Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Between Religion, Substance Misuse, And Mental Health Among Black Youth, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Studies suggest that religion is a protective factor for substance misuse and mental health concerns among Black/African American youth despite reported declines in their religious involvement. However, few studies have investigated the associations among religion, substance misuse, and mental health among Black youth. Informed by Critical Race Theory, we evaluated the correlations between gender, depression, substance misuse, and unprotected sex on mental health. Using multiple linear regression, we assessed self-reported measures of drug use and sex, condom use, belief in God, and religiosity on mental health among a sample of Black youth (N = 638) living in a large midwestern …

Go‐Along Interview Assessment Of Community Health Priorities For Neighborhood Renewal, Kristen A. Berg, Adam T. Perzynski

Faculty Scholarship

Healthcare systems are increasingly investing in approaches to address social determinants of health and health disparities. Such initiatives dovetail with certain approaches to neighborhood development, such as the EcoDistrict standard for community development, that prioritize both ecologically and socially sustainable neighborhoods. However, healthcare system and community development initiatives can be untethered from the preferences and lived realities of residents in the very neighborhoods upon which they focus. Utilizing the go-along approach to collecting qualitative data in situ, we interviewed 19 adults to delineate residents' community health perspectives and priorities. Findings reveal health priorities distinct from clinical outcomes, with residents emphasizing …

Effects Of Honey Locust Seed Pods On The Behavior And Nutrient Intake Of Zoo-Housed François Langurs And Prehensile-Tailed Porcupines, Noah T. Dunham, Kaylin S. Tennant, Patricia M. Dennis

Faculty Scholarship

Seed pods represent an under-utilized and valuable dietary resource for zoos because they encourage naturalistic extractive foraging behavior and because seeds pods, like leafy browses, are more fiber-rich than most dietary items typically offered in zoos. The primary goal of this study was to examine the effects of honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) seed pods on the behavior and macronutrient intake of zoo-housed François’ langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi; n = 3) and prehensile-tailed porcupines (Coendou prehensilis; n = 2) using a pre- versus postdiet implementation design. From December 2019 to April 2020, we recorded behavior using instantaneous interval sampling and daily macronutrient …

Poor Seizure Control Among Children Attending A Tertiary Hospital In South Western Uganda – A Retrospective Study, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Seizure control among children with epilepsy (CWE) receiving anti-seizure medications (ASMs) remains a challenge in low-resource settings. Uncontrolled seizures are significantly associated with increased morbidity and mortality among CWE. This negatively impacts their quality of life and increases stigma. Aim: This study determined seizure control status and described the factors associated among CWE receiving ASMs at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH). Methods: In a retrospective chart review study, socio-demographic and clinical data were obtained from 112 medical records. CWE receiving ASMs for at least six months and regularly attending the clinic were included in the study. Physical or telephone …

The Role Of Ethical Principles In Ai Startups, James Bessen, Stephen Michael Impink, Robert Seamans

Faculty Scholarship

Do high-tech startups benefit from developing more ethical AI? AI startups implement policies and take actions to manage ethical issues associated with data collection, storage, and usage and adapt to the norms of their industry. This paper describes these startups' ethics-related actions, including ethical AI policy adoption, and examines how these actions relate to startup performance. We find that merely adopting an ethical AI policy (i.e., a less costly signal) does not relate to increased performance. However, there is evidence that investors reward startups that take more costly preventative pro-ethics actions, like seeking expert guidance, training employees about unconscious bias, …

Resilience As A Moderator Of Role Overload And Sleep Disturbance Among Caregivers Of Persons With Dementia, Elliane Irani, Fei Wang, Stephanie Griggs, Ronald L. Hickman

Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to examine if resilience moderates the association between role overload and sleep disturbance among caregivers of persons with dementia. This was a secondary analysis of data on 437 informal caregivers (mean age=61.77 years, SD=13.69) of persons with dementia in the United States. Data from the 2017 wave of the National Study of Caregiving were analyzed using multiple regression with interaction terms to evaluate the moderation effect of resilience, while controlling for caregivers’ age, race, gender, education, self-rated health, caregiving hours, and primary caregiving status. Higher role overload was associated with greater sleep disturbance and …

