Digital Commons Network^™

A Look At Gene Control: Tracking The Ccnd1 Gene, Bryan Anders

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Cancer occurs when the cell does not properly control its own cell cycle. It then replicates in an out of control fashion leading to the death of various organs and then the demise of the organism as a whole. As it seems to have always been a problem for cell-based life, certain safeguards against cancer have been evolved over time. One such method comes in the form of prevention via cyclin proteins, which are encoded from cyclin genes. The gene that is the focus of this research is the CCND1, or cyclin D1, gene that controls the progression through various …

Seedling Survival Declines With Increasing Conspecific Density In A Common Temperate Tree, Fiona V. Jevon, Sydne Record, John Grady, Ashley K. Lang, David A. Orwig, Matthew P. Ayres, Jaclyn H. Matthes

Biology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Feedbacks between plants and their soil microbial communities often drive negative density dependence in rare, tropical tree species, but their importance to common, temperate trees remains unclear. Additionally, whether negative density dependence is driven by natural enemies (e.g., soil pathogens) or by high densities of seedlings has rarely been assessed. Density dependence may also depend on seedling size, as smaller and/or younger seedlings may be more susceptible to mortality agents. We monitored seedlings of Quercus rubra, a common, canopy‐dominant temperate tree, to investigate how the density of neighboring adults and seedlings influenced their survival over two years. We assessed …

Reflections On Implementing Active Learning Techniques In A Large Lecture, Elisabeth Anderson

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

Engaging students in lectures of 200+ students presents unique challenges. Here I provide reflections of a several techniques I have implemented. In addition to a description of how the technique was applied are thoughts on which aspects could be modified to provide a more effective learning outcome.

A Rubric For Grading Laboratory Research Paper Writing Assignments In Plant Biology, David Rhoads

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

Writing a research paper based on a course laboratory research project is challenging for many students. In addition to providing a 3 page summary on how to write the paper (with details on the type and format of the content to be included for each section), I provide a detailed grading rubric that also contains an outline of the topics to be included in the paper. This rubric was further refined in the Winter 2020 (Q2S) Writing Intensive Faculty Learning Community (WI FLC).

Designing A Nutrition Course To Develop Collaborative And Effective Teamwork Among The Students Though Emphasis On Informal And Formal Group Work And Cooperative Learning, Kassandra Harding

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

Community Nutrition is a required course for nutrition and food service majors that provides the foundational and advanced skills and knowledge in nutrition that is community based or related. A great deal of the jobs in the area of community nutrition require working in small groups or teams to achieve program goals. This Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy Grant was used study techniques in formal and informal group work and cooperative learning, in order to design the semester Community Nutrition course with an emphasis on building student’s skills and comfort in working collaborative and effectively with teams. As outlined below, this has …

The Oceans Above Us: An Augmented Reality Experience, Chris Nalani Dimeo

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Augmented reality holds the potential to be the new fabric of our everyday lives.

Also known as AR, augmented reality is any technology that superimposes graphical information over a real-world environment, whether it be through a smartphone screen or visually projected onto the environment. Though it has existed in various forms for decades, augmented reality development is still widely considered the work of experts in technology-related fields.

In November 2019, however, Adobe unveiled a new augmented reality development platform, Project Aero, along with boasts that the app’s intuitive design and integration with other Adobe programs would place AR creation into …

Assessing The Impact Of Mother’S Perception Of Support On Breastfeeding Intensity Through Six Months, Kathryn Doyle Palomares

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Expert recommendations instruct mothers to exclusively breastfeed for infant’s first 6 months of life. While many mothers intend to breastfeed, mothers frequently cite early breastfeeding difficulties as a leading cause of breastfeeding cessation. The large discrepancy between a mother’s intentions for exclusive breastfeeding and the actual rates warrants further investigation. OBJECTIVES: The current research study utilized data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II to (1) to understand how the mother’s perception of breastfeeding support in the presence of breastfeeding difficulties affects breastfeeding intensity. METHODS: Multinomial logistic regression utilizing data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II. At each …

University Manual 2019-2020, Uri Faculty Senate

University Manual Archive

No abstract provided.

