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The Role Of Runx2 And Sp7 In Ameloblast Differentiation And Postnasal Enamel Synthesis, Reem Alhefdhi Jan 2023

The Role Of Runx2 And Sp7 In Ameloblast Differentiation And Postnasal Enamel Synthesis, Reem Alhefdhi

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In mammals, the mineralized tissues include bone, dentin, enamel, and cementum. Runx2 and its downstream target Sp7 are essential transcription factors for the osteoblast differentiation and formation of bone tissue. However, transcription factors that regulate ameloblast differentiation and enamel secretion are less understood. To uncover the role of Runx2 and Sp7 in ameloblasts differentiation and enamel synthesis, we established a colony of Runx2 and Sp7 floxed mice. Both genes were deleted specifically in ameloblasts using K14-Cre transgenic mice. The successful deletion of Runx2 and Sp7 genes in the epithelium, including ameloblasts, was confirmed using Td-Tomato and GFP reporter, respectively. Histological …

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Investigating The Electrostatics Of Mucins As Key Contributors To Mucus Stasis In Cystic Fibrosis, Elex Skylar Rose Jan 2023

Investigating The Electrostatics Of Mucins As Key Contributors To Mucus Stasis In Cystic Fibrosis, Elex Skylar Rose

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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, which encodes a channel responsible for the transport of chloride and bicarbonate ions across the apical cell surface. In the respiratory tract, defective CFTR results in viscous and adherent mucus that becomes static within the airway, which leads to chronic infections, progressive lung damage, and early mortality. Historically, CF mucus stasis has been attributed to significant airway dehydration; however, growing evidence has demonstrated that aberrant electrostatic properties of mucins also contribute to mucus stasis in CF. Mucins are large, polymeric glycoproteins …

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Cardiomyocyte-Specific Modified Mrna For Myocardial Regeneration In A Porcine Myocardial Infarction Model, Jiacheng Sun Jan 2023

Cardiomyocyte-Specific Modified Mrna For Myocardial Regeneration In A Porcine Myocardial Infarction Model, Jiacheng Sun

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The inability of adult mammalian cardiomyocytes (CMs) to undergo cell renewal following ischemic injury stands as a major impediment to heart function recovery and contributes to heart failure (HF). Current therapeutic approaches do not offer an effective approach of reactivating CM cell division to prevent HF in humans. Recognizing this challenge, gene therapy has emerged as a promising approach to promote CM proliferation and enhance cardiac repair. A particularly notable approach is the utilization of modified mRNA (modRNA), which provides a safe, controlled, transient, non-viral, and clinically relevant means of gene delivery. The study was conducted using a novel cardiomyocyte …

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The Role Of Processing Efficiency In Cognitive Outcomes Of Pediatric Cancer Survivors, Julie A. Trapani Jan 2023

The Role Of Processing Efficiency In Cognitive Outcomes Of Pediatric Cancer Survivors, Julie A. Trapani

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Pediatric cancer and cancer-related treatments may disrupt brain development and maturation, placing survivors at risk for cognitive late effects. Identifying distinct patterns in outcomes across cancer types has been challenging, which has limited the implementation of systematic neurocognitive screening protocols. Emerging research indicates that processing efficiency (PE) impairment, or inefficient neural processing as measured by working memory (WM) and processing speed (PS) abilities, is a frequently reported but poorly defined cognitive late effect in survivors of both primary central nervous system (CNS) cancers and cancers of non-CNS origin. This dissertation attempts to 1) review and conceptualize PE skills in pediatric …

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A Study To Examine The Relationship Between Ceo Characteristics And Organizational Performance In The Us Pharmaceutical And Biopharmaceutical Industries, Wafick K. Mohamed Jan 2023

A Study To Examine The Relationship Between Ceo Characteristics And Organizational Performance In The Us Pharmaceutical And Biopharmaceutical Industries, Wafick K. Mohamed

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This study examined the relationship between CEO tenure, sex, level of education, and organizational performance across 229 U.S. publicly traded pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. The Upper Echelons Theory was used to guide this research on how CEO characteristics could impact organizational performance. Fifteen hypotheses were developed and tested to evaluate the statistically significant relationship between CEO tenure, sex, level of education, and the organizational performance demonstrated in the abnormal stock return valuation and the number of FDA-approved drug products in clinical trial phases (phases 1, 2, and 3) for each company. This quantitative, non-experimental, and cross-sectional study was completed by …

