Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Stress And Hypertension On The Cerebrovasculature, Nada Elsaid, Ahmed Saied, Heba Kandil, Ahmed Soliman, Fatma Taher, Mohiuddin Hadi, Guruprasad Giridharan, Richard Jennings, Manuel Casanova, Robert Keynton, Ayman El-Baz

All Works

Objectives: Both stress and hypertension (HTN) are considered major health problems that negatively impact the cerebral vasculature. In this article we summarize the possible relationship between stress and HTN. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature using a database search of MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Results: Psychological stress is known to be an important risk factor for essential hypertension. Acute stress can induce transient elevations of blood pressure in the context of the fight-or-flight response. With increased intensity and duration of a perceived harmful event, the normal physiological response is altered, resulting in a failure …

Mercury Contamination In Selected Edible Plants And Soil From Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining In Sukabumi Regency, Indonesia, Grace Serepina Saragih, Ely Rahmi Tapriziah, Yunesfi Syofyan, Siti Masitoh, Yohana Sari Hotmatua Pandiangan, Andriantoro Andriantoro

Makara Journal of Science

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) activities often pollute soil, water, and air, thereby achieving widespread proliferation, and contaminating the surrounding biota including plants. Mercury contamination on agricultural land around ASGM areas has been widely reported. This study aims to determine the total mercury contamination in plants and soil around active ASGM sites in Sukabumi Regency, Indonesia, namely, Waluran, Lengkong, and Ciemas Districts. Total mercury (Hg) content was measured from 27 plant samples (including cassava [Manihot utilisima], rice [Oryza sativa], and papaya [Carica papaya]), 7 rhizosphere soil samples, and 7 non-rhizosphere soil samples. Data …

Contested Representations Of Agent Orange’S Destruction In Vu Le My’S Where War Has Passed And Masako Sakata’S Agent Orange: A Personal Requiem, Nguyen Thi Nhu Trang

Asia-Pacific Social Science Review

This study examines two documentaries on the impact of Agent Orange in post-war Vietnam: Where War Has Passed (1997), by the Vietnamese director Vu Le My and Agent Orange: A Personal Requiem (2007), by Japanese director Masako Sakata. In order to depict the destructiveness of Agent Orange, these directors focus exclusively neither on the footprints of war in Vietnam’s physical landscape nor the sufferings of Vietnamese victims. By highlighting the existence of Agent Orange victims in the landscape that was once the target of a series of American spraying missions, both documentaries urge the audience to remove the boundaries between …

A Review Of Rice Tariffication In The Time Of Covid-19: Rationale And Road To Rice Self-Sufficiency In The Philippines, David Michael M. San Juan

Asia-Pacific Social Science Review

The Philippine government passed the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) in 2019, despite a strong and united peasant opposition to rice industry liberalization, which the RTL facilitates and further accelerates. Amid falling Filipino farmers’ incomes due to the deluge of imported rice, negligible milled rice price decreases for consumers, rising rice prices globally, and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has already disrupted food supplies and is poised to cause continuing instability in the price of imports, this paper is aimed at reviewing recent rice tariffication policy literature. Such review will be a springboard in making a case in …

Agropastoral Systems An Alternative To Revert Pasture Degradation In The Cerrados Of Brazil: Preliminary Results, Manuel C. M. Macedo, J. A. M. Bono, A. H. Zimmer, F. P. Costa, Tsutomu Kanno, Cesar Heraclides Behling Miranda, A. N. Kichel

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

A long term experiment was set to test the hypothesis that agropastoral systems could improve crop and animal production, being more profitable and sustainable relative to economical, biological and environmental aspects, than continuous and traditional crop and grazing pasture systems. Five farming systems are being tested: two traditional (continuous soybean annual cropping and continuous pasture cropping) and three agropastoral systems (two combinations of four by four years of rotational crop-pasture systems and one by three years of crop-pasture rotation). Animal production in continuous pasture cropping measured as liveweight gain/ha (LWG) are declining along the years in the sub-treatment without fertilizer …

