Digital Commons Network^™

Frequency Of Non-Compliance Of Antiepileptic Drugs Among Patients With Epilepsy, Safia Bano, Ahsan Numan

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Non-compliance with anti-epileptic drug treatment results in recurrent seizures and visits to the emergency departments of the hospitals has been identified as a social and economic problem. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of epileptic patients with non-compliance of anti-epileptic drugs and the understanding of patients living with epilepsy who presented to the emergency department with seizures. A descriptive study design was employed and the data-collection tools were a questionnaire for this study. The average age of the study population was 46 years. There was 60% males and 40% females in this study. Non-compliance of anti-epileptic …

High-Resolution Detection Of Change-Point With Low Coverage Single-Cell Sequencing Data, Huan Qi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies are revolutionizing our ability to detect copy number variations (CNVs). Single-cell sequencing technology allows for the genome wide copy number analysis within a single nucleus which is isolated form mixed population of cells. It can avoid the disadvantage of genomic differences in complex mixtures of cells. Many statistical methods and tools have been developed for CNVs detection using high-throughput sequencing data, but most methods are not designed for low-coverage sequencing data. In this article, we present a new Bayesian based change-point Model which has never been used for CNVs detection before and propose two similarity …

Towards Application Of One- And Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials For Reinforcement Of Polymeric Nanocomposite Bone Grafts, Behzad Farrshid

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

One- and two-dimensional (1-D and 2-D) nanomaterials possess extraordinary physiochemical properties such as large surface area, excellent mechanical properties, high surface energy and good dispersivity in organic and biological solvents, therefore, they have been extensively used as reinforcing agents to improve the mechanical properties of polymeric scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications. Carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene have been used as reinforcing agents for biodegradable polymeric scaffolds and composites, however, their short- and long-term in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biocompatibility is an area of extensive debate. In this study, we have systematically investigated the effects of …

Analyzing Spatial And Temporal Trends In The Community Structure Of The Peconic Bay Estuary, Tyler Rose Abruzzo

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Understanding the temporal and spatial trends in community structure of a bay is critical to elucidating drivers of ecosystem change and developing management policies. In order to analyze the spatial and temporal trends in the fish and mobile invertebrate assemblage of Peconic Bay, New York, we utilized data from the NYDEC bottom trawl survey. Beginning in 1987, the survey has been conducted monthly from May through October and averaged 381 stations annually. Twenty two taxa were analyzed using multivariate semivariance on Hellinger transformed abundance data. Temporal trends in community structure revealed strong seasonal patterns typical of a temperate estuarine system. …

Denitrifying Bioreactors: A Solution To Groundwater Nitrate Pollution At The Forge River?, Christine Jean Gurdon

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Denitrifying bioreactors are an approach to remediate groundwater contaminated with nitrate. Their popularity as a remediation system has increased due to their unnecessary maintenance, low cost, and longevity. While field trials on their performance have been conducted, few have been completed in a marine coastal environment. In this study, a denitrification wall was designed to be installed and monitored along the shore of a coastal environment, namely, the Forge River, New York. Prior to the design phase, a groundwater plume of elevated nitrate-nitrite concentrations needed to be identified. Groundwater nitrate-nitrite concentrations ranged from 0.01-17.68 mg/L along Riviera Drive, a road …

Effective Communication Of Critical Radiology Results: The Implementation Of Panic Alert Mechanism, Mumtaz Malik, Sidrah Nausheen

Department of Radiology

Objective: To establish an effective channel of timely communication of life-threatening emergencies to primary physicians by radiology team.Methods: The observational study was conducted at Aga Khan Hospital for Women and Children, Kharadar, Karachi. Data was collected from the log book from July 2012 to June 2013.Amultidisciplinary "Panic Alert" protocol was formulated and implemented in the Radiology unit. All radiological examinations were screened as soon as possible and panic alerts [provisional findings] were communicated to their primary care taker/relevant nursing staff, attendants within 30 minutes from the time of completion of examination. Complete log was maintained. Data was analysed on SPSS …

Una Legua Cuadrada: Exploring The History Of Swanton Pacific Ranch And Environs, Jeanine Marie Scaramozzino