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Electronegative Clusters Modulate The Stability, Folding And Binding Affinity Of Rna-Binding Proteins, Steven Mathew Zaharias Jan 2023

Electronegative Clusters Modulate The Stability, Folding And Binding Affinity Of Rna-Binding Proteins, Steven Mathew Zaharias

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RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are crucial to RNA processing and regulation. RBPs have elevated levels of disordered regions that are enriched with repetitive motifs. The longest and most common of these repetitive motifs are electronegative clusters (ENCs) that are made up of consecutive acidic amino acids and/or phosphorylatable residues. In this dissertation, we aim to characterize the function of ENCs in RBPs for the first time. We investigate the effect that ENCs have on both structured and unstructured RNA binding domains (RBDs). Using NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy we illustrate that a native ENC in ribosome biogenesis protein 15 (Nop15) increases the …

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The Genetic Epidemiology Of Complex Lung Diseases, Ava Claire Wilson Jan 2023

The Genetic Epidemiology Of Complex Lung Diseases, Ava Claire Wilson

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This research utilizes precision medicine techniques to advance our understanding of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) with the overall goal of improving the etiology of and identifying molecular targets and pathways in COPD and IPF to help improve patient outcomes. We aimed to 1) identify novel drug targets and uncover potential mechanisms by which pirfenidone and nintedanib attenuate fibrosis by performing an integrative ‘omics analysis of transcriptomics and proteomic responses to TGFb1-stimulated lung fibroblasts; 2) define a skeletal muscle fiber shift phenotype in both males and females with COPD and begin to disentangle underlying mechanisms …

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Mechanisms Linking The Circadian Clock To Cardiac Physiology, Lamario J. Williams Jan 2023

Mechanisms Linking The Circadian Clock To Cardiac Physiology, Lamario J. Williams

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Rationale: Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death in America. Many aspects of both cardiovascular physiology (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate) and pathophysiology (e.g., myocardial infarctions, sudden cardiac death) exhibit time-of-day dependent fluctuations (termed diurnal variations). Circadian clocks consist of transcriptional feedback cascades directly modulating expression of genes involved in processes such as metabolism, signaling, and ion transport. Interestingly, genetic deletion of a core circadian clock component in the heart (cardiomyocyte-specific Bmal1 knockout mice) leads to chronic induction of the transcriptional repressor E4 Promoter-Binding Protein 4 (E4BP4) associated with early-onset dilated cardiomyopathy, metabolic inflexibility, and electrophysiologic disturbances. …

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Transcriptional Regulation In Early Stage Cd4+ T Cell Activation And Differentiation, Andrew Ray Schroeder Jan 2023

Transcriptional Regulation In Early Stage Cd4+ T Cell Activation And Differentiation, Andrew Ray Schroeder

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CD4+ T cells regulate the humoral and cellular immune responses by differentiating into T follicular helper (Tfh) cells or into non-Tfh effector cells. Non-Tfh effector cells leave the lymph node and migrate to the effector site whereas Tfh cells upregulate CXCR5 and migrate towards the B cell follicle. The mechanism of CXCR5 induction, however, is still incompletely understood. The transcription factor Bach2 was shown to inhibit the in vitro differentiation of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells as well as the in vivo Tfh responses. Though, it is unknown how Bach2 arbitrates Tfh and non-Tfh differentiation in vivo. Here, we report …

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Perceptionf Of Multipurpose Prevention Technologies Aimed At Hiv/Sti/Unintended Pregnancy Among African American Women In The Deep South, Kristina Wilbekin Walker Jan 2023

Perceptionf Of Multipurpose Prevention Technologies Aimed At Hiv/Sti/Unintended Pregnancy Among African American Women In The Deep South, Kristina Wilbekin Walker

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Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs for women are not being met globally. In addition to efforts towards providing widespread access to currently available contraceptives and sexually transmitted infection (STI) treatment or prevention products, another focus is the development of multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs). These MPTs are combination methods that prevent pregnancy, and protect against HIV and/or additional STIs. The objective of this dissertation research was to assess factors related to sexual and reproductive decision-making that may influence interest in MPTs and inform MPT implementation strategies for African and African American (AA) women. The first aim of this research, I …