Pharmacotherapeutic Challenges For Treating The Baby Boomer Cohort, Scott P. Pelok

Faculty Scholarship

As the baby boomer cohort ages, they have an ever‐increasing number of comorbidities and associated poly‐pharmaceutical treatment needs. The challenge for healthcare providers is to stay current of advancements in providing for this aging population. Baby boomers can expect a longer life expectancy than any previous generation. Yet, longevity has not correlated with better health. This cohort is noted for being goal driven and more self‐assured than younger generations. They are resourceful and will often attempt to fix things themselves, including their healthcare. They believe hard work deserves justifiable rewards and relaxation. These beliefs have resulted in baby boomers utilizing …

Brief Of Amici Curiae The Navajo Nation Et Al. In Support Of Petitioners, Paul Spruhan

Faculty Scholarship

The lower court’s decision abrogates the sovereign immunity of tribal nations, including their businesses and related entities, in more than 50 separate sections of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The lower court does this in contravention of both the principles of statutory construction and the precedent of this Court.

Tribal nations are engaged in extensive governmental and regulatory activities. In this role, they interact regularly with individuals and businesses that may become debtors under the United States Bankruptcy Code. Preserving the sovereign immunity of tribal nations in these instances is essential to preserving their rights to self-determination and self-governance.

Tribal …

A Response To Rules Of Medical Necessity, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

Professors Monahan and Schwarcz’s recent Article in the Iowa Law Review, Rules of Medical Necessity, is a must-read for multiple audiences. In this short Response, I informally describe health insurance, and—using that perspective—describe and comment on why Rules of Medical Necessity is a piece of work that not only deserves attention from experts in the field, but is also one that casual readers should choose first when attempting to understand how health insurance works in theory and practice.

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

Faculty Scholarship

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …

Racial Equality, Religious Liberty, And The Complications Of Pluralism, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

Constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe once described due process and equal protection as “a legal double helix.” By this, he meant that protections for substantive liberties coupled with principles of equal treatment created “a single, unfolding tale of equal liberty and increasingly universal dignity.” In his view, equality and liberty were mutually constitutive and “center[ed] on a quest for genuine self-government of groups small and large.” Although this optimistic account of the nation’s constitutional DNA is reassuring, Professor Sahar Aziz’s new book on “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom” reminds us that the double helix can unravel, so …

Centering Students’ Rhetorical Knowledge: The Community Of Inquiry As Formative Assessment, Brian N. Larson

Faculty Scholarship

This essay describes an approach to peer review and classroom workshopping intended to develop a community of inquiry in the first-year law school classroom, center students’ own rhetorical knowledge, and establish the authority of students—especially minoritized students—as rhetorical agents. The technique described in this essay works from the presumption that each student who comes to law school comes with rich rhetorical experience. In other words, they have extensive experience constructing discourse suited to certain audiences and certain contexts. They use a variety of tools to construct such discourse, including linguistic registers (or styles) and rhetorical genres (such as the academic …

A Prophylactic Approach To Compact Constitutionality, Katherine Mims Crocker

Faculty Scholarship

From COVID-19 to climate change, immigration to health insurance, firearms control to electoral reform: state politicians have sought to address all these hot-button issues by joining forces with other states. The U.S. Constitution, however, forbids states to “enter into any Agreement or Compact” with each other “without the Consent of Congress,” a requirement that proponents of much interstate action, especially around controversial topics, would hope to circumvent.

The Supreme Court lets them do just that. By interpreting “any Agreement or Compact” so narrowly that it is difficult to see what besides otherwise unlawful coordination qualifies, the Court has essentially read …

International Society Of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Nutritional Concerns Of The Female Athlete, Stacy T. Sims, Chad M. Kerksick, Abbie E. Smith-Ryan, Xanne A.K. Janse De Jonge, Katie R. Hirsch, Shawn M. Arent, Susan Joyce Hewlings, Susan M. Kleiner, Erik Bustillo, Jaime L. Tartar, Valerie G. Starratt, Richard B. Kreider, Casey Greenwalt, Liliana I. Renteria, Michael J. Ormsbee, Trisha A. Vandusseldorp, Bill I. Campbell, Douglas S. Kalman, Jose Antonio

