Digital Commons Network^™

Parental Factors Associated With The Decision To Participate In A Neonatal Clinical Trial, Elliott Mark Weiss, Rakesh Rao, Et Al

Open Access Publications

Importance: It remains poorly understood how parents decide whether to enroll a child in a neonatal clinical trial. This is particularly true for parents from racial or ethnic minority populations. Understanding factors associated with enrollment decisions may improve recruitment processes for families, increase enrollment rates, and decrease disparities in research participation.

Objective: To assess differences in parental factors between parents who enrolled their infant and those who declined enrollment for a neonatal randomized clinical trial.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This survey study conducted from July 2017 to October 2019 in 12 US level 3 and 4 neonatal intensive care units …

Killing The Invaders: Nk Cell Impact In Tumors And Anti-Tumor Therapy, Martina Molgora, Victor S Cortez, Marco Colonna

Open Access Publications

Natural Killer cells belong to group 1 innate lymphoid cells, which also includes ILC1s. NK/ILC1s are highly heterogeneous cell types showing distinct phenotypes across tissues and conditions. NK cells have long been described as innate lymphocytes able to directly and rapidly kill tumor cells without antigen-restriction. Different mechanisms were shown to modulate NK cell activation and tumor resistance, mainly based on cytokine stimulation and receptor-ligand interactions, and several strategies have been developed to target NK cells in tumor immunotherapy to promote NK cell function and overcome tumor evasion. The characterization of ILC1 distinct phenotype and function and the specific role …

Von Willebrand Disease: Proposing Definitions For Future Research, Nathan T. Connell, Jorge Di Paola, Et Al.

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Mechanical Overstimulation Causes Acute Injury And Synapse Loss Followed By Fast Recovery In Lateral-Line Neuromasts Of Larval Zebrafish, Melanie Holmgren, Michael E. Ravicz, Kenneth E. Hancock, Olga Strelkova, Dorina Kallogjeri, Artur A. Indzhykulian, Mark E. Warchol, Lavinia Sheets

Open Access Publications

Excess noise damages sensory hair cells, resulting in loss of synaptic connections with auditory nerves and, in some cases, hair-cell death. The cellular mechanisms underlying mechanically induced hair-cell damage and subsequent repair are not completely understood. Hair cells in neuromasts of larval zebrafish are structurally and functionally comparable to mammalian hair cells but undergo robust regeneration following ototoxic damage. We therefore developed a model for mechanically induced hair-cell damage in this highly tractable system. Free swimming larvae exposed to strong water wave stimulus for 2 hr displayed mechanical injury to neuromasts, including afferent neurite retraction, damaged hair bundles, and reduced …

Inflammatory Pathophysiology As A Contributor To Myeloproliferative Neoplasms, Daniel Arthur Corpuz Fisher, Jared Scott Fowles, Amy Zhou, Stephen Tracy Oh

Open Access Publications

Myeloid neoplasms, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), feature clonal dominance and remodeling of the bone marrow niche in a manner that promotes malignant over non-malignant hematopoiesis. This take-over of hematopoiesis by the malignant clone is hypothesized to include hyperactivation of inflammatory signaling and overproduction of inflammatory cytokines. In the

Tissue Biodistribution And Tumor Targeting Of Near-Infrared Labelled Anti-Cd38 Antibody-Drug Conjugate In Preclinical Multiple Myeloma, Nicholas Cho, Sooah Ko, Monica Shokeen

Open Access Publications

Daratumumab (DARA) is an FDA-approved high-affinity monoclonal antibody targeting CD38 that has shown promising therapeutic efficacy in double refractory multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Despite the well-established clinical efficacy of DARA, not all heavily pretreated patients respond to single-agent DARA, and the majority of patients who initially respond eventually progress. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) combine the highly targeted tumor antigen recognition of antibodies with the cell killing properties of chemotherapy for effective internalization and processing of the drug. In this study, we evaluated the anti-tumor efficacy of DARA conjugated to the maytansine derivative, mertansine (DM1), linked via a non-cleavable bifunctional linker. The …

The Valproate Mediates Radio-Bidirectional Regulation Through Rfwd3-Dependent Ubiquitination On Rad51, Guochao Liu, David Lim, Zuchao Cai, Wenwen Ding, Zhujun Tian, Chao Dong, Fengmei Zhang, Gongshe Guo, Xiaowei Wang, Pingkun Zhou, Zhihui Feng