A Qualitative Study Of Early Adolescents’ Critical Thinking About The Content And Consequences Of Media Violence, Erica Scharrer, Yuxi Zhou

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Research shows that young people are likely to encounter considerable amounts of violence in the media they use. Some of those depictions trivialize the severity of violence. Past studies show that media literacy education can spur critical thinking regarding violent portrayals in media texts. But rarely do prior studies employ qualitative methods to understand how young media audience members reason through the key question of whether media violence is either surprising or concerning. In the current study, an in-school media literacy program is offered to 48 6th graders who provide data in the form of written responses to a number …

An Approach To Creative Media Literacy For World Issues, Abduljalil Nasr Hazaea

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article introduces an approach to creative media literacy for world issues (WIs) such as Covid-19. In so doing, the article integrates four positions on discourse and media as terrible facets of globalization in the context of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The objectivist position deals with WIs as neutral discourse shared among humanity and distributed through English as an international language and educational media. The ideologist position treats creative media literacy as relations of power between global and local identities in the form of competing discourses associated with WIs. The rhetorical position reveals the hidden strategies used in global media …

Study Of Apparent Molar Volumes Of Electrolyte Solutions And Its Application In Medicine, Muratali I. Bazarbayev, Qumrijon I. Narziqulova, Islom Mullojonov, Erkinbay Ya. Ermetov

Central Asian Journal of Medicine

All biological processes in plant or animal organisms, including in the human body, are carried out in solutions. Therefore, the progress of sciences such as biology, medicine, etc., is closely related to the development of the doctrine of solutions. When dissolved, various chemical interactions occur between the components and due to Van der Waals force, etc. One of the methods for determining the ion molecular interaction is the study of the partial molar volume of electrolytes.

Complement-Mediated Selective Tumor Cell Lysis Enabled By Bi-Functional Rna Aptamers, Hua Shi, Prabhat K. Mallik, Kimi Nishikawa, Pramit Mallik

Biological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Unlike microbes that infect the human body, cancer cells are descended from normal cells and are not easily recognizable as “foreign” by the immune system of the host. However, if the malignant cells can be specifically earmarked for attack by a synthetic “designator”, the powerful effector mechanisms of the immune response can be conscripted to treat cancer. To implement this strategy, we have been developing aptamer-derived molecular adaptors to invoke synthetic immune responses against cancer cells. Here we describe multi-valent aptamers that simultaneously bind target molecules on the surface of cancer cells and an activated complement protein, which would tag …

Liberalism, Patriotism, And Cosmopolitanism In Local Citizenship In A Global Age, Eric R. Claeys

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

In this review Essay, I survey the most valuable lessons from Local Citizenship in a Global Age. But I have some reservations about the book, and I want to mark those off as well. The book comes off as critical of views that seek to control immigration and to establish relatively demanding criteria for noncitizens to become citizens. In my view, two factors contribute to this impression, and the book would have been more satisfying if both had been addressed.

Inhibition Of Bruton Tyrosine Kinase Reduces Neuroimmune Cascade And Promotes Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury, Chen Guang Yu, Vimala Bondada, Hina Iqbal, Kate L. Moore, John C. Gensel, Subbarao Bondada, James W. Geddes

Physiology Faculty Publications

Microglia/astrocyte and B cell neuroimmune responses are major contributors to the neurological deficits after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) activation mechanistically links these neuroimmune mechanisms. Our objective is to use Ibrutinib, an FDA-approved BTK inhibitor, to inhibit the neuroimmune cascade thereby improving locomotor recovery after SCI. Rat models of contusive SCI, Western blot, immunofluorescence staining imaging, flow cytometry analysis, histological staining, and behavioral assessment were used to evaluate BTK activity, neuroimmune cascades, and functional outcomes. Both BTK expression and phosphorylation were increased at the lesion site at 2, 7, 14, and 28 days after SCI. Ibrutinib …