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Interactions Between Pseudomonas Aeruginosa And The Oral Commensal Streptococcus Salivarius, Sara Noelle Stoner Jan 2023

Interactions Between Pseudomonas Aeruginosa And The Oral Commensal Streptococcus Salivarius, Sara Noelle Stoner

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The cystic fibrosis airway is a polymicrobial environment often dominated by opportunistic pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a leading cause of lung function decline and mortality in persons with CF. Commensal streptococcal colonization has been associated with stable CF lung function in multiple studies. However, few studies have examined interactions between P. aeruginosa and commensals as well as their impact on P. aeruginosa airway infections. In the first half of this work, we studied interactions between P. aeruginosa and the oral commensal Streptococcus salivarius within a biofilm setting. We found that S. salivarius biofilm formation is promoted by the non-mucoid …

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Cis-Regulatory Elements: Relevance For Alzheimer's Disease, Brianne Brazell Rogers Jan 2023

Cis-Regulatory Elements: Relevance For Alzheimer's Disease, Brianne Brazell Rogers

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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease, currently affecting more than six million Americans with limited treatment options. Identifying genetics contributors to neurodegenerative diseases has contributed critical insights into potential disease mechanisms. The majority of disease-associated genetic variants are located in non-coding regions, likely in regulatory elements, and affect the expression of target genes whose function contributes to neurodegeneration. Here, I performed a case-control study utilizing nuclei from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex postmortem tissue to correlate chromatin accessibility with gene expression and nominate 40,831 AD-specific candidate cis-regulatory elements. Additionally, work in this dissertation nominates ZEB1 and MAFB as candidate …

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Characterization And Application Of Radiolabeled Peptides For Pet Imaging Of Cd206 Positive Macrophages In Cancer, Candace Ciera Parker Jan 2023

Characterization And Application Of Radiolabeled Peptides For Pet Imaging Of Cd206 Positive Macrophages In Cancer, Candace Ciera Parker

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Positron emission tomography (PET) is a form of molecular imaging that allows for a noninvasive assessment of physiologic information by utilizing radioactive contrast agents. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are large phagocytic cells that play numerous roles in cancer biology and are an important component of the relationship between immune system response and tumor progression. Macrophages are broadly classified into two main groups with differing roles in immune defense and immune surveillance: classically activated macrophages (M1-like) and alternatively activated macrophages (M2-like). TAMs can influence chemoresistance, immune regulation, tumor initiation, and tumor growth, both directly and indirectly, and the presence of TAMS can …

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Imaging Nanoscale Plasma Membrane Dynamics Reveals Diversity In Clathrin-Coated Vesicle Formation, Tomasz Jacek Nawara Jan 2023

Imaging Nanoscale Plasma Membrane Dynamics Reveals Diversity In Clathrin-Coated Vesicle Formation, Tomasz Jacek Nawara

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Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is an essential cellular process facilitating the internalization of a variety of cargo. Clathrin polymerization and changes in plasma membrane architecture and composition are necessary steps to mediate the formation of clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs). However, simultaneous analysis of clathrin dynamics and membrane structure in living cells is challenging due to the limited axial resolution of fluorescence microscopes and the heterogeneity of CME. This has fueled conflicting models of vesicle assembly and obscured the roles of flat clathrin assemblies. Here we use Simultaneous Two-wavelength Axial Ratiometry (STAR) microscopy to bridge this critical knowledge gap by quantifying the nanoscale …

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Structural Characterization Of Autoreactive Igg Fabs In The Context Of Iga Nephropathy, Jordan Lingo Jan 2023

Structural Characterization Of Autoreactive Igg Fabs In The Context Of Iga Nephropathy, Jordan Lingo

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IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis in the world, yet there is no cure and treatment options are limited. Advances in understanding of the molecular basis of this pathology may lead to potential novel therapeutics, but there is still much we don’t know about the disease and the underlying biology. The current paradigm explaining the molecular stages leading to IgAN is called the “multi-hit hypothesis,” which involves the following four hits: (1) Elevated levels of circulating IgA1 with some O-linked glycans deficient in galactose moieties (galactose-deficient IgA1, Gd-IgA1). (2) Circulating IgG autoantibodies (autoAbs) specific to the Gd-IgA1 …

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T-Bet Regulates The Maintenance And Asc Differentiation Potential Of The Lymph Node And Lung Memory B Cell Compartments, Christopher A. Risley Jan 2023

