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Exploration Of Staphylococcus Aureus Immune Inhibitory Proteins’ Structures And Investigation Of Their Effects On Monocyte And T Cell Adhesion, Jena Elizabeth Bordelon

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Dna Metabarcoding Marker Choice Skews Perception Of Marine Eukaryotic Biodiversity, Jordan M. Casey, Emma Ransome, Allen G. Collins, Angka Mahardini, Eka M. Kurniasih, Andrianus Sembiring, Nina M.D. Schiettekatte, Ni Kadek Dita Cahyani, Aji Wahyu Anggoro, Mikaela Moore, Abby Uehling, Mahdi Belcaid, Paul H. Barber, Jonathan B. Geller, Christopher P. Meyer

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

DNA metabarcoding is an increasingly popular technique to investigate biodiversity; however, many methodological unknowns remain, especially concerning the biases resulting from marker choice. Regions of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 18S rDNA (18S) genes are commonly employed “universal” markers for eukaryotes, but the extent of taxonomic biases introduced by these markers and how such biases may impact metabarcoding performance is not well quantified. Here, focusing on macroeukaryotes, we use standardized sampling from autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) deployed in the world's most biodiverse marine ecosystem, the Coral Triangle, to compare the performance of COI and 18S markers. …

Dramatic Reduction Of Distant Pancreatic Metastases Using Local Light Activation Of Verteporfin With Nab-Paclitaxel, Michael Pigula, Zhiming Mai, Sriram Anbil, Myung Gyu Choi, Kenneth Wang, Edward Maytin, Brian Pogue, Tayyaba Hasan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Despite substantial drug development efforts, pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a difficult disease to treat, and surgical resection is the only potentially curative option. Unfortunately, 80% of patients are ineligible for surgery due to the presence of invasive disease and/or distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. Treatment strategies geared towards reclassifying these patients as surgical candidates by reducing metastatic burden represents the most promising approach to improve long-term survival. We describe a photodynamic therapy (PDT) based approach that, in combination with the first-line chemotherapeutic nab-paclitaxel, effectively addresses distant metastases in three separate orthotopic PDAC models in immunodeficient mice. In addition …

Proceedings Of The 2020 Lee E. Teitelbaum Utah Law Review Symposium, Utah Law Review

Utah Law Review

In the autumn of 2020, the Utah Law Review, in cooperation with the S.J. Quinney College of Law Center for Law and Biomedical Sciences, convened a twoday virtual symposium exploring “The Law and Ethics of Medical Research.” On November 13th, leading scholars from across the country joined us for a panel discussion titled “Sharing Medical Research Data: Privacy and Confidentiality.” On November 20th, a second set of distinguished scholars and practitioners gathered virtually for three more panel discussions: “Clinical Trials—Legal and Ethical Issues in the Age of COVID-19,” “Intellectual Property and Medical Research,” and “Medical Research as a Public Health …

The Challenges Faced By University Educators In Singapore When Referring Students To Counsellors: An Instrumental Case Study, Poh Yaip, Steven Ng, Yee Lin Chung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study examines the difficulties faced by two university professors working in a public, autonomous university in Singapore, when referring students to counselling services. Educators typically observe how students interact and behave in class, and may refer students to counselling services. However, there is little research into how educators experience and view this role, particularly in higher education in Asia. Two university professors who had referred students to their university’s counselling centre took part in semi-structured interviews for the study. From these interviews, the study revealed educators can face a range of challenges in their referral role, such as lack …

Intouch November 1, 2021, New York Medical College

InTouch

• NYMC Celebrates Fascinating Friends at Annual Founder’s Dinner
• HSL Call for Citations for the 2021 Faculty Bibliography
• Chancellor Halperin Shares His Thoughts on All-Volunteer Armed Forces
• SLP Students Host Field Day for Smiles
• Gillian Hecht, SOM Class of 2024, Blends Her Passions of Medicine and Cooking at NYMC

