result in accumulation of miR-27a* within tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment.

Methods: We used UTMC to deliver miR-27a* to SCC-VII cells in vitro and in SCC-VII mouse tumor models. Pulsed ultrasound was delivered during intravenous …

Who Classification Of Skin Tumours: Key Updates In The Fifth Edition, Gabrielle Goldman-Lévy, Raymond Barnhill, Boris C Bastian, Werner Kempf, David Elder, Pedram Gerami, Wayne Grayson, Dmitry Kazakov, Daniela Massi, Jane Messina, Arnaud De La Fouchardière, Alexander J Lazar, Thomas Brenn, Brian Rous, Andrew Field, Anthony Gill, Jennelle C Hodge, Joseph D Khoury, Katia Leite, Shahin Sayed, Puay Hoon Tan, Rosalie Elenitsas, Eduardo Calonje, Lyn M Duncan, Liang Zhiyong, Holger Moch, Rajendra Singh, Harshima Wijesinghe, Ian Cree, Dilani Lokuhetty

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The 5th edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Tumours (WCT) serves as a foundation for global diagnostic standards in tumour pathology. Similar to other volumes in this series, the Skin Tumours (Skin5) edition follows a standardized approach. This edition introduces two new chapters: 'Tumours of the nail unit' and 'Metastases to skin', along with new entities across relevant chapters. This review article provides an overview of the updates in Skin5 based on currently published evidence, with emphasis on newly introduced chapters and newly described entities that involve the skin, in particular, epidermal, melanocytic and appendageal tumours.

A Comparative Study Of Statistical Methods For Identifying Differentially Expressed Genes In Spatial Transcriptomics, Yishan Wang, Chenxuan Zang, Ziyi Li, Charles C Guo, Dejian Lai, Peng Wei

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) provides unprecedented insights into gene expression patterns while retaining spatial context, making it a valuable tool for understanding complex tissue architectures, such as those found in cancers. Seurat, by far the most popular tool for analyzing ST data, uses the Wilcoxon rank-sum test by default for differential expression analysis. However, as a nonparametric method that disregards spatial correlations, the Wilcoxon test can lead to inflated false positive rates and misleading findings. This limitation highlights the need for a more robust statistical approach that effectively incorporates spatial correlations. To this end, we propose a Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) …

Melody: Mediation Analysis In Logistic Regression For High-Dimensional Mediators And A Binary Outcome, Sunyi Chi, Xingyu Li, Peng Wei, Xuelin Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mediation analysis is a pivotal tool for elucidating the indirect effect of an environmental factor or treatment on disease through potentially high‐dimensional omics data, such as gene expression profiles. However, traditional mediation analysis methods tailored for binary outcomes often rely on the rare disease assumption in logistic regression and provide inadequate measures of total mediation effect when multiple mediators have effects in different directions. In this paper, we develop a MEdiation analysis framework in LOgistic regression for high‐Dimensional mediators and a binarY outcome (MELODY). It leverages a second‐moment‐based measure analogous to the ��2 for linear models to quantify the total …

Tumour-Brain Crosstalk Restrains Cancer Immunity Via A Sensory-Sympathetic Axis, Haohan K Wei, Chuyue D Yu, Bo Hu, Xing Zeng, Hiroshi Ichise, Liang Li, Yu Wang, Ruiqi L Wang, Ronald N Germain, Rui B Chang, Chengcheng Jin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Body–brain communication has emerged as a key regulator of tissue homeostasis1–5. Solid tumours are innervated by different branches of the peripheral nervous system and increased tumour innervation is associated with poor cancer outcomes6–8. However, it remains unclear how the brain senses and responds to tumours in peripheral organs, and how tumour–brain communication influences cancer immunity. Here we identify a tumour–brain axis that promotes oncogenesis by establishing an immune-suppressive tumour microenvironment. Combining genetically engineered mouse models with neural tracing, tissue imaging and single-cell transcriptomics, we demonstrate that lung adenocarcinoma induces innervation and functional …

Insect Oil-Based Biorationals As Novel Alternative Against The Invasive Tomato Leafminer [Phthorimaea Absoluta] And Fall Armyworm [Spodoptera Frugiperda], Chrysantus M. Tanga, Lawrence O. Onyango, Peter Malusi, Sevgan Subramanian, Abdou Tenkouano, Dennis Beesigamukama