T-Bet Regulates The Maintenance And Asc Differentiation Potential Of The Lymph Node And Lung Memory B Cell Compartments, Christopher A. Risley

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Although human memory B cells (Bmem), including extrafollicular DN2 cells and CD27+ effector Bmem (eBmem), express T-bet, its role in Bmem biology is not understood. We characterized transcriptionally distinct clusters of mature, somatically mutated nucleoprotein (NP)-specific Bmem in LNs of influenza-infected mice. None of the Bmem expressed plasma cell (PC) lineage commitment factors, but one cluster was significantly enriched for Tbx21+ cells that exhibited a molecular signature similar to the previously described human T-bet+ eBmem. Metabolic reprogramming, protein synthesis and the mTOR-dependent unfolded protein response gene networks were all upregulated in Tbx21+ NP+ mouse Bmem. Using constitutive and inducible models …

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Intent-To-Treat Versus Per Protocol Analysis Of A Crossover Feeding Trial: Effect Of Dietary Sodium On Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Gabrielle Gloston Jan 2023

Intent-To-Treat Versus Per Protocol Analysis Of A Crossover Feeding Trial: Effect Of Dietary Sodium On Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Gabrielle Gloston

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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common form of sleep disordered breathing that leads to poor daytime functioning. It is strongly associated with hypertension (HTN) and apneic events in individuals with OSA can drive blood pressure (BP) surges at night. Treating OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has led to reductions in day- and nighttime BP and treatment of HTN has also been reported to have beneficial effects on OSA severity. Dietary sodium has long been implicated in HTN and dietary sodium restriction improves BP levels. Recently, dietary sodium restriction was found to reduce OSA severity in men with …

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Examining Associations Between Sources Of Stress And Experimental Pain Sensitivity In Pediatric Patients With Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders, Corinne Taylor Evans Jan 2023

Examining Associations Between Sources Of Stress And Experimental Pain Sensitivity In Pediatric Patients With Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders, Corinne Taylor Evans

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Functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPDs) are one of the most common pain complaints among children and adolescents. Research demonstrates a relationship between multiple sources of stress and pain responses. However, research has not yet explored the role of stress in pain processing and sensitivity in youth with FAPDs. Thus, the present study aimed to examine associations between biopsychosocial sources of stress and experimental pain sensitivity in pediatric patients with FAPDs. Additionally, racial differences in clinical and experimental pain responses were explored. Analytical findings did not support hypotheses as the biological, social, and psychological sources of stress did not predict experimental …

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Adverse Childhood Experiences And Chronic Low Back Pain In Adulthood: Roles Of Emotion Regulation And Socioeconomic Status, Pavithra Andrea Thomas Jan 2023

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Chronic Low Back Pain In Adulthood: Roles Of Emotion Regulation And Socioeconomic Status, Pavithra Andrea Thomas

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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have profound deleterious effects on physical health and psychological functioning in adulthood. ACEs may be a social determinant of chronic pain development and severity in adulthood; however, little research to date has investigated the psychological processes that might underlie this association. Emotion regulation, an established transdiagnostic risk factor underlying psychopathological conditions, may be a potential mediator of the relationship between ACEs and pain. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with greater risk of ACEs and poor chronic pain outcomes, yet research has not clarified the role of subjective versus objective determinants of socioeconomic factors within these …

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Expression Of St6gal1 Imparts Stem-Like Cell Behaviors, Thereby Promoting Neoplasia, Sejal Sanjay Shinde Jan 2023

Expression Of St6gal1 Imparts Stem-Like Cell Behaviors, Thereby Promoting Neoplasia, Sejal Sanjay Shinde

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Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies with a five-year survival of ~10%. Recent studies in the US population suggest PDAC as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in 2022. ST6 β-galactoside α2,6-sialyltransferase (ST6GAL1) is a glycosyltransferase which is known to be upregulated in cancer. It acts as a master regulator of a cell by being the predominant sialyltransferase catalyzing the addition of a bulky negatively charged sialic acid to the galactose sugar in an α2,6-linkage. Due to this, the sialic acid changes the structure and function of cell surface receptor proteins and regulates signal …

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Investigating The Effects Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibition And Combined Treatment With Evofosfamide On The Tumor Microenvironment Through Hypoxia Imaging, Kaytlyn Carter Mcneal Jan 2023

