Digital Commons Network^™

Success Or Setback: A Literature Review Of The Association Between Youth Athlete Sport Specialization And Injury Incidence From Adolescence To Adulthood., Kelis Adams

Honors College Theses

For a multitude of reasons, in the United States, present day society is a persistent witness and contributor to the adultification and professionalization of children alongside the activities they engage in. Single-sport specialization in youth sports is one of our most clear and poignant instances of the existence of this subcurrent. But, in recent years, following the uptick in single-sport specialization among youth athletes there has also been a marked increase in sports medicine professionals cautioning athletes and their families of premature commitment to a sole sport due to concerns of physical health risks. As sport typically involves forceful and …

Culturally Tailored Materials For Smoking Cessation And Hiv Care Adherence Among Hispanic Adults: Protocol For Content Development And Formative Evaluation, Lorra Garey, Jacqueline J Charles, Ashley L Ruiz, Rodrigo Castillo-Avilés, Virmarie Correa-Fernández, Marshall K Cheney, Thomas P Giordano, Michael J Zvolensky

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Hispanic people with HIV who smoke cigarettes experience unique stressors (eg, stigma), which contribute to health disparities. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) may worsen mood management problems, which are a leading barrier to smoking cessation. Interventions targeting AS can improve HIV-specific outcomes and smoking cessation. However, no prior research has culturally tailored an AS reduction program to improve quality of life among Hispanic people with HIV who smoke. The research team previously developed a mobile health (mHealth) intervention addressing AS reduction, smoking cessation, and HIV care management for Black people with HIV who smoke. Building on this work, this study represents …

Indicators Of Fontan Circulatory Failure In Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review Of Early Clinical And Hemodynamic Factors, Marina Mcmahon

Student Works

Structured Summary

a. Background/Introduction:

For patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease, the Fontan procedure is the definitive palliative procedure. Although advancements have been made in the surgical technique and management, the Fontan circulation is inefficient and prone to progressive dysfunction. Elevated central venous pressure, non-pulsatile pulmonary blood flow, and reduced cardiac output can lead to many complications, and eventual failure. These conditions can lead to protein losing enteropathy, plastic bronchitis, and hepatic fibrosis which often indicate advanced decline. Though a known problem, there is a lack of standardized criteria to guide optimal intervention timing of Fontan revision prior to …

Inhibition Of Epac1 Prevents Neuronal Death Mediated By Diesel Exhaust Particles In Ferroptotic Cell Death Conditions, Hong Yan, Leshan Zhang, Ana L Manzano-Covarrubias, Phoeja S Gadjdjoe, Anja Land, Christina H J T M Van Der Veen, Teresa Mitchell-Garcia, Heba A Fayyaz, Marco Venema, Christoffer Åberg, Marieke Van Der Hart, Frank Lezoualc'h, Xiaodong Cheng, Amalia M Dolga, Martina Schmidt

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Air pollution is a growing hazard to global health. Epidemiological studies have reported a potential role of air pollutant exposure in the development or aggravation of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the underlying mechanisms are ill-defined. Ferroptosis is an iron- and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent form of cell death that drives neuronal loss in neurodegenerative diseases. Our previous studies reported the involvement of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) and EPAC (exchange protein directly activated by cAMP) in ferroptotic cell death. Here, we investigated the effects of diesel exhaust particles (DEP) in mouse hippocampal (HT22) neuronal cells. Our data showed that toxicity induced by …

The Right Time For A Synapse To Change: Windows And Mechanisms Of Multiday Training Trials, Rong-Yu Liu, Yili Zhang, Roberta Calvo, Paul Smolen, John H Byrne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although learning over multiple days is more effective than a single day of training, the underlying cellular mechanisms of repeated training trials remain poorly understood. With a combination of empirical and computational approaches, we determined a critical time window for a second stimulus block of a multiday training protocol to augment long-term synaptic facilitation (LTF) of the Aplysia sensorimotor synapse and long-term enhancement of neuronal excitability (LTEE), two cellular correlates of learning and memory. A second stimulus block delivered 24 h after the first block significantly enhanced LTF and LTEE, but was without effect at 18 or 32 h. This …

Lateral Habenula And Dorsal Raphe Neurons Signal Value Computations In Multi-Attribute Decision-Making, Yang-Yang Feng

