Digital Commons Network^™

Spinal Direct Current Stimulation With Locomotor Training In Chronic Spinal Cord Injury, Turki S. Abualait, Alaa I. Ibrahim

Saudi Medical Journal

Transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) is a non-invasive method of stimulating spinal circuits that can modulate and induce changes in corticospinal excitability (CE) in incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). A double-blinded sham controlled study of 2 male patients (A and B) with SCI was carried out. Patient A received sham and cathodal tsDCS, while Patient B received sham and anodal tsDCS. Four baselines were recorded prior to each arm of stimulation. Outcomes were then measured post each arm of stimulation; 10-meter walk test, modified ashworth scale, berg balance scale, manual muscle testing, and spinal cord independence measure-III. Transcranial magnetic …

Who Launches New Report On Global Tobacco Use Trends

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

The Evolving Pharmacotherapeutic Landscape For The Treatment Of Sickle Cell Disease., Samir K Ballas

Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an extremely heterogeneous disease that has been associated with global morbidity and early mortality. More effective and inexpensive therapies are needed. During the last five years, the landscape of the pharmacotherapy of SCD has changed dramatically. Currently, 54 drugs have been used or under consideration to use for the treatment of SCD. These fall into 3 categories: the first category includes the four drugs (Hydroxyurea, L-Glutamine, Crizanlizumab tmca and Voxelotor) that have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on successful clinical trials. The second category includes 22 drugs that …

A Luminescence-Based System For Identification Of Genetically Encodable Inhibitors Of Protein Aggregation, Travis J. Nelson, Shuo Liang, Cliff I. Stains

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Molecules that disrupt protein aggregation represent potential tool compounds for the investigation of numerous human disease states. However, the identification of small molecules capable of disrupting protein aggregation has proven challenging. Larger biomolecules such as antibodies and proteins are promising alternatives due to their increased size. Despite the promise of protein-based inhibitors, generalizable assays are needed to more readily identify proteins capable of inhibiting aggregation. Herein, we utilize our previously reported self- assembling NanoLuc luciferase fragments to engineer a platform in which both detection reagents are expressed from the same plasmid, enabling facile co-transformation with a genetically encodable inhibitor. This …

Mitochondrial Dna Repair In An Arabidopsis Thaliana Uracil N-Glycosylase Mutant, Emily L. Wynn, Emma Purfeerst, Alan Christensen

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Substitution rates in plant mitochondrial genes are extremely low, indicating strong selective pressure as well as efficient repair. Plant mitochondria possess base excision repair pathways; however, many repair pathways such as nucleotide excision repair and mismatch repair appear to be absent. In the absence of these pathways, many DNA lesions must be repaired by a different mechanism. To test the hypothesis that double-strand break repair (DSBR) is that mechanism, we maintained independent self-crossing lineages of plants deficient in uracil-N-glycosylase (UNG) for 11 generations to determine the repair outcomes when that pathway is missing. Surprisingly, no single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were …

A Role For Triglyceride Lipase Brummer In The Regulation Of Sex Differences In Drosophila Fat Storage And Breakdown, Lianna W. Wat, Chien Chao, Rachael Bartlett, Justin L. Buchanan, Jason W. Millington, Hui Ju Chih, Zahid S. Chowdhury, Puja Biswas, Vivian Huang, Leah J. Shin, Lin Chuan Wang, Marie-Pierre L. Gauthier, Maria C. Barone, Kristi L. Montooth, Michael A. Welte, Elizabeth J. Rideout

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Triglycerides are the major form of stored fat in all animals. One important determinant of whole-body fat storage is whether an animal is male or female. Here, we use Drosophila, an established model for studies on triglyceride metabolism, to gain insight into the genes and physiological mechanisms that contribute to sex differences in fat storage. Our analysis of triglyceride storage and breakdown in both sexes identified a role for triglyceride lipase brummer (bmm) in the regulation of sex differences in triglyceride homeostasis. Normally, male flies have higher levels of bmm mRNA both under normal culture conditions and …

Trade-Offs Between Morphology And Thermal Niches Mediate Adaptation In Response To Competing Selective Pressures, Stella F. Uiterwaal, Ian T. Lagerstrom, Thomas M. Luhring, Miranda E. Salsbery, John P. Delong

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The effects of climate change—such as increased temperature variability and novel predators—rarely happen in isolation, but it is unclear how organisms cope with mul- tiple stressors simultaneously. To explore this, we grew replicate Paramecium caudatum populations in either constant or variable temperatures and exposed half to predation. We then fit thermal performance curves (TPCs) of intrinsic growth rate (r_max) for each replicate population (N = 12) across seven temperatures (10°C–38°C). TPCs of P. caudatum exposed to both temperature variability and predation re- sponded only to one or the other (but not both), resulting in unpredictable outcomes. …