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The past decades have witnessed a dramatic re-emergence of lepidopteran pests threatening global food security, yet their control remains heavily reliant on synthetic pesticides, posing persistent risks to human health and ecosystem integrity. We assess the pest control effects of insect oil-based biorationals as an eco-friendly alternative against invasive, Phthorimaea absoulta [i.e., formerly Tuta absoluta ] and Spodoptera frugiperda , focusing on its ovicidal, larvicidal, translaminar, and oviposition-repellent effects. Oil-based biorationals were prepared by mixing black soldier fly (BSF) frass extract with varying rates of insect (BSF) oil and neem oil (25, 50, and 100 μL mL⁻¹) and …

Investigating The Oxygen Dependence Of Flash-Rt Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging, Trey Waldrop, Grace Murley, Brett Velasquez, Elise Konradsson, Denae Neill, Luke Connell, Alan Lopez Hernandez, Abagail Delahoussaye, F William Schuler, Jorge De La Cerda, Ziyi Li, Mark D Pagel, Emil Schüler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The FLASH effect occurs when radiation given at ultra-high dose rates spares healthy tissue while achieving isoeffective tumor control relative to conventional (CONV) dose rate irradiation. Limited data has implicated oxygen in the FLASH effect. This study investigated the effect of tissue oxygen tension (pO2) on gastrointestinal (GI) FLASH sparing in mice.

Methods: pO2 was quantified in vivo by electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPRI)- noninvasive oximetry through spin probe injection and magnetic resonance co-registration- and a phosphorescent quenching microsensor. B6(Cg)-Tyrc-2 J/J female mice were imaged while breathing 10%, 21%, and 95% oxygen. C57BL/6 mice of both sexes underwent microsensor …

Tbr2-Dependent Parallel Pathways Regulate The Development Of Distinct Iprgc Subtypes, Takae Kiyama, Ching-Kang Chen, Halit Y Altay, Yu-Jiun Chen, Leviette Sigala, Dan Su, Steven Eliason, Brad A Amendt, Chai-An Mao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGC) are the conduit between the retina and brain regions responsible for non-image-forming and image-forming vision. In mice, six ipRGC subtypes have been discovered based on morphological characteristics, functions, and molecular profiles. All ipRGCs arise from Tbr2-expressing RGCs during developmental stages and subsequently diverge and differentiate into the six mature, distinct subtypes in adult retinas. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling the formation and maturation of the six ipRGC subtypes remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that two Tbr2-dependent transcription factors, Iroquois‑related homeobox 1 (Irx1) and T-box containing factor 20 (Tbx20), are key downstream …

Leveraging Large Language Models For Heuristic Usability Assessment Of Medical Software: Insights With The Radiation Planning Assistant, Laurence E Court, Jacobus Smit, Lourens Strauss, William Shaw, Andrea Marais, Christoph Trauernicht, Nanette Joubert, Elaine Smith, Shona Badre, Graeme L Lazarus, Thekiso Khotle, Lauren Netherton, Wanda Van Heerden, Carlos Cardenas, Monica Serban, Jan Seuntjens, Christine V Chung, Pavel Govyadinov, Meena Khan, Saurabh Nair, Tucker Netherton, Lifei Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Usability engineering is essential for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medical software, as design-related issues are a leading cause of use errors in clinical settings. Heuristic evaluation provides a practical approach to identifying usability problems, but its outcomes depend heavily on expert interpretation. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, offer a potential means to augment heuristic evaluation by generating structured, context-aware usability feedback. This study explored the use of ChatGPT to support heuristic assessment of the Radiation Planning Assistant (RPA), a web-based radiotherapy planning tool designed to support clinical teams in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: ChatGPT …

Neurological Recovery After Ich Is Mediated By The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Bilirubin Interplay Through Improved Erythrophagocytosis, Xiurong Zhao, Shun-Ming Ting, Guanghua Sun, Jaroslaw Aronowski