Temozolomide Rechallenge In Patients With Recurrent High-Grade Glioma Treated With Re-Irradiation, Mustafa Basree, Ayesha Ali, Shivank Garg, Jonathan Glass, Lyndon Kim, Christopher J Farrell, James J. Evans, Kevin Judy, David W. Andrews, Wenyin Shi, Maria Werner-Wasik, Joshua Palmer

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S): To evaluate the clinical role of temozolomide rechallenge (TMZ) in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (HGG) treated with re-irradiation (re-RT) regardless of surgical status. MATERIALS/METHODS: Single-center retrospective review of patients with a primary diagnosis of World Health Organization (WHO) Grade III anaplastic astrocytoma or Grade IV GBM treated from 2008 to 2016 for disease recurrence with re-RT (35 Gy in 10 fractions) with and without temozolomide rechallenge. Baseline characteristics were analyzed with pairwise tests. OS/PFS were assessed with the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariable cox regression models for OS. RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty patients were treated with re-irradiation (n …

Diagnosis And Treatment Of An Altered Passive Eruption : A Case Report, Tamara Rbeiz, Carole Chakar

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

Altered passive eruption (APE) is a genetic condition characterized by a coronary position of the gingiva on the enamel which results in short clinical crowns. There are several clinical and radiological ways to diagnose the altered passive eruption as well as several treatment possibilities depending on the case and the classification of the APE. A successful new smile requires an adequate knowledge of the periodontal parameters, a reliable diagnosis, an effective surgical protocol and the respect of the principle of tissue preservation. In this case report, an altered passive eruption was diagnosed clinically and radiologically and treated through gingivectomy, osteoplasty …

Development Of A Novel Mir-3648-Related Gene Signature As A Prognostic Biomarker In Esophageal Adenocarcinoma, Donglei Zhang, Hang Yin, Thomas L. Bauer, Michael P. Rogers, Jeffrey B. Velotta, Clinton T. Morgan, Weijia Du, Ping Xu, Xiaozhe Qian

Surgery Faculty Publications

Background: Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) is a typical immunogenic malignant tumor with a dismal 5-year survival rate lower than 20%. Although miRNA-3648 (miR-3648) is expressed abnormally in EA, its impact on the tumor immune microenvironment remains unknown. In this study, we sought to identify immune-related genes (IRGs) that are targeted by miR-3648 and develop an EA multigene signature.

Methods: The gene expression data of 87 EA tumor samples and 67 normal tissue samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) database were downloaded, respectively. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), the CIBERSORT algorithm, and Cox regression …

Young Key Populations Left Behind: The Necessity For A Targeted Response In Mozambique, Makini A. S. Boothe, Cynthia Semá Baltazar, Isabel Sathane, Henry F. Raymond, Erika Fazito, Marleen Temmerman, Stanley Luchters

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Introduction: The first exposure to high-risk sexual and drug use behaviors often occurs during the period of youth (15–24 years old). These behaviors increase the risk of HIV infection, especially among young key populations (KP)–men how have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW), and people who inject drugs (PWID). We describe the characteristics of young KP participants in the first Biobehavioral Surveillance (BBS) surveys conducted in Mozambique and examine their risk behaviors compared to adult KP.

Methods: Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodology was used to recruit KP in three major urban areas in Mozambique. RDS-weighted pooled estimates were calculated …

#Eegmanylabs: Investigating The Replicability Of Influential Eeg Experiments, Yuri G. Pavlov, Nika Adamian, Stefan Appelhoff, Mahnaz Arvaneh, Sarah Sass, 47 Additional Authors

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is growing awareness across the neuroscience community that the replicability of findings about the relationship between brain activity and cognitive phenomena can be improved by conducting studies with high statistical power that adhere to well-defined and standardised analysis pipelines. Inspired by recent efforts from the psychological sciences, and with the desire to examine some of the foundational findings using electroencephalography (EEG), we have launched #EEGManyLabs, a large-scale international collaborative replication effort. Since its discovery in the early 20th century, EEG has had a profound influence on our understanding of human cognition, but there is limited evidence on the replicability …

On Time, (In)Equality, And Death, Fred O. Smith Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In recent years, American institutions have inadvertently encountered the bodies of former slaves with increasing frequency. Pledges of respect are common features of these discoveries, accompanied by cultural debates about what “respect” means. Often embedded in these debates is an intuition that there is something special about respecting the dead bodies, burial sites, and images of victims of mass, systemic horrors. This Article employs legal doctrine, philosophical insights, and American history to both interrogate and anchor this intuition.

