Digital Commons Network^™

Structural And Functional Roles Of Proteins Modulating Aggregation In Multiple Neurodegenerative Diseases, Meenakshisundaram Balasubramaniam Balasubramaniam

Theses and Dissertations

Age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases form neurotoxic protein aggregates containing both disease-specific initiator ('seed') proteins and shared components that are common to multiple neuropathies (e.g., TDP-43, α-synuclein, hyper-phosphorylated tau). To date, the protein compositions of aggregates and the functional roles of shared components, in aggregation and disease progression, have not been fully explored. This dissertation investigated common aggregation-prone proteins, identified to promote aggregation and toxicity in multiple neurodegenerative disease models. Proteomic analysis of muscle aggregates from Caenorhabditis elegans expressing unc-54p/ Q40::YFP (a model of Huntington's disease) which forms aggregates in muscle, identified proteins that co-aggregate with long polyglutamine tracts. Functional analysis uncovered …

Chronic Stress, The Microbiome, And Adverse Maternal-Infant Outcomes, Elizabeth J. Corwin

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Saturday, July 23, 2016:

This session will present cutting edge research on the bidirectional relationships between chronic stress and the microbiome as risk factors for adverse Maternal and infant health outcomes. Exposure to a stressor is known to increase activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In addition, chronic stress is associated not only with increased cortisol, but also an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-6. Both elevated cortisol and elevated inflammatory cytokines are known risk factors for preterm birth, gestational hypertension, and gestational diabetes. They also can affect …

Calling In Sick: Impacts Of Fever On Intra-Urban Human Mobility, T. Alex Perkins, Valerie A. Paz-Soldan, Steven T. Stoddard, Amy C. Morrison, Brett M. Forshey, Kanya C. Long, Eric S. Halsey, Tadeusz J. Kochel, John P. Elder, Uriel Kitron, Thomas W. Scott, Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec

Faculty Publications

© 2016 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Pathogens inflict a wide variety of disease manifestations on their hosts, yet the impacts of disease on the behaviour of infected hosts are rarely studied empirically and are seldom accounted for in mathematical models of transmission dynamics. We explored the potential impacts of one of the most common disease manifestations, fever, on a key determinant of pathogen transmission, host mobility, in residents of the Amazonian city of Iquitos, Peru. We did so by comparing two groups of febrile individuals (dengue-positive and dengue-negative) with an afebrile control group. A …

The Influence Of Professional Self-Efficacy On Recognising And Responding To Child Abuse And Neglect Presentations, Jennifer Anne Fraser, Tara J. Flemington, Anna M. Williams

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Monday, July 25, 2016:

Purpose: Paediatric Emergency Department (ED) clinicians assess, manage and refer injury and trauma cases using their expert skills and knowledge. Through an international collaboration between Sydney Nursing School at the University of Sydney and Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, we developed the Safe Children Vietnam clinical training program for clinicians working in the ED to improve recognition and response to child injury resulting from child abuse and neglect (CAN). One of the aims of the program was to improve professional self-efficacy associated with CAN recognition and reporting. This paper …

Adapting Nursing Interventions To Africa: Challenges And Opportunities, Fhumulani Mavis Mulaudzi

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Thursday, July 21, 2016:

The World health Organization (WHO) stated that many low and middle income countries in Africa are now facing a double burden of diseases. Countries are currently dealing with infections and they are at the same time faced with a global challenge of non communicable diseases (NCDs). The movement of people from rural to urban areas is often accompanied by lifestyle changes such as sedentary life style, malnutrition, alcohol abuse and smoking habits that lead to increased risks to the development of NCDs. The WHO strategic directions for'strengthening nursing and midwifery 2011-2015 emphasised the …

Examination Of Hiv/Aids In The United States Virgin Islands: Community Needs Assessment And Gap Analysis, Safiya George Dalmida

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Friday, July 22, 2016:

Purpose: For over a decade, for over a decade, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) has consistently had one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV infection in the nation. The USVI had the highest rate of adults and adolescents (per capita) living with a diagnosis of HIV in 2005, the second highest rate from 2006 through 2009, and currently has the third highest rate (685.1), since 2010 (667.1). According to the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), the USVI is a geographic hot spot for increased HIV risk (White House Office of AIDS Policy, …

Optimal Control Analysis Of Ebola Disease With Control Strategies Of Quarantine And Vaccination, Muhammad Dure Ahmad, Muhammad Usman, Adnan Khan, Mudassar Imran

Mathematics Faculty Publications

The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa. Some isolated cases were also observed in other regions of the world.

