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What Is The Effect Of Physical Activity On The Reduction Of Macrovascular Complications In Patients Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus?, Rachael M. Gordon

Theses and Graduate Projects

The increasing prevalence and healthcare burden of type 2 diabetes is a worldwide concern. It is the seventh leading cause of mortality and a significant cause of morbidity. While both the macrovascular and microvascular complications of diabetes can have a profound impact on overall health and quality of life, cardiovascular events are the leading cause of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. Adults with diabetes have a two to four-fold increased risk of cerebrovascular events and myocardial infarctions. Oral medications combat insulin resistance and aid in the control of hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol, therefore, contributing to a …

Frequency Of Angular Malalignment After Intramedullary Nailing For Femur Shaft Fractures - A Cross-Sectional Study, Hammad Naqi Khan, Moiz Ali, Rizwan Haroon Rashid, Yasir Mohib, Pervaiz Hashmi

Section of Orthopaedic Surgery

Objective: To determine the frequency of angular malalignment of femur in patients undergoing Intra Medullary nailing for femur shaft fracture by measuring axis on immediate postoperative plain radiographs.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Section of Orthopaedics, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi from 1st January 2019 till 30th June 2019. All patients between the ages of 15 to 80 years who underwent IM nailing for femur shaft fractures were included. Angulation was measured on immediate post-operative X-ray films and an angle of ≥5° on AP and/or lateral views was defined as malalignment.
Results: A total …

Representation And Strategy Learning For Variable-Size Tree Transformation Using Reinforcement Learning, Shirin Hosseini Shirvani

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Trees as acyclic graphs are ubiquitous in representing different context where they encode connectivity patterns at all scales of organization, from biological systems to social networks. Trees are powerful resources which have been used many times for the exploration and discovery of interactions and properties in different context. Tree data structure representation approaches have led to remarkable discoveries in different real-world applications. In the last decades, extensive research and algorithms have been developed on tree or acyclic graph data structures with deep theoretical properties. The cost of solving these various problems ranges from simple linear time algorithms, to more complex …

Amorphous Silica Based Biomaterials For Musculoskeletal Tissue Regeneration Applications, Kamal Awad

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Musculoskeletal (MSK) injury includes any injuries that affect the bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, or nerves. Open bone fracture is one of the common types of MSK traumatic injuries which results in not only bone fracture but also damage/loss of associated muscles, nerve, vasculature, endothelium, periosteum, fascia, and connective tissue. Surgical procedures and biological interventions are required to fix the broken bone, and muscle transfer is performed to compensate the skeletal muscle defects. Current treatments include fixative metal implants and regenerative biopolymer scaffolds, then muscle flap procedures to cover the bone. Yet, these treatments are inadequate because the used materials do …

Stress Analysis Of Functionally Graded Materials, Nilabh Krishna

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A functionally graded material (FGM) is an inhomogeneous material whose material properties vary continuously. Since FGM’s material properties are continuous at the interface of the two materials, unlike conventional composites whose material properties are discontinuous at the interface, it is best suited to prevent catastrophically failure, stress concentration, and residual stresses. Literature reviews revealed that most of the research on FGMs was a 2-D analysis, especially on FGM plates and beams. This research focuses on 3-D stress analysis for an elastic medium that contains a spherical inclusion made of an FGM embedded in a matrix phase. To the best of …

Surface Modification Of Titanium By Electrolytic Plasma Processing And In-Vitro Studies, Wisanu Boonrawd

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Electrolytic plasma processing (EPP) can be operated in two modes, namely plasma electrolytic saturation (PES) and plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO). In this study, the PES was used to create hydrophilic surface profiles on titanium (Ti). The wettability, surface morphology characteristics and chemical composition of the treated samples were studied as a function of PES processing parameters. The PES profiled surfaces comprised of a characteristic “hills and valleys” morphology because of continuous surface melting and freezing cycles. A bimodal surface profile was produced with 2-3 µm height hills and valleys with nano-roughness (= 200 nm). The produced profile resulted in a …

Poly(Lactic-Co-Glycolic Acid) Nanoparticle Delivery Of Notch Intracellular Domain Plasmid To Restore Notch Signaling, Victoria L. Messerschmidt

