Digital Commons Network^™

Cleaning Protocol For Implant Abutment Screws, Rocio Barocio Torano

All ETDs from UAB

Aim: To develop a time and cost effective cleaning protocol for implant abutment screws that are used throughout the fabrication of an implant restoration in the dental laboratory. Materials and Methods: Ninety (90) implant abutment screws (Biohorizons PXAS®) were collected from different dental laboratories after abutment milling and restoration fabrication. Seventy five (75) of these screws were randomly divided into 5 groups (n=15). Each group was cleaned for 1, 5, and 10 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner and all screws were observed under 40x magnification before and after cleaning. Any debris was collected and weighed by using paper filters. The …

Fcrl5 Counter-Regulates Natural And T Cell-Independent Immunoglobulin Production By Innate-Like B Cells, Eugene John Becker

All ETDs from UAB

At homeostasis and during the initial phases of primary responses to pathogens, humoral host defense is chiefly coordinated by specialized B cells known as splenic marginal zone (MZ) and body cavity-derived B-1 B cells. These front line immune mediators are termed “innate like” due to their ability to secrete broadly-reactive natural antibodies and respond rapidly to antigens in a T cell-independent manner. The production of natural antibodies possessing specificities for self-antigens allows clearance of cellular debris, maintenance of homeostasis and protection from infections that can also predispose the host to immunological disease. However, how the functions of these specialized cells …

Meta-Analysis Of Cognitive Performance In Fibromyalgia, Tyler Reed Bell

All ETDs from UAB

Fibromyalgia is a disease that encompasses difficulties with pain, physical function, and emotion, but is also characterized by complaints of poor cognition. Over the last two decades, a vast amount of literature has tested for cognitive differences between individuals with and without fibromyalgia. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a quantitative synthesis on these differences across multiple cognitive domains. After a systematic search of eligible studies, random-effect meta-analyses were conducted on effect sizes (Hedges’ g) derived from 37 cross-sectional studies covering domains of processing speed, memory and executive function. Participants included persons with fibromyalgia (total n = …

Evaluating Driving Performance Of Adolescents And Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders Around Social And Non-Social Hazards, Haley Johnson Bishop

All ETDs from UAB

The leading cause of death among adolescents is motor vehicle collisions, which may be due to a number of factors including inexperience and incomplete brain development. These risks may be even more prominent for young drivers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) because of additional impairments in processing speed, social communication and emotional regulation. Despite elevated safety risks, little research has considered the impacts of ASD on driving. This study aimed to characterize driving performance and hazard perception of drivers with ASD, specifically various types of hazards (e.g., pedestrians or other cars). The study also aimed to investigate factors that predict …

Ribosomal Protein L12 (Rpl12) As A Novel Target In Cystic Fibrosis, Kathryn E. Oliver

All ETDs from UAB

Approximately 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis (CF) are diagnosed in the United States every year. The disease is caused by over 1,700 naturally occurring variants in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Defects in the CFTR coding sequence contribute to variable disease severity in the patient population. The majority of individuals born with CF harbor at least one specific mutation in CFTR termed F508del. Clinical manifestations of CF include severe damage of multiple exocrine tissues, including the lungs, intestine, pancreas, reproductive and other organ systems. An overarching goal of our work is to identify cellular targets that contribute to …

Machine Learning Of Composite Concepts And The Alleviation Of The Content Completeness Problem In Text Mention Normalization, John David Osborne

All ETDs from UAB

A critical area in the field of information extraction is the assignment of ontological categories (meaning) to fragments of natural language. These fragments are termed ``utterances'' when referring to a continuous fragment or ``mentions'' when the fragment may be discontinuous. In text, most approaches to ontological assignment use named entity recognition (NER) to first discover mention boundaries. This can then be followed by a concept recognition or normalization process to assign a more precise conceptual category to the NER discovered mention. Typically this semantic assignment is represented by only a single identifier from an ontology. If the provided semantic categories …

Targeting The Tumor-Promoting Microenvironment With Inhibitors Of Pro-Hgf Activation, Benjamin Yaw Owusu