Reflections Of Student Nurses On The Use Of All Media Application To Improve Their Learning, Juliana Willemse

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Saturday, July 23, 2016 and Sunday, July 24, 2016: Purpose: In 2011/2012 smartphones became the most used globally connected computer device when smartphone ownership outnumbered basic cell phone ownership (Cochrane, 2014: 65). Instructional methods of teaching have progressed from board and chalk, overhead projectors and Microsoft PowerPoint lectures to the application of technology as a new method of instruction. Emerging technology affords students with an opportunity to visualise and interact with learning content using multimedia, rich-graphics, animation, simulation and virtual environments (Madeira, Sousa, Pires, Esteves & Dias, 2009: 2441). Educationalists, researchers, and companies who develop learning systems …

Whole Genome Sequencing And Nursing Science Among Minority Populations, Jacquelyn Taylor

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: The development of increasingly powerful technology such as genome sequencing to understand and decode human genome sequence is now having a dramatic and expanding impact on the ability to deliver effective and precisely targeted healthcare. Nurses are uniquely poised to carry out a critical role in this healthcare revolution. It is crucial that nurses are able to provide patients with a clear and understandable rationale for the therapeutic interventions dictated by genomic analysis and to counsel wisely as questions arise for patients and families in the course of treatment. The purpose of this presentation is to explicate how nurse …

Intractable Peripheral Edema In Hospice: A Clinical Aromatherapy Case Study And Review Of The Literature, Dawn L. Langley-Brady

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Sunday, July 24, 2016:

Purpose: Many patients experience peripheral edema nearing end-of-life. Although peripheral edema is directly related to numerous hospice admitting diagnoses and co-morbid conditions, it may also be related to medication administered for palliation. Unfortunately, current pharmacological approaches to reduce acute, chronic, and neuropathic pain (i.e.: morphine and gabapentin) also have adverse effects which include peripheral edema. At times, peripheral edema is intractable to both pharmacological (i.e.: bumetanide, furosemide, and metolazone) and non-pharmacological (elevation, fluid and sodium restrictions) approaches. Aromatherapy is often understood as aroma from essential oils eliciting psychological or physiological responses via the …

From Health Professional To Film Producer In One Easy Workshop: Creating Digital Stories, Penelope Gill

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Thursday, July 21, 2016: Digital storytelling is an innovative method of capturing an audience emotionally by telling tales from the heart and soul. It consists of a short, four- to-six minute multi-media presentation which is narrated in the first person. Digital storytelling introduces the storyteller to multiple literacies such as writing, listening, narrating, publishing, presenting, language, acting and communication skills. Various types of multi-media and technological skills are also learned. The digital storytelling project can be used in many different situations to assist the student master the curriculum content. According to Hung, Hwang and Huang (2012) project …

Applying Pre-Clinical Methodologies To Better Understand The Genetic And Physiologic Mechanisms Underlying Brain Injury, Nicole D. Osier, Sheila Alexander, C. Edward Dixon

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Thursday, July 21, 2016 and Friday, July 22, 2016:

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant worldwide health problem associated with significant personal and financial cost. Despite the extensive research effort aimed at understanding the pathophysiology of TBI and targeting it therapeutically, none of the efforts to-date have resulted in an FDA-approved medication that improves outcomes at TBI. Thus, there remains an impetus to better understand TBI pathophysiology and apply this knowledge to test novel therapies. An important part of this effort involves using animal models, which afford a high-degree of control over potential confounding variables …

Risk-Taking Behaviors That Place Women At Risk For Hiv Across Cultures, Beverly Mae Fray

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Saturday, July 23, 2016 and Sunday, July 24, 2016:

The purposeof this poster presentation is to raise awareness among conference attendees that culture intersects with sexual practices all over the world, regardless of language. Second, it attempts to demonstrate that in the majority of cultures across the globe, gender, socioeconomic power dynamics, and social hierarchical structures invariably place women at higher risk for HIV and other STIs when compared to men. Culture and Risk-taking Behaviors among Women: A thorough review of the nursing, public health, anthropology and psychology literature revealed that culture plays a significant and complex …

Dog Tags: Homeless Veterans And Their Pets/Animal Companions, Susan K. Lee, Pamela Willson

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Session presented on Sunday, July 24, 2016:

Purpose: Overall, military veterans, who are at increased risk for homelessness and are over-represented when it come to the general population, comprise 10% of the United States (US) population. However, they account for 16% of the homeless adult population. Typically, homeless veterans served during the Vietnam era and are older and disabled, reporting a myriad of health concerns, including physical and psychological problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and alcohol or drug dependencies. There are many challenges that affect physical, mental, and emotional health status and quality of life, such as separation from or …

The Alestle - Vol. 69. No. 4 - 07/13/2016, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

The Alestle

Vol. 69 No. 4

Role Of Endoplasmic Reticulum Resident Proteins In Mediation Of Intrinsic Programmed Cell Death (Apoptosis), Surya Pramila Kilaparty