Faculty Scholarship

Based on a comprehensive review and critical analysis of the literature regarding the nutritional concerns of female athletes, conducted by experts in the field and selected members of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), the following conclusions represent the official Position of the Society: 1. Female athletes have unique and unpredictable hormone profiles, which influence their physiology and nutritional needs across their lifespan. To understand how perturbations in these hormones affect the individual, we recommend that female athletes of reproductive age should track their hormonal status (natural, hormone driven) against training and recovery to determine their individual patterns and …

International Society Of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Energy Drinks And Energy Shots, Andrew R. Jagim, Patrick S. Harty, Grant M. Tinsley, Chad M. Kerksick, Adam M. Gonzalez, Richard B. Kreider, Shawn M. Arent, Ralf Jager, Abbie E. Smith-Ryan, Jeffrey R. Stout, Bill I. Campbell, Trisha Vandusseldorp, Jose Antonio

Faculty Scholarship

Position Statement: The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) bases the following position stand on a critical analysis of the literature regarding the effects of energy drink (ED) or energy shot (ES) consumption on acute exercise performance, metabolism, and cognition, along with synergistic exercise-related performance outcomes and training adaptations. The following 13 points constitute the consensus of the Society and have been approved by the Research Committee of the Society: Energy drinks (ED) commonly contain caffeine, taurine, ginseng, guarana, carnitine, choline, B vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, and B12), vitamin C, vitamin A (beta carotene), vitamin D, …

Defeating De Facto Disenfranchisement Of Criminal Defendants, Neil Sobol

Faculty Scholarship

In a democracy, voting is not only an important civic duty but also a right that governments owe to their citizens. However, by operation of law, forty-eight states deny voting rights to individuals based on criminal convictions. Activists and scholars attack de jure disenfranchisement as an improper collateral consequence that disproportionately impacts people of color. Although recent years show substantial reforms to reenfranchise defendants, an estimated 5.17 million defendants remained ineligible to vote in 2020.

While efforts to address de jure disenfranchisement remain necessary, a problem that has received considerably less attention is the de facto disenfranchisement of criminal defendants …

Microfluidic Concurrent Assessment Of Red Blood Cell Adhesion And Microcapillary Occlusion: Potential Hemorheological Biomarkers In Sickle Cell Disease, Yuncheng Man, Douglas H. Wu, Ran An, Karamoja Monchamp, Utku Goreke, Zoe Sekyonda, William J. Wulftange, Chiara Federici, Allison Bode, Lalitha V. Nayak, Umut A. Gurkan

Faculty Scholarship

Deformability and non-adherence are two fundamental functional properties of red blood cells (RBCs), which allow them to move unimpeded through the microvasculature. In sickle cell disease (SCD), polymerization of abnormal sickle hemoglobin leads to decreased deformability and increased membrane adhesiveness in RBCs. This contributes to abnormal blood vessel occlusion, which is central to the underlying pathophysiology. RBC deformability and adhesiveness are, therefore key hemorheological biomarkers in characterizing disease states as well as in evaluating novel therapeutics. To date, these important interrelated biomarkers have been assessed in distinct laboratory assays, without integration or concurrent assessment in vitro. To this end, we …

Incidence Of Aggressive End-Of-Life Care Among Older Adults With Metastatic Cancer Living In Nursing Homes And Community Settings, Siran M. Koroukian, Sara L. Douglas, Long Vu, Hannah L. Fein, Richa Gairola, Nicholas K. Schiltz, Jennifer Cullen, Cynthia Owusu, Martha Sajatovic, Johnie Rose

Faculty Scholarship

Importance: Nearly 10% of the 1.5 million persons residing in nursing homes (NHs) have received or will receive a diagnosis of cancer. Although aggressive end-of-life (EOL) care is common among community-dwelling patients with cancer, little is known about such patterns of care among NH residents with cancer. Objective: To compare markers of aggressive EOL care between older adults with metastatic cancer who are NH residents and their community-dwelling counterparts. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database linked with the Medicare database and the Minimum Data Set (including NH clinical assessment data) for …