Open Access Publications

Ionizing radiation (IR) can induce DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in tumor cells during radiotherapy (RT), but the efficiency of RT is limited because of the toxicity to normal cells. Locating an adjuvant treatment to alleviate damage in normal cells while sensitizing tumor cells to IR has attracted much attention. Here, using the 7,12-dimethylbenz[α]anthracene (DMBA)-induced malignant transformed MCF10A cells, we found that valproate (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), radiosensitized transformed cells while alleviated IR-induced damage in normal cells at a safe dose (0.5 mM). We further demonstrated the decrease of homologous recombination (HR)-associated Rad51 in the transformed cells was related …

A Review And Comparison Of U.S. State Wildlife Action Plans For Stonefly (Insecta, Plecoptera) Species Of Greatest Conservation Need, Kathryn Greene

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) were created in order to identify Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and develop plans to prevent their populations from further decline and the possibility of being listed as threatened or endangered. Which SGCNs are included are decided based on characteristics that determine their vulnerability. As of early 2021, approximately 720stoneflies (Insecta, Plecoptera) species are found in the U.S., but only 143 are listed as SGCN. Only 29 states have stoneflies included on their SGCN lists, but 37 states use EPT (Ephemeroptera + Plecoptera + Trichoptera) metrics when assessing water quality issues in running water …

Autism And The Foster Care System In Kentucky, Caroline Clark

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

According to the CDC, one in 59 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Centers for Diseases and Prevention, 2020). More than 10% of those in the foster care system also have an autism diagnosis. The purpose of this project was to understand the general public’s knowledge and beliefs about both subjects. I conducted this study to identify any misconceptions, assumed facts, and opinions about both foster care and autism. I collected these data through anonymous surveys. The data were then analyzed and examined to create an app to benefit current and future foster parents who foster individuals with autism.

Temporal Invariance Of Social-Ecological Catchments, Mark A. Kaemingk, Christine N. Bender, Chris Chizinski, Aaron J. Bunch, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Natural resources such as waterbodies, public parks, and wildlife refuges attract people from varying distances on the landscape, creating “social-ecological catchments.” Catchments have provided great utility for understanding physical and social relationships within specific disciplines. Yet, catchments are rarely used across disciplines, such as its application to understand complex spatiotemporal dynamics between mobile human users and patchily distributed natural resources. We collected residence ZIP codes from 19,983 angler parties during 2014–2017 to construct seven angler–waterbody catchments in Nebraska, USA. We predicted that sizes of dense (10% utilization distribution) and dispersed (95% utilization distribution) angler–waterbody catchments would change across seasons and …

Jaguars And Pumas Exhibit Distinct Spatiotemporal Responses To Human Disturbances In Colombia’S Most Imperiled Ecoregion, Joe J. Figel, Sebastián Botero-Cañola, Juan David Sánchez-Londoño, Javier Racero-Casarrubia

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Abstract

Coexistence of sympatric felids is facilitated by mutual avoidance and the partitioning of habitats, prey, and time. Anthropogenic disturbances disrupt this coexistence in fragmented landscapes, potentially triggering cascading influences in ecological communities. We used photographic data from 8,717 trap nights (November 2014–June 2016) at 87 camera trap sites in Colombia’s middle Magdalena River basin to compare spatiotemporal overlap among jaguars (Panthera onca), pumas (Puma concolor), their prey, and humans, at sites of high and low disturbance, as determined by the human influence index. Human disturbance events (e.g. domestic dogs, livestock, and humans, including armed hunters) …

Hypsugo Stubbei Sp. Nov., A Novel Cryptic Bat Species Of The Genus Hypsugo (Vespertilionidae, Chiroptera, Mammalia) From Mongolia, Dietrich Dolch, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Annegret Stubbe, Dirk Steinhauser

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The occurrence of two members of the genus Hypsugo, namely H. alaschanicus and H. savii caucasicus, have been reported for Mongolia in the literature. Due to various taxonomic reassignments within and between genera, the number of records for the genus Hypsugo in Mongolia is quite scarce and sometimes not resolved at species or subspecies level. Despite recognition of the two above-mentioned species, recent reports based on genetic analyses describe only new and further records of H. alaschanicus. Thus, it exists a large uncertainty regarding the occurrence and distribution of H. savii caucasicus in Mongolia. Here, our efforts …