Theses and Dissertations

Inositol polyphosphates (InsPs) are signaling molecules that regulate various cellular processes including apoptosis. Among enzymes that metabolize InsPs, Multiple Inositol Polyphosphate Phosphatase1 (Minpp1) is the only enzyme located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It dephosphorylates more phosphorylated InsPs to less phosphorylated InsPs in vitro. Changes in cellular InsPs are known to regulate apoptosis. Minpp1 is a member of the histidine acid phosphatase family of proteins with functional resemblance to phytases found in lower organisms. Its physiological function in higher animals is not clear. Besides its role in dephosphorylating InsPs, it has been shown to have mutase activity. This enzyme is …

Regulation Of Plant Productivity By Carbon-Based Nanomaterials: Approach And Evaluation Of Risks, Mohamed Hassen Lahiani

Theses and Dissertations

Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBN) are a unique type of nanomaterials with promising application in different fields including, medicine, genetic engineering, and plant biology. Nanomaterials-plant interaction is a new and emerging area of Nanobiotechnology. Some nano-sized materials are described as promising candidates for the regulation of plant growth, reduction of plant diseases, and delivery of molecules (herbicides, DNA, proteins) inside plant cells and to specific tissues. This study evaluated the potential use of different CBN to stimulate seed germination and plant growth of wide-range of valuable crops. We demonstrated the positive effect of short-term and long-term CBN exposure on the seed germination, …

When Winter Causes Loss: Surviving A Decade Of Pain, Sharon Vanice Bealer

Theses and Dissertations

I struggled with pain and depression for approximately ten years after my mother’s death from cervical cancer at age forty-three. I felt anxious, hopeless, and pessimistic, along with guilt, shame, and overall worthlessness. I endured these maladies for almost ten years—until Bethany, Ingrid, Liza, and Pam helped me to overcome them through experiential role modeling and loving kindness. While all the stories in this book are true, names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved. In some cases, events have been compressed and occasionally embroidered. Some parts have also been changed to varying …

Potyviral Genome-Linked Protein And Its Interaction With Plant Defense Ribosome Inactivating Protein From Phytolacca Americana, Artem V. Domashevskiy

Publications and Research

Agriculture is an indispensable part of every person’s life, ensuring that nutritious and inexpensive food is readily available. Agriculture continues to be confronted with epidemics, having devastating effects on economies and the plant sources essential for human and animal life. Plants and their pathogens have developed evolutionary adaptations, each shaping the other’s defence and invasive strategies. Many different plants produce toxic ribosome inactivating proteins that aid in their defence mechanisms against pathogenic invaders. Viruses must adapt to the host translational machinery, several having evolved to include viral genome-linked proteins that carry numerous viral functions. Here, we review how a potyviral …

Abq Free Press, July 13, 2016, Abq Free Press

ABQ Free Press

No abstract provided.

A Survey On Data-Driven Decision Support Systems Using Effective Narrative Pattern, Martin Komenda, Matěj Karolyi

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Nowadays information technology assists with decision making in various fields of human activities. This paper focuses on a survey of decision support portals and systems that provide any data visualization form and reporting in the environmental research field. Generally, data outputs in environmental research are too large, and it might be difficult for the general public to be well oriented when exploring shown data sets. Therefore, it would be appropriate to guide readers, or to point out the fundamental features of the presentation. One of the effective techniques to lead the reader is data visualization storytelling. It expands exploratory data …

Are Animals Persons?, Mark Rowlands

Animal Sentience

It is orthodox to suppose that very few, if any, nonhuman animals are persons. The category “person” is restricted to self-aware creatures: humans (above a certain age) and possibly some of the great apes and cetaceans. I argue that this orthodoxy should be rejected, because it rests on a mistaken conception of the kind of self-awareness relevant to personhood. Replacing this with a sense of self-awareness that is relevant requires us to accept that personhood is much more widely distributed through the animal kingdom.

Using A High-Altitude Balloon Platform To Observe And Measure Ozone Uptake Over Agricultural Landscapes In Central Illinois, Cody Sabo

DePaul Discoveries

An increase in the amount of factories and machines that emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) has caused the concentration of GHGs to rise steeply since the industrial era. These emissions create compounds that react with sunlight to form ozone, a GHG. Ozone not only traps heat in the atmosphere causing long-term global issues, but it also causes direct harm to both plants and animals. The damage that ozone causes to plants is due to plants taking the gas up through their stomata. Measuring ozone uptake has traditionally been a difficult and expensive process. This study proposes a novel approach towards measuring …

Implications Of Manipulations Of Soil Quality On The Growth Of European Buckthorn (Rhamnus Cathartica) In A Greenhouse, Sam L. Pepper, Liam Heneghan