All ETDs from UAB

The tumor microenvironment plays a key role in tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), commonly expressed by cancer-associated fibroblasts, mediates signaling via its receptor, MET, and promotes survival, proliferation, migration and invasion of cancer cells. In addition, HGF dependence has emerged as a hallmark of therapeutic resistance. HGF is secreted as an inactive precursor, pro-HGF, which requires proteolytic cleavage and processing to form the mature, active HGF. This is the rate-limiting step in the HGF/MET signaling pathway and it is achieved by one of the serine proteases, matriptase, hepsin and HGF activator (HGFA). At Southern Research, we …

Neonatal Microbial Exposure And Its Effects On The B Cell Repertoire And Development Of Respiratory Allergies, Preeyam Patel

All ETDs from UAB

The incidence of asthma has increased dramatically among children living in developed countries, and the hygiene hypothesis suggests that this is the result of decreased neonatal exposure to microbes. Microbes and allergens can bear similar antibody-reactive epitopes, and exposure to microbes bearing these epitopes during early life can permanently alter the frequency and clonality of the antigen-specific B cell repertoire. The objective of this dissertation was to determine if B cells stimulated by microbes during early life could suppress the development of respiratory allergies during adult life. Both Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) and house dust mite (HDM) express antibody-reactive phosphorylcholine (PC) …

Joint Intervention In Opposing Pathways, Pi3k/Akt And Tgf-Beta, With Px-866 And Raloxifene, To Alter Gene Expression And Suppress Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation, Gregory William Peek

All ETDs from UAB

For each regulatory pathway implementing environmental or internal messages, there is at least one additional pathway to relay a message to override or modify the original message, in the event of new or conflicting input. The opposing pathway may also be an instrument for negative feedback or redundancy as well as for transmission of additional encountered conditions or considerations. Because the multiple disease conditions based on aberrant cell cycle proliferation often require a level of correction independent of opposing feedback, selection of opposing pathways for complementary joint input is a practical approach to cancer and related proliferation-associated diseases. Accordingly, I …

How Well Do Hospitals Budget Operating Results? The Relationship Between Budget Variances And Operating Margin, Mark F. Slyter

All ETDs from UAB

There is a near-universal assumption in both practice and literature that greater accuracy and management to the budget improves profitability (Libby & Lindsay, 2010; Umapathy, 1987). Prior to this study, this assumption has gone untested and we know little about the wisdom of such an assumption. The results of this study indicate greater accuracy in forecasting and/or tighter management to the budget, or favorably exceeding it, leads to improved profitability. More specifically, smaller unfavorable budget variances are associated with greater operating margins while greater favorable budget variances are associated with greater operating margins. A single standard deviation reduction in unfavorable …

Regulation Of The Mitochondrial Thiol Network With Targeted Electrohpiles, Matthew Ryan Smith

All ETDs from UAB

Cells possess a remarkable plasticity to alter their metabolism and change their function based on stimuli within their resident microenvironment. The mitochondria within these cells utilize a variety of sources such as pyruvate, glutamine, or fatty acids in order to generate metabolites, amino acids, and reducing equivalents needed for cellular proliferation.Many mitochondrial enzymes possess contain a cysteine which possesses a thiol group, a unique redox-signaling moiety that can be activated under specific circumstances by bio-reactive compounds forming a network of mitochondrial proteins which are responsible for mitochondrial respiration. However, it is unknown whether targeting these reactive thiol groups present a …

Glycosyltransferases Involved In The Glycosylation Of Serine-Rich Glycoproteins From Streptococci, Fan Zhu

All ETDs from UAB

Serine - rich repeat glycoproteins (SRRPs) play important roles in mediating bac-terial attachment to a variety of host and microbial surfaces. They have been im-plicated in the development of tissue infections such as pneumonia, infective en-docarditis, meningitis and oral infectious diseases. Streptococcus parasanguinis, one of the commensal streptococci present in the oral cavity, utilizes its fimbriae to mediate the initial attachment to the tooth pellicle. Fap1 (Fimbriae-associated-protein 1), the first identified SRRP, is the subunit of the fimbriae which utilizes proteins encoded by an 11-gene cluster (gly-gtf3-dGT1-galT2 and secY2-gap1-gap2-gap3-secA2-gtf1-gtf2) to mediate its glycosylation and secretion. The key enzymes responsible for …

Analysis Of The Ciliary Genes Gas8 And Mks6 Reveal Conserved Roles In Cilia Motility And Transition Zone Function, Wesley Robert Lewis