Strategic Planning For A Psychosocial Occupational Therapy Program: A Swot Analysis, Kellie Roy

OT Student Capstones

PURPOSE

To examine and evaluate the Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (NAVAHCS) psychosocial occupational therapy (OT) program using a SWOT analysis to inform solution-oriented strategies for future directions of the program.

Development And Application Of Chemical Tools To Identify Kinase-Substrate Interactions, Aparni Kithulgoda Gamage

Wayne State University Dissertations

Post translational modifications regulate a variety of biological processes inside the cell.Protein phosphorylation is one such PTM modification catalyzed by protein kinases, which aid to transfer a signal from one place to another inside the cell. However, irregularities in kinase-mediated signaling are often implicated in many diseases, making kinases effective drug targets. To understand kinase-related disease formation and to discover drugs to treat these diseases, it is crucial to have a clear understanding on kinase-mediated cell signaling networks. A current gap in the kinase biology field is a lack of tools to identify which kinase phosphorylates which protein substrate inside …

Reduced Levels Of Cerebrospinal Fluid/Plasma Aβ40 As An Early Biomarker For Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy In Rtg-Di Rats, Xiaoyue Zhu, Feng Xu, Michael D. Hoos, Hedok Lee, Helene Benveniste, William Van Nostrand

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The accumulation of fibrillar amyloid β-protein (Aβ) in blood vessels of the brain, the condition known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), is a common small vessel disease that promotes cognitive impairment and is strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Presently, the clinical diagnosis of this condition relies on neuroimaging markers largely associated with cerebral macro/microbleeds. However, these are markers of late-stage disease detected after extensive cerebral vascular amyloid accumulation has become chronic. Recently, we generated a novel transgenic rat model of CAA (rTg-DI) that recapitulates multiple aspects of human CAA disease with the progressive accumulation of cerebral vascular amyloid, largely composed …

Thermo-Responsive Fluorescent Nanoparticles For Multimodal Imaging And Treatment Of Cancers, Nikhil Pandey, Jyothi Menon, Masaya Takahashi, Jer-Tsong Hsieh, Jian Yang, Kytai T. Nguyen, Aniket S. Wadajkar

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Theranostic systems capable of delivering imaging and therapeutic agents at a specific target are the focus of intense research efforts in drug delivery. To overcome non-degradability and toxicity concerns of conventional theranostic systems, we formulated a novel thermo-responsive fluorescent polymer (TFP) and conjugated it on the surface of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for imaging and therapeutic applications in solid tumors. Methods: TFP-MNPs were synthesized by copolymerizing poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), allylamine and a biodegradable photoluminescent polymer, and conjugating it on MNPs via a free radical polymerization reaction. Physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic …

Oxygen, Ph, And Labile Organic Carbon As Possible Mechanisms For Algal Stimulation Of Bacterial And Fungal Production In Periphyton, Jennifer Nichole Harper

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Algal photosynthesis can stimulate production of associated microbial heterotrophs; however,the mechanisms for this stimulation remain unknown. I incubated submerged Typha domingensis leaf litter in greenhouse mesocosms under low- and high-nutrient regimes and conducted microbial production assays after 79/80 (week 11) or 128/129 (week 18) days of colonization. I manipulated environmental factors (oxygen, pH, and labile organic carbon) affected by algal photosynthesis to test the hypothesis that one or more of these factors stimulates heterotrophic microbial production. In the low-nutrient treatments, bacterial production was increased by glucose addition during week 11 (p < 0.001) and by photosynthesis during week 18 (p < 0.05). Fungal production was stimulated by photosynthesis in the high-nutrient treatments during weeks 11 (p < 0.001) and 18 (p < 0.01) and by glucose during week 11 (p < 0.05). These results confirm that algal photosynthesis can increase heterotrophic microbial production and suggest that photosynthetic labile organic carbon (LOC) could be a stimulatory mechanism.

Investigation Of Emotional Intelligence And Computer Self-Efficacy On The Cybersecurity Interest Of High School Students, William Earl Hilliker Jr.