Fungicidal Effects Of Homoeopathic Medicines Versus Allopathic Ketoconazole In Candida Albicans, Chiara X. Mercado, Brandy Garrett Kluthe

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Background: Candida albicans, accounts for more than 75% of all Candidal infections. Apart from its growing prevalence, it is also one of the most resistant strains against antifungal medication. Homoeopathy is an alternative to allopathic medication and has shown inhibiting fungal growth. Objective: This study was to determine effectiveness of homoeopathic tinctures and medications versus allopathic Ketoconazole in growth inhibition and fungicidal properties against in vitro cultures of C. albicans. Materials and Methods: Efficacy of five antifungal agents were tested for inhibiting fungal growth and their fungicidal properties on cultured C. albicans the agents tested were Eucalyptus globulus and Ocimum …

Venous Ulcer And Stasis Dermatitis Treated With Classical Homoeopathy: A Case Series, Seema Mahesh, Mahesh Mallappa, Viraj Shah, George Vithoulkas

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Introduction: Chronic venous disease is responsible for a great deal of the global disease burden due to its prevalence and socio-economic impact. Non-invasive methods of dealing with the resulting ulcers, that negatively impact mobility, are desirable. Cases Summary: We present five cases of stasis dermatitis and venous ulcers of varying severity, treated with individualised classical homoeopathy showing progress as recorded with the comprehensive classification system for chronic venous disorders (clinical aetiology anatomical pathophysiology) score and venous clinical severity score. There is a need to further investigate scientifically, the role of classical homoeopathy in peripheral vascular diseases.

Research Highlights (October-December 2021), Kusum Lata

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Research highlights (October - December 2021)

Assessing Scholarly Debates On The Significance Of The Deity Xiwangmu In Han Dynasty Tomb Art, Pattira Thaithosaeng, Suradej Intagorn

Journal of Letters

This paper discusses differing representations of Xiwangmu in Han art and texts. While these representations share some characteristics that indicate the same deity, Han artists’ created a wide variety pictures of Xiwangmu in tomb murals. Many leading scholars have produced excellent pieces of scholarship regarding Xiwangmu as depicted in Han art. The Han period was a significant time for the transformation of Xiwangmu. Various descriptions of her were recorded in pre-Han texts, and she gradually became a deity representing yin during the Han dynasty. However, Han texts do not provide a clear explanation for this change. We believe that Han …

Individualized Homoeopathic Treatment Of Phobic Anxiety Disorders – A Case Series, Deepthi Gilla, Akhila A. L., Sreelakshmy S. R, N D. Mohan

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Introduction: Phobic anxiety disorders (PAD) are common distressing and disabling disorders that reduce the quality of life of an individual. Clinical trials of phobic disorders in conventional treatment are not yet substantiated with too many positive results. Homoeopathy is a well established therapeutic system with potential relevance to psychiatry but has a limited database and its effectiveness in certain disorders such as Phobic disorders is yet to be explored. Cases of phobias, which have been cured in routine homoeopathic practice remain anecdotal. This case series generates preliminary evidence for the usefulness of homoeopathy in phobic disorders. Well planned research studies …

Pandemic Images And Gestalt Theory: Introspective Musings About A Series Of Digital Art-Works, Roy R. Behrens

Faculty Publications

In this paper, the author shares his thoughts about the precedents, process, and significance of a series of “digital montage” artworks that he originated during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, he talks about the indebtedness of these works to Gestalt theory, and particularly their use of what is sometimes known as “laws of seeing,” “unit-forming factors,” or inherent “grouping tendencies.”