Extreme Offspring Ornamentation In American Coots Is Favored By Selection Within Families, Not Benefits To Conspecific Brood Parasites, Bruce E. Lyon, Daizaburo Shizuka

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Offspring ornamentation typically occurs in taxa with parental care, suggesting that selection arising from social interactions between parents and offspring may underlie signal evolution. American coot babies are among the most ornamented offspring found in nature, sporting vividly orange-red natal plumage, a bright red beak, and other red parts around the face and pate. Previous plumage manipulation experiments showed that ornamented plumage is favored by strong parental choice for chicks with more extreme ornamentation but left unresolved the question as to why parents show the preference. Here we explore natural patterns of variation in coot chick plumage color, both within …

An Ortholog Of The Vasa Intronic Gene Is Required For Small Rna-Mediated Translation Repression In Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Xinrong Ma, Fadia Ibrahim, Eun-Jeong Kim, Scott Shaver, James Becker, Fareha Razvi, Ronald L. Cerny, Heriberto D. Cerutti

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Small RNAs (sRNAs) associate with Argonaute (AGO) proteins in effector complexes, termed RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), which regulate complementary transcripts by translation inhibition and/or RNA degradation. In the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas, several metazoans, and land plants, emerging evidence indicates that polyribosome-associated transcripts can be translationally repressed by RISCs without substantial messenger RNA (mRNA) destabilization. However, the mechanism of translation inhibition in a polyribosomal context is not understood. Here we show that Chlamydomonas VIG1, an ortholog of the Drosophila melanogaster Vasa intronic gene (VIG), is required for this process. VIG1 localizes predominantly in the cytosol and comigrates with monoribosomes and …

Coproid Predicts The Source Of Coprolites And Paleofeces Using Microbiome Composition And Host Dna Content, Maxime Borry, Bryan Cordova, Angela Perri, Marsha Wibowo, Tanvi Prasad Honap, Jada Ko, Kate Britton, Linus Girdland-Flink, Robert C. Power, Ingelise Stuijts, Domingo C. Salazar-García, Courtney Hofman, Richard Hagan, Thérèse Samdapawindé Kagoné, Nicolas Meda, Helene Carabin, David Jacobson, Karl Reinhard, Cecil Lewis, Aleksandar Kostic, Choongwon Jeong, Alexander Herbig, Alexander Hübner, Christina Warinner

Karl Reinhard Publications

Shotgun metagenomics applied to archaeological feces (paleofeces) can bring new insights into the composition and functions of human and animal gut microbiota from the past. However, paleofeces often undergo physical distortions in archaeological sediments, making their source species difficult to identify on the basis of fecal morphology or microscopic features alone. Here we present a reproducible and scalable pipeline using both host and microbial DNA to infer the host source of fecal material. We apply this pipeline to newly sequenced archaeological specimens and show that we are able to distinguish morphologically similar human and canine paleofeces, as well as non-fecal …

Diet Analysis Reveals Pre-Historic Meals Among The Loma San Gabriel At La Cueva De Los Muertos Chiquitos, Rio Zape, Mexico (600–800 Ce), Elisa Pucu, Julia Russ, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

Coprolites have been a source of study for archeologists due to several reasons: they not only provide information on the life and nutritional habits of ancient individuals but also on their health. In this paper, we processed 10 coprolites collected at La Cueva de Los Muertos Chiquitos (600–800 CE), Rio Zape, Mexico, with acetolysis solution for pollen analysis. The number of pollen grains/gram of each coprolite sample was quantified along with the macroscopic remains of these samples. The main food item ingested by the population was maize, followed by Agave. Squash blossoms were also part of their food source …

Pinworm Research In The Southwest Usa: Five Decades Of Methodological And Theoretical Development And The Epidemiological Approach, Morgana Camacho, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

Pinworms infected Ancestral Pueblo populations since early periods of occupation on the Colorado Plateau. The high prevalence of pinworm found in these populations was correlated with the habitation style developments through time. However, in previous studies, Turkey Pen Cave, an early occupation site, and Salmon Ruins, a late occupation site, exhibited prevalences that were anomalously low, suggesting that these sites were outliers. Alternatively, it is possible that the previous quantification method was not successful in detecting the real prevalence and eggs per gram, which led to inexact interpretations. The aims of this study were to verify if previous pinworm prevalences …