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Decision-making is a fundamental part of adaptive behavior and can be compromised in psychiatric illness. Humans and animals are continuously presented with objects and opportunities as options to decide between. One challenge is that these options may independently vary along multiple dimensions or attributes that we care about. This can include attributes of physical reward, such as amount, delay, or uncertainty. When these attributes are present, the possibility of an abstract, cognitive reward, advance information to resolve uncertainty, may also motivate our decisions. It is unclear how the brain makes these subjective decisions, trading off between these multiple attributes based …

Functional And Spatially Specialized Inhibition And Neuromodulation During Learning In The Hippocampus, Gerardo Enrique Molina

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The hippocampus relies on a diverse network of regulatory components for memory formation. Neuromodulators and inhibitory interneurons act in concert with excitatory neurons to control learning. Even within one of these components there is a vast diversity of genetic or chemical composition that may come from unique sources at uniquely timed intervals or events. The goal of this dissertation is to identify specific functional-behavioral attributes of two such examples: parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons and the neuromodulator dopamine, in hippocampal CA1. In separate experiments, I used two-photon microscopy of the calcium sensor, GCaMP, which measures neuronal activity, and GRAB-DA, which reports levels …

Mechanisms Of Binding And Immune Escape Resistance For Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies Targeting Distinct Conserved Sars-Cov-2 Spike Epitopes: A Hierarchical Approach Integrating Mutational Profiling And Energy Landscape Analysis, Mohammed Alshahrani, Will Gatlin, Max Ludwick, Lucas Turano, Brandon Foley, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The continued evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has enabled an escape from most monoclonal antibodies, yet a subset of broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting three newly identified super-conserved RBD epitopes—SCORE-A, SCORE-B, and SCORE-C—retains remarkable activity against even the most recent JN.1-derived sublineages. Here, we employed an integrated computational framework combining conformational dynamics, mutational scanning, MM-GBSA binding energetics, and frustration profiling to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which XGI antibodies achieve broad neutralization and resistance to immune escape. Structural analysis revealed that all three SCORE epitopes share a common architecture: a highly conserved, minimally frustrated core that provides stable anchoring, flanked by peripheral regions …

Heart Rate Variability In The Context Of Mental Health And Substance Use, Sage M. Lopez

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been linked to various areas of cardiovascular disease and mortality in previous research. Within this area, certain mental illnesses and use of psychoactive substances have been associated with low HRV and its health implications. Little research exists that examines the combined effects of mental illness and psychoactive substance use. The current research aims to understand if there is a compounding negative effect of these two factors when studied in tandem. Using a three-phase study design, HRV was analysed at baseline and at physiological relaxation, with participants being included under certain mental health, substance use, or …

Research On Temporal Knowledge Graph Completion Method For Emergent Events Based On Bigru And Graph Contrastive Learning, Peng Wu, Zhenyu Lu, Xuechen Zhang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] During emergencies, social media short texts contain critical information but are heavily interfered with by noise. Traditional static knowledge graph completion techniques struggle to effectively address their dynamic evolution and data sparsity issues, making it imperative to introduce temporal modeling methods. [Method/process] This study proposes a dynamic completion framework that combines the temporal feature capture capability of Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units (BiGRU) with the noise-resistant representation learning advantages of Graph Contrastive Learning (GCL). At the completion level, the ConBiTE method is introduced, which captures temporal dependencies through self-attention mechanisms and BiGRU, while leveraging GCL to enhance the completion of …

How Digital News Impacts Health Knowledge And Decisions, Ellya Asatryan

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

This literature review examines how digital news and online health information (OHI) influence health knowledge and decision-making. This review focuses specifically on young adults, who increasingly rely on digital platforms for health information. Evidence indicates that OHI can support informed health decisions, such as lifestyle changes and self-care, particularly when individuals possess higher digital health literacy. However, the rise of social media, influencer marketing, and misinformation complicates these effects, making critical evaluation skills essential. Trust in digital health news is mediated by source credibility, exposure to misinformation, and individuals’ media and health literacy levels. Lower health literacy is associated with …

Emerging Nanotherapy Applications In Cancer Treatment: A Comprehensive Review, Waleed H. Mahallawi

Saudi Medical Journal

This comprehensive review synthesizes recent advances in cancer nanotherapy, focusing on 6 emerging categories: immunomodulation, gene/RNA delivery, theranostics, radiosensitization, biomimetic carriers, and artificial intelligence (AI)-guided formulations. These innovative platforms demonstrate transformative potential by overcoming key limitations of conventional cancer treatments. Immunomodulatory nanoparticles reprogram tumor microenvironments and convert immunologically ``cold'' tumors to ``hot'' responsive states. Gene delivery systems enable precise editing with >50% efficiency, while theranostic platforms integrate real-time imaging with targeted therapy. Radiosensitizers amplify local radiation dose by twofold, and biomimetic carriers achieve prolonged circulation through immune evasion. An AI-driven approaches optimize personalized formulations based on patient-specific biomarkers. Clinical evidence …