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Notch signaling is a highly conserved signaling system that is required for embryonic development and regeneration of organs. When the signal is lost, maldevelopment occurs and leads to a lethal state. Delivering exogenous genetic materials encoding Notch into cells can reestablish downstream signaling and rescue cellular functions. Here, we utilized the negatively charged and FDA approved polymer poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) to encapsulate Notch Intracellular Domain-containing plasmid in nanoparticles. We show that primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) readily uptake the nanoparticles with and without specific antibody targets. We demonstrated in vitro that our nanoparticles are nontoxic, stable over time, and …

Localized Treatment Of Malignant Melanoma Using A Modified Cellulose-Based Hydrogel Loaded With Temozolomide With Increased Safety Of Human Dermal Fibroblasts And The Mechanisms Behind The Effect, Joseph Wolf

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Melanoma pathophysiology is highly varied, and the initial cause of tumorigenesis is still unknown, but it is likely a combination of both epigenetic and genetic means. Further, melanoma tumors have one of the highest mutational burdens of all cancers and are largely composed of varied subpopulations within the same tumor. These two factors provide insight into why melanoma is so difficult to treat medicinally. Dacarbazine is the gold-standard of metastatic melanoma treatment, yet only has an overall response rate of 22% and no impact on survival. Temozolomide (TMZ), an analog of dacarbazine, is often viewed as a more ideal choice …

Porcine Neonatal Heart Extracellular Matrix As A Regeneration Platform, Karla Perez

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Each year, an estimated 620,000 Americans have new heart attack and suffer from myocardial infarction (MI) that results in massive heart cell death and decrease in heart function. Various therapeutic strategies, such as pharmacological treatments and reperfusion strategies, have greatly improved short-term MI survival. However, these strategies do not restore normal cardiac function due to the permanent loss of cardiomyocytes. As a promising strategy, cardiac cell therapy delivers repairing cells to damaged areas (scar tissues) to revitalize the infracted heart. However, a key challenge in cardiac cell therapy, i.e. the extremely low survival and engraftment rate of transplanted cells, must …

Mediating Effect Of Cognitive Function On Health-Related Quality Of Life Among Older Adults With Cardiovascular Disease In The United States, Julie K. Peterson-Newman

Nursing Dissertations - Archive

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are related to disorders of the heart and blood vessels. They may become serious problems, especially in older adults. They could also negatively affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients. Moreover, patients with CVDs may also experience cognitive issues, such as memory loss, that could be considered as a mediator in the association of CVD with HRQoL. The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship among cognitive function, HRQoL, and CVD among older adults using a cross-sectional sample from a secondary database, including the 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) representing the …

A Novel Supervised Dimensionality Reduction Method: Integrating Pca With Svm, Faezeh Soleimani

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

Data curation and storage methods have changed over the past few decades with the use of new technologies, and gathering data on a huge number of features (dimensions) is now very common among diverse scientific and engineering fields. Prior to classification or regression, dimensionality reduction is necessary to eliminate irrelevant features and to deal with data with high dimensions. A number of numerical methods have already been proposed to reduce the dimension of data, for example, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Supervised Principal Component Analysis (SPCA). In this dissertation, we will introduce a novel way of …

Ontological (Free) Agency: The Erasure, Commodification, And Autonomy Of Black Athletes, Abraham Yabar Salinas

English Theses - Archive

The National Football League wields a powerful influence on American society and holds an authoritative sway over various sociopolitical discourses, each influencing the degrees of interaction between people of different origins, cultural backgrounds and identities. The purpose of this research is to examine how the NFL is product of a network of racial discrimination directed at Black people within the league. This research examines how the National Football League functions as a white-dominated structure of power in order to manipulate, exploit, and erase Black bodies for the benefit of multi-billion-dollar profits. This study focuses on how Black players are subject …

Expanding Accountability: Using The Negligent Infliction Of Emotional Distress Claim To Compensate Black American Families Who Remained Unheard In Medical Crisis, Nia Johnson

