Digital Commons Network^™

Concordance Of Illness Representations: The Key To Improving Care Of Medically Unexplained Symptoms, Lisa M. Mcandrew, Myrna L. Friedlander, L. Alison Phillips, Susan L. Santos, Drew A. Helmer

Educational & Counseling Psychology Faculty Scholarship

How can effective patient-provider relationships be developed when the underlying cause of the health condition is not well understood and becomes a point of controversy between patient and provider? This problem underlies the difficulty in treating medically unexplained symptoms and syndromes (MUS; e.g., fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome), which primary care providers consider to be among the most difficult conditions to treat.¹ This difficulty extends to the patient-provider relationship which is characterized by discord over MUS.¹ In this article, we argue that the key to improving the patient provider relationship is for the patient and provider to develop congruent …

Harding University Spring Sing Program 2018

Spring Sing

Program for the 2018 Spring Sing Performance at Harding University

Theme: Heroes & Villains

Hosts & Hostesses: Brooks Bennett, Ava Carmene Galyean, Caroline Ritchie, Maxwell Ross

The Curriculum Of Cultural Reconciliation At West Virginia State University And The General Education Curriculum, Michael Carpenter Harris Ii

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This qualitative study examined the perceptions and experiences of the faculty and students involved in the creation and administration of the General Education program at WVSU. This study focused on the themes of the creation of the original General Education curriculum that included the Origins and Race, Gender, and Human Identity classes, the redesign of the curriculum due to the state mandate, and how the new version of the General Education curriculum compares to the original. The findings provide insight into strengths and weaknesses of the program, faculty and student perceptions, government policy affecting education, and possible pathways forward to …

Landscape Transformation During Ceramic Age And Colonial Occupations Of Barbuda, West Indies, Allison Bain, Anne-Marie Faucher, Lisa M. Kennedy, Allison R. Leblanc, Michael J. Burn, Rebecca Boger, Sophia Perdikaris

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

This research documented the history of landscape transformation on the island of Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles, Caribbean through cross-disciplinary research approaches. Excavations confirmed a human presence for the seasonal exploitation of conch meat and other mollusks during the Archaic Age (c.3000–500 BC), but more substantial impacts to terrestrial ecosystems likely began during the Ceramic Age (c.500 BC–AD 1500). Our combined sedimentary and charcoal records revealed that human-induced environmental transformations began with Ceramic Age peoples as they cleared vegetation for settlements and gardens with intentional burning. Sedimentary charcoal indicated a dramatic decline in fire during post-Ceramic Age abandonment, continuing through …

No. 13: The Growth Of Food Banking In Cities Of The Global South, Daniel N. Warshawsky

Hungry Cities Partnership

As the number and size of food banks increase globally, it is critical to research how food banks fit into existing food systems and their role in reducing food insecurity and food waste. After examining the political ecology of urban food waste in food systems, this discussion paper examines the globalization of food banking and its growth in the Global South. Through a case study of FoodForward SA, it critically analyzes the roles that urban food banks play in cities of the Global South. Since many countries in the South have both the highest levels of food insecurity and the …

Progress Toward The Synthesis Of Aminomethyl-Substituted Qpt-1 Bacterial Topoisomerase Inhibitors, Riley Scoville, Michael Barbachyn

Summer Research

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing public health threat. Each year, ~2 million infections and 23,000 deaths are caused by antibiotic resistance in the US.1 Developing antibiotics for treating Gram-negative bacteria is especially challenging because they utilize two membranes, an outer membrane that is hydrophilic, and an inner membrane that is lipophilic, features that make cellular entry a challenge. These bacteria also have antibiotic de-activating enzymes and RND efflux pumps that work to remove the antibiotics from the cell. These features make targeting of Gram-negative organisms very difficult. Agents targeting the essential bacterial type II topoisomerases DNA gyrase and …

Methods, Systems, And Devices For Surgical Access And Procedures, Shane M. Farritor, Mark Rentschler, Amy Lehman, Stephen R. Platt, Jeff Hawks

