Digital Commons Network^™

Role Of Host Cell Β-Catenin During Toxoplasma Gondii Infection, Cameron H. Ranken

Biology ETDs

The microbial pathogen Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan that actively invades host cells and simultaneously creates a specialized parasitophorous vacuole within which the parasite lives and replicates. The parasite molecular machinery that drives establishment of the intracellular niche is relatively well known. However, it is now emerging that Toxoplasma exploits less well-understood host cell components to enable successful infection. Here, we examined the role of host Wnt/β-catenin during T. gondii infection. Using human fibroblasts and a mouse dendritic cell line, we found that infection with Toxoplasma stimulated both upregulation and nuclear localization of β-catenin. Using a transwell experimental approach, …

Resaka Kolontsaina Le Raha (It Is About Cultures): Cultures And Foreign Language Teaching In Madagascar, Iarintsambatra Rijasoa Andriamanana Josoa

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

For years, teaching and learning a foreign language (FL) has been equated to exclusively discover and master that target language and its related cultures. There has not been any exploration of other features such as the native language and local cultures in a foreign language classroom. Using a participatory action research, the aim of this study was to tell the story of six Malagasy high school teachers collaborating in a Teacher Learning Community (TLC) to construct and put into practice pedagogical approaches that celebrate and sustain Malagasy students’ identities, cultures, and experiences through classroom activities, and capitalize them for basis …

Evaluating Sustainable & Equitable Financing For Pedestrian Infrastructure Maintenance And How The Quality Of Pedestrian Infrastructure Affects The Choice To Walk, Alexis Corning Padilla

Civil Engineering ETDs

In many communities, pedestrian infrastructure is poorly maintained. One challenge is finding sustainable and equitable funding since many municipalities across the country require adjacent property to maintain and repair sidewalks adjacent to their property. These policies are difficult to enforce, may place a high cost on lower-income households, and may be partly responsible for the poor condition of many sidewalks. Therefore, in the first part of this research, we evaluated three alternatives for financing the maintenance of sidewalks in Albuquerque, New Mexico: increasing the gross receipts tax, the gasoline excise tax, or the property tax. We concluded that any of …

Sex, Labor, And Digital Spaces: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Gpguiadelas, A Brazilian Sex Worker Twitter Feed, Ailesha L. Ringer

Communication ETDs

This dissertation project is a critical discourse analysis of written and visual texts produced for GPGuiaDelas, a Brazilian sex worker Twitter feed. Drawing on digital labor studies, feminist studies on sex work, and Brazilian studies on race and gender, 176 Twitter conversations between sex workers and clients were analyzed in order to answer the following: (1) What are the dominant themes in the discourse about sex work constructed through microblogging on social media?; (2) What are the discursive practices of sex workers who use social media as a platform?; and (3) What theoretical insights emerge from the analysis of sex …

Application Of Cation Exchange And Nanofiltration To Treat Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater, Ayush R. Shahi

Civil Engineering ETDs

Flue gas emitted from coal-fired power plants is one of the major sources of sulfur and nitrogen oxides emissions to the atmosphere in the world today. Although coal use has decreased, it is still a major contributor to such emissions. The Clean Air Act in the United States established regulations for coal-fired power plants to limit SO_x and NO_x emissions into the atmosphere. To meet regulatory requirements, power plants have been using scrubbers to limit their air emissions. Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a pollution prevention method that is employed to limit sulfur dioxide emissions directly in the environment …

Beach Bodies: Gender And The Beach In American Culture, 1880-1940, Margaret Elena Depond

History ETDs

This dissertation argues that American beaches, within the world of leisure and pleasure, were significant contested spaces of social change and debate. Overtime, from about 1880 to 1940, social restrictions loosened at the beach, allowing men, women, and people of color to express themselves in ways that had been previously controlled, curtailed, or proscribed. The emergence of mass popular amusements at the beach attracted a wide array of the American population. Both working-class and middle-class Americans absorbed the culture of new beach attractions, such as amusement parks, piers, boardwalks, and bathhouses. In doing so, they interacted more with each other …