All ETDs from UAB

Cilia are microtubule based cellular appendages that are present throughout the hierarchy of the animal kingdom. These appendages are utilized for a wide array of functions such as motility in single celled organisms to coordinating complex cellular signaling pathways in more complex organisms. Though these appendages are well conserved, the exact function of cilia in many cell types remains unknown. Recently, cilia are tied to a myriad of developmental diseases and diseases of adult homeostasis collectively referred to as ciliopathies. Dysfunction in cilia results in a wide array of phenotypes ranging from retinal degeneration to polydactyly, cystic kidney disease, and …

Administrative Challenges In Pediatric Long-Term Care, Holly Elaine Jarek

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT This research used a Delphi methodology to solicit challenges that significantly impact the operational success of pediatric long-term care facilities. Further, this study sought to understand the ability of pediatrics administrators to impact, affect, overcome, or resolve these challenges. Round 1 accomplished the desired goal of eliciting a substantial amount of new qualitative information regarding administrative challenges in pediatric long-term care, which previously had been extant in the literature. In Round 2, data were distilled into categories and unique exemplars which in turn were validated by participants. In Round 3, administrators ranked and rated categories and individual challenges in …

Assessing Alternative Techniques For Scaling The Family Leisure Activity Profile: Recommendations For Future Family Leisure Measurement, Karen K. Melton, Gary Ellis, Ramon Zabriskie

Faculty Publications

Psychometric properties of the Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP) were evaluated using family leisure and family functioning ratings from 884 parents and children residing in the United Kingdom. Review and critique of the FLAP resulted in identification and evaluation of three alternative scaling techniques. Scaling Technique 1was current practice, Technique 2 focused on family leisure environments rather than family leisure activities, and Technique 3 involved generating an estimate of duration of participation in family leisure in natural units of time. Inter-rater agreement and reliability were strong for all three scaling techniques. Technique 3 yielded the best model fit. Empirical relations …

Dynamic Model For Fatigue Evolution In A Cracked Beam Subjected To Irregular Loading, Son Hai Nguyen, David Chelidze

Mechanical, Industrial & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The coupling of vibration and fatigue crack growth in a simply supported uniform Euler–Bernoulli beam containing a single-edge crack is analyzed. The fatigue crack length is treated as a generalized coordinate in a model for the mechanical system. This coupled model accounts for the interaction between the beam oscillations and the crack propagation dynamics. Nonlinear characteristics of the beam motion are introduced as loading parameters to the fatigue model to match experimentally observed failure dynamics. The method of averaging is utilized both as an analytical and numerical tool to: (1) show that, for cyclic loading, our fatigue model reduces to …

Sequential Release Of Nanoparticle Payloads From Ultrasonically Burstable Capsules, Stephen Kennedy, Jennifer Hu, Cathal Kearney, Hadas Skaat, Luo Gu, Marco Gentili, Herman Vandenburgh, David Mooney

Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

In many biomedical contexts ranging from chemotherapy to tissue engineering, it is beneficial to sequentially present bioactive payloads. Explicit control over the timing and dose of these presentations is highly desirable. Here, we present a capsule-based delivery system capable of rapidly releasing multiple payloads in response to ultrasonic signals. In vitro, these alginate capsules exhibited excellent payload retention for up to 1 week when unstimulated and delivered their entire payloads when ultrasonically stimulated for 10–100 s. Shorter exposures (10 s) were required to trigger delivery from capsules embedded in hydrogels placed in a tissue model and did not result in …

Health In Times Of Uncertainty In The Eastern Mediterranean Region, 1990–2013: A Systematic Analysis For The Global Burden Of Disease Study 2013, Ali H. Mokdad, Ali Shafqat Akanda, Et Al

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: The eastern Mediterranean region is comprised of 22 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Since our Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010), the region has faced unrest as a result of revolutions, wars, and the so-called Arab uprisings. The objective of this study was to present the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors in the eastern Mediterranean region as of 2013.

Methods: GBD 2013 includes an annual assessment covering 188 countries from 1990 to …

The Forward Cities Cleveland Experience: Overview And Analysis, Ziona Austrian, Merissa Piazza, Sydney Martis

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The city of Cleveland is part of Forward Cities, a four-city initiative focused on inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship. Forward Cities is a national learning collaborative, and its two-year pilot project includes the cities of Cleveland, Detroit, Durham, and New Orleans.