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The embodiments disclosed herein relate to various medical device components, including components that can be incorporated into robotic and/or in vivo medical devices. Certain embodiments include various actuation system embodiments, including fluid actuation systems, drive train actuation systems, and motorless actuation systems. Additional embodiments include a reversibly lockable tube that can provide access for a medical device to a patient's cavity and further provides a reversible rigidity or stability during operation of the device. Further embodiments include various operational components for medical devices, including medical device arm mechanisms that have both axial and rotational movement while maintaining a relatively compact …

Nutech Ventures Annual Report 2017-2018

NUtech Ventures: Publications

NUTech Ventures annual report 2017-2018.

A How-To Guide On Bringing Undergraduate Research To Community And Technical Colleges, Angelo Kolokithas, Olga Calderón

Publications and Research

Increasing the interest and participation of students in STEM is a priority for colleges, universities, and the nation as a whole. As new generations of students embark in training and in learning novel technologies to deal with the challenges of emerging infectious diseases, crop and food production, and the development of new and better sustainable alternatives in the face of a changing environment on our planet, we must also evolve our approach to teaching and learning. One strategy that may be found helpful as students face the challenges ahead is to instill inquiry and problem-solving skills as part of their …

Constructing Rock Cairns: Modifying And Signifying The Alpine Landscape Of Southeast Alaska, Ralph J. Hartley, Amanda Renner, William J. Hunt Jr.

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The existence and variability of human-made rock cairns in subalpine and alpine settings of Southeast Alaska is increasingly well documented. Whete these features were constructed prehistorically and prorohistorically is a fundamental component to assessing the socioecological role of these modifications to a landscape that is, for the most patt, devoid of other physical manifestations of past human activities. Based on information compiled from investigations in the northern portion of Baranof Island and vicinity, we explore the physical and social environmental conditions that may underlie decisions to create the cairns, some of which are estimated to have been built approximately 500 …

The Dynamic Intein Landscape Of Eukaryotes, Marlene Belfort, Olga Novikova, Cathleen M. Green

Biological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Background

Inteins are mobile, self-splicing sequences that interrupt proteins and occur across all three domains of life. Scrutiny of the intein landscape in prokaryotes led to the hypothesis that some inteins are functionally important. Our focus shifts to eukaryotic inteins to assess their diversity, distribution, and dissemination, with the aim to comprehensively evaluate the eukaryotic intein landscape, understand intein maintenance, and dissect evolutionary relationships.

Results

This bioinformatics study reveals that eukaryotic inteins are scarce, but present in nuclear genomes of fungi, chloroplast genomes of algae, and within some eukaryotic viruses. There is a preponderance of inteins in several fungal pathogens …

The Metamodern Man, Nathan R. Arrowsmith

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Abstract The first time I heard the term, “Metamodern Age,” I was actively involved in a discussion about the various themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The setting was a Master of Liberal Studies class (Rollins College, MLS 604), entitled “Modernity” taught by Dr. Tom Cook. It was October of 2015. Frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus, is a masterpiece and a solid sample from the Modern Era. Following approximately fifty years of Postmodern Era sludge, we are now in what could be identified as the Metamodern Era. Our Modernity class speculated confidently that the current Age of Metamodernism is …

Hydroxylamines And Hydrazines As Surrogates Of Sp3 Carbons In Medicinal Chemistry, Sandeep Dhanju

Wayne State University Dissertations

Current compound libraries that are used in high-throughput screening (HTS) are populated by low molecular weight and relatively planar compounds with high sp2 character and little stereochemical complexity. Unfortunately, such planar compounds cover only a very small corner of chemical space. In order to increase the diversity, structurally complex molecules with high fractions of sp3-hybridized atoms should be included in compound libraries. However, generating a large number of architecturally complex molecules using the current organic synthesis toolbox is considered tedious due to the requirement of multi-step synthesis. Recognizing this need, several creative strategies, like diversity-oriented synthesis, have been developed with …