Effects Of Sentence-Combining Instruction For Spanish-Speaking Language-Minority Students: Evidence From Two Single-Case Experiments, J. Marc Goodrich, Michael Hebert, Mackenzie E. Savaiano, Tim Andress

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Research indicates that sentence-combining instruction is effective for improving writing outcomes; however, no studies to date have examined the effects of sentence- combining instruction on the writing skills of Spanish- speaking language-minority (LM) students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicit sentence-combining instruction that focused on correct adjective use when used with Spanish-speaking LM students with poor sentence construction skills. Across two studies, seven Spanish-speaking LM children in third to fifth grade participated in sentence-combining inter- ventions designed to teach adjective placement. Results in- dicated that there was a functional relation between the in- …

Eb4cast Approach Improves Science Communication With Stakeholders In A College-Based Health Program, Melissa D. Olfert, Makenzie L. Barr, Rebecca L. Hagedorn, Rahel A. Wattick, Wenjun Zhou, Tanya M. Horacek, Anne E. Mathews, Kendra K. Kattlemann, Tandalayo Kidd, Adrienne A. White, Onikia N. Brown, Jesse Stabile Morrell, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Karla P. Shelnutt, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Terezie Tolar-Peterson, Geoffrey W. Greene, Sarah E. Colby

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Communicating scientific results with community partners is often lacking in intervention programs, thus eB4CAST was developed to facilitate impact sharing. This article investigated using the eB4CAST dissemination tool to communicate impact from a campus-based obesity prevention program. Data from Get Fruved RCT university sites collected at baseline were used to generate eB4CAST reports. Experts (n = 13) and RCT sites (n = 15) were asked to provide feedback on eB4CAST reports based on appeal, understanding, and clarity. On all Likert items, participants rated above 7 on each (out of 10). Positive responses from open-ended questions included eB4CAST reports being clear, …

Acoustic Space Occupancy: Combining Ecoacoustics And Lidar To Model Biodiversity Variation And Detection Bias Across Heterogeneous Landscapes, Danielle I. Rappaport, J. Andrew Royle, Douglas C. Morton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

There is global interest in quantifying changing biodiversity in human-modified landscapes. Ecoacoustics may offer a promising pathway for supporting multi-taxa monitoring, but its scalability has been hampered by the sonic complexity of biodiverse ecosystems and the imperfect detectability of animal-generated sounds. The acoustic signature of a habitat, or soundscape, contains information about multiple taxa and may circumvent species identification, but robust statistical technology for characterizing community-level attributes is lacking. Here, we present the Acoustic Space Occupancy Model, a flexible hierarchical framework designed to account for detection artifacts from acoustic surveys in order to model biologically relevant variation in acoustic space …

Human-Associated Species Dominate Passerine Communities Across The United States, Helen R. Sofaer, Curtis H. Flather, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Kristin P. Davis, Liba Pejchar

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Aim: Human development and agriculture can have transformative and homogenizing effects on natural systems, shifting the composition of ecological communities towards non-native and native species that tolerate or thrive under human-dominated conditions. These impacts cannot be fully captured by summarizing species presence, as they include dramatic changes to patterns of species abundance. However, how human land use patterns and species invasions intersect to shape patterns of abundance and dominance within ecological communities is poorly understood even in well-known taxa.

Location: Conterminous United States.

Time period: 2010–2012.

Major taxa studied: Passeriformes.

Methods: We analyse continental-scale monitoring data to study the proportional …

Ecosystem Processes, Land Cover, Climate, And Human Settlement Shape Dynamic Distributions For Golden Eagle Across The Western Us, J.D. Tack, Barry R. Noon, Zachary Bowen, Brad C. Fedy

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Species–environment relationships for highly mobile species outside of the breeding season are often highly dynamic in response to the collective effects of everchanging climatic conditions, food resources, and anthropogenic disturbance. Capturing dynamic space-use patterns in a model-based framework is critical as model inference often drives place-based conservation planning. We applied dynamic occupancy models to broad-scale golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos survey data collected annually from 2006 to 2012 during the late summer post-fledging period in the western US. We defined survey sites as 10 km transect segments with a 1 km buffer on either transect side (n = 3540). Derived estimates …

Human-Associated Species Dominate Passerine Communities Across The United States, Helen R. Sofaer, Curtis H. Flather, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Kristin P. Davis

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Aim: Human development and agriculture can have transformative and homogenizing effects on natural systems, shifting the composition of ecological communities towards non-native and native species that tolerate or thrive under human-dominated conditions. These impacts cannot be fully captured by summarizing species presence, as they include dramatic changes to patterns of species abundance. However, how human land use patterns and species invasions intersect to shape patterns of abundance and dominance within ecological communities is poorly understood even in well-known taxa.