UC Law Journal

Black Americans have constantly been victims of health disparities and unequal treatment in healthcare facilities. This is not new. However, more attention has been paid to accounts from Black Americans alleging that their providers ignored them or their families in crisis, leading to grave consequences. Though we do have a medical malpractice system that is equipped to remedy physical manifestations of medical negligence, there has been minimal dialogue about how to hold provider accountable for more abstract medical grievances like ignoring Black patients. This Article argues that the negligent infliction of emotional distress claim is an appropriate forum to address …

Long-Term Crop Rotation Diversification Enhances Maize Drought Resistance Through Soil Organic Matter, Leah L.R. Renwick, William Deen, Lucas Silva, Matthew E. Gilbert, Toby Maxwell, Timothy M. Bowles, Amélie C.M. Gaudin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change adaptation requires building agricultural system resilience to warmer, drier climates. Increasing temporal plant diversity through crop rotation diversification increases yields of some crops under drought, but its potential to enhance crop drought resistance and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We conducted a drought manipulation experiment using rainout shelters embedded within a 36-year crop rotation diversity and no-till experiment in a temperate climate and measured a suite of soil and crop developmental and eco-physiological traits in the field and laboratory. We show that diversifying maize-soybean rotations with small grain cereals and cover crops mitigated maize water stress at the …

Modification Of Cell Wall Polysaccharide Guides Cell Division In Streptococcus Mutans., Svetlana Zamakhaeva, Catherine T Chaton, Jeffrey S. Rush, Sowmya Ajay Castro, Cameron W Kenner, Alexander E Yarawsky, Andrew B Herr, Nina M Van Sorge, Helge C Dorfmueller, Gregory I Frolenkov, Konstantin V Korotkov, Natalia Korotkova

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

In ovoid-shaped, Gram-positive bacteria, MapZ guides FtsZ-ring positioning at cell equators. The cell wall of the ovococcus Streptococcus mutans contains peptidoglycan decorated with serotype c carbohydrates (SCCs). In the present study, we identify the major cell separation autolysin AtlA as an SCC-binding protein. AtlA binding to SCC is attenuated by the glycerol phosphate (GroP) modification. Using fluorescently labeled AtlA constructs, we mapped SCC distribution on the streptococcal surface, revealing enrichment of GroP-deficient immature SCCs at the cell poles and equators. The immature SCCs co-localize with MapZ at the equatorial rings throughout the cell cycle. In GroP-deficient mutants, AtlA is mislocalized, …

Doing More With Less: A Quantitative Analysis Of Mindfulness, Meditation, Sustainable Consumption Awareness And Practice Among University Undergraduates, Teresa Van Horn

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Climate change, overconsumption, air, and water pollution continue to be pressing issues for society. Given the significant impact of overconsumption, the search for strategies to promote more sustainable behavior has become a topic for investigation. Universities are uniquely positioned to help students work toward sustainable solutions. This research explored the role of mindfulness in university students' sustainable consumption awareness and practice as there are gaps in the literature concerning definitions, constructs, and research regarding mindfulness and sustainable consumption.

To address these disparities, this research used stepwise regression analysis to investigate the extent to which mindfulness and select demographic measures …

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Patient Care Experience As Perceived By Hispanic Patients Receiving Care At A Safety-Net Facility, Silvinia Cuizon

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients seeking kidney and liver transplant care at a safety-net facility perceive and interpret the care experience with the goal of generating a grounded theory model to guide care delivery and improve perception of care for this population.

Background/Rationale: The patient experience is the current federally mandated hospital quality indicator that measures the range of interactions patients have with their hospital admission, which has fiscal and clinical implications for the delivery of care. Many safety-net health care delivery systems, which primarily serve traditionally underserved populations, and …

Extant Earthly Microbial Mats And Microbialites As Models For Exploration Of Life In Extraterrestrial Mat Worlds, Bopaiah Biddanda, Anthony Weinke, Ian Stone, Scott Kendall, Phil Hartmeyer, Wayne Lusardi, Stephanie Gandulla, John Bright, Steven Ruberg