Water-Use Efficiency And Infiltration Under Different Rangeland Conditions And Cultivation In A Semi-Arid Climate Of South Africa, Hennie A. Snyman

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of rangeland in different botanical composition classes (good, moderate and poor), on water-use efficiency (WUE: crude protein produced per unit of evapotranspiration) and soilwater content. The same measurements were also made on an undisturbed bare soil surface and soil cultivated twice per annum. Evapotranspiration was determined by quantifying the soil-water balance equation with the aid of runoff plots and soil-water content measurements done by a neutron hydroprobe. Water-use efficiency declined significantly (P ≤ 0.01) with rangeland degradation. Rangeland in good condition averaged a WUE of 0.28 kg crude protein ha …

Valuing The Pasture Resource - Importance Of Perennials In Higher Rainfall Regions Of South Eastern Australia, P. M. Dowling, R. E. Jones, David R. Kemp, D. L. Michalk

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The premature decline of perennial grass based pastures in southern temperate Australia results in poor productivity and unstable pastures that allow invasion by less desirable weedy species and the potential for soil degradation. The loss of perennial species is attributed to overgrazing arising from an undervaluation of the pasture resource. Resowing pastures is largely uneconomic so maintenance of, or increasing the perennial, is dependent on improved grazing and pasture management practices. A key to changing perceptions is valuing the true worth of the perennial component. Results are presented from a model that takes into account the seasonality of production of …

The Question Of Veganism, The Dangers Of Moral Extensionism, And A Pragmatist Ecofeminist Alternative, Erin Mckenna

Between the Species

In this paper I argue that the framework of moral extensionism relies on human exceptionalism and human centeredness. I discuss the dangers of human exceptionalism and human centeredness using the work of ecofeminist philosophers Val Plumwood, Carol Adams, Lori Gruen, A. Breeze Harper, and Lisa Kemmerer. These ecofeminists each articulate alternative approaches to human relations with other animal beings. There are tensions among these alternatives, though, and I use a pragmatist perspective to interrogate their different positions on how other animal beings should or should not figure into the diets of human beings. I will argue that we need a …

Risk Assessment Model Of Grain Resources Based On Ahp And Random Forest Regression Algorithm, Chen Zhuo, Ding Li, Cao Tian-Hong, Cheng Yun-Hui, Wen Li, Xu Zhou, Chen Mao-Long, Jiao Ye, Li Hong-Hui

Food and Machinery

Objective: To ensure the consumption safety of grain resources. Methods: According to the relevant national standards, eight chemical pollutants, such As cadmium （Cd）, arsenic （As）, lead （Pb）, chromium （Cr）, aflatoxin （AFs）, fumonisin （FB）, zearalenone （ZEN） and deoxynivalenone （Don）, were identified as the risk assessment indexes of grain quality and safety, and the entropy weight method was adopted. At the same time, taking the data of evaluation index as the input of risk assessment model, four machine learning algorithms, namely, random forest regression （LR）, support vector machine regression （SVM）, BP neural network regression （BP） and K-nearest neighbor regression （KNN）, are selected …

Research Progress In Aptasensors For The Detection Of Kanamycin Residues In Animal-Derived Foods, Ma Jing-Yi, Tian Bing, Wang Xin, Tao Xiao-Qi

Food and Machinery

The research progress in aptasensors for the detection of kanamycin residues in animal-derived foods was summarized. The principles of the colorimetric, fluorescent, electrochemical methods, and surface-enhanced raman scattering and so on were outlined. Then the advantages and drawbacks of the above detection methods, and aptamer sequences used were summarized. Moreover, the development of aptasensors for kanamycin detection was prospected.

The Calculating For An Adequate Systems Tool (Cast): A Low-Cost And Effective Tool To Improve A Community’S Substance Use Disorder Care Preparedness, Margarita Consing, Quinci Paine, Gabriela Balf

School of Medicine and Health Sciences Student Publications

Objective

In the context of an ongoing opioid crisis, the authors used The Calculating for an Adequate Systems Tool (CAST) to help quantify the rural community preparedness to care of people with substance use disorders (SUDs.)