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hematoma clearance after ICH is a pro-hemostatic process aiming at repair/recovery and is achieved through microglia/macrophages (MMΦ)-mediated erythrophagocytosis. Upon the engulfment of masses of erythrocytes and toxic hemolysis products, hemoglobin and heme, phagocytes convert them to bilirubin (BrB). Bilirubin is essentially not soluble in water and when overproduced, it precipitates within the cell causing injury. Thus, keeping bilirubin soluble and at a low intracellular level is needed for proper function of MMΦ. Here, using cultured microglia (MG), we found that intracellular formation of BrB in microglia during erythrophagocytosis coincides with the activation of transcription factor AhR, and AhR target genes …

The Pandemic Effect: Secondary Impact On The Diagnosis Of Clinically Significant Congenital Heart Disease And Role Of Deprivation Index, Cassandra Campbell, Kristin Wyckoff, Ronak Naik, Nithya Swaminathan, Salima Ahmed Bhimani, Jason Johnson, Vijaya Joshi, Ranjit Philip

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We sought to determine the impact of the COVID-19 on prenatal diagnosis (PND) of clinically significant congenital heart disease (CHD) and the role of socioeconomic status (SES), complexity of diagnosis, and proximity to advance testing. This single-center retrospective study evaluated 2 eras of infants (COVID (born July 1, 2020–July 31, 2023) and pre-COVID (born June 1, 2017–July 1, 2020) who had cardiac surgery in the first year of life. 512 infants, 292 in pre-COVID era and 220 in COVID era with no significant difference in the rate of prenatal care (PNC) or PND in the COVID era (88%/42%) versus pre-COVID …

Venous Thromboembolism In Aggressive B-Cell Lymphoma Patients Treated With Cd19 Car-T Therapy: Single-Institution Study, Neha Venkatesh, Kevin Milligan, Julia Parrish, Yun Qing, Ryan Sun, Paolo Strati, Jeremy Ramdial, Amy Ayers, Sairah Ahmed, Cristhiam Rojas Hernandez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Large B-cell lymphomas (LBCLs) are a common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has revolutionized LBCL treatment, with high remission rates but also significant toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). Venous thromboembolism (VTE) in CAR-T therapy patients is understudied.

Objective: This study aims to determine the incidence and characteristics of acute VTE in LBCL patients treated with CAR-T therapy and identify baseline clinical features associated with VTE. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 172 adult LBCL patients treated with CAR-T therapy from January 2018 to November 2019 at MD …

Human Body Temperature Cues Widespread Changes In Virulence Gene Expression In Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli, Carolyn A. Dehner, Isidora N. Stankovic, Madeleine Sutherland, Lou Ann Bierwert, Stylianos P. Scordilis, Daniel M. Stoebel, Christine A. White-Ziegler

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

As a bacterial pathogen enters a human host, it immediately encounters a temperature upshift to 37°C. Mimicking the early hours of infection, we analyzed the transcriptome and proteome of uropathogenic Escherichia coli CFT073 initially grown at 23°C, then shifted to 37°C for 4 h. Temperature caused a change in mRNA expression for 9% of the genome (1% false discovery rate, ≥2-fold); similar impacts were observed for the proteome with a good concordance amongst the most highly temperature-regulated genes. Comparison to E. coli K-12 MC4100 shows temperature to be a more broadly used regulatory cue in the uropathogen. Multiple operons associated …

Study Of Nano-Bio Interactions In Biological Fluids: Modelling And Simulations., Beatrice Cipriani

Doctoral

Nanoparticles have attracted significant interest due to their tunable properties and unique physicochemical characteristics, offering promising applications in drug delivery, biosensing, and diagnostics. Their use in medicine has the potential to reshape current paradigms by enabling more efficient, precise, and patient-centric approaches. Although advances in nanomaterial synthesis have rapidly expanded the library of available nanodevices, our understanding of the mechanisms that govern their behaviour at biological interfaces remains limited. Nanoparticles are similar in size to biomolecules found in biological environments, leading to complex, competitive interactions that affect their functional performance, biological fate, and acquired bioidentity. Unlike traditional small molecules, which …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Habit Recording Tool To Improve Mental Health Of University (Auc) Students, Noran Nounou