Master's Theses

Swanton Pacific Ranch is an educational and research facility owned by the Cal Poly Corporation and managed by the Cal Poly State University (Cal Poly) College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. Located about 180 miles north of campus and just 14 miles north of Santa Cruz, California on Highway 1, the property was first leased to and then donated to Cal Poly by the late Albert E. Smith in 1993. The rancho’s original inhabitants included Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, as well as various European immigrants and their descendants; currently, the staff, faculty, and students of Cal Poly occupy the …

Donor Platelet Plasma Components Inactivate Sensitive And Multidrug Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii Isolates, Chelsea M. Edelblute, Olga N. Pakhomova, Fanying Li, Barbara Y. Hargrave, Loree C. Heller

Bioelectrics Publications

Acinetobacter baumannii is an environmentally resilient healthcare-associated opportunistic pathogen responsible for infections at many body sites. In the last 10 years, clinical strains resistant to many or all commonly used antibiotics have emerged globally. With few antimicrobial agents in the pharmaceutical pipeline, new and alternative agents are essential. Platelets secrete a large number of proteins, including proteins with antimicrobial activity. In a previous study, we demonstrated that donor platelet supernatants and plasma significantly inhibited the growth of a reference strain of A. baumannii in broth and on skin. This inhibition appeared to be unrelated to the platelet activation state. In …

The Effects Of Mindfulness On Verbal Distress Disclosure, Sara Fleming

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a mindfulness induction on participants’ verbal distress disclosure (as measured by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and State Disclosure Questionnaire). Participants were 86 undergraduate students enrolled in an Introduction to Psychology course and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a mindfulness condition or a control condition. Participants in the mindfulness condition engaged in a 15-minute mindfulness induction prior to disclosing about a stressful experience, while participants in the control condition listened to a neutrally valenced audio excerpt from a podcast about emotions before speaking about a …

Modulation Of Angiogenesis, Balamurali Krishna Ambati, Jayakrishna Ambati, Nirbhai Singh

Ophthalmology and Visual Science Faculty Patents

This invention relates to compounds, composJtwns, and methods for the treatment of traits, diseases and conditions that respond to the modulation of angiogenic growth factor bioavailability or biological activity.

Anti-Cocaine Compositions And Treatment, Donald Landry, Chang-Guo Zhan, James H. Woods, Roger Sunahara, Diwahar L. Narasimhan, Joanne Macdonald, Victor Yang, Mei-Chuan Holden Ko, Shi-Xian Deng, John J. Tesmer, Tien-Yi Lee, Young Min Kwon, Daquan Gao

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Patents

Embodiments of the invention disclosed herein generally relate to anti-cocaine therapeutics. Specifically, some embodiments of the invention relate to highly efficient, thermostable, and long-lasting cocaine esterase (CocE) mutants that can protect against the toxic and reinforcing effects of cocaine in subjects. Provided herein are mutant CocE polypeptides displaying thermostable esterase activity. Also provided are methods of treating cocaine-induced conditions in a subject in need via administration of mutant CocE as well as methods for high-throughput screening of candidate esterase polypeptides.

The Brutal Truth About Police Brutality, Markhel D. Hargrove

Honors Theses

Police brutality is a very timely issue as a new case has seemed to pop up every couple of weeks or so; however, police brutality is not a recent phenomenon, but for some reason, it is getting a lot of media attention today. This is perhaps due to the pattern that is occurring in these instances: black victims and white cops. In order to prevent police brutality from happening, several steps must be made to improve the way that police officers act and think in certain situations. First, it is important to teach officers how to properly handle the mentally …

Graduate Internship In Agriculture Education - Central Valley High School, Jessica Lynne Cardoso

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

An in depth evaluation of the agriculture program for Central Valley High School in Ceres, CA

Dna-Binding Motif Of The Imprinted Transcription Factor Peg3, Suman Lee, An Ye, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Lee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Peg3 is an imprinted gene that is predicted to encode a DNA-binding zinc finger protein. This was previously demonstrated through Chromatin ImmunoPrecipitation-based Sequencing experiments. In the current study, we reanalyzed the previous ChIP-Seq results and further characterized the DNA-binding motif of PEG3. According to the results, PEG3 binds to the promoters and enhancers of a subset of genes that are closely …