Zur Molekularen Klassifizierung Der Mongolischen Kormorane Phalacrocorax Carbo (Linnaeus, 1758), Lucie Marie Baltz, Michael Stubbe, Davaa Lchagvasuren, Lara-Sophie Dey

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) is a common breeding species at lake areas of Mongolia. Although molecular research has been conducted on many colonies worldwide, no studies of the genetic diversity of Mongolian colonies are known to date. In this study, we sequence for the first time a fragment of cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) from ten individuals of the 2017 resident population at Telmen-nuur. Here we perform molecular identification and analyze it in the context of existing data from populations studied worldwide. A clear assignment to the species P. carbo could be shown, but no identification on subspecies level …

Selten In Der Mongolei Nachgewiesene Fledermausarten, Dietrich Dolch, Dirk Steinhauser, Bernd Gärtner, Klaus Thiele, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Davaa Lchagvasuren, Annegret Stubbe, Michael Stubbe

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In der Mongolei sind gegenwärtig 20 verschiedene Fledermausarten aus sieben Gattungen nachgewiesen worden. Hierbei handelt es sich um sieben Arten Myotis, vier Arten Plecotus, drei Arten Eptesicus, zwei Arten Vespertilio, zwei Arten Hypsugo und je eine Art der Gattungen Nyctalus und Murina. Von den bisher bekannten Species konnten 11 nur selten und zwei von ihnen nur einmal gefunden worden. Bis auf die Arten der Gattung Plecotus und Hypsugo, die in getrennten Publikationen in diesem Heft behandelt werden (DOLCH et al. 2021a, 2021b), sind nachfolgend diese seltenen Funde zusammengestellt. Die Grundlage für die Häufigkeitseinschätzung bilden …

Pesticide Usage Is Compromising People’S Health In The United States: Ideas For Reducing Damages, Terence J. Centner

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The development of synthetic pesticides has provided new tools for addressing troublesome pests. A review of parts of the registration process for pesticides in the United States identifies an outdated evaluation system that undervalues health damages. Registration fails to adequately consider co-formulants and effects of exposure to multiple chemicals. Frustration with failures to protect people and property from damages accompanying pesticide usage has led injured plaintiffs to resort to tort lawsuits to secure relief. However, litigation involves compensating injured persons after they are injured rather than preventing injury. A more proactive approach would be to prevent situations that injure people. …

Process Heat Cooling System, Lilly Saytes, James Quartararo, Alex Worrell, Patrick Bullen

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Projects

Team 4 was tasked by Stephan Toljan of Miniature Casting Corporation to create a closed loop water cooling system designed to cool down the machine temperatures by excluding their use of city water. Solving this problem began by touring the facility and inspecting the current cooling system. A preliminary patent search was conducted followed by a literature search to build a body of knowledge and understanding centered around this problem. Team 4 generated 120 original concepts as solution proposals. A Quality Function Deployment (QFD) comparison was performed and combined with sponsor feedback to develop preliminary designs. A final design was …

Volume 35, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Maize Hybrid Selection On Water Productivity Under Deficit Irrigation In Semiarid Western Nebraska, Strahinja Stepanovic, Daran Rudnick, Greg R. Kruger

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

The future economic and agricultural sustainability of semiarid western Nebraska will largely depend on more efficient utilization of the declining groundwater resources. The scope of this research was to evaluate the maize hybrid yield, water productivity (WP; i.e. grain yield produced per unit of water consumed), and irrigation water productivity (IWP; i.e. increase in grain yield per unit of irrigation water applied) across a range of semiarid climatic conditions (i.e. drought, normal, and wet) and irrigation treatments. Total of 13 maize hybrids were evaluated under full irrigation (FI), deficit irrigation (DI, receiving ~50% less irrigation water than FI), and dryland …

Co2 Biocapture By Scenedesmus Sp. Grown In Industrial Wastewater, Itzel Y. López-Pacheco, Eduardo Israel Castillo-Vacas, Lizbeth Castañeda-Hernández, Angie Gradiz-Menjivar, Laura Isabel Rodas-Zuluaga, Carlos Castillo-Zacarías, Juan Eduardo Sosa-Hernández, Damià Barceló, Hafiz M.N. Iqbal, Roberto Parra-Saldívar

Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are widely related to climate change, triggering several environmental problems of global concern and producing environmental, social, and economic negative impacts. Therefore, global research seeks to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the use of wastes under a circular economy scheme generates subproducts from the range of high to medium-value, representing away to help sustainable development. Therefore, the use of wastewater as a culture medium to grow microalgae strains that biocapture environmental CO₂, is a proposal with high potential to reduce the GHG presence in the environment. In this work, Scenedesmus sp. …

Soybean Gall Midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), A New Species Causing Injury To Soybean In The United States, Anthony J. Mcmechan, Erin W. Hodgson, Adam J. Varenhorst, Thomas Hunt, Robert J. Wright, Bruce D. Potter

Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension, and Education Center

The soybean gall midge (Resseliella maxima Gagné) was recently identified as a new species causing injury to soybean in the Midwestern United States. Although this insect was only recently identified, it has likely been present in soybean fields for at least the last 8 yr based on anecdotal reports. The soybean gall midge has historically been observed late in the season on soybean plants that were believed to have been previously compromised by a plant pathogen or mechanical damage with little to no concern for economic losses. In late June 2018, dead and dying plants were found to be associated …

Effects Of Splits Content On Dry Matter Loss Rates Of Soybeans Measured Using A Static Grain Respiration Measurement System, Ana B. Gatsakos, Thomas B. Scatolini, Mary-Grace C. Danao, Richard S. Gates, Kent D. Rausch

Food Processing Center: Reports

The objectives of this study were to compare effects of 0-16% (w/w) splits content (xs) of soybeans stored at 35°C and 18% moisture content (w.b.) on dry matter loss rates (v_DML), and to determine a splits multiplier (M_S) for soybeans stored at these conditions, similar to the damage multiplier (M_D) utilized in ASABE Standard D535 for shelled corn. Effects of percentage by weight splits (x_s) on M_S and safe storage time are expected to be greater than M_D for corn because soybeans are prone to cracking and splitting, lipid oxidation, …

Combined Untargeted And Targeted Fingerprinting By Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography To Track Compositional Changes On Hazelnut Primary Metabolome During Roasting, Marta Cialiè Rosso, Federico Stilo, Carlo Bicchi, Melanie Charron, Ginevra Rosso, Roberto Menta, Stephen Reichenbach, Christoph H. Weinert, Carina I. Mack, Sabine E. Kulling, Chiara Cordero

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This study focuses on the detectable metabolome of high-quality raw hazelnuts (Cory- lus avellana L.) and on its changes after dry-roasting. Informative fingerprinting was obtained by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with fast-scanning quadrupole mass spectrom- etry (GC×GC-qMS) combined with dedicated data processing. In particular, combined untargeted and targeted (UT) fingerprinting, based on pattern recognition by template matching, is applied to chromatograms from raw and roasted samples of Tonda Gentile Trilobata and Anakliuri hazelnuts harvested in Italy and Georgia. Lab-scale roasting was designed to develop a desirable organoleptic profile matching industrial standards. Results, based on 430 peak features, reveal that phenotype …

Phylogenie, Morphologie Und Ökologie Mongolischer Langohrfledermäuse Der Gattung Plecotus (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), Dietrich Dolch, Bernd Gärtner, Klaus Thiele, Dirk Steinhauser, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Annegret Stubbe, Nyamsuren Batsajchan, Davaa Lchagvasuren

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The Palaearctic is a zoogeographical region where knowledge of the distribution, taxonomy and ecology of bats (Chiroptera) is generally quite extensive. However, for many Palaearctic subregions, including Mongolia, detailed knowledge is still quite scarce. Also for some groups of species there are only few studies available to date. This holds also true for the long-eared bats of the genus Plecotus. For the long-eared bats, which live in close family groups and do not migrate over long distances, the development of different life form types can be expected. Studies tackling this are so far lacking.