Facilitators And Barriers To Reunification Among Housing Unstable Families, Robert L. Fischer, David Crampton

Faculty Scholarship

Housing unstable families with child welfare system involvement face multiple challenges to successfully reunifying with their families. This explanatory qualitative study followed up on findings from a county-sponsored Pay for Success (PFS) RCT. The study focused on understanding the facilitators and barriers to reunification, bringing together the perspectives of a random sample of 16 housing-unstable caregivers whose children were in foster care, their PFS program workers, and their child welfare caseworkers. We conducted in-depth, in-person interviews with 52 participants. Major facilitators of reunification included strong client motivation, PFS program workers empowering and advocating for clients, the program's ability to meet …

A Novel Sorbicillinoid Compound As A Potent Anti‐Inflammation Agent Through Inducing Nlrp3 Protein Degradation, Fangfang Wang, Youwei Zhang

Faculty Scholarship

Background and Purpose: Chronic inflammation is pathogenic and contributes to human diseases, causing a significant threat to public health. The NLR family pyrin domain‐containing protein 3 (NLRP3) is the best‐characterized factor regulating inflammation. Therefore, targeting NLRP3 has the potential to treat inflammatory diseases and improve human health. Experimental Approach: Lipopolysaccharide was used to induce inflammation in cell cultures. Lipopolysaccharide/d‐galactosamine and dextran sulfate sodium salt were used to induce acute liver inflammation and ulcerative colitis respectively in C57BL/6J mice. Western blotting, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, quantitative PCR and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to evaluate the activation of the inflammatory response in …

The Liability Trap: Why The Alec Anti-Esg Bills Create A Legal Quagmire For Fiduciaries Connected With Public Pensions, David J. Berger, David H. Webber, Beth M. Young

Faculty Scholarship

Two proposed bills barring public pensions from considering environmental, social, and governance investment criteria create massive legal risk for any pension fiduciary or service provider. The American Legislative Exchange Council “boycott bill” and the “fiduciary duty” bill, if adopted, would impose irreconcilable legal requirements on such fiduciaries, and subject them to compliance with arbitrary and unworkable legal demands.

The main legal problems the bills create fall into four categories:

(1) the unworkable distinction between “pecuniary” and “non-pecuniary,” a distinction so blurry that the bills are self-contradictory, as we demonstrate;

(2) the clash between the bills’ definition of materiality and that …

Small Molecule Inhibitors Of 15-Pgdh Exploit A Physiologic Induced-Fit Closing System, Wei Huang, Hongyun Li, Janna G. Kiselar, Stephen P. Fink, Sagar Regmi, Alexander Day, Yiyuan Yuan, Mark R. Chance, Sanford D. Markowitz, Derek J. Taylor

Faculty Scholarship

15-prostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) is a negative regulator of tissue stem cells that acts via enzymatic activity of oxidizing and degrading PGE2, and related eicosanoids, that support stem cells during tissue repair. Indeed, inhibiting 15-PGDH markedly accelerates tissue repair in multiple organs. Here we have used cryo-electron microscopy to solve the solution structure of native 15-PGDH and of 15-PGDH individually complexed with two distinct chemical inhibitors. These structures identify key 15-PGDH residues that mediate binding to both classes of inhibitors. Moreover, we identify a dynamic 15-PGDH lid domain that closes around the inhibitors, and that is likely fundamental to the physiologic …

Museums And The Metaverse: Emerging Technologies To Promote Inclusivity And Engagement, James Hutson, Piper Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past two decades, museums have increasingly sought to build connections with the community and increase inclusivity of visitors. At the same time, emerging technologies, such as extended reality (XR) and virtual museums (VM) are increasingly adopted to engage with different generational expectations but also for the purposes of supporting inclusivity and neurodiverse populations. First such technologies were adopted to augment exhibitions in the physical museum space for edutainment. Since then, XR has expanded from room-size environments (CAVEs) and augmented exhibitions to the creation of entire virtual museums, such as The Museum of Pure Form and The Virtual Museum …

Working With (Not Against) The Technology: Gpt3 And Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In College Composition, James Hutson, Daniel Plate