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There is a lack of interest in young students in pursuing a career in cybersecurity. Defining potential traits that could identify an interested student could help fill the national shortage of cybersecurity professionals. This study examines the relationship between computer self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and an interest in a cybersecurity career of high school students in Southeast Michigan. It also attempts to determine if a student’s participation in STEM events and the location of the student’s school are significant moderating factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 280 students in Grades 9 through 12 who attended school at …

Gxd's Rna-Seq And Microarray Experiment Search: Using Curated Metadata To Reliably Find Mouse Expression Studies Of Interest., Constance M. Smith, James W Godwin, Richard M. Baldarelli, Jonathan S Beal, Olin Blodgett, Sharon C Giannatto, Joel E Richardson, Martin Ringwald

Faculty Research 2020

The Gene Expression Database (GXD), an extensive community resource of curated expression information for the mouse, has developed an RNA-Seq and Microarray Experiment Search (http://www.informatics.jax.org/gxd/htexp_index). This tool allows users to quickly and reliably find specific experiments in ArrayExpress and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) that study endogenous gene expression in wild-type and mutant mice. Standardized metadata annotations, curated by GXD, allow users to specify the anatomical structure, developmental stage, mutated gene, strain and sex of samples of interest, as well as the study type and key parameters of the experiment. These searches, powered by controlled vocabularies and ontologies, can be …

Integrating Image Caption Information Into Biomedical Document Classification In Support Of Biocuration., Xiangying Jiang, Pengyuan Li, James A. Kadin, Judith A. Blake, Martin Ringwald, Hagit Shatkay

Faculty Research 2020

Gathering information from the scientific literature is essential for biomedical research, as much knowledge is conveyed through publications. However, the large and rapidly increasing publication rate makes it impractical for researchers to quickly identify all and only those documents related to their interest. As such, automated biomedical document classification attracts much interest. Such classification is critical in the curation of biological databases, because biocurators must scan through a vast number of articles to identify pertinent information within documents most relevant to the database. This is a slow, labor-intensive process that can benefit from effective automation.

We present a document classification …

Proceedings Of The Comprehensive Oncology Network Evaluating Rare Cns Tumors (Nci-Connect) Oligodendroglioma Workshop., Marta Penas-Prado, Jing Wu, Daniel P Cahill, Daniel J Brat, Joseph F Costello, Paul G Kluetz, J Gregory Cairncross, Martin Van Den Bent, Roel G W Verhaak, Orwa Aboud, Peter Burger, Susan M Chang, Christine Cordova, Raymond Y Huang, Lindsay S Rowe, Martin J B Taphoorn, Mark R Gilbert, Terri S Armstrong, Nci-Connect Oligodendr0glioma Worhshop

Faculty Research 2020

Background: Oligodendroglioma is a rare primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor with highly variable outcome and for which therapy is usually not curative. At present, little is known regarding the pathways involved with progression of oligodendrogliomas or optimal biomarkers for stratifying risk. Developing new therapies for this rare cancer is especially challenging. To overcome these challenges, the neuro-oncology community must be particularly innovative, seeking multi-institutional and international collaborations, and establishing partnerships with patients and advocacy groups thereby ensuring that each patient enrolled in a study is as informative as possible.

Methods: The mission of the National Cancer Institute's NCI-CONNECT program …

What Are The Most Appropriate Treatments, Preventions And Family Planning Options For Patients With Factor V Leiden?, Simha Wolf

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

The management of Venous Thromboembolism in terms of treatments and prevention has been well researched for patients who have been discovered as positive for Factor V Leiden genetic clotting disorder, in either the homozygous or the heterozygous genotype. In fact, the research and development of new agents called Direct oral anticoagulants aim to treat and prevent clotting events while minimizing the risks of bleeding. Although several risk factors have been identified in relation to VTE, Factor V Leiden mutation presents a seemingly higher risk due to its unpredictable incidences of clotting events, even in patients with optimal health characteristics. Yet, …

The Birth Of Fertility Fraud: How To Protect Washingtonians, Sarah Chicoine

Washington Law Review Online

Doctors in multiple states have been accused of using their own sperm to impregnate patients without the patient’s consent. Because most states do not have laws prohibiting fertility doctors from using their own sperm to impregnate their patients, families have not been able to seek meaningful legal remedies. State legislatures enacted new fertility fraud laws to deter, criminalize, and provide a legal civil cause of action to those harmed by these actions—but only after these allegations came to light. If the Washington State Legislature creates a law before any similar allegations come to light in Washington, those patients harmed in …

The End From The Beginning, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

We are often at the dubious mercy of people, forces, and events that are beyond our control. But a trust in Providence — a word that is used relatively seldom these days for power that transcends even those people, forces, and events and that can, in the end, overrule them for our good — can nonetheless give us serene confidence. That such providential power exists, that it is personal and caring, is one of the fundamental messages of the scriptures and the prophets.