Investigating The Effects Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibition And Combined Treatment With Evofosfamide On The Tumor Microenvironment Through Hypoxia Imaging, Kaytlyn Carter Mcneal

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent and deadly cancer worldwide. While immunotherapy, particularly immune checkpoint inhibition, shows promise in various cancers, its efficacy in CRC and other tumor types is limited. Hypoxia, characterized by inadequate tissue oxygenation, critically drives cancer progression, promoting tumor growth, metastasis, chemotherapy resistance, and poor prognosis. Evofosfamide, a hypoxia-activating prodrug, is being evaluated in clinical trials for combined use with checkpoint blockade as a potential therapeutic strategy. This study investigates the impact of hypoxia on immune checkpoint inhibition, evofosfamide, and combination therapy, while utilizing non-invasive molecular imaging to develop analytical methods for quantifying and characterizing tumor …

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Comparison Of Crown Fracture And Wear Resistence Of Resin 3d Printed Permanent Crown And Other Restorative Materials, Victor Moncada Jan 2023

Comparison Of Crown Fracture And Wear Resistence Of Resin 3d Printed Permanent Crown And Other Restorative Materials, Victor Moncada

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Statement of Problem: The resin for 3D printing permanent crowns is a recently approved material with limited literature evidence to support its in vitro properties. Comparing the mechanical properties such as fracture load (N) and wear resistance for 3D printing permanent restorations resins would represent a very good reference to consider future clinical decisions. Purpose: To investigate the fracture load (N) and wear resistance of the resins for 3D printing permanent crowns available in the U.S. dental market and to compare amongst them using lithium disilicate as a reference. Materials and Methods: for the crown fracture test, the experimental design …

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Respiratory Symptoms And Psychological Distress In Farmers Living With Copd, Prasert Kham-Ai Jan 2023

Respiratory Symptoms And Psychological Distress In Farmers Living With Copd, Prasert Kham-Ai

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Farmers are susceptible to both Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and psychological distress. It is known that psychological distress is associated with increased respiratory symptoms and triggers COPD exacerbation. Therefore, farmers who have COPD may experience worsening respiratory symptoms as a result of psychological distress. Since no known studies revealed the association between the frequency of respiratory symptoms and the level of psychological distress among farmers with COPD, this study aimed to explore (1) the frequency of respiratory symptoms and the level of psychological distress, (2) the factors related to increased respiratory symptoms and psychological distress, and (3) the association …

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The Molecular And Structural Basis Of B Cell Epitope Targeting In Transplant Rejection, John T. Killian Jan 2023

The Molecular And Structural Basis Of B Cell Epitope Targeting In Transplant Rejection, John T. Killian

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HLA-reactive antibodies (HLA-Abs) to mismatched polymorphic HLA molecules are one of the major barriers to successful organ transplantation. However, key knowledge gaps remain surrounding the immunology of the anti-HLA B cell response in transplant rejection. This lack of understanding regarding the phenotype and specificity of the anti- HLA B cell response means that the field cannot develop optimal therapies to treat B-cell mediated donor-specific responses and that it lacks the tools to optimally match donors and recipients to prevent rejection events. Therefore, this dissertation aimed to explore the clinical factors associated with the formation of donor-specific antibodies and the molecular …

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Large-Scale Mining Of Dense Subgraphs: Algorithms And Systems, Jalal Khalil Jan 2023

Large-Scale Mining Of Dense Subgraphs: Algorithms And Systems, Jalal Khalil

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Quasi-cliques and k-plexes are dense structures with established significance in graph mining, offering flexibility and resilience to data anomalies. However, mining these structures poses computational challenges due to their NP-hardness. In this study, we address these challenges and propose solutions for efficient mining, in addition to visualization tools for tuning and analysis. For quasi-clique mining, we adapted the distributed solution (G-thinker) [1] to a sharedmemory multi-core environment, making it accessible to average users. Our solution is two orders of magnitude faster than the recent solution by [2], and it scales almost ideally with the number of CPU cores. To facilitate …

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Understanding Molecular Mechanisms Of Glioblastoama Resistance To Design Novel Combinatorial Therapies, Amber B. Jones Jan 2023

Understanding Molecular Mechanisms Of Glioblastoama Resistance To Design Novel Combinatorial Therapies, Amber B. Jones