Location: Conterminous United States.

Time period: 2010–2012.

Major taxa studied: Passeriformes.

Methods: We analyse continental-scale monitoring data to study the proportional …

Acoustic Space Occupancy: Combining Ecoacoustics And Lidar To Model Biodiversity Variation And Detection Bias Across Heterogeneous Landscapes, Danielle I. Rappaport, J. Andrew Royle, Douglas C. Morton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

There is global interest in quantifying changing biodiversity in human-modified landscapes. Ecoacoustics may offer a promising pathway for supporting multi-taxa monitoring, but its scalability has been hampered by the sonic complexity of biodiverse ecosystems and the imperfect detectability of animal-generated sounds. The acoustic signature of a habitat, or soundscape, contains information about multiple taxa and may circumvent species identification, but robust statistical technology for characterizing community-level attributes is lacking. Here, we present the Acoustic Space Occupancy Model, a flexible hierarchical framework designed to account for detection artifacts from acoustic surveys in order to model biologically relevant variation in acoustic space …

Characterization Of Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus Albus) Spawning Habitat In The Lower Missouri River, Caroline M. Elliott, Aaron J. Delonay, Kimberly Chojnacki, Robert B. Jacobson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefish) globally have declined throughout their range due to river fragmentation, habitat loss, overfishing, and degradation of water quality. In North America, pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) populations have experienced poor to no recruitment, or substantial levels of hybridization with the closely related shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus). The Lower Missouri River is the only portion of the species’ range where successful reproduction and recruitment of genetically pure pallid sturgeon have been documented. This paper documents spawning habitat and behavior on the Lower Missouri River, which comprises over 1,300 km of unfragmented river habitat. The …

Simultaneous Cognate Epitope Recognition By Bovine Cd4 And Cd8 T Cells Is Essential For Primary Expansion Of Antigen-Specific Cytotoxic T-Cells Following Ex Vivo Stimulation With A Candidate Mycobacterium Avium Subsp. Paratuberculosis Peptide Vaccine, Gaber S. Abdellrazeq, Lindsay M. Fry, Mahmoud M. Elnaggar, J. P. Bannantine, David A. Schneider, William M. Chamberlin, Asmaa H.A. Mahmoud, Kun-Taek Park, Victoria Hulubei, William C. Davis

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Studies in cattle show CD8 cytotoxic T cells (CTL), with the ability to kill intracellular bacteria, develop following stimulation of monocyte-depleted peripheral blood mononuclear cells (mdPBMC) with antigen-presenting cells (APC, i.e. conventional dendritic cells [cDC] and monocyte-derived DC [MoDC]) pulsed with MMP, a membrane protein from Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map) encoded byMAP2121c. CTL activity was diminished if CD4 T cells were depleted from mdPBMC before antigen (Ag) presentation by APC, suggesting simultaneous cognate recognition of MMP epitopes presented by MHC I and MHC II molecules to CD4 and CD8 T cells is essential for development of CTL activity. To …

International Law And Theories Of Global Justice: Remarks, Steven R. Ratner, James Stewart, Jiewuh Song, Carmen Pavel

Articles

International law (IL) and political philosophy represent two rich disciplines for exploring issues of global justice. At their core, each seeks to build a better world based on some universally agreed norms, rules, and practices, backed by effective institutions. International lawyers, even the most positivist of them, have some underlying assumptions about a just world order that predisposes their interpretive methods; legal scholars have incorporated concepts of justice in their work even as their overall pragmatic orientation has limited the nature of their inquiries. Many philospophers, for their part, have engaged with IL to some extent—at a minimum recognizing that …

Proof At The Salem Witch Trials, Leonard M. Niehoff

Articles

As of the writing of this article, President Donald Trump's tweets have included roughly 400 references to "witch hunts." In a sense, this is unsurprising. The Salem witch trials have a special place in our national identity and vocabulary. Most Americans understand the reference, even if they know few of the historical details. And the phrase "witch hunt" serves as a useful shorthand for any frenzied chase after something that does not exist. The Salem trials also inspire a peculiar fascination: Perhaps no other site of deadly mass hysteria has become a major tourist destination.