Quality Improvement Project Bridging The Gap In Scholarly Productivity: An Educational Workshop For Tenure-Track Nursing Faculty, Britney Thorne

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Tenure-track nursing faculty often balance teaching, service, and scholarship responsibilities, which can be overwhelming when promotion and tenure expectations are unclear or insufficiently supported. At a historically Black university, a school of nursing identified gaps in scholarly productivity and limited guidance for early-career faculty, highlighting the need for structured support. Guided by Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory and Lewin’s Change Theory, this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project examined whether structured faculty development workshops could improve faculty knowledge of scholarly productivity, engagement in scholarly activities, and perceptions of tenure and promotion expectations. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was implemented over …

Assessing The Feasibility Of Integrating Occupational Therapy Services Within A Pediatric Primary Care Setting For Children 0-3 Years Old., Amanda L. Wilbert, Cristina Dumitrescu, Kim Karr

Post Professional Occupational Therapy Doctoral (PPOTD) Student Capstone Projects

The objective of this capstone project was to assess the feasibility of implementing occupational therapy (OT) services within a pediatric primary care office using a manualized service delivery approach. Occupational therapy is inherently grounded in parent coaching and education, positioning the profession to play a critical role in supporting families and promoting early identification of developmental risk. This project aimed to address a documented gap in the inclusion of OT within pediatric primary care by exploring how OT services can support parenting skills and monitor children identified as at risk for developmental, behavioral, or psychosocial concerns. The project was conducted …

Quality Improvement Project: Gpt Prompts As Tools For Cultural Competence In Undergraduate Nursing Education, Elizabeth K. Hobbs

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

In rural nursing programs, student exposure to diverse cultures is limited, which can hinder development of cultural competence. Artificial intelligence (AI) simulation is an evidence-based strategy to improve cultural competence and clinical decision-making, a practice gap exists due to lack of structured, accessible tools. This quality improvement project evaluated whether Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT)–based structured prompts would increase culturally inclusive simulation activities and improve faculty perceptions of usefulness and ease of use at a rural community college. The guiding PICOT asked: Among nursing faculty, how does the use of GPT-based structured prompts, compared to an unstructured approach, impact perceived usefulness, …

Executive Summary: Executive Leadership System Improvement Improving Depression Screening And Follow Up Processes, Rebecca Geneiveve Hidalgo Salomon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression remains a significant public health burden in the United States, contributing to disability, healthcare utilization, and economic cost. Internal 2024 audits at the project site identified variability in Patient Health Questionnaire 9 PHQ 9 screening and follow up processes, with 68% of screenings completed, 55% of follow ups timely, and disparities among patients with limited English proficiency. These findings indicate a systems level reliability and equity gap. This executive leadership system improvement project focused on developing a standardized, nurse led, electronic health record supported workflow to improve PHQ 9 completion and timely follow up. The practice focused question asked …

The Accuracy Of Occlusal Splint Fabricated By The Different Materials With Different 3d Printers., Supisara Thamrongsak

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Aim: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of occlusal splints fabricated by the different materials with different 3D printers in four different orientations (0°, 15°, 25°, 40°) using surface matching software. Materials and Methods: Occlusal splints were printed in 4 different orientations including 0°, 15°, 25°, and 40° based on the STL file of the designed occlusal splint with 3 different printers (Carbon® M3Max, SprintRay Pro S, Asiga Pro4K). A total of 120 occlusal splints were printed for the present study, 10 occlusal splints were printed for each group. Then all occlusal splints were scanned using …

An Evaluation Of Total Navicular Implants: A Scoping Review, James Mcclure Hughes, Nicholas Belardo Obias, Amanda Killeen

School of Podiatric Medicine - Student Research

The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety profile of total navicular implants based on current literature.

Navicular insults such as high-energy trauma, osteonecrosis, and Muller-Weiss syndrome may result in avascular necrosis or a critical sized bone defect, conditions that are highly difficult to manage given current treatment modalities. Total navicular implants may offer a solution to these problems. While 3D printing of implants remains investigational, its use in highly individualized cases involving the talus has had promising results with conditions like avascular necrosis, tumors, trauma, and arthritis. The navicular is unique in its attachments to …

2026 - The Thirtieth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the 30th Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 22-24, 2026. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Organizational Governance Capacity And Organizational Resilience In Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study, Leyla Afşar, Selim Yazıcı

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: This study aims to examine the relationship between organizational governance capacity (OGC) and organizational resilience (OR) in hospitals, with a focus on cross-institutional differences.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,143 employees from six hospital types in Istanbul, including university, Ministry of Health (state, training and research, and city), and private hospitals. Validated scales were used to measure OGC and OR. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, nonparametric tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess the relationships between these dimensions.