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

As we expand the search for life beyond Earth, a water-dominated planet, we turn our eyes to other aquatic worlds. Microbial life found in Earth’s many extreme habitats are considered useful analogs to life forms we are likely to find in extraterrestrial bodies of water. Modern-day benthic microbial mats inhabiting the low-oxygen, high-sulfur submerged sinkholes of temperate Lake Huron (Michigan, USA) and microbialites inhabiting the shallow, high-carbonate waters of subtropical Laguna Bacalar (Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico) serve as potential working models for exploration of extraterrestrial life. In Lake Huron, delicate mats comprising motile filaments of purple-pigmented cyanobacteria capable of oxygenic and …

Intersection Of Redox Chemistry And Ubiquitylation: Post-Translational Modifications Required For Maintaining Cellular Homeostasis And Neuroprotection, Emma I. Kane, Kelly L. Waters, Donald E. Spratt

Chemistry

Neurodegeneration has been predominantly recognized as neuronal breakdown induced by the accumulation of aggregated and/or misfolded proteins and remains a preliminary factor in age-dependent disease. Recently, critical regulating molecular mechanisms and cellular pathways have been shown to induce neurodegeneration long before aggregate accumulation could occur. Although this opens the possibility of identifying biomarkers for early onset diagnosis, many of these pathways vary in their modes of dysfunction while presenting similar clinical phenotypes. With selectivity remaining difficult, it is promising that these neuroprotective pathways are regulated through the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). This essential post-translational modification (PTM) involves the specific attachment of …

Non-Affirmation As A Moderator Between Social Support And Quality Of Life For Transgender Populations, Michael Evitts

Dissertations

This research builds upon scholarship exploring the quality of life of transgender populations. Knowledge on quality-of-life (QOL) for transgender populations has been limited due to the fact that most studies have focused on gender affirming medical procedures as interventions (Nobili et al., 2018). Other protective factors, such as social support, have been identified in the literature but have been defined in broad terms. The purpose of the study was to better understand additional factors that promote QOL and psychological well-being, specifically social support. It is unclear how non-affirmation of gender identity affects the protective effects of social support for QOL. …

Exploring Generational Difference Of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity And Racial Identity In Liberian Immigrants And Their Children Living In The United States, Breezie J. Gibson

Dissertations

Prior literature on immigrants has focused on the impact of acculturation for groups such as Asians and Hispanic or Latinx immigrants (Orjiako & So, 2014; Sall, 2019). Compared to these two groups, the literature on Black immigrants’ experience of acculturation is scarce. In addition to the minimum visibility of Black immigrants in the acculturation literature, there is also limited knowledge relating to differences in the ethnic identity and racial identity of Black immigrants because these immigrants are often grouped monolithically with minimum attention to their diverse countries of origin. Understanding the influence of acculturation, ethnicity, and race is important because …

Preclinical Behavioral Assessment Of Chronic, Intermittent Low-Dose Psilocybin In Rodent Models Of Depression And Anxiety, Harmony I. Risca

Dissertations

Recent studies have demonstrated the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. Amidst the overall success of recent clinical trials using a single high dose of psilocybin, anecdotal reports indicate anxiolytic and antidepressant effects following a repeated low dose regimen. As therapeutic outcomes are often tightly intertwined with the individual’s subjective experience, animal models are used as objective measures to investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the putative antidepressant/anxiolytic effects of psychedelics. Three rodent models predictive of anxiolytic or antidepressant effects were used to evaluate effects of chronic intermittent low dose (CILD) psilocybin treatment; the Light/Dark conflict …

An Examination Of Types Of Health Insurance And The Reported Prevalence Of Autism In The United States, Jennifer L. Thompson

Dissertations

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders continues to rise despite barriers of changes to diagnostic criteria and lack of insurance coverage. Increases in prevalence affect costs associated with a disorder since cost of health care services are often estimated based on utilization of services. This can also affect an individual’s ability to access to health care services. To equitably distribute autism services to individuals an accurate estimation of the true prevalence of autism is needed.