Still, most practicing litigators probably …

The Impact Of Lifestyle Medicine On Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Kelli L. Noble

DNP Research Projects

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide. The main risk factor for the development of NAFLD is metabolic syndrome. Women are at greatest risk, typically in their 5th to 6th decade of life. The more aggressive form of NAFLD is nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) which is characterized by inflammation associated with NAFLD. NASH has the greatest tendency to progress into cirrhosis. However, lifestyle intervention has been shown to effectively treat, and even reverse NAFLD. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to lend additional research and demonstrate improvement in NAFLD through lifestyle intervention with 1) …

The Observational Investigation Of Vitamin D And The Effect On Hypertension (Oiveh) Study, Warren Burke

DNP Research Projects

Background

It is uncertain if vitamin D supplementation improves cardiovascular health, more specifically, the systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and the data from previous trials investigating supplementation and the effects on the blood pressure are limited.

Methods

The following scholarly project was a retrospective observational study, examining randomly selected participants with chronic kidney disease and hypertension from a local nephrology practice. The Student’s t-test, Pearson’s r correlation, and ANOVA statistical tests were utilized to determine if vitamin D supplementation improved the systolic and diastolic blood pressures.

Results

A total of 260 participants were examined. The mean systolic blood pressure …

Cyber Mobs, Disinformation, And Death Videos: The Internet As It Is (And As It Should Be), Danielle K. Citron

Faculty Scholarship

Fiction and visual representations can alter our understanding of human experiences and struggles. They help us understand human frailties and suffering in a visceral way. Nick Drnaso’s graphic novel Sabrina does that in spades. In Sabrina, a woman is murdered by a misogynist, and a video of her execution is leaked. Conspiracy theorists deem her murder a hoax. A cyber mob smears the woman’s loved ones as crisis actors, posts death threats, and spreads their personal information. The attacks continue until a shooting massacre redirects the cyber mob’s wrath to other mourners. Sabrina captures the breathtaking velocity of disinformation online …

Antibiotic Development — Economic, Regulatory And Societal Challenges, Christine Årdal, Manica Balasegaram, Ramanan Laxminarayan, David Mcadams, Kevin Outterson, John H. Rex, Nithima Sumpradit

Faculty Scholarship

Antibiotic resistance is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges to global health, and the emergence of resistance has outpaced the development of new antibiotics. However, investments by the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology companies for research into and development of new antibiotics are diminishing. The public health implications of a drying antibiotic pipeline are recognized by policymakers, regulators and many companies. In this Viewpoint article, seven experts discuss the challenges that are contributing to the decline in antibiotic drug discovery and development, and the national and international initiatives aimed at incentivizing research and the development of new antibiotics to improve the …

Admissions Viewbook, 2020-2021, Illinois State University, Office Of Admissions

Admissions Viewbook

Recruitment booklet created by Illinois State University's Office of Admissions

Social, Cultural And Economic Aspects Of Antimicrobial Resistance, Timo Minssen, Kevin Outterson, Susan Rogers Van Katwyk, Pedro Henrique D Batista, Clare I. R. Chandler, Francesco Ciabuschi, Stephan Harbarth, Aaron Kesselheim, Ramanan Laxminarayan, Kathleen Liddell, Michael T. Osterholm, Lance Price, Steven J. Hoffman

Faculty Scholarship

Although often considered only a medical problem, antimicrobial resistance is an evolutionary challenge accelerated by social, cultural and economic factors that lead to the misuse, overuse and abuse of life-saving antimicrobial medicines. The antimicrobial resistance challenge is compounded by inadequate attention to disease prevention and response, global circulation of people and products, differences in industry and market regulations across countries, and a fragile pipeline of new antibiotics and their alternatives. While the discovery of new antimicrobials will provide temporary solutions, sustainable success requires rigorous social science research that explores the drivers of antimicrobial resistance. These solutions should promote balance between …

High Fat Diet Significantly Changed The Global Gene Expression Profile Involved In Hepatic Drug Metabolism And Pharmacokinetic System In Mice., Yuqi He, Tao Yang, Yimei Du, Lin Qin, Feifei Ma, Zunping Wu, Hua Ling, Li Yang, Zhengtao Wang, Qingdi Zhou, Guangbo Ge, Yanliu Lu

PCOM Scholarly Works

Background: High fat diet impact transcription of hepatic genes responsible for drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Until now, researches just focused on a couple specific genes without a global profile showing. Age-dependent manner was also not noted well. This study aims to investigate the high fat diet effect on transcriptome of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic system in mouse livers and show the age-dependent evidence.

Methods: C57BL/6 male mice were used in this experiment. High fat diet was used to treat mice for 16 and 38 weeks. Serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, aspartate transaminase, and alanine transaminaselevels were measured. Meanwhile, …