Faculty Senate Newsletter, Holiday 2015, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from President: At the end of the LSU-Texas A&M game, television captured Les Miles standing in the embrace of a burly player, insistently singing the LSU alma mater. Any comedy that might have inhered in such an effort at roughhouse opera deteriorated under the impression that the performance was sending a bullying message to LSU officials about the alleged high level of public support for a coach rumored to be fighting for his job. By exploiting a musical component from the sacraments of the academic community for exclusively personal ends, the beleaguered coach helped everyone to understand what has …

Breeding Technologies In U.S. Meat Goat Production: Who Are The Adopters And How Does Adoption Impact Productivity?, Jeffrey Gillespie, Berdikul Qushim, Narayan Nyaupane, Kenneth Mcmillin

Faculty Publications

Copyright 2015 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association. Adoption of advanced breeding technologies and management practices (BTMP) in U.S. meat goat production and their impact were examined. Adopters generally had larger-scale operations, used rotational grazing and/or dry lot systems, and sold larger percentages of animals for breeding and show purposes. Farmer demographics and farm variables also influenced adoption. Complementarity of adoption was found-adopters of one BTMP tended to adopt other BTMPs. Measures of productivity and profitability were not affected by adoption. Goat breed, farmer experience, production system used, and specialization influenced productivity, and farm size had the greatest influence on …

Money In The Bank And Boots On The Ground: A Law-Policy Proposal To Make The Affordable Care Act Work In Louisiana, Lucas Self

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Odd Couple: The Estate Tax And Family Law, Margaret Ryznar

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Watery Grave For Unseaworthiness Punitive Damages: Mcbride V. Estis Well Service, L.L.C., Phillip M. Smith

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Paratransgenic Control Of Pierce's Disease, Arinder K. Arora

Biology ETDs

Pierce's Disease (PD) is a deadly grapevine disease, which is caused by a Gram negative bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa and transmitted by leafhoppers commonly known as sharpshooters, including the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS, Homalodisca vitripennis). We developed paratransgenic control of PD using a commensal bacterium Pantoea agglomerans E325. The GWSSs acquired enhanced green fluorescent (EGFP)-expressing P. agglomerans from an artificial feeding system and the bacteria persisted within the insect foregut for two weeks. P. agglomerans was selected as the paratransgenic control agent based on its persistence within the sharpshooter foregut, a niche also inhabited by X. fastidiosa. P. agglomerans lines secreting two …

Gene Duplications During Experimental Evolution Of Caenorhabditis Elegans: Duplication Rates And Evolutionary Responses, James Charles Farslow

Biology ETDs

Copy-number variants (CNVs) are a ubiquitous form of genetic variation. How often this form of variation arises and its adaptive significance are active areas of contemporary research. This work presents evidence regarding both of these subjects. First, it demonstrates that gene duplications occur at a frequency two orders of magnitude greater than point mutations. Specifically, the gene duplication rate is estimated to be 1.2 x 10-7/gene/generation, compared to a point mutation rate on the order of ~10-9/site/ generation. Second, it was found that populations in a low state of fitness due to mutation accumulation could recover some or all of …

School Of Music Faculty/Staff Newsletter, December 2015, School Of Music

School of Music Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Accomplishments and news from the faculty and staff of the School of Music at Illinois State University.

Measuring, Understanding, And Improving The Performance Of Fully Grouted Resin Bolts In Underground Coal Mines, Aditya Mishra

Theses

Despite progress in research related to ground control, roof falls remain a major problem leading to injuries and fatalities in underground coal mines. Around 68 million rock bolts are installed annually in coal mines in the USA (Tadolini and Mazzoni, 2006), of which 68% of primary supports in coal mines are fully grouted resin rebar bolts. A fully grouted rock bolt is one that is fixed inside the drill hole by means grout, and is fully encapsulated throughout the length of the bolt. Production in underground coal mines is achieved by the combined processes of excavation and ground support, carried …

Understanding The Automotive Pedal Usage And Foot Movement Characteristics Of Older Drivers, Yubin Xi

All Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the pedal usage characteristics of older drivers in various driving tasks using an instrumented vehicle. This study stemmed from the prevalence of the pedal application errors (PAEs) and the older drivers’overrepresentation in crashes caused by PAEs.