Mass Spectrometry-Assisted Identification Of Adamts13-Derived Peptides Presented On Hla-Dr And Hla-Dq, Johana Hrodinová, Fabian C. Verbij, Paul H.P. Kaijen, Robin B. Hartholt, Floris Van Alphen, Neubury Lardy, Anja Ten Brinke, Karen Vanhoorelbeke, Pooja J. Hindocha, Anne S. De Groot, Alexander B. Meijer, Jan Voorberg, Ivan Peyron

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Formation of microthrombi is a hallmark of acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. These microthrombi originate from insufficient processing of ultra large von Willebrand factor multimers by ADAMTS13 due to the development of anti-ADAMTS13 autoantibodies. Several studies have identified the major histocompatibility complex class II alleles HLA-DRB1*11, HLA-DQB1*03 and HLA-DQB1*02:02 as risk factors for acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura development. Previous research in our department indicated that ADAMTS13 CUB2 domain-derived peptides FINVAPHAR and LIRDTHSLR are presented on HLA-DRB1*11 and HLA-DRB1*03, respectively. Here, we describe the repertoire of ADAMTS13 peptides presented on HLA-DQ. In parallel, the repertoire of ADAMTS13-derived peptides presented on HLA-DR was …

Impact Of A Yoga And Meditation Intervention On Students' Stress And Anxiety Levels, Virginia Lemay, Hoolahan, Ashley L. Buchanan

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a 6-week yoga and meditation intervention on college students’ stress perception, anxiety levels and mindfulness skills.

Methods. College students participated in a 6-week pilot program consisting of a 60-minute vinyasa yoga class followed by guided meditation once weekly, delivered by trained faculty at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy. Students completed pre- and post-questionnaires to evaluate changes in the following outcomes: stress levels, anxiety levels, and mindfulness skills. The questionnaire was comprised of three self reporting tools: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). …

Aboard Gso: A Newsletter For Alumni And Friends Of The University Of Rhode Island’S Graduate School Of Oceanography For Summer 2018, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

The Summer 2018 issue of Aboard GSO: A Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, a periodical about GSO events, faculty research and essays by alumni.

Graduate School Of Oceanography Annual Report For Fy2018, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

Annual report for the Graduate School Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island for the 2018 fiscal year.

Includes research projects by faculty and students, biographies of new faculty, events on the Bay campus and program development and list of donors.

An Agile Quality Management System For Laboratory Developed Tests, Rita D'Angelo

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AN AGILE QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR LABORATORY DEVELOPED TESTS

By

RITA D’ANGELO

MAY 2017

Advisor: Dr. Ratna Babu Chinnan

Major: Industrial & Systems Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Statement of the Problem: We explore the 2014 draft guidance by the FDA entitled Framework for Regulatory Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDT) extended from the medical device industry and discuss how these requirements may be applicable to laboratory medicine. We introduce terms, definitions and provide a call for action for leaders to prepare for the potential adherence to regulatory requirements and explore if compliance was achievable in a laboratory environment …

The Impact Of Neonatal Pain And Reduced Maternal Care On Brain And Behavioral Development, Sean Michael Mooney-Leber

Wayne State University Dissertations

In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) preterm infants are exposed to a multitude of stressors, which include both neonatal pain and reduced maternal care. Clinical and preclinical research has demonstrated that exposure to neonatal pain and reduced maternal care has a profound negative impact on brain and behavioral development. Currently, the biological mechanism by which both of these stressors impacts brain and behavioral outcomes remains widely unknown. To uncover a potential biological mechanism, the current dissertation project utilized a preclinical model of repetitive needle pokes and developed a novel model of reduced maternal care through tea-ball encapsulation. Briefly, rat …

Predicting Adolescent Academic Achievement: The Role Of Intrapersonal And Risk Behavior Factors, Stefanie Gill Scalcucci