Access to health care can be influenced by the type of insurance coverage a person holds. Other factors, such as socio-economic status, ethnicity, location of …

Effects Of Flex Periods On High School Student Failure Rates, Michael Ongie

Leadership Education Capstones

Schools, in their current form, do not allow for personalized amounts of time for students to learn concepts. Students do not have the opportunity to meet with teachers during the school day to get support on specific concepts they do not understand. The purpose of this study is to research the potential link between implementation of a flex period and student achievement, measured by failure rates, in high school semester courses. The study investigates how failure rates changed after the implementation of a flex period. The sample population for this study are all students who attended a specific small rural …

Hybrid Cyclic-Linear Cell-Penetrating Peptides Containing Alternative Positive And Hydrophobic Residues As Molecular Transporters, Sorour Khayyatnejad Shoushtari

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

The cell membrane properties create a significant obstacle in intracellular delivery of cell-impermeable and negatively charged molecules. Amphiphilic cyclic peptides containing alternative arginine and tryptophan such as [WR]₅ have been shown to enhance the transport of cargo molecules across the cell membrane. Herein, we report the synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel series of hybrid cyclic-linear peptides containing alternative positive and hydrophobic amino acids on the ring and side-chain [(RW)₅]K(RW)_X (X=1-5) to compare their molecular transporter efficiency. The peptides were synthesized through Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis. Final compounds were purified by a reversed-phase HPLC (High …

Establishing The Role Of Dc-Sign And Glycoprotein H For Kshv Entry In B Lymphocytes, Nancy Palmerin

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, also known as KSHV or HHV-8, is an emerging pathogen and the causative agent of multiple cancers in immunocompromised patients. KSHV is known to cause four types of malignancies: endothelial-based Kaposi Sarcoma (KS), two rare B cell- based lymphomas; Primary effusion lymphoma, Multicentric Castleman’s disease and a recently characterized inflammatory disorder called KSHV-associated inflammatory cytokine syndrome(KICS). Unfortunately, all of the diseases associated with KSHV infection are fatal, and to this day there is no known cure. The purpose of this study is to understand the viral entry process of KSHV in tonsil-derived B lymphocytes. This study will …

Characterization Of The Growth Factor Receptor Network Oncogenes In Lung Cancer, Ashley Duche

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide, reportedly contributing to 1.8 million of the 10.0 million mortalities documented in the year 2020. Although advancements have been made in therapeutics and diagnostic methods, formulation of effective treatments and development of drug resistance continues to be a challenge. These challenges arise from our lack of understanding of intricate signaling pathways, such as the Growth Factor Receptor Network (GFRN), which contributes to complex lung tumor heterogeneity allowing for drug resistance development. In this study, gene expression signatures of six GFRN oncogenes overexpressed in human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) were …

Modulation Of Antibacterial Activity And Cytotoxicity In Amphipathic Cyclic Peptide [R4w4] Using Histidine Substitution, Ryan Stueber

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

Antibiotics have been the gold standard frontline defense against bacterial infections for decades. At the same time, these infecting bacteria have continued to evolve to resist developed antibiotics in an almost endless cycle. As such, we aim to take an alternative approach utilizing antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as a means to end this cycle. [R4W4] is among known AMPs that demonstrated antimicrobial activity against methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2.67 μg/mL. This peptide had notably effective antimicrobial activity, especially relative to linear (R4W4). However, it displayed a concerning level of cytotoxicity; eliciting a human embryonic …

Space-Charge Limited Current In Planar And Cylindrical Crossed-Field Diodes Using Variational Calculus, Adam M. Darr, Ranajoy Bhattacharya, Jim Browning, Allen L. Garner

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Twists & Swirls: Caregiving & Sexualization—Femininity Construct In Gendered Migration From Nigeria To Italy, Christiana Essie Sagay

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

With globalization, interconnectivity, and the possibilities of increased income through wage differentials comes the desirability to migrate for labour. Contrary to early migration theories, women are increasingly migrating for labour independent of male breadwinners. Therefore, "temporary and permanent movements are globalizing, accelerating, diversifying and feminizing." The influence of gender on migration has become so convoluted that culturally and socially constructed roles of masculinity and femininity motivate and inspire migration trends among many women migrating from Nigeria to Italy, creating a sort of gendered social agency. This piece offers an analysis of how social contexts and gendered expectations shape the desires …