Exercise-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Improves Cognitive Function Among Cvd Patients, Terence A. Moriarty, Kelsey Bourbeau, Christine Mermier, Len Kravitz, Ann Gibson, Nicholas Beltz, Omar Negrete, Micah Zuhl

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Objective: Investigate the effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) exercise training on cognitive performance and if the changes are associated with alterations in prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation among patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Design: A single group pre-post design. Setting: An outpatient CR program. Subjects: Twenty (15 male, 5 female; mean (SD) age 64.8 (11.6) yrs) patients from an outpatient CR program. Intervention: At least 18 individualized CR sessions (approximately 6 weeks). Main measures: Pre- and post-CR changes in cognitive performance (a measure of 5 constructs from the NIH Fluid Cognition test battery), left-PFC and right-PFC activation (measured using functional …

Facial Fluctuating Asymmetry: Developmental Origins And Implications For Long-Term Health, Katelyn Marie Rusk Phd

Anthropology ETDs

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), characterized by random left-right deviations from perfect symmetry in anatomical structures, is a form of bilateral asymmetry that is thought to reflect underlying developmental instability (DI). DI refers to an organism’s relative ability to buffer against stochastic fluctuations in environmental conditions throughout development. FA is commonly used within evolutionary biology and anthropology as a cumulative indicator of chronic stress exposure during development and its consequences for long-term health. While the FA literature is extensive, there are two primary areas of inquiry that remain incomplete: assessing the full breadth of health correlates of FA across the human life …

Cyclic Amp Efflux Inhibition As A Potential Therapeutic Target For Acute Leukemia: Small Molecule Discovery And Validation, Dominique R. Perez

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Evasion of apoptosis and resistance to chemotherapy are major therapeutic challenges for acute leukemias. Presumably as a means to promote cell survival, multiple elements of the cyclic AMP (cAMP) pathway are aberrantly regulated in acute leukemias. Furthermore, increased intracellular cAMP (icAMP) is known to induce apoptosis. Therefore, modulation of icAMP has long been a target in leukemias. The central hypothesis of this dissertation is that malignant cells produce and remove excess intracellular cAMP to evade apoptosis and promote survival. Consequently, inhibition of cAMP efflux could selectively trigger leukemia cell death. We designed a novel assay to assess icAMP efflux from …

Computational Investigation Of The Interactions Between Bioactive Compounds And Biological Assemblies, Tye D. Martin

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Small, biologically active molecules with unique properties and applications are potential solutions to a wide range of threats to global health including infectious agents and neurodegenerative disease. Experimental studies on a class of oligomeric p-phenylene ethynylenes (OPEs) have shown potential both as bioactive antimicrobials and fluorescent sensing agents for tracking amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates found in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). A second type of small molecule with potential applications in AD therapy, curcumin, has been found to interfere with Aβ fibril growth. Curcumin also attenuates Aβ-membrane interactions and Aβ toxicity. Our goal has been to use computational techniques to better understand the …

Addressing Content, Convergent And Predictive Validity Of Implicit Pain-Related Fear In Chronic Low Back Pain, Eric S. Kruger

Psychology ETDs

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common condition that can lead to emotional distress and physical disability. Fear of pain, a phobic-like response to pain, can contribute to significant avoidance behavior and is associated with disrupted physical and emotional functioning. While questionnaires remain the standard for measurement of pain-related fear, recent work has explored the use of implicit methods. This study aimed to use an implicit measure, the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), to assess convergent and predictive validity of implicit pain-related fear in relation to explicit self-report measures. Seventy-four participants with CLBP were recruited and completed the pain-related …

Is Transportation Planning Effective? A Critical Review Of Long-Range Regional Transportation Planning In The United States, Razieh Nadafianshahamabadi