Results: Private hospitals demonstrated the highest levels of both OGC and OR (70%), followed …

Frailty And Fall Risk In Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study, Hatice Yılmaz, Nazmiye Çıray

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: This study aimed to examine the effect of frailty on the risk of falls in older adults aged 65 years with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The study is cross-sectional and correlational. The sample included 146 individuals aged 65 years who had type 2 diabetes and visited the internal medicine outpatient clinic of a state hospital in Türkiye. The participants were assessed based on a personal information form, the Mini-Mental State Examination, Edmonton Frail Scale, Morse Fall Scale, and Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living. IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 was used for data analysis. …

Breathing-Controlled Electrical Stimulation (Breestim) Selectively Modulates Affective And Cognitive Components Of Pain-An Eeg Study, Ahmad Z Rao, Michael Houston, Hao Meng, Shengai Li, Yingchun Zhang, Sheng Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Breathing-controlled electrical stimulation (BreEStim) is an innovative neuromodulation intervention that synchronizes deep voluntary breathing with peripheral electrical stimulation. Prior studies have shown its analgesic effects in healthy adults and spinal cord injury patients with neuropathic pain. The present study used EEG to examine BreEStim's neural effects on sensory, affective, and cognitive components of pain. Fourteen healthy participants (7 M, 7 F) completed 30 min of BreEStim and conventional electrical stimulation (EStim) interventions in a randomized, crossover within-subject design. Electrical pain thresholds (EPT) and EEG were recorded pre- and post-intervention. Event-related potentials (ERPs) at pre-EPT-level stimuli before and immediately after each …

Psilocybin And The Related Tryptamine, Norbaeocystin, Exert Acute Anxiogenic Effects That Depend On Sex, Marisa J. Savini, Kylie M. King, Noelle M. Molnar, Evelynn J. Schneider, Savannah E. Straub, Joe Parker, Lillianna P. Puppel, Aleece K. Al-Olimat, Allison M. Bach, Andrew Jones, Phillip R. Zoladz

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Single treatments with psychedelics have demonstrated rapid, long-lasting antidepressant effects. However, psychedelics often produce unfavorable psychoactive effects that could worsen existing psychological distress. Thus, we compared the effects of psilocybin and the related tryptamine, norbaeocystin, on anxiety-like behavior in male and female rats. In Experiment 1, rats were treated with 1 mg/kg psilocybin (PSIL), 1 mg/kg norbaeocystin (NOR), or vehicle 30 min before a 5-min trial on an elevated plus maze (EPM) or in an open field test (OFT). On the EPM, PSIL led to decreased open arm time and fewer arm entries in males and females. NOR led to …

Program And Proceedings, The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2026: 146th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program and abstracts of the proceedings for the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 136th annual meeting, 2025

Sessions

Aeronautics and Space Science

Anthropology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Earth Sciences

Ecology, Sustainability, and Environmental Science

Physics and Engineering

General Poster Session

2026 Maiben Lecture: Shifting Extremes: Understanding Nebraska’s Changing Climate and Preparing for What Lies Ahead, Deborah Bathke

2026 Friends of Science Awards: Julie Shaffer and Irina Filina

2026 C. Bertrand and Marian Othmer Schultz Colleaguate Schoalrship Award: Piper Ryschon and Bryce Reeson

In Memoriam: Paul Royster

Mississippi Coastal Bacterial Community Response To Lowered Salinty, Jackson C. Sues

Honors Theses

Microbial communities are essential to the function of coastal ecosystems; however, few studies have examined their response to short-term reductions in salinity. This study used a microcosm approach to examine how decreased salinity over five days affected seawater bacterial community composition, diversity, and richness. Microcosms were assigned to three treatments: unmanipulated seawater (control) collected from the Mississippi coast, seawater amended with natural freshwater, and seawater amended with sterilized freshwater. Length of time bacteria spent in the microcosms was found to have the strongest effect on bacterial community composition, while salinity effects were weaker but still statistically significant. All treatments shifted …

Expanding Nbcot® Exam Readiness Resources In An Entry-Level Otd Program, Thahiyatul Sarah