Forward Cities gives participating cities an opportunity to:

• Explore issues of inclusive innovation (so that the city/region’s current entrepreneurial boom does not leave the most vulnerable behind);
• Identify the most effective ways for supporting and developing leaders, entrepreneurs and businesses, in low income neighborhoods; and
• Discuss strategies to build innovative leadership and an entrepreneurial workforce, especially in traditionally disconnected communities …

Independence Without Accountability: The Judicial Paradox Of Egypt's Failed Transition To Democracy, Sahar Aziz

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Rights Without Remedies, Adam Lamparello

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Online Privacy And The Invisible Market For Our Data, Rebecca Lipman

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Diversity Without Integration, Kevin Woodson

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Municipal Boundaries: A Barrier Between Customers And Adequate, Uniform, And Affordability Utility Servives, Mingjie Gan

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Said I, But You Have No Choice: Why A Lawyer Must Ethically Honor A Client's Decision About Mental Health Treatment Even If It Is Not What S/He Would Have Chosen, Michael L. Perlin, Naomi Weinstein

Articles & Chapters

This paper addresses a remarkably under-considered topic: the ethical standards for lawyers representing persons with mental disabilities. Although there is an extensive body of literature endorsing “zealous advocacy” as the standard for the criminal defense lawyer in “ordinary” cases, there is virtually no literature (or case law) on this question in this context.

Our thesis is simple. We reject the model of “paternalism/best interests” that is regularly substituted for a traditional legal advocacy position, and a substitution that is rarely questioned. We believe this presumption flies in the face of statutory law, constitutional law, and international human rights law, and …

Had To Be Held Down By Big Police: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Perspective On Interactions Between Police And Persons With Mental Disabilities, Michael L. Perlin, Alison Lynch

Articles & Chapters

It is a truism that the largest mental health facilities in the nation are the nation’s largest urban jails. Most of the predictable solutions that are offered to curb the influx of individuals with mental illness into jails -- especially those that urge the loosening of civil commitment standards and the return to large psychiatric institutions -- are dreary at best, unconstitutional at heart, and mean-spirited at worst. However, we pay remarkably little attention to one of the primary causes of this reality: the decisionmaking processes "on the street" by police officers who choose to apprehend and arrest certain cohorts …

The Decline Of Professionalism, Rebecca Roiphe

Articles & Chapters

Traditionally, professionalism conceived of the professions as central to democratic society. Because professionals gained their status through reputation not wealth, they were in the best position to suppress their own self-interest in order to ascertain and pursue the public good. This Article argues that this traditional understanding of the professions was lost as a market ideology took hold in the 1970s. Professionalism gradually became synonymous with the delivery of services. This Article draws on this intellectual history to argue that aspects of the traditional concept of professionalism can and should be revived today.

Promoting Justice From The Inside: The Counseling Role Of Local Government And School District Attorneys, Lisa Grumet

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

"Mr. Bad Example": Why Lawyers Need To Embrace Therapeutic Jurisprudence To Root Out Sanism In The Representation Of Persons With Mental Disabilities, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

Litigants with mental disabilities are taken less seriously by their own lawyers, trivialized by opposing counsel, and disparaged by judges. This is largely a result of “sanism,” an irrational prejudice of the same quality and character of other irrational prejudices such as racism, sexism or homophobia. Recognizing and combatting sanism creates extra burdens on lawyers who do seek to provide effective counsel for this population. Such lawyers need special tools to combat sanism, and we believe that lawyering skills rooted in therapeutic jurisprudence provide the best foundation through which to create a positive psychology of persuasion in this representation. Our …

Your Corrupt Ways Had Finally Made You Blind: Prosecutorial Misconduct And The Use Of Ethnic Adjustments In Death Penalty Cases Of Defendants With Intellectual Disabilities, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

In a recent masterful article, Professor Robert Sanger revealed that, since the Supreme Court's decision in Atkins v. Virginia, some prosecution experts have begun using so-called "ethnic adjustments" to artificially raise minority defendants' IQ scores, making such defendants-who would otherwise have been protected by Atkins and, later, by Hall v. Florida-eligible for the death penalty. Sanger accurately concluded that ethnic adjustments are not logically or clinically appropriate when computing a person's IQ score for Atkins purposes. He relied further on epigenetics to demonstrate that environmental factors-such as childhood abuse, poverty, stress, and trauma-can cause decreases in actual IQ scores, and …