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Treatment options for the universally lethal brain tumor, glioblastoma (GBM), are severely limited and often unsuccessful in fully eradicating the disease. Extremely aggressive in nature, GBM cells often implore suppressive mechanisms to evade therapeutic detection which aids in the dismal 15-month median survival rate. Facilitating disease severity and more importantly, disease recurrence, are the immunosuppressive and chemoresistant phenotypes of GBM cells. Specifically, the DNA alkylating agent, temozolomide (TMZ) possesses lymphodepleting properties shunting robust immune cell infiltration into an immunologically cold tumor microenvironment. Additionally, through inherent or acquired mechanisms, GBM tumors commonly become resistant to the DNA damaging effects of TMZ …

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The Long Non-Coding Rna Neat1 Mediates Astrocyte Gene Expression And Hippocampus-Dependent Memory In Aging And Alzheimer's Disease, Ashleigh Burns Irwin Jan 2023

The Long Non-Coding Rna Neat1 Mediates Astrocyte Gene Expression And Hippocampus-Dependent Memory In Aging And Alzheimer's Disease, Ashleigh Burns Irwin

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Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is increasingly associated with cognitive dysfunction and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The highly evolutionarily conserved lncRNA Nuclear-Enriched Abundant Transcript 1 (NEAT1) is expressed not only in a tissue- and temporally-specific manner, but also celltype specific manner. Despite the predominance of NEAT1 in glial populations, and the significant role astrocytes play in memory, relatively little is known about Neat1 regulation of astrocyte transcriptomics during age-related memory. Here, we report a crucial role of the lncRNA Neat1 in astrocyte dysfunction and memory deficits associated with both normal aging and AD. Expression of Neat1 …

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Alternating Current Electrospinning And Characterization Of Nanofibrous Fish Skin Gelatin As An Innovative Biomaterial Platform, Amanda Kennell Jan 2023

Alternating Current Electrospinning And Characterization Of Nanofibrous Fish Skin Gelatin As An Innovative Biomaterial Platform, Amanda Kennell

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A biomaterial for tissue repair is globally sought after, as transplant surgeries and general wound healing have a strong need for a manufactured scaffold that mimics the natural body’s tissue in morphology, composition, and properties. This research presents a nanofibrous (NF) fish skin gelatin-based (FSG) substrate fabricated through an uncommon high-yield method of Alternating Current electrospinning that mimics that can mimic the natural body’s extracellular matrix (ECM). An ECM is the first step in tissue repair. Fabrication through electrospinning gave the NF FSG substrate an identical mimic of the natural body’s extracellular matrix morphology with nanofiber diameter on the order …

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An Examination Of Clinical Pain Severity, Sleep Quality, And Neighborhood Disadvantage In A Racially/Ethically Diverse Sample Of Adults With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis, Cesar Emmanuel Gonzalez Jan 2023

An Examination Of Clinical Pain Severity, Sleep Quality, And Neighborhood Disadvantage In A Racially/Ethically Diverse Sample Of Adults With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis, Cesar Emmanuel Gonzalez

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Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is often accompanied by insomnia symptoms, character-ized by difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or both. Among individuals with knee OA, up to 31% report significant difficulty falling asleep, 81% have difficulties staying asleep, and up to 77% report any sleep problem. However, the sleep and pain relationship has also rarely been evaluated using objective and subjective sleep measures. Thus, this study attempted to characterize objective and subjective sleep variables in a diverse sam-ple of individuals with symptomatic knee OA. Further, the impact of objective and sub-jective sleep quality on clinical pain severity, movement-evoked pain, and physical func-tion …

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Application Of Machine Learning And Network Approaches To Prioritize Safe And Efficacious Drug Repurposing Candidates, Jennifer L. Fisher Jan 2023

Application Of Machine Learning And Network Approaches To Prioritize Safe And Efficacious Drug Repurposing Candidates, Jennifer L. Fisher

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Only ten percent of drugs in clinical trials are ultimately approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With many diseases and disorders needing therapeutic options, computational drug repurposing methodologies are great alternatives to some drug discovery methods due to quicker FDA approval and lower cost. We sought to gain insights to improve the identification of drug repurposing candidates that will be safe and effective to increase the success of computational drug repurposing approaches. In regards to identifying safe drug candidates, pharmacovigilance studies of adverse event case reports identified that women are more likely to experience an adverse event, and …

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