Capstone Projects

The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT®) exam is a critical requirement for entry-level occupational therapy (OT) practice in the United States; however, many students face challenges in effectively preparing for its clinical reasoning demands. This literature review examines existing research on NBCOT® exam preparation strategies to inform the development of a comprehensive exam content guide and resources tailored for OT graduate students. Existing barriers, including gaps in curriculum alignment, limited access to effective study tools, and high levels of student stress, highlight the need for more structured and accessible preparation methods. By examining key themes such as …

Modeling Early Human Heart Development Using An Ipsc-Based 3d Bioprinted Model Of Embryonic Heart Tube, Linqi Jin, Christian Park, Sunder Neelakantan, Shweta Karnik, Arnab Dey, Sarah Fineman, Roshni Nandwani, Carmen J Gil, Boeun Hwang, Melissa A Cadena, Vani Sridhar, Jing Wang, Yuxiao Wu, Connor J Evans, Lan Li, Sarah Rezapourdamanab, Mehdi Salar Amoli, Martin L Tomov, Ryan K Roeder, Reza Avazmohammadi, Lakshmi Prasad Dasi, Hanjoong Jo, Eric Weeks, Holly D Bauser-Heaton, Sean M Wu, Vahid Serpooshan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Human heart development depends on tightly coordinated genetic programs and biomechanical cues, yet the underlying cell-microenvironment interactions remain poorly understood because the developing heart is difficult to study in utero and accurate experimental models are lacking. Recent advances in stem cell biology and three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting now allow the construction of human tissue analogues with defined structure and function. Here we show a perfusable 3D bioprinted model of the human embryonic heart tube composed of layered myocardium, cardiac jelly, and endocardium. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells are cultured under controlled flow conditions, producing constructs with high …

Engineering Function In Lung Biology: Integrating Imaging, Regenerative Constructs, And Functional Biodesign, Rene A Girard, Jamie Tran, Yuqing Cai, Mary C Farach-Carson, Hadi T Nia, Allison M Greaney, Laura E Niklason, Killian Hurley, Elvin Blanco, Sinem Koc-Günel, Harry Karmouty-Quintana

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The lung is a uniquely demanding target for regeneration because function depends on the coordinated integration of cellular diversity, three-dimensional architecture, cyclic mechanical forces, vascular perfusion, immune surveillance, and extracellular matrix remodeling. While single-cell and spatial profiling, lineage tracing, and iPSC-derived models have transformed our understanding of lung cell states and developmental potential, these descriptive approaches have also highlighted a central bottleneck: the field still lacks broadly adopted platforms to test whether engineered tissues and regenerative interventions restore function under physiologic load. In this review, we focus on emerging technologies that enable functional biodesign in lung biology by coupling engineered …

Alkaloid Profiling Of Narcissus Poeticus L. Bulbs And Their Inhibitory Activity Of Cholinesterases, Maël Gainche, Isabelle Ripoche, Elodie Jagu

Oxford ICSB

The Amaryllidaceae family is well known for its rich diversity of alkaloids, including lycorine- and galantamine-type structures with potent cholinesterase inhibitory properties. In this study, we investigated the phytochemical composition and cholinesterase inhibitory activity of alkaloids isolated from Narcissus poeticus L., a species native to the botanically rich Auvergne region of France. Phytochemical analysis and bioguided fractionation of bulb extracts led to the identification of three known alkaloids, pseudolycorine, norgalantamine, and 2-O-(3’-hydroxybutanoyl)-lycorine, as well as a newly characterized tetrahydroquinoline derivative, poeticine A. The inhibitory activities of these compounds against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) were assessed using both a standard …

Evaluation Of Fasted And Fed Gastrointestinal Transformation Of Withania Somnifera Plant Extracts And Bioactive Compounds Via Uplc-Ms/Ms And Untargeted Metabolomics, Sarah Barr, Wendy Strangman, R. Thomas Williamson, Amala Soumyanath, Melissa Bollen

Oxford ICSB

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is a widely consumed botanical supplement recognized for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-aging properties. Despite its extensive use, limited information exists on how its complex chemical composition changes during gastrointestinal digestion. An untargeted UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics approach enables analysis of discrete changes in complex mixtures. Previous in vitro studies of W. somnifera relied on simulated gastric and intestinal models composed primarily of buffers and digestive enzymes. This study advances those methods by incorporating bile salts and phospholipids under fasted and fed conditions to better simulate physiological digestion of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of W. somnifera root and leaf. …