Civil Engineering ETDs

The Federal-Aid Highway Act requires urban areas with a population greater than 50,000 to create Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to ensure that funding for transportation projects and programs are based on a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive planning process. A major responsibility of each MPO is the creation of a long-range transportation plan (LRTP) that addresses the transportation needs of a metropolitan region over the next twenty years or more. While long-range regional transportation planning goals have grown to include a wide range of concerns and technical methods for evaluating planning scenarios have advanced substantially over the past 50 years, there …

University Of New Mexico Board Of Regents Minutes For July 10, 2019, University Of New Mexico Board Of Regents

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of A Video On The Link Between Diabetes And Peridontal Disease To Educate Native American Populations., Valerie E. Long

Dental Hygiene ETDs

As the Native American population of the Navajo Nation, becomes affected with diabetes dental offices across the Navajo Reservation must ensure that evidence based research is being presented n the oral systemic link of diabetes and periodontal disease. The purpose of this study was to bring awareness to the important topic of the bi-directional link of diabetes and periodontal disease with Native American dental patients. This topic seems to not be valued during oral hygiene education time and so that addition of a culturally-specific educational video on the topic should add value to the message. This topic was investigated via …

Intratypic Genetic Variability Of Human Adenovirus Type 4: Implication For Viral Pathogenesis, Camden Roy Bair

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Human adenovirus type 4 (HAdV-E4) is a causative agent of acute respiratory disease and conjunctivitis worldwide. Two major lineages of HAdV-E4 genomic variants have been identified by their distinct BamHI restriction profiles: prototype-like (p-like) strains and the a-like genomic variants. Recent molecular epidemiology studies have shown a predominance of a-like genomic variants detected in association with disease which suggests a-like strains have a fitness advantage or they may be more pathogenic. The impact of HAdV-E4 intratypic genetic variability on in vitro and in vivo phenotypes relevant to pathogenesis is a major gap in knowledge. I hypothesize that HAdV-E4 comprises two …

Improving Proton Pump Inhibitor Prescription Practices As A Means To Decreasing Nosocomial Infections, Jens Langsjoen

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly prescribed to treat stomach acid related illnesses, but increase the risk of hospital acquired infections. Measuring hospital PPI overuse trends and provider willingness to adopt PPI reduction interventions can inform the feasibility of reducing PPI overuse. We: (1) interviewed physicians, pharmacists and IT leaders to determine options for hospital PPI reduction, (2) analyzed electronic health record data to determine patterns of PPI overuse, and (3) surveyed providers regarding their willingness to adopt PPI reduction interventions. PPI use was inappropriate in 32% of inpatient encounters locally and 38% nationally. ICU exposure increased the odds of …

Low Loading Gold Vapor Deposited Electrode For High Sensitivity As (Iii) Detection, Tybur Casuse

Civil Engineering ETDs

The objective of this thesis is to develop a method for detection of arsenite, As (III), using a thin film of gold (Au) vapor deposited onto carbon paper as an electrode. Currently, availability of drinking water arsenic (As) concentration information for rural communities is diminished due to high cost per sample analysis and limited access to analytical laboratories which can accurately determine concentrations near the 10 maximum contaminant level (MCL) set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The use of a minimal amount of gold aids in decreasing the cost of an electrode. …

Tauopathies, Novel Optogenetic Tools, And The Future Of Artificial Intelligence In Medicine, Jessica Lee Binder

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

To this day, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD). With the daunting rise at an exponential rate of ADRD burden and related deaths, the necessity to find a new line of attack is vital. Pathological accumulation of microtubule associated protein tau in neurons is a major neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related tauopathies. Attempts have been made to promote clearance of pathological tau (p-Tau) from neurons via autophagy. Transcription factor EB (TFEB) has shown to clear p-Tau from neurons via autophagy. However, sustained TFEB activation and autophagy can create burden on cellular …