The fundamental revision of the …

Electrostatic Flocking Of Salt-Treated Microfibers And Nanofiber Yarns For Regenerative Engineering, Alec Mccarthy, Kossi Loic M. Avegnon, Phil A. Holubeck, Demi Brown, Anik Karan, Navatha Shree Sharma, Johnson V. John, Shelbie Weihs, Jazmin Ley, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Electrostatic flocking is a textile technology that employs a Coulombic driving force to launch short fibers from a charging source towards an adhesive-covered substrate, resulting in a dense array of aligned fibers perpendicular to the substrate. However, electrostatic flocking of insulative polymeric fibers remains a challenge due to their insufficient charge accumulation. We report a facile method to flock electrostatically insulative poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) microfibers (MFs) and electrospun PCL nanofiber yarns (NFYs) by incorporating NaCl during preflock processing. Both MF and NFY were evaluated for flock functionality, mechanical properties, and biological responses. To demonstrate this platform's diverse applications, standalone flocked NFY …

Recent Advances In Terahertz Photonic Technologies Based On Graphene And Their Applications, Tianjing Guo, Christos Argyropoulos

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Graphene is a unique 2D material that has been extensively investigated due to its extraordinary photonic, electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties. Excited plasmons along its surface and other unique features are expected to play an important role in many emerging photonic technologies with drastically improved and tunable functionalities. This review is focused on presenting several recently introduced photonic phenomena based on graphene, beyond its usual linear response, such as nonlinear, active, topological, and nonreciprocal effects. The physical mechanisms and various envisioned photonic applications corresponding to these novel intriguing functionalities are also reported. The presented graphene-based technologies promise to revolutionize the …

A Routine Electroencephalography Monitoring System For Automated Sports-Related Concussion Detection, Amirsalar Mansouri, Patrick Ledwidge, Khalid Sayood, Dennis L. Molfese

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Cases of concussions in the United States keep increasing and are now up to 2 million to 3 million incidents per year. Although concussions are recoverable and usually not life-threatening, the degree and rate of recovery may vary depending on age, severity of the injury, and past concussion history. A subsequent concussion before full recovery may lead to more-severe brain damage and poorer outcomes. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings can identify brain dysfunctionality and abnormalities, such as after a concussion. Routine EEG monitoring can be a convenient method for reducing unreported injuries and preventing long-term damage, especially among groups with a greater …

Pricing Drugs Fairly, Govind C. Persad

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Dissatisfaction with drug prices has prompted a flurry of recent legislation and academic research. But while pharmaceutical policy often regards fair pricing as a goal, the concept of fairness itself frequently goes undefined. Legal scholarship—even work ostensibly focused on fairness—has not defined and defended an account of fair pricing. Recent legislative proposals passed by the House and proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley have similarly avoided a determinate position on fairness. This Article explains and defends an account of what makes a price for a drug fair that identifies fair price with social value, argues for implementing fair …

Allocating Medicine Fairly In An Unfair Pandemic, Govind Persad

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

America’s COVID-19 pandemic has both devastated and disparately harmed minority communities. How can the allocation of scarce treatments for COVID-19 and similar public health threats fairly and legally respond to these racial disparities? Some have proposed that members of racial groups who have been especially hard-hit by the pandemic should receive priority for scarce treatments. Others have worried that this prioritization misidentifies racial disparities as reflecting biological differences rather than structural racism, or that it will generate mistrust among groups who have previously been harmed by medical research. Still others complain that such prioritization would be fundamentally unjust. I argue …

Strategies And Techniques For Teaching Environmental Law, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

Law Faculty Books

Teaching law students is an enormous privilege and an immense responsibility. Teaching Environmental Law, in particular, gives the professor an opportunity to help future lawyers understand some important lessons. First, contrary to the belief of many first-year law students, the legal system is not made up entirely of courts. It’s not all judicial and it’s not all adversarial. The statutes Congress creates need implementation and that’s the role of agencies. Lawyers can do a world of good by working in and around legislatures and agencies and with the people who staff them. Environmental lawyers can help shape legislation, the resulting …

Integrative Network Analyses Of Transcriptomics Data Reveal Potential Drug Targets For Acute Radiation Syndrome, Robert Moore, Bhanwar Lal Puniya, Robert Powers, Chittibabu Guda, Kenneth W. Bayles, David Berkowitz, Tomas Helikar

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Recent political unrest has highlighted the importance of understanding the short- and long-term effects of gamma-radiation exposure on human health and survivability. In this regard, effective treatment for acute radiation syndrome (ARS) is a necessity in cases of nuclear disasters. Here, we propose 20 therapeutic targets for ARS identified using a systematic approach that integrates gene co-expression networks obtained under radiation treatment in humans and mice, drug databases, disease-gene association, radiation-induced differential gene expression, and literature mining. By selecting gene targets with existing drugs, we identified potential candidates for drug repurposing. Eight of these genes (BRD4, NFKBIA, CDKN1A, TFPI, MMP9, …