Methods

CAST was developed by Green and associates in 2017. CAST uses demographics, social, and community indicators to produce a global risk score for hospitalization due to SUDs and highlights which SUD care system resource areas in the studied community are lacking or redundant. There are no human subjects involved; the majority of the required data for CAST is freely available on official national …

Volume 24, Full Contents, Mssj Staff

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Walter Scott At 250, Alison Lumsden, Kirsty Archer-Thompson

Studies in Scottish Literature

This essay marking the 250th anniversary of Walter Scott's birth reflects on the current state of Scott studies, the scholarly directions in which it might develop, and ways in which the relevance of Scott’s work may be re-discovered and re-invigorated for contemporary audiences. In particular, it examines scholarly and critical attitudes to Scott's work over the past 50 years through papers given at the triennial international Scott conferences initiated in Edinburgh in 1971, alongside developments in public engagement at Abbotsford House and elsewhere during the 250th anniversary year.

Robert Burns’S Life On The Stage: A Bibliography Of Dramatic Works, 1842–2019, Thomas Keith

Studies in Scottish Literature

This article traces the changing history of how the Scottish poet Robert Burns has been portrayed on stage, both in Scotland and elsewhere, discussing the the issues playwrights have faced and some of the approaches they have used, and provides an annotated chronological bibliography of ninety plays about Burns's life written or first staged between 1842 and 2019, with information on first known performance and on any published versions or known manuscript or typescript, and with brief notes where information is available on the style of the play and critical reaction.

Reconstruction Of Branded Leisure Food Supply Chain Under The Background Of Business Model Innovation, Li Xia, Lu Yue, Li Feng-Ting, Wang Pei-Pei

Food and Machinery

The paper proposed that branded leisure food companies should keep up with the pace of business model innovation, reduce production costs, expand product sales channels and improve logistics efficiency by analyzing the problems of traditional Branded Leisure Food Supply Chain（BLFSC） under the E-commerce model. Additionally, it is pointed out that branded leisure food companies urgently need restructure and improve the overall circulation efficiency of BLFSC under the background of innovative business models.

Conatus, The Will To Persist: An Introduction, Jasmin Özel, Nikos Psarros

Philosophy Faculty Research

The papers collected in this issue address a variety of aspects of the concept of conatus ranging from the explorations of its roots in early ancient Greek thought to its application on modern theories of democratic education. The conatus is a special relation between the parts of a monad and their subparts and the subparts of the subparts to infinity, which ensures that each part and subpart is a part of this monad and not of any other. As a fundamental trait of monadic existence, the conatus is manifested in a multiplicity of facets that sustain the persistence of any …

Development Of Radiochemical Quality Control Methods For Ra-223 And Th-227 Radiotherapies, Abigail Hasson

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Introduction. Radiolabeled molecules for use in disease detection and targeted treatment are a mainstay of patient management. The majority of radiopharmaceuticals deployed to date undergo a single radioactive transition (decay) to reach a stable ground state. Complex emitters, which produce a series of daughter radionuclides, are emerging as novel radiopharmaceuticals, and there is a need for the proper validation of content and purity using common quality control instrumentation. Hypothesis. There is a need for proper characterization of complex emitters for more accurate quality control on readily available equipment. Here, we demonstrate the novel characterization of Th-227 and Ra-223 using a …

The Future For Savanna And Tropical Grasslands: A Latin American Perspective, R. R. Vera

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The objective of the paper is to briefly review the main trends in the tropical lowlands of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with particular emphasis in the neotropical savannas. These tropical native grasslands cover occupy approximately 210 million hectares, and constitute major portions of the territory of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana and Venezuela. Many analysts consider that intensification of their use is a valid alternative to the expansion of the livestock and crop industries into the rainforest.

The evidence reviewed shows that since the late 1980s, the LAC agricultural sector has shown dynamism not seen for many years. Despite …