DePaul Discoveries

European buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica L.) is an invasive shrub that is capable of changing the nitrogen content of a soil through the deposition of its nitrogen rich leaf litter. This change creates conditions that may favor recolonizing by buckthorn and negatively affect the growth of native plants. In this greenhouse experiment, we examined the effect of altering soil quality by adding mulch comprised of buckthorn wood on above and belowground biomass, stem length and leaf production of buckthorn saplings. We found that buckthorn saplings planted in buckthorn mulch had reduced stem length and leaf production compared to growth in …

Host-Parasite Relationships Between The Copepod Naobranchia Lizae And Its Host (Striped Mullet, Mugil Cephalus): A Description Of Morphological Development, Sara R. Teemer

DePaul Discoveries

The parasitic copepod, Naobranchia lizae, is often found within the gill arches of the striped mullet, Mugil cephalus, in the Charleston Harbor Estuarine System of South Carolina. The parasite is relatively common, but little is known about its early stages of development. In order to describe the developmental stages and pattern of morphological development, 221 female N. lizae that were collected between February 2002 and May 2003 were used. Using variation in morphological characters (maxilla, trunk), these parasites were assigned to developmental stages (juvenile, subadult, adult). A small number of the males (three ‘dwarf’ males) were also found …

Understanding How Plant Diversity Impacts Wildlife Species Richness In Chicago Area Forested Greenspaces, Katie Kamba

DePaul Discoveries

Factors related to urbanization have altered the pre-settlement landscape of Chicago from native prairie and woodland, to one dominated by non-native plant species. This study examined how the plant community influences urban wildlife by investigating how vegetation structure (as measured by three indices) relates to the wildlife richness of 24 forested sites in the Chicago region. We found negative relationships between both Floristic Quality Index (FQI) and native plant diversity with wildlife richness. We propose that the generalist mammal species that were detected using the camera trap method do not require high quality forested habitat and seem to prefer lower …

Integrating Landscape Structure Into Participatory Bayesian Network Models Of Habitat Suitability, J. G. Froese, C. S. Smith, C. A. Mcalpine, P. A. Durr, R. D. Van Klinken

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Species distribution and habitat suitability models are widely used to inform decisions about conservation, resource or invasion management. Bayesian networks (BN) have received increasing attention in environmental modelling and habitat suitability modelling. Some important advantages of BNs are: a) they lend themselves to a participatory modelling framework including calibration from expert knowledge, explicit treatment of uncertain or missing knowledge and scenario analysis for decision support; b) they model responses specifically from interactions of influential habitat variables rather than statistical correlations; and c) recent advances have greatly simplified spatially-explicit applications (PMAT, https://github.com/DriesLanduyt/PMAT, QUICKScan, http://www.quickscan.pro or GeoNeticaTM, https://www.norsys.com). However, limited …

On The Use Of Finite-Difference Model To Evaluate The Impact Of Underground Water Overexploitation, Hani A., Bougherira N., Djabri L., Chaffai H., Lallahem S.

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The potentiometric surface in the Annaba basin, which covers an area of 264 km², has declined significantly since 1995. A transient multilayer model has been developed to synthesise the hydrologic data. The groundwater flow was modelled using the finite difference method with a horizontal dimension of 500 x 500 m for the cells. The model consists of two layers, the first corresponding to the alluvial phreatic aquifer and the second to the deep confined aquifer, and is calibrated against the steady state groundwater heads recorded before 1996. Under steady-state conditions, the correspondence between simulated and observed water levels …

Experimental Data Extraction And In Silico Prediction Of The Estrogenic Activity Of Renewable Replacements For Bisphenol A., Huixiao Hong, Benjamin G Harvey, Giuseppe R Palmese, Joseph F. Stanzione Iii, Hui Wen Ng, Sugunadevi Sakkiah, Weida Tong, Joshua M Sadler

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a ubiquitous compound used in polymer manufacturing for a wide array of applications; however, increasing evidence has shown that BPA causes significant endocrine disruption and this has raised public concerns over safety and exposure limits. The use of renewable materials as polymer feedstocks provides an opportunity to develop replacement compounds for BPA that are sustainable and exhibit unique properties due to their diverse structures. As new bio-based materials are developed and tested, it is important to consider the impacts of both monomers and polymers on human health. Molecular docking simulations using the Estrogenic Activity Database in …

1982 - Grants Of Land In California Made By Spanish Or Mexican Authorities

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

The 1982 California State Land Commission publication provides the historical background of landownership in California that led to the private land claims and subsequent patents issued. Contains discussion of the missions, presidios and pueblos. Provides a listing by each county of the name of the rancho (grant), patentee, patent date, patent number, watercourse, Township and Range, and the amount of acreage.