Law can inform these debates because we regularly turn to legal settings to resolve disputes about the dead. Yet the passage of …

An Mcare Study On Patterns Of Risk And Resilience For Children With Asd In Bangladesh, Masud Rabbani, Munirul Haque, Dipranjan Das, Md. Ishrak Islam Zarif, Anik Iqbal, Amy Schwichtenberg, Naveen K. Bansal, Tanjir Rashid Soron, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

Community-wide lockdowns in response to COVID-19 influenced many families, but the developmental cascade for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be especially detrimental. Our objective was to evaluate behavioral patterns of risk and resilience for children with ASD across parent-report assessments before (from November 2019 to February 2020), during (March 2020 to May 2020), and after (June 2020 to November 2020) an extended COVID-19 lockdown. In 2020, our study Mobile-based care for children with ASD using remote experience sampling method (mCARE) was inactive data collection before COVID-19 emerged as a health crisis in Bangladesh. Here we deployed …

Microbiota From Specific Pathogen-Free Mice Reduces Campylobacter Jejuni Chicken Colonization, Ayidh Almansour, Ying Fu, Tahrir Jatli Alenezi, Mohit Bansal, Bilal Alrubaye, Hong Wang, Xiaolun Sun

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Campylobacter jejuni, a prevalent foodborne bacterial pathogen, is mainly transmitted from poultry with few effective prevention approaches. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of microbiota on C. jejuni chicken colonization. Microbiota from specific pathogen-free (SPF) mouse stools were collected as SPF-Aerobe and SPF-Anaerobe. Birds were colonized with SPF-Aerobe or SPF-Anaerobe at day 0 and infected with C. jejuni AR101 at day 12. Notably, C. jejuni AR101 colonized at 5.3 and 5.6 log(10) C. jejuni CFU/g chicken cecal digesta at days 21 and 28, respectively, while both SPF-Aerobe and SPF-Anaerobe microbiota reduced pathogen colonization. Notably, SPF-Aerobe and SPF-Anaerobe …

Modulatory Actions Of The Glycine Receptor Β Subunit On The Positive Allosteric Modulation Of Ethanol In Α2 Containing Receptors, Braulio Muñoz, Trinidad Mariqueo, Pablo Murath, Christian Peters, Gonzalo E. Yevenes, Gustavo Moraga-Cid, Robert W. Peoples, Luis G. Aguayo

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Alpha1-containing glycine receptors (GlyRs) are major mediators of synaptic inhibition in the spinal cord and brain stem. Recent studies reported the presence of α2-containing GlyRs in other brain regions, such as nucleus accumbens and cerebral cortex. GlyR activation decreases neuronal excitability associated with sensorial information, motor control, and respiratory functions; all of which are significantly altered during ethanol intoxication. We evaluated the role of β GlyR subunits and of two basic amino acid residues, K389 and R390, located in the large intracellular loop (IL) of the α2 GlyR subunit, which are important for binding and functional modulation by Gβγ, the …

Implementation Of A Wechat-Based Smoking Cessation Program For Chinese Smokers, Ting Luo, Mirandy S. Li, Donna Williams, Jackson Fritz, Stephen Phillippi, Qingzhao Yu, Stephen Kantrow, Liwei Chen, Yongchun Chen, Kaylin Beiter, Tung-Sung Tseng