Identifying Error-Related, Response Inhibition, And Structural Integrity Deficits Associated With Youth With Elevated Psychopathic Traits And Predictive Of Future Recidivism, James M. Maurer

Psychology ETDs

Juvenile delinquency poses a severe cost to society. Adolescent offenders who are more likely to recidivate, including youth scoring higher on measures of psychopathic traits, and non- psychopathic life-course persistent offenders, are characterized by cognitive control deficits which may increase their propensity towards future recidivism. In this dissertation, we found that youth scoring high on psychopathic traits exhibited increased functional connectivity during response inhibition and reduced functional connectivity during error-related processing, and reduced structural integrity in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus, compared to youth scoring low on psychopathic traits. In addition, we found error-related processing deficits and reduced …

Characterization Of Single- And Multi-Phase Shock-Accelerated Flows, Patrick John Wayne

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Experiments conducted in the Shock Tube Facility at the University of New Mexico are focused on characterization of shock-accelerated flows. Single-phase (gaseous) initial conditions consist of a heavy gas column of sulfur hexafluoride seeded with approximately 11% acetone gas by mass. Visualization of the image plane for gaseous initial conditions is accomplished via planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) with a high-powered Nd:YAG ultraviolet laser and an Apogee Alta U-42 monochrome CCD camera, with a quantum efficiency > 90%. Multi-phase (gas-solid) initial conditions consist of glass micro-beads deposited on small 1-cm diameter discs of specific surface chemistry, mounted flush with the bottom wall …

Have You Seen The Poop Fairy?, Sergio Lozoya

Architecture and Planning ETDs

This research seeks to understand the effectiveness of the There is no Poop Fairy campaign through a public survey of dog owners. The There Is No Poop Fairy campaign was initiated in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2014, with the goal of getting dog owners to pick up and properly dispose of their dogs’ waste. The Rio Grande is contaminated with E. coli bacteria that originates in part from dog waste, which is carried to the river through storm water. Levels of E. coli in the Rio Grande have decreased dramatically within the past few years, coincident with the campaign. The …

Large Scale Electronic Health Record Data And Echocardiography Video Analysis For Mortality Risk Prediction, Alvaro Emilio Ulloa Cerna

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Electronic health records contain the clinical history of patients. The enormous potential for discovery in such a rich dataset is hampered by their complexity. We hypothesize that machine learning models trained on EHR data can predict future clinical events significantly better than current models. We analyze an EHR database of 594,862 Echocardiography studies from 272,280 unique patients with both unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques.

In the unsupervised approach, we first develop a simulation framework to evaluate a family of different clustering pipelines. We apply the optimized approach to 41,645 patients with heart failure without providing any survival information to …

Strategies To Combat Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Inhalable Microparticles Formulated With Anti-Tubercular Antibiotics And Efflux Pump Inhibitors, Elliott K. Miller

Pharmaceutical Sciences ETDs

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is an intracellular pathogen which can remain dormant within the human body for years (latent tuberculosis), and once active requires extensive multidrug therapies for treatment. Long-term antibiotic(s) exposure have led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains which require novel treatment approaches to combat Mtb resistance. Mtb may also utilize efflux pumps to expel antibiotics and promote bacterial survival, potentially mediating drug tolerance, which has been hypothesized to contribute to antibiotic resistance. Efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) such as verapamil (VER) may potentiate effects of first-line anti-tubercular drugs (ATDs) such as rifampicin …

Retrospective Study Demonstrating High Rates Of Sustained Virologic Response After Treatment With Direct-Acting Antivirals Among American Indian/Alaskan Natives, Jorge Mera, Kartik Joshi, Karla Thornton, Terry Box, John Scott, Miranda Sedillo, Paulina Deming, Crystal David, Whitney Essex, Richard Manch, Anita Kohli

Project ECHO Bibliography

BACKGROUND: Treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) has rapidly evolved to simple, well-tolerated, all-oral regimens of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). There are few data on the epidemiology of HCV in American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), a population disproportionately affected by HCV.

METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, all HCV-infected AI/AN patients treated with DAA therapies between January 1, 2014, and February 24, 2016, in specialty clinics or by primary care clinicians participating in Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) were included. Demographic, clinical, and virologic data on all patients treated for HCV from pretreatment through sustained virologic response at 12 weeks …

Environmental Restoration Operations Consolidated Quarterly Report - July 2019, Sandia National Laboratories/Nm

Environmental Restoration

Environmental Restoration Operations Consolidated Quarterly Report, July 2019 for the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Sandia National Laboratories that addresses all quarterly reporting (January through March 2019) required under the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Module of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit, the Compliance Order on Consent and the Chemical Waste Landfill Post-Closure Care Permit for Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico, Environmental Protection Agency identification number NM5890110518. 87pgs.

Natural Resources And Environmental Law Newsletter, Summer 2019, Natural Resources And Environmental Law Program

Newsletter

• NREL Program Earns A+ Rating from PreLaw Magazine
• Former Minister Christopher Finlayson Discusses New Zealand’s Settlements with Māori
• The Utton Center Tackles UNM’s Sustainable Water Resources Grand Challenge
• Clinic Deepens Work with Land Grants and Acequias
• Recent NREL Certificate Graduates Making a Splash in New Mexico’s NREL Community
• Villa, Fort Speak About Importance of Environmental Public Health
• Pacyniak Publishes Paper on New Mexico Renewable Portfolio Standard Policy Design
• UNM Law Students Take On the Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
• Benson, Villa Present at NM Water Law Conference
• Recent Events:
• April 2 - CLE on Clean Water Rule;
• April 6 - …

Digital Health Solutions For Indigenous Mental Well-Being, Jennifer M. Hensel, Katherine Ellard, Mark Koltek, Gabrielle Wilson, Jitender Sareen

Project ECHO Bibliography

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes digital health solutions being used for Indigenous mental well-being, with emphasis on available evidence and examples reported in the literature. We also describe our own local experience with a rural telemental health service for Indigenous youth and discuss the unique opportunities and challenges.

RECENT FINDINGS: Digital health solutions can be grouped into three main categories: (1) remote access to specialists, (2) building and supporting local capacity, and (3) patient-directed interventions. Limited evidence exists for the majority of digital solutions specifically in Indigenous contexts, although examples and pilot projects have been described. Telemental health has …

Unm Hslic Organizational Chart 2019, Sally Bowler-Hill

HSLIC Organizational Charts

No abstract provided.

Prescription Of Opioids To Youth 2005-2016: An Examination Of Trends, Patient Characteristics, And Outcomes Through 12 Months, Melissa Pielech

Psychology ETDs

Data on all outpatient opioid prescriptions (N=71,647) to youth below age 21 (N=42,020) from 2005-2016 were extracted from electronic medical records within a university hospital system, including demographic characteristics, markers of morbidity, and mortality. Relative risk was calculated for markers of morbidity and mortality based on sociodemographic characteristics. The sample was primarily male (55.0%), Hispanic/Latino (50.1%), English-speaking (88.9%), and publicly insured(50.1%). Mean age was 13.54 (sd = 6.50). From 2005-2016, overall frequency of opioid prescriptions increased by 86.6% (from 2470 to 4610) with the largest increase (206.2%) observed from 2005-2008 (2470 to 7562). Patients who …

Child Support Cost Tables: The Case For Second Household Adjustment, R. Mark Rogers, David Standridge

New Mexico Law Review

In theory, child support is an amount of money payable by one parent to the other to make sure that a child is cared for and shares, to some degree, the standard of living enjoyed by both parents. This theory is quantified in child support guidelines statutes where the actual amount of child support is calculated using economic data. Current guidelines for child support awards in most states are based upon economic data regarding the spending levels of intact households. The data used in states’ child support guidelines are not merely advisory as the phrase “guidelines” may suggest to many. …