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: According to previous research, the mental health of university students has become an alarming public health concern worldwide. Most of the mental disorders begin among young adults, attributed to the transition to university and increased financial and societal pressure. Despite the important effect of daily habits on mental health, there still remain research gaps in Egypt in exploring their effect among university students and exploring the potential opportunities to support their well-being. Objectives: To assess depression rates among AUC students and to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly designed habit recording board, Make an Impact (MAI) to improve depression …

Cleavage And Polyadenylation Specificity Factor Subunit 5 Regulates Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Expansion And Hypoxic Response, Scott D Collum, Lisha Zhu, Tingting W Mills, Rene Girard, Jamie Tran, Tinne C J Mertens, Cory Wilson, Nancy Wareing, Erik E Suarez, Howard J Huang, Rahat Hussain, Bindu Akkanti, Wenjin J Zheng, Hari K Yalamanchili, Bela Patel, Eric J Wagner, Sandeep Agarwal, Harry Karmouty-Quintana

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a fatal condition that affects individuals with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a multiorgan fibrotic disease with limited treatment options. A central feature of PH is vascular remodeling, defined by the narrowing of the arteriole lumen due to cell proliferation and extracellular matrix deposition. Herein, we identify a central mechanism that can regulate multiple transcripts important for vascular remodeling. The highlight of our study is the demonstration that reduced pulmonary artery smooth muscle (PASMC) Nudt21, which codes for the RNA binding protein Cleavage and Polyadenylation Specificity Factor Subunit 5 (CPSF5) The, known to regulate alternative polyadenylation, results …

Pair-Feeding Study Designs Can Create Biases And Inflate Type I Error Rates: A Simulation Study, Wasiuddin Najam, Daniel E Kpormegbey, Deependra K Thapa, Bret Rust, Lilian Golzarri-Arroyo, Lance H Baumgard, Louis Wai-Tong Fan, Joseph G Ibrahim, Edith J Mayorga, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Objective: Pair-feeding is a study design element where one group's food intake is provided to another group to assess whether a treatment effect is independent of food intake. Investigators often assume equivalent food intake across experimental conditions and exclude it from the statistical analysis. However, the impact of this practice on type I error (T1Er) rates has not been quantified.

Methods: We conducted a Monte Carlo simulation in which animals were assigned baseline weights and food intakes, then randomized to non-pair-fed or pair-fed groups. Daily food intake for both groups was initially drawn from the baseline food intake distribution. For …

Circulating Metabolites, Genetics And Lifestyle Factors In Relation To Future Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes, Jun Li, Jie Hu, Huan Yun, Zhendong Mei, Xingyan Wang, Kai Luo, Marta Guasch-Ferré, Xikun Han, Buu Truong, Jordi Merino, Chengyong Jia, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Casey M Rebholz, Eun Hye Moon, Taryn Alkis, Guning Liu, Jie Yao, Xiyuan Zhang, Bianca C Porneala, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Thomas J Wang, Josée Dupuis, Elizabeth Selvin, Xiuqing Guo, Shilpa N Bhupathiraju, Jennifer A Brody, Yongmei Liu, Alexis C Wood, Kari E North, Su Yon Jung, Ching-Ti Liu, Nona Sotoodehnia, Simin Liu, Lesley F Tinker, A Heather Eliassen, Joann E Manson, Jose C Florez, Robert E Gerszten, Clary B Clish, Liming Liang, Rozenn N Lemaitre, Katherine L Tucker, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Miguel Angel Martínez-González, Kathryn M Rexrode, James B Meigs, Eric Boerwinkle, Robert C Kaplan, Frank B Hu, Bing Yu, Qibin Qi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The human metabolome reflects complex metabolic states affected by genetic and environmental factors. However, metabolites associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk and their determinants remain insufficiently characterized. Here we integrated blood metabolomic, genomic and lifestyle data from up to 23,634 initially T2D-free participants from ten cohorts. Of 469 metabolites examined, 235 were associated with incident T2D during up to 26 years of follow-up, including 67 associations not previously reported across bile acid, lipid, carnitine, urea cycle and arginine/proline, glycine and histidine pathways. Further genetic analyses linked these metabolites to signaling pathways and clinical traits central to T2D pathophysiology, including …