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Introduction: Although smoking prevalence has recently declined, the smoking prevalence in China remains high. Extensive research has demonstrated ways that social media can assist in quitting smoking. WeChat is the most commonly used social media platform in China but has not been used for smoking cessation. A process evaluation of a novel WeChat-based smoking cessation intervention was conducted to measure its efficacy of content delivery, participant satisfac-tion, engagement, and likelihood of recommendation to others. Methods: A three-week, three-arm, single-blind randomized control trial was established. WeChat was used to recruit 403 participants and to deliver intervention messages and process evaluation surveys …

Online Patriarchal Bargains And Social Support: Struggles And Strategies Of Unwed Single Mothers In China, Xiaoman Zhao, Sun Sun Lim

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Patriarchal bargains have been studied in many settings as a strategy that helps women circumvent constraints and forge spaces for individual empowerment. Despite the growing use of mediated communication, little is known about how patriarchal bargains are enacted and realized within online interactions such as in discussion forums. By analyzing how Chinese unwed single mothers renegotiate the state’s oppressive population control and gender policies through their online activity, this study proposes the concept of “online patriarchal bargain” to extend patriarchal bargain theory to women’s Internet use. It further explores linkages between social support and patriarchal bargain to elucidate how support …

The Experiences Of Ethical Tensions When Using Harm Reduction With High-Risk Youth, Patricia I. Owens, Simon Nuttgens

The Qualitative Report

Little is known about the ethical experiences of psychologists who work with high-risk youth using a harm reduction approach. We used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explicitly explore this phenomenon. In this small exploratory study three participants were interviewed to glean their experiences of ethical tension. Data analysis revealed three superordinate themes (questioning, acting, and holding) within which eight subthemes are subsumed (questioning beneficence, questions from others, self-care, social change, negotiation, consultation and supervision, acceptance, and sitting with tension). The results of this research suggest that context-specific ethical tensions may arise for psychologists who work with high-risk youth using a …

Development, Evaluation, And Enhancement Of A Transdisciplinary Project-Based And Community-Engaged Environmental Public Health Curriculum For Primary And Secondary Students, Victoria Peluso, Kari Brisolara, Haley Capello, Matthew Spence, Aubrey Gilliland, Adrienne Katner

Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association

Background: The aim of this research was to develop, evaluate, and enhance a transdisciplinary projectbased curriculum in which students engage in citizen-science to introduce them to the field of environmental public health, a subject not traditionally taught outside of tertiary education. The curriculum was designed to involve students in the transdisciplinary collaborations needed for solving real world systems-dependent environmental public health problems. Methods: A curriculum was developed by graduate students which illustrates hazard identification; exposure assessment; and risk assessment, communication, intervention and evaluation through a community-engaged and project-based lens. The curriculum was taught successively over the span of two years …

Tai Chi For Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review Toward Consensus-Based Guidelines, Lin Yang, Kerri Winters-Stone, Benny Rana, Chao Cao, Linda E Carlson, Kerry S Courneya, Christine M Friedenreich, Kathryn H Schmitz

Open Access Publications

To manage acute, long-term, and late effects of cancer, current guidelines recommend moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic and resistance exercise. Unfortunately, not all cancer survivors are able or willing to perform higher intensity exercise during difficult cancer treatments or because of other existing health conditions. Tai Chi is an equipment-free, multicomponent mind-body exercise performed at light-to-moderate intensity that may provide a more feasible alternative to traditional exercise programs for some cancer survivors. This systematic review evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of Tai Chi across the cancer care continuum. We searched MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, SCOPUS, and CINAHL databases for interventional studies from inception to 18 …

Diagnostics To Support Elimination Of Lymphatic Filariasis-Development Of Two Target Product Profiles, Kimberly Y. Won, Gary J. Weil, Et Al