With the population increasing and becoming older, it is estimated that in 2020 there will be 40 million drivers over the age of 65 in the United States. Compared with their younger counterparts, older drivers are facing declining cognitive and physical abilities, such as impaired vision, slower reaction time and diminishing range of limb motion. Because …

Evaluating The Impact Of Pharmacist Health Education On The Perceptions Of The Pharmacist’S Role Among Women Living In A Homeless Shelter, Laura V. Tsu, Kelsey Buckley, Sarah Nguyen, Jennifer Kohn

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives: To determine the impact of pharmacist-provided educational seminars on the participant’s perception of the pharmacist’s role in providing women’s health education. Secondary objectives include the participant’s level of perceived benefit from the information provided during each presentation, as well as determining characteristics of participants who are interested in attending seminars.

Methods: This is a prospective study conducted within a homeless women’s shelter in Phoenix, Arizona. Pharmacists and pharmacy students provided 10 monthly educational seminars on topics related to women’s health. Participants completed a pre- and post-seminar survey regarding their perceptions of the presentations and pharmacists.

Results: …

Feeding A Brown Midrib Corn Silage-Based Diet To Growing Beef Steers Improves Growth Performance And Economic Returns, C. S. Saunders, S. Y. Yang, J.-S. Eun, D. M. Feuz, D. R. Zobell

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

A feedlot experiment was performed to determine growth performance, ruminal fermentation characteristics, and economic returns for growing beef steers when fed a brown midrib corn silage-based total mixed ration (BMRT) compared with a conventional corn silage-based total mixed ration (CCST). Twenty-four Angus crossbred steers (initial body weight=258±23.2 kg) in individual pens were used in a completely randomized design (n=12). Intake of dry matter was not different between the treatments. Steers fed the BMRT tended to have greater average daily gain (1.54 vs. 1.42 kg d−1; P=0.09) and gain-to-feed ratio (0.165 vs. 0.146; P=0.07) compared with those fed the CCST. Feeding …

From Incentive To Commodity To Asset: How International Law Is Reconceptualizing Intellectual Property, Rochelle Dreyfuss, Susy Frankel

Michigan Journal of International Law

The intellectual property landscape is changing. As Jerry Reichman once observed, intellectual property rights were islands in a sea of the public domain until domestic laws expanded to include such “innovations” as business methods, software, scents, and sounds and turned the public domain into a pond surrounded by a continent of rights. Reichman spoke towards the end of the 20th century, and whatever problems accompanied this change, in truth (to paraphrase Voltaire’s view of the Holy Roman Empire), the concept of “intellectual property rights” was predominantly about neither “property” nor “rights” (nor was it always “intellectual”). Rather, copyright, patent, and …

Psychometric Properties Of The Centrality Of Pain Scale, Benjamin J. Morasco, Dennis C. Turk, Christina Nicolaidis

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

The Centrality of Pain Scale (COPS) is a recently developed patient-centered, 10-item self-report measure designed to assess how central, or dominating, in their lives individuals with chronic pain perceive pain to be. The COPS underwent initial development and validation previously; preliminary results suggested that the measure had excellent psychometric properties and that COPS scores were associated with important clinical factors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the COPS in a sample of individuals with mixed chronic pain diagnoses (N = 178) being treated at a U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Principal components analysis …

Strategic Plan 2016-20, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

The Strategic Plan Development Team served as the main driver of the plan. This diverse team represented a cross-section of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Board of Trustees, Foundation board members and members of the PSU Alumni Association board. A project manager and an outside consultant, Coraggio Group, facilitated. Decisions were based on general consensus. Separate “topic teams” provided deeper consideration of strategic themes. These teams made recommendations for the strategic goals and initiatives that form the core elements of the plan.

Topic teams worked with relevant university committees and units that were familiar with the best practices and research …

Selected Annotated Bibliography Of National And Regional Legal Needs Survey, Nicole Aylwin, Mandi Gray

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

Since the mid-1990’s there have been at least twenty-six large-scale national surveys on the public’s experience of justiciable events conducted within sixteen separate jurisdictions. Twenty-four of these surveys have utilized the methodological framework of Hazel Genn’s Paths to Justice (1999). Genn’s approach seeks to examine legal needs beyond what may be identified by respondents as a legal need. This approach emerged due to critiques of previous legal needs research that only sought to identify persons who were likely to use legal services rather than the types of problems that are taken to lawyers. Genn’s approach does not rely upon respondent’s …