Unravelling The Molecular Mechanisms Causal To Type 2 Diabetes Across Global Populations And Disease-Relevant Tissues, Ozvan Bocher, Ana Luiza Arruda, Satoshi Yoshiji, Chi Zhao, Alicia Huerta-Chagoya, Chen-Yang Su, Xianyong Yin, Davis Cammann, Henry J Taylor, Jingchun Chen, Ken Suzuki, Ravi Mandla, Ta-Yu Yang, Fumihiko Matsuda, Josep M Mercader, Jason Flannick, James B Meigs, Alexis C Wood, Marijana Vujkovic, Benjamin F Voight, Cassandra N Spracklen, Jerome I Rotter, Andrew P Morris, Eleftheria Zeggini

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a prevalent disease arising from complex molecular mechanisms. Here we leverage T2D genetic associations to identify causal molecular mechanisms in an ancestry-aware and tissue-aware manner. Using two-sample Mendelian randomization corroborated by colocalization across four global ancestries, we analyse 20,307 gene and 1,630 protein expression levels using blood-derived cis-quantitative trait loci (QTLs). We detect causal effects of genetically predicted levels of 335 genes and 46 proteins on T2D risk, with 16.4% and 50% replication in independent cohorts, respectively. Using gene expression cis-QTLs derived from seven T2D-relevant tissues, we identify causal links between the expression of 676 …

Bet Inhibitor-Based Combinations Targeting Novel Dependencies In Mecom-Rearranged (R) Aml, Christine E Birdwell, Warren Fiskus, Christopher P Mill, Tapan M Kadia, Naval Daver, Courtney D Dinardo, Koji Sasaki, John A Davis, Kaberi Das, Hanxi Hou, Antrix Jain, Anna Malovannaya, Lauren B Flores, Rasoul Pourebrahim, Selina Yuan, Xiaoping Su, Michele Ceribelli, Kapil N Bhalla

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

MECOM rearrangement in AML involves either inv(3)(q21;q26.2) or t(3;3)(q21;q26.2), where the dislocated GATA2 enhancer drives overexpression of the transcriptional regulator EVI1, causes concomitant GATA2 repression, and promotes AML progression, aggressive phenotype and therapy refractoriness. Treatment with BET protein inhibitor (BETi) induces in vitro and in vivo efficacy in MECOM-r AML cells. Utilizing an unbiased, high-throughput drug screen, focused on mechanistically-annotated drugs, we identified BRD4, PIK3CA, mTOR, BCL-xL and XIAP as dependencies in the MECOM-r AML cells. Monotherapy with mivebresib (BETi), dactolisib (PI3K/mTORi) and LCL161 (IAPi) dose-dependently induced greater lethality in PD MECOM-r versus non-MECOM-r AML cells. RNA-Seq and/or mass spectrometry …

Life-Extending Interventions Do Not Necessarily Result In Compression Of Morbidity: A Case Example Offering A Robust Statistical Approach, Deependra K Thapa, Wasiuddin Najam, Erik S Parker, Xi Rita Wang, Daniel L Smith, Ufuk Beyaztas, James F Nelson, Steven N Austad, Gary A Churchill, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Despite extensive research on life-extending interventions, rigorous statistical techniques to determine their impact on compression of morbidity (CoM) are rarely used. We present a case example of an analytical method for examining the effect of life-extending dietary interventions on CoM by comparing the rates of decline in vitality and survival toward the end of life. Using data from previous experimental studies in mice, we calculated the average rate of vitality decline by fitting exponential decay models to individual vitality trajectories and compared this rate with the rate of survival decline estimated from Cox proportional hazards model. The results showed that, …

Enteral And Intravenous Supplementation Of Arginine And Citrulline Fail To Prevent Necrotizing Enterocolitis In Preterm Neonatal Pigs, Caitlin Vonderohe, Julia Garcia Mancebo, Valeria Melendez Hebib, Barbara Stoll, Inka Didelija, Sarah Elefson, Mahmoud Mohammad, Brooklynn Earls, Greg Guthrie, Doug Burrin