Faculty Scholarship

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) for improvement of writing is commonplace with word-processing software and cloudbased writing assistants such as Grammarly and Microsoft Word. However, more and more options are cropping up that move beyond assistance with grammar, spelling, and punctuation to complete essay generation. The free availability of AI essay generators has led to lamenting the coming death of college writing. But AI has been used in the previously noted examples for decades without such a reaction. In fact, the idea that the use of essay generating software is synonymous with academic dishonesty is as passé as worries …

Deferring Intellectual Property Rights In Pandemic Times, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines an unprecedented proposal that India and South Africa submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in October 2020, which called for a waiver of more than 30 provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to help combat COVID-19. It begins by recounting the proposal's strengths and weaknesses. The Article then identifies the challenges surrounding the negotiation and implementation of the proposed waiver. It shows why these two sets of challenges were neither separate nor sequential, but deeply entangled at the time of the international negotiations.

To respond to these challenges and the negotiation …

Adoption Ouroboros: Repeating The Cycle Of Adoption As Rescue, Malinda L. Seymore

Faculty Scholarship

Ouroboros—the circular symbol of the snake eating its tail; an endless cycle. As the U.S. recently withdrew from Afghanistan in chaos and Russia invaded Ukraine, the attention of Americans turned, as it frequently has in times of international conflict, to the plight of children in need of rescue. For many Americans, rescue is synonymous with adoption. The history of international adoption began with rescues following America’s wars in Europe and Asia and continues today through other violent upheavals. International adoption is an ouroboros, repeating the pattern of adoption as a response to humanitarian crises. But as human and charitable as …

The Disembodied First Amendment, Nathan Cortez, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

First Amendment doctrine is becoming disembodied—increasingly detached from human speakers and listeners. Corporations claim that their speech rights limit government regulation of everything from product labeling to marketing to ordinary business licensing. Courts extend protections to commercial speech that ordinarily extended only to core political and religious speech. And now, we are told, automated information generated for cryptocurrencies, robocalling, and social media bots are also protected speech under the Constitution. Where does it end? It begins, no doubt, with corporate and commercial speech. We show, however, that heightened protection for corporate and commercial speech is built on several “artifices” - …

Establishing A Conditional Driver Permit In Texas, Luz E. Herrera, Taylor Garner, Crystal Hernandez, Lisa Mares

Faculty Scholarship

The article presents supporting data to expand access to state-issued driver permits for Texans who cannot provide the required documents to obtain a driver’s license. Part I examines the unlicensed and uninsured population in Texas that these efforts attempt to address. Part II discusses state jurisdiction to issue driver licenses and permits. It discusses existing Texas statutes that authorize the issuance of driver’s licenses and permits. The section also offers examples of other state statutes that have expanded their right to regulate driving privileges beyond Real ID Act requirements. Part III presents a partial economic analysis illustrating potential economic benefits …

Originalism: Erasing Women From The Body Politic, Malinda L. Seymore

Faculty Scholarship

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Court relied on originalism to excise women from the Constitution. Originalism is purposefully backward-looking. With cherry-picked history, the Court created a future that looks to the past: a past where unwed pregnancy is shameful and can be redeemed only by secret adoption. Yet the case has revealed originalism as a flawed method, harmed the legitimacy of the Court, and energized those supporting abortion rights.

Racial Differences In Time To Blood Pressure Control Of Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Patients: A Single-Institution Study, Xiaofei Zhou, Adam Hwan Bates, Uma V. Mahajan, Ansh Desai, Jeffrey Butke, Yifei Duan, Christopher Burant, Kaylee Sarna, Martha Sajatovic, Dhimant Dani, S. Alan Hoffer

Faculty Scholarship

Background and purpose Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs in approximately 30,000 patients annually in the United States. Uncontrolled blood pressure is a major risk factor for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Clinical guidelines recommend maintaining blood pressure control until definitive aneurysm securement occurs. It is unknown whether racial differences exist regarding blood pressure control and outcomes (HLOS, discharge disposition) in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Here, we aim to assess whether racial differences exist in 1) presentation, 2) clinical course, and 3) outcomes, including time to blood pressure stabilization, for aSAH patients at a large tertiary care medical center. Methods We conducted a retrospective review …