Open Access Publications

As lymphatic filariasis (LF) programs move closer to established targets for validation elimination of LF as a public health problem, diagnostic tools capable of supporting the needs of the programs are critical for success. Known limitations of existing diagnostic tools make it challenging to have confidence that program endpoints have been achieved. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a Diagnostic Technical Advisory Group (DTAG) for Neglected Tropical Diseases tasked with prioritizing diagnostic needs including defining use-cases and target product profiles (TPPs) for needed tools. Subsequently, disease-specific DTAG subgroups, including one focused on LF, were established to develop TPPs …

Cardiac Myosin Contraction And Mechanotransduction In Health And Disease, Samantha K Barrick, Michael J Greenberg

Open Access Publications

Cardiac myosin is the molecular motor that powers heart contraction by converting chemical energy from ATP hydrolysis into mechanical force. The power output of the heart is tightly regulated to meet the physiological needs of the body. Recent multiscale studies spanning from molecules to tissues have revealed complex regulatory mechanisms that fine-tune cardiac contraction, in which myosin not only generates power output but also plays an active role in its regulation. Thus, myosin is both shaped by and actively involved in shaping its mechanical environment. Moreover, these studies have shown that cardiac myosin-generated tension affects physiological processes beyond muscle contraction. …

Cardiac Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy For Control Of Refractory Ventricular Tachycardia: Initial Uk Multicentre Experience, Justin Lee, Clifford Robinson, Phillip Cuculich, Geoffrey Hugo, Et Al

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Options for patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) refractory to antiarrhythmic drugs and/or catheter ablation remain limited. Stereotactic radiotherapy has been described as a novel treatment option.

METHODS: Seven patients with recurrent refractory VT, deemed high risk for either first time or redo invasive catheter ablation, were treated across three UK centres with non-invasive cardiac stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR). Prior catheter ablation data and non-invasive mapping were combined with cross-sectional imaging to generate radiotherapy plans with aim to deliver a single 25 Gy treatment. Shared planning and treatment guidelines and prospective peer review were used.

RESULTS: Acute suppression of VT …

Biofilm Formation And Virulence Of Shigella Flexneri Are Modulated By Ph Of Gastrointestinal Tract, I-Ling Chiang, Yi Wang, Satoru Fujii, Brian D Muegge, Qiuhe Lu, Phillip I Tarr, Thaddeus S Stappenbeck

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Economic And Ghg Emissions Changes Of Aeration And Gypsum Application, Michael Popp, Karen Renee Lindsay, Amanda Ashworth, Philip Moore, Phillip R. Owens, Taylor Adams, Melissa Mccarver, Becky Roark, Dan Pote, John Pennington

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Alternative pasture management strategies are needed to ensure long-term ecological and economical use of abundantly available poultry litter as a source of valuable nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). In combination with the common practice of broadcasting poultry litter and soil compaction from equipment and livestock traffic, pasture aeration offers the potential for added soil water penetration and reduced nutrient runoff by creating soil perforations ranging length from 5 to 15 cm using metal spikes that penetrate the soil to 15 cm depth. Also, the addition of gypsum can further reduce P runoff. We evaluate different pasture management scenarios …

Examination Of The Catalytic Role Of The Axial Cystine Ligand In The Co-Type Nitrile Hydratase From Pseudonocardia Thermophila Jcm 3095, Irene Anyango Ogutu, Martin St. Maurice, Brian Bennett, Richard C. Holz

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

The strictly conserved αSer162 residue in the Co-type nitrile hydratase from Pseudonocardia thermophila JCM 3095 (PtNHase), which forms a hydrogen bond to the axial αCys108-S atom, was mutated into an Ala residue. The αSer162Ala yielded two different protein species: one was the apoform (αSer^A) that exhibited no observable activity, and the second (αSer^B) contained its full complement of cobalt ions and was active with a k_cat value of 63 ± 3 s⁻¹ towards acrylonitrile at pH 7.5. The X-ray crystal structure of was determined at 1.85 Å resolution and contained no detectable …