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common gastrointestinal emergency in preterm infants with a morality rate that approaches 50%. Arginine has been widely studied in the field of clinical nutrition as a supplement for patients experiencing critical illness because it can be metabolized into nitric oxide, an important agent for supporting immunity and microcirculation. Citrulline has received less attention but can be metabolized into arginine and has a much longer plasma half-life than arginine. We used the highly translational preterm pig model to determine the effect of intravenous and enteral supplementation of arginine and citrulline on NEC incidence in …

Cellstaar: Incorporating Single-Cell-Sequencing-Based Functional Data To Boost Power In Rare Variant Association Testing Of Noncoding Regions, Eric Van Buren, Yi Zhang, Xihao Li, Margaret Sunitha Selvaraj, Zilin Li, Nicholette D. Palmer, Donna K. Arnett, John Blangero, Eric Boerwinkle, Joanne E. Curran, Ravi Duggirala

School of Medicine Publications

Understanding how rare genetic variants influence complex traits remains a major challenge, particularly when these variants lie in noncoding regions of the genome. The effects of variants within candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) often depend on the cell type, making interpretation difficult. Here we introduce cellSTAAR, which integrates whole-genome sequencing data with single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing data to capture variability in chromatin accessibility across cell types via the construction of cell-type-specific functional annotations and regulatory elements. To reflect the uncertainty in cCRE–gene linking, cellSTAAR uses a comprehensive strategy to link cCREs to their target genes. We applied …

Effect Of Heat Stress On Jejunal Epithelial Barrier Integrity In Broilers Divergently Selected For High- And Low-Water Efficiency, Elizabeth S. Greene, Sara Orlowski, Sami Dridi

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Drought and water scarcity, exacerbated by global warming, are enormous threats to global food sustainability and security. Poultry, in particular, are highly impacted by adverse environmental stressors. As nutrient absorption and intestinal integrity are critical for growth and performance, understanding the impact on the broiler gastrointestinal tract is highly relevant. Here, we examined the effect of chronic cyclic heat stress (HS) on the jejunal expression profile of tight-junction, gap-junction, adherens, and desmosome genes in the 4th generation of broiler lines divergently selected for low (LWE)- and high-water efficiency (HWE). Male HWE and LWE broilers (n = 240/line) were allotted to …

Humanity Is Evolving Its Consciousness: The Role Of Archetypal Energies As Guides During An Unfolding Weeding Out And Alignment Process, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Humanity is evolving its consciousness at individual and collective levels.  Given these seemingly tumultuous times, as of this writing (January 2026), to make such a statement may sound like a strange thing to say.  However, I suggest that if you are alive today and if you are reading these words, these are the very times for which you were born—to assist Humanity as it evolves its consciousness with your unique gifts, whatever they may be.  That is, this period of our individual and collective human being-ness may be characterized as an unfolding period of weeding out and alignment with the …

An Impact Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Utilizing Informal Health Communication Interventions To Spread Health Recommendations And Change Public Perception, Lina Mohamed Ezzat Ahmed Abdel Mawgoud

Theses and Dissertations

Brain health is an increasingly urgent but critically under-addressed public health priority in Egypt and the wider MENA region. Despite its centrality to aging, productivity, and overall quality of life, public understanding of brain health remains limited, and stigma continues to shape responses to dementia and cognitive decline. This study evaluates the effectiveness of informal, culturally adapted health communication as a tool to shift perception, increase awareness, and promote behavior change among non-medically trained adults in Egypt.

Grounded in global evidence on cognitive reserve, neuroplasticity, and the life-course approach to brain health, the intervention translated expert-informed brain health recommendations into …

Mechanical Characterization And Modeling Of Rat Myocardia Under The Influence Of Epirubicin, Abdallah Mahmoud Alkhaiyat

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains a predominant health challenge that is responsible for a significant portion of global morbidity and mortality. Epirubicin (EPI), a chemotherapeutic anti-cancer drug, has shown remarkable efficacy in combating various malignancies. However, it is known to have undesirable side effects on the heart, collectively referred to as cardiotoxicity. This research investigates the adverse effects of chemotherapy on cardiac contractility through an in vitro examination of the mechanics of healthy and infarcted animal heart tissues. Electrically stimulated slices of rat ventricular tissue were tested using an isometric force measurement tissue bath. The tissue slices were subjected to uniaxial stretching, allowing …