Wayne State University Dissertations

There is a large body of research that shows moderate to strong correlations between academic achievement and various inter- and intra-personal variables. The aim of this study was to develop a model that explains the most variance and best predicts academic achievement in adolescence. Specifically, executive functioning, achievement goal orientation, academic self-efficacy, future orientation, and hope, from the cognitive domain, as well as school risk behaviors, social risk behaviors, loneliness, and mattering from the social domain were examined. Participants included 210 high school students (93 females, 117 males) from an agricultural school district in southeastern Michigan. In an aggregate model, …

Orthorexia Nervosa In Undergraduate Health Majors: Using Yoga As An Intervention, Ashley J. Kyle

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Purpose and Objectives: While much is known about common eating disorders in undergraduate students in college, limited research is available on the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa (ON). Orthorexia nervosa is a fixation on righteous eating that typically stems from an attempt to diet or consume healthier foods and turns into an obsession with the quality and purity of food. This type of behavior can become extremely restrictive, damage mental and physical health, and may lead disruptions in daily life. Specifically, information is lacking on the prevalence of ON in health majors, how to classify this disorder, and how to treat …

Kilovoltage Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy, Brian Loughery

Wayne State University Dissertations

Contrast enhanced kilovoltage radiotherapy could be a significant improvement over the standard of care in glioblastoma multiforme, but its potential benefit has been hindered by fears of insufficient dose falloff, high skin and skull dose, contrast delivery concerns, and high cost. This dissertation aims to address the validity of these fears.

Contrast delivery concerns are examined by assuming that sufficient dose can be safely delivered to the tumor. Iodine, gadolinium, and gold nanoparticle biological effect and delivery research is examined and the ideal contrast delivery methods are reported. Dose falloff and skull dose are then investigated through treatment planning and …

Investigation Of The Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Gpi Transamidase: Insights Into Its Activity And Subunit-Subunit Interactions, Travis Ness

Wayne State University Dissertations

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchoring of proteins is a eukaryotic, posttranslational

modification catalyzed by GPI transamidase (GPI-T). The Saccharomyces

cerevisiae GPI-T is composed of five membrane-bound subunits: Gaa1, Gpi8, Gpi16,

Gpi17, and Gab1. Structural and functional studies have been hindered by the

complexity of this enzyme. Conditions to purify the Gpi8:Gaa1:Gpi16 GPI-T heterotrimer

from yeast have been reported, but an understanding of the subunit functions,

interactions, and stoichiometry remain unclear. Furthermore, a reliable, quantitative, in

vitro assay for this important post-translational modification has remained elusive for

nearly three decades.

Our laboratory has developed an in vitro peptide cleavage assay that correlates

changes …

Biochemical And Cellular Studies Of Apobec3 Family Dna-Cytosine Deaminases, Sachini Umedi Siriwardena

Wayne State University Dissertations

The AID/APOBEC family of enzymes deaminate cytosines in single-stranded DNA to uracils leading to base substitutions and strand breaks. Members of APOBEC3 family in humans are induced by cytokines produced during the body's inflammatory response to infections and provide innate immunity against viruses. However, there is emerging consensus that these enzymes can cause mutations in the cellular genome depending on the physiological state of the cell and the phase of the cell cycle they are expressed. Since aberrant expression of APOBEC3B was recently identified as a possible source of cancer, we initiated a study to determine the maximally active catalytic …

Data-Driven Modeling For Decision Support Systems And Treatment Management In Personalized Healthcare, Milad Zafar Nezhad

Wayne State University Dissertations

Massive amount of electronic medical records (EMRs) accumulating from patients and populations motivates clinicians and data scientists to collaborate for the advanced analytics to create knowledge that is essential to address the extensive personalized insights needed for patients, clinicians, providers, scientists, and health policy makers. Learning from large and complicated data is using extensively in marketing and commercial enterprises to generate personalized recommendations. Recently the medical research community focuses to take the benefits of big data analytic approaches and moves to personalized (precision) medicine. So, it is a significant period in healthcare and medicine for transferring to a new paradigm. …