Identification Of Genomic Regions Controlling Chalkiness And Grain Characteristics In A Recombinant Inbred Line Rice Population Based On High-Throughput Snp Markers, Yheni Dwiningsih, Anuj Kumar, Julie Thomas, Charles Ruiz, Jawaher Alkahtani, Abdulrahman Al-Hashimi, Andy Pereira

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the primary food for half of the global population. Recently, there has been increasing concern in the rice industry regarding the eating and milling quality of rice. This study was conducted to identify genetic information for grain characteristics using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population from a japonica/indica cross based on high-throughput SNP markers and to provide a strategy for improving rice quality. The RIL population used was derived from a cross of “Kaybonnet (KBNT lpa)” and “ZHE733” named the K/Z RIL population, consisting of 198 lines. A total of 4133 SNP markers were used …

A Dilemma About The Mental, Guy Dove, Andreas Elpidorou

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Physicalism demands an explication of what it means for something to be physical. But the most popular way of providing one—viz., characterizing the physical in terms of the postulates of a scientifically derived physical theory—is met with serious trouble. Proponents of physicalism can either appeal to current physical theory or to some future physical theory (preferably an ideal and complete one). Neither option is promising: currentism almost assuredly renders physicalism false and futurism appears to render it indeterminate or trivial. The purpose of this essay is to argue that attempts to characterize the mental encounter a similar dilemma: currentism with …

Microbial Dark Matter: Culturing The Uncultured In Search Of Novel Chemotaxonomy, Sarah J. Kennedy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although <1% of environmental isolates can be cultured, insights into the culturable fraction refine future techniques to unlock the cryptic biodiversity. This cryptic biodiversity is omnipresent within culture-independent surveys of environmental bacterial populations. Subsequently, these elusive organisms are termed “microbial dark matter” due to the intrigue surrounding their potential taxonomic and biosynthetic impacts. To this end of investigating bacterial-specific dark matter, we employed high-throughput culturing techniques to examine Gulf of Mexico sediments and sponges for chemotaxonomically important bacteria. Through stepwise implementation of permissive and selective recovery techniques, we succeeded in recovering over 150 unique bacterial isolates. We observed several isolates that pose as chemotaxonomically interesting, including several strains that belong to critical bioremediation taxa. In addition to these biotechnological-amenable isolates, we have also succeeded in culturing taxa historically attributed with antibacterial discoveries. One such isolate was a previously sponge-associated organism belonging to the rarely cultured Verrucosispora genus. Through extensive comparative genomics, we identified it as a novel species and subsequently named it Verrucosispora sioxanthis sp. nov. with the published genome serving as a resource for continued microbial dark matter investigations. Following continued passaging of the organism, we observed improved growth, biomass, and liquid growth dispersal within each increasingly sub-passaged generation of the isolate. As such, the laboratory attenuation, or domestication, of the organism warranted in-depth whole genomic analyses to generate insight into the increased laboratory sustainability. Through phenotypically-guided bioinformatics, we determined that the domestication was mediated through genome-wide selective pseudo- or non-pseudogenization of genes. As the previously sponge-associated organism evolved with the selection pressures of the static laboratory, we demonstrate that isolate effectively underwent genomic atrophy to resolve into a largely stable, sustainable laboratory-domesticated strain. Collectively, our chemotaxonomic discovery pipeline expands on the culturable bacterial biodiversity and ultimately provides a previously uncultured model organism for initial forays into resolving the microbial dark matter knowledge gap.

Menstrual Dignity And The Bar Exam, Margaret E. Johnson, Marcy L. Karin, Elizabeth Cooper

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the issue of menstruation and the administration of the bar exam. Although such problems are not new, over the summer and fall of 2020, test takers and commentators took to social media to critique state board of law examiners’ (“BOLE”) policies regarding menstruation. These problems persist. Menstruators worry that if they unexpectedly bleed during the exam, they may not have access to appropriately sized and constructed menstrual products or may be prohibited from accessing the bathroom. Personal products that are permitted often must be carried in a clear, plastic bag. Some express privacy concerns that the see-through …