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, …

Diatom Community Responses To Development And Climate Change In Lake George, An Oligotrophic Lake In The Adirondack Mountains, Adam T. Ruka

Masters Theses

Lake George is a highly monitored, oligotrophic lake that experiences widespread tourism in the summer months. The southern basin is more developed than the northern basin, suggesting a north-south gradient of anthropogenic impairment. This study aimed to assess differences in nearshore diatom communities regarding gradients of water chemistry and watershed development throughout the lake. Using Redundancy analyses, water chemistry was found to explain more variation within diatom assemblages than watershed variables. Weighted averaging optima and tolerances specified taxa of concern, F. gracilis and A. formosa, that indicate increased phosphorus (μg/L) and conductivity (μS/cm), respectively. Two hypotheses related to the effect …

Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, And Toads: Joseph Smith’S Reported Use Of Entheogens, Brian C. Hales

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

An article recently published in an online journal entitled “The Entheogenic Origins of Mormonism: A Working Hypothesis” posits that Joseph Smith used naturally occurring chemicals, called “entheogens,” to facilitate visionary experiences among his early followers. The entheogenic substances were reportedly derived from two mushrooms, a fungus, three plants (including one cactus), and the secretions from the parotid glands of the Sonoran Desert toad. Although it is an intriguing theory, the authors consistently fail to connect important dots regarding chemical and historical cause-and-effect issues. Documentation of entheogen acquisition and consumption by the early Saints is not provided, but consistently speculated. Equally, …

Academic Space Master Plan Update Final Report - January 2020, Facilities Management, East Tennessee State University

Campus Facility Master Plans

No abstract provided.

2020 Spring And Winter - Schedule Of Classes, Office Of The Registrar, East Tennessee State University

Registration Resources

No abstract provided.

2020 - Etsu Fact Book, Institutional Research, East Tennessee State University

ETSU Fact Books

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing The Receipt Of Diabetic Retinopathy Screening In A High-Risk Population, Elizabeth Ann Fairless

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is among the leading causes of vision loss in the US,

yet an estimated 50% of patients with diabetes do not receive recommended annual

screening eye exams for reasons that are incompletely understood. Patients with diabetes

and low socioeconomic status or who are racial/ethnic minorities are at increased risk for

vision loss. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 patients with diabetes at a

federally qualified community health center and a primary care clinic in New Haven, CT

regarding factors influencing their use of screening exams. The interviews were recorded,

transcribed, and analyzed line by line to identify …

Human Amniotic Membrane Improves Healing In A Chronic, Massive Rotator Cuff Repair Model, Maarouf Saad

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Rotator cuff tendon heals by fibrovascular scar that is weaker than native tissue leading to repairs that are prone to failure. To investigate the utility of an amniotic-membrane-derived human allograft in improving tendon-bone healing and skeletal muscle architecture, a rotator cuff repair model in Sprague-Dawley rats was established, tendon biomechanical testing, single muscle fiber biomechanical testing, microcomputed tomography analysis, tendon and muscle histological analysis, and gene expression analysis were performed. Our findings demonstrated single muscle-fibers with larger cross-sectional area and greater maximum isometric and specific force in the augmented experimental repair (ER) group. Additionally, microcomputed tomography revealed a larger volume …

Gattonrx Magazine - 2020, Bill Gatton College Of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University

GattonRX Magazine

No abstract provided.

2020-2021 - Quillen College Of Medicine Operating Budget (October), Budget And Financial Planning, East Tennessee State University

College of Medicine Operating Budgets and Analysis

No abstract provided.

2020-2021 - Etsu General Academic Operating Budget (July), Budget And Financial Planning, East Tennessee State University

ETSU General Academic Operating Budgets and Analysis

No abstract provided.