Toward Better Keys For Lectin Locks: Glycoconjugates Versus Glycomimetics, Peng Wen

Wayne State University Dissertations

As one of the four major classes of macromolecule in living systems, the roles of carbohydrates as energy storage substances and structural components have long been recognized. However, the unique role of carbohydrates in cellular recognition processes has only been scrutinized since the 1960s, thanks to the progress in the research in both cell surface carbohydrates and carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins). The advances in the research of such process demand the use of carbohydrates as basic tools. Therefore, the primary goal of glycochemistry has been to obtain complex carbohydrates and their analogs effectively. One common approach to the problem involves the …

Magnetic Moment And Susceptibility Quantification In Mri: Additional Frequency Shifts From Materials And Background Phase Removal Using A Reference Phantom, He Xie

Wayne State University Dissertations

The first part of this thesis was to utilize existing methods to remove the unwanted background phase from phantom studies. Magnetic moments of straws filled by three different materials (gadolinium, ferritin, and nanoparticles) with four different concentrations of each material were subsequently quantified at 10 different echo times, with straws perpendicular to the main magnetic field. As the radius of each straw was known, susceptibility was calculated from each measured magnetic moment. Results from different echo times agreed within uncertainties. In addition, near perfect linear relation between quantified susceptibility and concentration was obtained for each material. However, phase values inside …

Cation Clock Reactions For The Determination Of Relative Reaction Kinetics In Glycosylation Reactions, Philip Adero

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development of cyclization reactions as clocks for the determination of the molecularity of glycosylation reactions in individual pyranoside systems and extends it to the arabinofuranoside systems. It also describes the development of selective hydrogenolytic cleavage of naphthylmethyl ethers in the presence of sulfides.

The first part of chapter one gives an overview of the significance of glycochemistry and the challenges involved. The second part describes some selected glycosylation methods and extends this to the general mechanistic studies of glycosylation. This is followed by the discussion of the general clock reactions in literature which initiates a further …

Design, Synthesis, And Reactivity Of Homo- And Heterobimetallic Complexes Bridged By A Xanthene Linker, Thilini Samangi Hollingsworth

Wayne State University Dissertations

Cooperative reactivity of bimettalics can be is observed in many different areas of chemistry and have been increasingly investigated because of the advantageous reactivity when compared to the corresponding mononuclear systems. The focus of my dissertation is on (1) investigation of the homobimetallic cooperativity in lactide polymerization catalysis; (2) investigation of the heterobimetallic cooperativity in the biomimetic studies of Mo-Cu carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) enzyme in order to make a functional model of its active site.

Three new main group bis(alkoxide) complexes Mg(OR)2(THF)2, Zn(Cl)(μ2-OR)2Li(THF) and In(OR)2(μ2-Cl)2Li(THF)2 featuring bulky alkoxide [OCtBu2Ph] were synthesized serve as metal alkoxide precursors for bimetallic lactide …

Design And Synthesis Of Oligo-(3,5-Dithio-Β-D-Glucopyranoside) As Β-(1→3)-Glucan Mimetics, Xiaoxiao Liao

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents the design and synthesis of oligo-(3,5-dithio-β-D-glucopyranoside) as β-(1 → 3)-D-glucan mimetics. The synthesized dimeric, trimeric and tetrameric mimetics were tested for their binding affinities to Dectin-1 and CR3 and their abilities to activate phagocytosis and pinocytosis.

The first chapter gives an introduction of β-(1 → 3)-D-glucan. It gives an introduction about the structure and origin of β-(1 → 3)-D-glucan as well as the immunostimulating effect of natural β-(1 → 3)-D-glucan. The study of interaction between β-(1 → 3)-D-glucan and the receptors leads to a conclusion that the hydrophobicity of β-(1 → 3)-D-glucan is crucial to its immunostimulating …